Garage door

[Brian H]

I had a chance to look inside a UM506 and the switched output is done by a completely different switch than the ones we see in appliance modules.

Was in a translucent plastic case so I could only see outlines. It has two coils. Each with a set of wires going to the PCB. It looks like one coil toggles it On and the other toggles it Off. If you unplug it and it is On it stays On. I don't think there was any feedback to the PCB verifying the switch actually toggled and didn't get hung up. If it is On or Off and you send a duplicate command of it present state. It clicks very faintly like the coil fires but it is already in that state.

More data:
When you look at the front of the module. The two output terminals. When you remove the terminal screws you see two square posts. When you take the module apart you can slide the whole switch assembly out as a unit with the screws removed. The case is translucent so you can't see everything clearly. I did see a coil on each end of the assemble. Each connected to the main board by a set of wires. My thoughts are a high current low voltage switch turned On by one coil and Off by the other one.

If the module is On when power is removed. The switch stays On. If the sounder was also On and the power is off long enough for the internal power supply to drain. It does not sound when power is restored.

[Brandt]

I've been able to replicate this problem through further testing:

using a palmpad:

push on -> uni mod clicks, wall button loses power, garage door begins to open/close, uni mod clicks again, wall button regains power
push off -> only a slight noise from the uni mod and nothing happens

With the above all is normal.

The oddities start occurring when I throw my software setup into the mix: Heyu and domus.Link frontend

using domus.Link:

click on -> uni mod clicks, wall button loses power, garage door begins to open/close, uni mod clicks again, wall button regains power, and heyu/dL update this module to the on status.

click off (to try and update the status in Hey/dL) -> uni mod clicks, wall button loses power, garage door begins to open/close,  and heyu/dL update this module to the off status.  (whats missing? the uni mod clicking again and my wall button regaining power!)

Now from the palmpad, the functionality of the uni mod seems to have reversed itself. Pushing ON only causes the faint clicks that OFF used to cause, while pushing OFF opens/closes the garage door, but the wall button STILL doesn't have power.

I haven't pinned down the cause and the cure exactly yet, but sending random ONs and OFFs from the palmpad seems to get things back to normal with the uni mod.

I guess I need to investigate further....It would be interesting if anyone else could reproduce this behavior.


Also on another note, I have the uni mod wired to the opener BEFORE the wall button, because the terminal strip on the opener is so cheap it could only hold one set of wires.

[Brian H]

You may want to have a audible indication of its state during testing by setting the mode to relay and sounder.
In momentary both the relay and beeper should turn on then off without the need of an off command being sent.

I will try and do some tests as it sounds like your UM506 is getting confused and staying on when it should not.
Is this a fairly new Date Code UM506? As all of mine are older and only X10 knows if they have redesigned them for modern parts. Like they did with the Appliance and Lamp Modules.

One more thought. How fast are the X10 commands being sent by your software. Maybe there is not enough time for each command to be processed properly and the UM506 is getting into an unstable condition.

[Brandt]

I have removed the universal module from the garage door opener and just plugged it into an outlet near my computer for more convenient testing purposes and I am unable to replicate the bad behavior. The date code is 09J42. I assume I just wired it to the opener wrong.

It seems that the cheap terminal block on the opener can only hold the small gauge solid core wire that is going to the button, so I was not able to connect the stranded 22 gauge wire from the uni mod to the same place. Maybe I will try to wire it to the back of the wall button instead of the opener.

[Brian H]

Since they are in parallel. Hooking the module to the switch end should be fine.

[dbemowsk]

If you used stranded wire to connect to your screw terminals on your opener, all you would need is one small strand jumping the connection to the other terminal and it would cause problems.

Separate a section of wire between your door opener wall switch and your opener.  separate the two wires leaving about 2 inches of wire for each splice.  Use the wire splicing method two from this site and repeat for both wires.  Tape the connections good with electrical tape.  Connect the spliced in wires to your universal module. 

[cawgolf]

Has anyone figured this issue out??

I just hooked up a UM506 to my garage and can control it fine from my iPhone via X10 Commander or from AHP. However, the wall switch does not work at all.

I have spliced the wires from the UM 506 to the wires running from the wall switch together with the wires running from the motor. I wanted both the wall switch and x10 Commander to operate the garage door. There is seemingly no power at all now at the wall switch.

Any help appreciated.

[Brian H]

Is it more than a plain switch?
Maybe has electronics and a display.

[cawgolf]

No, it is just a button/switch. There is no display. Does it matter where in the loop that I splice the UM506 into the existing wire [currently it is between the wall switch and the motor]? Am I better off to run a wire from the UM506 directly to the garage door motor screws than splicing it into the existing wire from the button? I cannot understand why the button has no power now.

[dave w]

Recheck your wireing.
Is the wall switch a simple door bell style button?
Did it light up originally?
Make sure the Universal Module is in the momentary mode.
Do you have a multi meter that you could use to check resistance between your two splices? With the Universal Module in the open (off) condition the resistance should be high, not zero.

[Brian H]

You are using Momentary for the output?

[cawgolf]

Thanks, guys. I am not sure what the problem was but I re-wired the UM506 directly to the motor instead of splicing into the wires from the wall switch. Not sure why that made a difference exaclty, but both the wall switch and UM506 are working now.