Print

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

[nelson]

Well...here I am with a little egg on my face...I'm not as smart as I thought I was.

I've discovered what was causing a few lights to go on by themselves.
I remembered that I recently put a trickle charger on a car battery (the battery is not in the car, just sittting on a shelf).
While I have filters on my TV's, computers and UPS's I did not have a filter on this recently added trickle charger. After removing the charger about 36 hours ago there has not been one unintended lighting event.

It was Roger's comment about considering getting better quality switches that made me realize that noise on the line might affect some switches and not others. At that point I started walking around the house trying to find what might generate noise...when I got to the battery charger I was sure that was it...and it was.

Thanks to all of the participants here for helping with my thought process...it was very helpful.

--Nelson

[Brian H]

Thanks for that information. We see uncommon noise makers from time to time. Someone had a constant X10 signal on the line that was a Remote packed in a box that has something intermittently push the button and start the signals.

[TakeTheActive]

Well...here I am with a little egg on my face...I'm not as smart as I thought I was...

I would like to [with as much 'unbiasedness ' (Yeah, I looked it up first - IT'S A REAL WORD!) as possible ], recommend that you read my X10 FAQ (as referenced by my SIG LINK).

While X10 Stuff is 'Great Fun', because of it's age, it's not exactly "Plug-N-Go" anymore!

...Thanks to all of the participants here for helping with my thought process...it was very helpful.

Please be sure to CLICK on the 'Helpful' LINK for the posts that the VOLUNTEERs submitted and you benefited from.

[-Bill- (of wgjohns.com)]

It is not un-acceptable to let unused inputs on CMOS float...

Just had to interject.  Everything I have ever read on circuit design using CMOS components says that all unused inputs must be tied to VCC or Ground, otherwise, erratic behaviour and / or excessive current draw will occur.

From personal experience, ignoring that advice in your circuit design is an open invitation to the dread Murphy!

[KDR]

Another noise maker... All of a sudden I have lights that stopped coming on. Found that when my wife's new laptop battery charger is plugged in no lights. Unplugged = lights. What made it hard to find is that one day its plugged in here... then there then somewhere else.

As common as the 3 prong adaptors are to older houses I guess a handful of plug-in filters laying around will be needed for the X10 house.

Off to buy more filters

[-Bill- (of wgjohns.com)]

Another noise maker... All of a sudden I have lights that stopped coming on. Found that when my wife's new laptop battery charger is plugged in no lights. Unplugged = lights. What made it hard to find is that one day its plugged in here... then there then somewhere else.

As common as the 3 prong adaptors are to older houses I guess a handful of plug-in filters laying around will be needed for the X10 house.

Off to buy more filters

As I posted elsewhere, I had the same problem with a laptop power supply.  Took forever (it seemed) before I noticed the coincidence that it only happened when my wife's laptop was plugged in to the circuit the lamp was on.  Mind you, my laptop doesn't cause the problem!  I guess all power supplies are NOT created equal!

[WhiteWolf]

I have had similar experience with a light switch activating all by itself. I believe that humidity is playing a role in my issue. In the summer, with the AC running 24/7 there are no problems. In the winter with the heat on 24/7 no problems. In the spring or fall when the house is open I get occasional "light on" events. All of these could be turned off by remote command. I live in Florida where the humidity is 80%+ on a normal day.