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[Lythaeum]

So far my x10 life has been a miserable failure.  I was very excited and it worked for a while with ALOT of hiccups.

Lights turned on an off on their own.  Some devices never turn on.  Some times crazy loops get stuck with a light perpetually dimming or something of that sort.

I have tried all sorts of couplers and wired in and plugin filters and turning off breakers one by one.  I tried changing the house codes.  I tried everything I could think of.

I have lights that turn on everynight around 8-9pm.  It doesnt matter what code i set them to.  This, to me, defies logic, but oh well.  I just turned off the hard switch so that they could not be turned on at all.  This meant no x10 enjoyment for me.

Eventually i bought the PZZ01.  It needed an electrician to put it as I was not going to remove the neutral on my own.  It sat for a year before I got to install it. 

Now it is in.  The lights that were turning on around 8-9pm everynight no longer do so.  The rest of the internal signals do not work.  I cannot turn on or off my own stuff with remotes but at least my lights are not turning on by themselves. 

Well that was acceptable for at aleast I did not have to rip out the x10 switches.

That lasted for 3 weeks.

Now the damned PZZ01 is audibly buzzing.  I can feel it when I touch it.  I tried turning off the breakers that run into it and removing the white/neutral wire from the bus but it still buzzes.  So I rehooked of the wire and turned the breakers back on.

It is buzzing.

I imagine it is going to get hot and explode or something. 

I don't want my house to burn down because x10 has been one giant and VERY expensive failure.

Is it normal for the PZZ01 to buzz?

[dave w]

 
Now the damned PZZ01 is audibly buzzing.  I can feel it when I touch it.  I tried turning off the breakers that run into it and removing the white/neutral wire from the bus but it still buzzes. 

I imagine it is going to get hot and explode or something. 

If you have disconnected all power and the neutral to the PZZ01 and it still buzzes, it either isn't the PZZ01 or you have the perpetual energy model. 

How loud is the buzzing? A true loud buzz, a slight hum?

I don't see how current running through the homes neutral line could cause the PZZ01 to buzz when it has no operational power, but I suppose anything is possible. If it buzzes with no connections  to supply or neutral then I don't see how it could "explode or something".

When all connected and in operation and buzzing,
Was it installed correctly? (i.e. relative the orientation of meter and breakers).
Does it feel hot?
Does it smell hot?

Based on your descriptions, a lot of which is really unexplainable, and makes no sense (as you said "it defies logic"), I would replace all the X10 stuff with Z-Wave.

[Brian H]

Since the PZZ01 is also a coupler connected to neutral and both lines {all three if a three phase setup}.
It is possible it could buzz, but as dave w asked. Is it real loud or a low hum?
I don't have one to compare to. So hopefully someone with a PZZ01 installed can tell you if a hum or low buzz is normal.

The electrician did jump L2 to L3 on the PZZ01? As that is what is done in a split phase setup.

If it was buzzing with the two lines and neutral to it disconnected. It would have to be some induced hum from the main neutral lead through the center doughnut. Are you having any problems with things like some lights are real bright and others real dim?

[JeffVolp]

I have the Leviton 6284 here, which is really just a re-branded PZZ01.  It doesn't make any significant noise.

Since it was still buzzing with power disconnected, the buzz is proably due to a significant unbalanced current running through the neutral, possibly due to current spikes from dimmers or other electrical equipment.

I wouldn't worry about a slight buzz or hum, particularly if it varies with the electrical devices that are powered.  Regarding your X10 problems, you might want to take a look at some of the troubleshooting guides I wrote:

http://jvde.us/x10_troubleshooting.htm

Jeff

[Lythaeum]

It buzzes the way a light switch might if it is a dimmer switch with a bad load.  The neutral is running in the correct direction.  The jumper is between 2 and 3.  1 and 2 are on two different legs of the split phase.

The audible buzz noise is louder with different "noisy" appliances such as with the dishwasher running.  It doesn't seem to be getting hot.  I do not have a sense of smell (I will ask someone else to smell it) to tell if it burning or smells plasticy.

The device is not mounted in anyway.  It is resting on the neutral wire in a rather cramped spot in the circuit panel.  It buzzes a little less adibly when I hold it in place.  It is in fact resting on top of the pool lines (50 amp) and some other thick lines.  It is in contact with these lines.  Maybe they are creating some feedback?

I will try turning of the main breaker and then powering on each circuit one by one and see if one particular circuit brings on the audible noise. 

One thing positive as I noted before is that the lights no longer go on with the neighbors stuff.  I no longer have all my lights going on everynight around 8-9pm.

As for the x10 with Zwave...is that a viable way to go?  Does it render all the x10 stuff useless?  The switches arent so much of a concern, it is the $75 wired in filters that I would hate to have wasted money on.  What I am asking is, are zwave devices helped by the filters that block off computers and "noisy" devices?

[Brian H]

ZWave and X10 are 100% different and incompatible.

[dave w]

As for the x10 with Zwave...is that a viable way to go?  Does it render all the x10 stuff useless?   What I am asking is, are zwave devices helped by the filters that block off computers and "noisy" devices?

Unfortunately Z-Wave does obsolete your X10 system. But based on your description you do not have a working system now.

Without the PZZ01 you have lights coming on, on a daily basis at a regular time, that you are not controlling. IMHO that isn't a noise issue but more likely that you have a neighbor with X10 who is controlling your lights. However you state you changed your House Codes, with no change in behavior. Also you have lights that perpetually dim and brighten,etc. These two problems are not your standard, common, X10 quirks. You intstalled a PZZ01 and now you have nothing, no control of anything. This is all pretty puzzling. So it seems to boil down to X10 doesn't work for you.

Without an X10 expert with some X10 test equipment at your home, I don't know how you can troubleshoot, based on your puzzling description of the problem.

A side question, are you using AHP with the CM15A interface? If so, when your poltergeist was acting up, did you unplug the CM15A to see if it is acting up?

I do not use Z-Wave, but Z-Wave is all RF based, does not rely on powerline signals, so filters and repeaters are not needed. Each Z-Wave device actually repeats the Z-Wave signals, so commands are propagated throughout the network.
$0.02

[Lythaeum]

First, everyone thanks for the input and help.

The lack of any control after the PZZ01 was actually falsely reported by me.  It seems my cm15a computer module thing has chosen to die in the last year on being unused.  If I use a separate receiver I have x10 controls on some things.  Though I still have phantom commands such as lights that perpetually dim everytime they are turned on. 

I bought the PZZ01 to correct the lights turning on from (what I assumed was) a neighbor's system.  It has worked at stopping the outside signals from turning my lights on. 

The buzzing continues still and it is not getting hot.  It sounds like a bad flourescent light.   I am hoping that it is just a buzzy device.  It seems that the power going through the house's neutral is cuzing it to buzz.  It buzzes with the rest of wires removed.  I have the front of the electric panel off.  Maybe it will be less audible when I close up the panel....though I then will have no way of touching it to check if it is heating up.

Thanks for the info on zwave.  With all that I invested in x10, I would like to get it up and working.

If anyone has the PZZ01 can they listen to it and tell me if they hear a humming.
Thanks,
Frank

[dave w]

Another $0.02

OK now you say it is working as intended, so if it ain't getting hot, or smelling, you don't have a problem.

[toasterking]

The OP almost certainly doesn't care about this issue by now, but I'm posting this for reference purposes since I've not seen anything else posted on the subject.

I have a working PZZ01 installed and it buzzes.  I have had it installed for 5 years and it has buzzed from day one.  The pitch doesn't change (sounds like around 60 Hz as one would expect) but the volume and other characteristics change depending on what appliances I have turned on.  It's not very loud, but the buzzing is quite noticeable when the microwave oven is running and it's otherwise quiet in that room.  I can adjust dimmers (with incandescent bulbs) around the house and hear the audible characteristics of that buzzing change.  Besides when the microwave oven is on, I rarely even notice it.

The buzzing continues even with the power to the PZZ01 switched off.  If I switch off the main breaker, the buzzing stops.  I have the PZZ01 mounted outside the breaker panel in a plastic box.  The neutral runs through the PZZ01 before reaching the breaker panel but the two hot leads are also in close proximity.  I always assumed it was the inductors, or some other ferrous material, in the PZZ01 rattling due to the varying electromagnetic field around the neutral and hot leads as the current varies.  This effect could vary with each setup.  It has never gotten warm so I've never considered that to be abnormal operation.  I have not verified whether it blocks X10 signals from a neighbor's house, but it has always made a significant difference in phase coupling when powered, so I do not expect that it is defective.