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[nabril15]

Hello Xteners
I don't see much activity, so I hope that our resident experts are still willing to help.
My house:
3 electrical panels:
1. Main one outside that has pool stuff and feeds the other 2 panels.
2. Garage - has all interior house circuits.
3. Gazebo - has all gazebo components - fans, mini fridge, outlets, and landscape lighting.
An XTBR booster/repeater is plugged into a garage outlet 2 feet from panel number 2.

Issue:
An XPS3 switch fed by a gazebo outlet controls the landscape lights, and has worked fine for MANY years. As of 2 months or so, it won't receive signals, and I have to walk out there to mechanically turn it on and off every night. Every night. Two column lights on the gazebo share the same code number as the landscape lights, and they come on and off beautifully every night; they are fed by a circuit inside the house from panel 2.

Troubleshooting:
I replaced a known working XPS3 from inside the house to the landscape lights one, and it did not receive the remote or controller signals either. I had to manually activate it.
I brought the outside XPS3 inside to the same place as the XPS3 above to test it receiving signals, and it did not receive anything.
Initial conclusion: the outside XPS3 works mechanically but not via signals.
Second conclusion: the inside XPS3 used to test didn't receive signals either at the outside location, so SOMETHING is obviously blocking the signal.

I turned off all the breakers of the gazebo panel, 1 at a time, to test if the xps3 would receive the signals, and it did not work.

Next:
As an x10 owner of 10+ years, I know that I will need to try to isolate what might be blocking the signal by turning off each breaker of the garage panel to isolate the culprit. That involves a lot of breakers and a lot of work, and removing power from a lot of things.

I've thought about just getting a new xps3 for outside to see if that remedies the solution, but my 2nd conclusion above stops me.
I have an xpfm module sitting idle that I can use to troubleshoot, and I'll do that before buying another xps3.

I ask for your thoughts, knowing that I need to isolate devices inside the house to identify potential blockers. I haven't added anything other than the Christmas decorations that are now gone.

I thank you

[brobin]

From what you've tested I think we can draw 2 conclusions; 1) the XPS3 that doesn't work in either location has failed, and 2) something is blocking or reducing the signal to the gazebo panel.
Based on that and the fact that you haven't added anything new, I'd look for LED lights and wall warts that are getting old and swamping the line with interference even though they still work otherwise. This is a fairly common thing with switching power supplies.
While the XTBR is helpful as a booster/repeater, unlike the XTB-IIR it doesn't provide coupling between the two legs. A pair of XT-ANR's might be helpful since the XTB-IIR is no longer available.  https://jvde.us/xtb/xtb-anr.pdf
You could also try a simple bridging cap at the main panel [https://jvde.us/x10/x10_couplers.pdf] or an XPCR Coupler Repeater/Amplifier (this might conflict with the XTBR though).

[Brian H]

Jeff recommends having a passive X10 coupler between the phases. So the XTBR can get signals to both phases of the home.
Not sure if the LED on it would flash on noise as an indication of a noise burst.
I would think more on the signal sucker absorbing X10 before it gets to the garage.

[nabril15]

From what you've tested I think we can draw 2 conclusions; 1) the XPS3 that doesn't work in either location has failed, and 2) something is blocking or reducing the signal to the gazebo panel.
Based on that and the fact that you haven't added anything new, I'd look for LED lights and wall warts that are getting old

thank you Brobin and Brian....the B's

What's a "wall wart"
One "change" did occur at the gazebo that's worth mentioning perhaps.
A GFI outlet located on one of the columns failed months ago, and so both outlets at that location didn't work. The XPS3 DID receive signals.
A month ago or so, I replaced the failing GFI outlet with a standard one so that both outlets would work fine. They are covered and i know that it should have used a GFI, but I put in a tamper resistant outlet, and now there's power. I could say that "since then, the xps3 stopped receiving signals". Perhaps. And I could remove said outlet, cap the wires, and test. Or kill power to it as well and test - I did this already.

Aghhhh. What an awesome technology, that is frustratingly frustrating when it doesn't work right.
Would replacing that XPS3 with an XPS4 that has AGC, be better? I admit that I don't know what the gain control is.

EDIT - I just tested the XPFM, and it did not receive signals either. It was stuck on the ON position for some reason = I connected it and the lights were powered. I bought it in a lot of a few X10 things, and this is the first time that I use it. I spun the house code and number wheels to make sure, but it still did not receive signals.
The gazebo is plagued!!!

[brobin]

A wall wart is a plug-in power supply such as a phone charger or any number of low voltage devices.  While it shouldn't make a difference if installed correctly, yes, I'd disconnect the new outlet for testing.

As for the XPS4, AGC might help. AGC enables a module to be more sensitive to weaker X10 signals and might be useful in your situation.

This is a wall wart:
 

[nabril15]

A wall wart is a plug-in power supply such as a phone charger or any number of low voltage devices.  While it shouldn't make a difference if installed correctly, yes, I'd disconnect the new outlet for testing.

As for the XPS4, AGC might help. AGC enables a module to be more sensitive to weaker X10 signals and might be useful in your situation.

This is a wall wart:

thank you brobin
So, yes, our houses are filled with warts then. Tons of them. Do I need to unplug them, one by one, and test the remote signaling?

[brobin]

Yes, but it might be easier to turn off one breaker at a time. When you find the offending circuit you can just unplug those. Either way it's a process of elimination.

[nabril15]

a good morning to all
I found the guilty culprit - a circuit in that gazebo. One breaker was turned off, and it fixed the xps3's issue, and my pool pump's xps2 issue that has lingered for a while, where it works mechanically but didn't receive signals.
In that gazebo circuit is that outlet that I replaced recently that I mentioned above, so perhaps that is indeed the true culprit. I will dig deeper when I have some time.

That xps2 that controls the pump has code number 8, yet it responds to number 7 commands, or perhaps others. I will see the water circulating when it's not supposed to. That xps2 is brand new from 3 days ago, and it responds to, it seems, 7 commands.
Should I just change it to another number to test out?

[Brian H]

Try rotating the House Code and Unit Code dials. A few times on the chance one (Unit Probably) is making poor connection and is not on the address set on the dials.

[bkenobi]

Finding the issue by turning one at a time off until things work (or turning all off and one at a time back on) is the best way to find issues.  The down side is resetting all the clocks.   

Slightly off topic, but a related story:
My MIL called last week asking if a breaker that kept popping could just be replaced and resolve the issue.  After some questions, I suggested finding anything that could be unplugged and pull them.  If it still popped, it would have to be the breaker or something more significant (hardwired appliance, wiring, etc).  I didn't hear back for a few days but it turns out the builder didn't follow code (or a homeowner special) was the issue.  They had receptacles for 2 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms, and a rogue outdoor location all on a single 15A breaker.  There was no GFI on anything and the reason the breaker was popping...was a long forgotten extension cord that was well underground powering some light strings.  When the pulled the extension cord out of the ground, only part of it came up because it wasn't fully intact.   

[nabril15]

Try rotating the House Code and Unit Code dials. A few times on the chance one (Unit Probably) is making poor connection and is not on the address set on the dials.

thanks Brian
You're suggesting to rotate the dials on the XPS2, obviously, right? This is a new unit, from ebay, so it's probably been stored a while.
It has shorter cables than the previous xps2 that I had installed, and that sucks...

[brobin]

Oxidation can build up on the contacts so spinning the code wheels is usually sufficient to clean them and restore the connection.  If that doesn't fix it, you could open it up and have a look and try cleaning the contact pads with a pencil eraser.