Wierd X10 Problem, only at the Christmas season.

[Dan Lawrence]

I ran into a wierd happening this year:  Usually our outside Christmas lights are controlled by 2 Appliance Modules which were powered by an outlet on the east side of the house, but this year I had to move it to an outlet on the west side of the house because I could not control it by x10 on the east side.  Weird!!! 

[dave w]

WOW!! Never heard of that before! One year it works, and next year it don't...I can't imagine it! 

[beelocks]

Probably a marginal noise problem due to your new desk earlier this year.

[Noam]

I'll ask the obvious question:
1. What has changed in your home since last year?
2. Think about new electronics, cell phone chargers, CFL bulbs (might be one of your neighbors), etc?
3. Are the "east side" and "west side" outlets on different circuits? Different phases?
4. Are there other outlets on the same circuit as the "East side" outlet that you can test for reception of X10 commands?
and finally:
5. Did you test that the "east side" outlet is actually working? if it is a GFCI, it might have tripped, or possibly failed (some of them tend to last only a few years, especially the outdoor ones)

[Dan Lawrence]

Electrically both outlets are working.   Why X10 signals suddenly got blocked is a mystery as there has been no changes since last year.  On the east side there's still a lamp module that controls a table light that works.   It's the two Appliance Modules (O5 and O6) that control the outside lights that stopped working until I moved them to the west side of the basement (the Workroom) and now they work.     

[Noam]

Dan -
X10 signals don't care which "east side" and side of the house they are on. What matters more is what circuit and phase they are on, and what other devices might be interfering with them.
Is the "table lamp" you referred to on the same breaker as the problematic outlet?
Have you tested with the lamp both off and on?
Do you share a transformer with any other homes nearby? It is possible that a neighbor who shares the same transformer has added a noisy device since last year (or one of their devices has started to make more noise than it used to).
I suppose it is possible that something in *your* house has also started producing more noise than it used to.

[Dan Lawrence]

Considering the house next door (to the west) is on a totally different transformer than my house, so rule that out.  I did check the light with a lamp module on it, no problem, X10 turns it on and off, no problem.   When I moved O5 and O6 to the west side, control to the 2 appliance modules was 100%.      This item is now closed, I will not reply to any other post made on this subject, it is a waste of my time.

[beelocks]

This item is now closed, I will not reply to any other post made on this subject, it is a waste of my time.

Dan, your typical response is getting a little boring.

You complain that your system fails, then when people offer CONSTRUCTIVE, VALID and usually CORRECT assistance, you shoot them down with your own peculiar brand of logic followed immediately by your usual "subject closed" remark.

In fact there were changes in your home since this time last year. We know that you changed the settings on a PR511 (the one that was sending dusk commands that you refused to acknowledge) and I'm almost certain that you had a new desk that caused problems for reasons that I simply cannot be bothered to remember.

One thing you should know is that deleting and reloading your .ahx file will probably not solve your problem this time either. It could also be that you're using the wrong version of AHP, you're not in the USA or simply that you don't have or don't want a smart phone or tablet.

Note to self - don't bother reading anything Dan writes; it's a waste of my time 

I fully realise that this post is neither helpful or constructive, but in I do feel much better for saying something that crosses my mind every single time you make one of your ill-considered comments about AHP versions, .AHX files and X10 not working anywhere outside the USA.

I also fully realise that the word 'realise' is not spelt the way most of you expect it (and you probably spell 'spelt' as 'spelled'), but I'm just a dumb foreigner and I do things like this just to annoy the natives 

[hawk1]

Amen!   

[dave w]

   I knew I should have put on a Depends today! 

[Knightrider]

Locks,

Your spelling is all good with me, it's just a horse of a different colour. 

[Dan Lawrence]

Can we PLEASE Lock this topic?