Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Nickc]

I'm having a very bizarre problem with my WS467 modules and IR543 controller. Here is some background on what is going on:

I have a custom built media room. Every outlet and the lights are on one circuit (breaker). Between the breaker and where the wiring exits the breaker box there is a CorCom 20R6 Noise filter. This is to ensure that there is a bare minimum of noise entering the circuit from anything else in the house. So essentailly, the entire X10 circuit is isolated from any noise from the rest of the house. The X10 circuit is comprised of two WS467 modules, each controlling two incandescent lights, and an IR543 remote module to control the lights.

Here is the issue:
On/Off/All On/All Off work just fine. Dim/Bright however....  Here is a list of scenarios and the results, keep in mind that all of these behaviors occur with both sets of lights, so it has to be something occurring pre-WS467:

A. Normal - IR534 plugged into outlet in media room: lights will arbitrarily not dim/bright, dim/bright somewhere between 5-20% and then stop, or do either of the two and then the red light on the IR543 will stay lit and the unit will need to be unplugged and then plugged back in to clear the LED.

B. All devices unplugged from the circuit except the IR543 and WS467s - Same as A.

C. Random other breakers turned off - either acts like A scenario or functions fine. Turning the breakers back on and then turning different ones off yields the same results. If I go back and turn the first set off again it may or may not result in the same behavior as the first time I turned them off.

D. All house lights off, appliances unplugged, all outlets clear - Acts like scenario A

E. All house lights off, appliances unplugged, all outlets clear several random breakers turned off - Same as C

Ok, weird enough for you? Here's where it gets really strange:

F. Normal except the IR543 is plugged into an outlet in my shop (about 100' away from the house and through a breaker in the shop and a breaker in the house) - Works perfect.
G. Normal except instead of the IR543 being plugged into an outlet in the media room, it is plugged into a 50' extension cord that is plugged into the outlet (IR543 in same location as before, the extension cord is just looped on the ground). - Works perfect

I just don't understand what could be happening! I'm not going to have a 50' extension cord snaking across my media room just so I can dim the lights, but I would really like to dim the lights! I would think that this is a problem with the IR543, but it works great as long as it's going through at least 50' or so of wire.

Any ideas what could be causing this very bizarre behavior?

[Brian H]

WS467s Are they the newer soft start with resume dim?

The IR543 worked in an outlet in the shop and was not on the branch with the 20R6 and WS467s?
Doesn't sound like it does much in the X10 power line frequency range.

Can you remove the 20R6 and see if things get different?

What type of lights are the WS467s controlling and do they shine on the IR543?

[Nickc]

WS467s Are they the newer soft start with resume dim?

They are the soft start with resume dim

The IR543 worked in an outlet in the shop and was not on the branch with the 20R6 and WS467s?
Doesn't sound like it does much in the X10 power line frequency range.

It does not filter in the X10 range.

Can you remove the 20R6 and see if things get different?

I have tried it without the 20R6 and there was no difference at all.

What type of lights are the WS467s controlling and do they shine on the IR543?

They control incandescent flood lights (60w) and they do not shine on the module.

[Brian H]

Any other X10 devices?
Like phase couplers or active repeaters?
Computer controllers?

[dave w]

Until you got the part about the IR543 LED sticking on, you were perfectly describing a WS467 with a bad choke coil. If your WS467s are addressed the same, set one to a different address and see if they still freeze at some percent when controlled independently.

Edit: I just read about the 50' extension cord. That eliminates a WS467 problem.


http://forums.x10.com/index.php?topic=21815.15

Check this thread describing same problem. I know this is ridiculous question, but are you sure the bulbs are incandescent?

[Nickc]

I don't have any other devices hooked up.

I'm sure the bulbs are incandescent, we have fluorescent in the rest of the house so I bought these bulbs just for this. That's one of the big reasons I got the filter as well, it filters out high and low bands consistent with electric motors and fluorescent lamps.

The whole thing is just very weird. I'm going to try a few more troubleshooting ideas tomorrow, but of anyone has an idea please let me know.

[dave w]

Well, based on other threads the IR 543 locking up with the "Active" LED stuck on, is an optical interference problem. But just for giggles, I would still dim the WS467s independantly to see if the results are the same.

[Nickc]

OK, I did a bit of troubleshooting tonight. I isolated the circuit as much as possible by going to the first wall outlet and disconnecting the wires that went to the remaining outlets. This left only the outlet the IR543 was plugged into, the power to the lightswitches, and the switched power wires to the lights. Same issue.

I then completely disconnected any outlets and ran wires only to the light switches and plugged the IR543 into an outlet on a different breaker. Same issue.

I removed one WS467 and replaced the other with a new one. Same issue.

I checked on the optical issue and it doesn't seem to apply as I am not using a remote, just the buttons on the IR543 (btw the remote does the same thing). Just in case, I covered the sensor completely. Same issue.


One thing that I have noticed is that the LEDs on the IR543 will at times get stuck for a few seconds and then flash rapidly one or two times before going out. At this point it loses "memory" of what circuit it was controlling and I have to press the 1/5 button again to turn circuit 1 on or off.

I also dug out my RR501 Transceiver and remote and found that all commands work with it, but the dim/bright goes up/down in small increments over the course of about 30 seconds. Just for S&G I plugged the RR501 into my 50' extension cord but it did the same thing, going dim or bright in small steps instead of a steady rise/fall.

[Brian H]

The slow dim and bright could be the way the soft start wall switches act and maybe when manufactured.
I have early soft start lamp modules and they act just like your wall switches. While later ones had a different firmware and do different things.

I am beginning to suspect the IR543 is defective, but why the extension cord changing things is not clear. Maybe the power line transmitter has a problem modified by the extension cords properties.

[dave w]

Sorry if I sent you on a wild goose chase, but covering the IR543 and having the same problem pretty much eliminates an optical problem. "That's all I got" sorry.

[Nickc]

No problem, goose chases are what often leads us to the problem.

I did something a bit on the extreme side and pulled out every breaker from my box except the one that the light and IR543 cicuit is on. I still had random issues so at this point I can only infer that it is the IR543 itself.

I ordered a new one and we'll see if that fixes the issue.

[dave w]

Definately post back. Since you are not the only one describing similar problem it will be interesting if a new unit fixes. Maybe X10 has mixed up the parts bins again.

[Nickc]

Well, after several days and a lot of complaining about having to reset the clocks all the time while I was playing with breakers, I got the new IR543 today and tried it out.

Problem solved!

After all of that intensly frustrating diagnostic work it turned out to be a bad transciever. The odd thing is that it was so intermittantly bad. It didn't work right, but it worked wrong in a slightly different way every time.

I would say to anyone experiencing similar problems, or any bizarre function issues to get their hands on a new controller and see if that fixes it.

Thanks for all of the responses and help!

[Brian H]

Thank you for the update.
I am glad the problem was found.