PZZ01 NOISE FILTER< COUPLER QUESTIONS

[locorider21]

Ok, question for you guys, is there one UNIT that I can connect to my circuit breaker that will work to eliminate ALL noise in my house. From what ive been reading, i have to actually find the sourceof the noise...... and buy one filter for each source, but is there something that cancels out all noise in house? Is that the PZZ01 and has anyone ever installed it?

[Charles Sullivan]

Ok, question for you guys, is there one UNIT that I can connect to my circuit breaker that will work to eliminate ALL noise in my house. From what ive been reading, i have to actually find the sourceof the noise...... and buy one filter for each source, but is there something that cancels out all noise in house? Is that the PZZ01 and has anyone ever installed it?

Afraid not, unless the source of the noise happens to be external to your house, which is rarely the case.  However it is possible for X10 signals from your neighbor's house to reach your house (and vice-versa) if you're both connected to the same power company transformer.  The PZZ01 is intended to isolate you from the outside world.

The usual situation is that you have an electronic appliance with a switching power supply somewhere in your house, possibly a TV or VCR, or even the PC's power supply itself.  And this appliance either:
  1. Introduces enough noise on the powerline to swamp out X10 signals
     -- OR --
  2. Has a large filter capacitance on its AC input which shorts out X10 signals.

The solution to either of these is the special X10 filter inserted between the offending appliance and the powerline.  Once the noise gets on your home's powerline there's not much you can do about it.

[locorider21]

Ok heres my problem, i have 7 decorator dimmer switces installed in my house. One in my hallway, will turn on by remote, but not off. The one in my bathroom will turn off by remote but not on. Ive turned of every electronic device, and nothing changes. I cant find the source of the noise. So what do i do now? The other switches work fine

[KDR]

Just turning your devices off may not do it. You may have to unplug them. I have a game cube that puts a ton of noise on the wire even in the off position. The noise only goes away when the unit is unplugged.

[Brian H]

So true. Unplug is needed for many items with the power source running in standby for a soft starts.

[locorider21]

And if still nothing works, then wat?

[KDR]

Then post back here, but try it. I had modules doing the same thing on's and no off's and so on. When I located the cause and put filters on it solved the problem.

[locorider21]

hey, ok i unplugged EVERYTHING. And i got to the point in which the hall light would turn on and off, then i tested the bathroom light, and still nothing. But when i tried the hall light a second time, nothing happend. So even with everything unplugged, its not working.. Whats the next step.

[Puck]

What are you using to control the lights? (sorry if I missed that)

Is it plugged into the same circuit? If not, there could be something in the controllers circuit that could be degrading the signal. And, can you move you controller to the Hall / Bathroom circuit to verify that this circuit is now clean?

[KDR]

Can you give us some detail on your setup. What equipment you have, any phase couplers, how and where your controller is plugged in in relationship with your computer. Any UPS being used on your computer? What controller are you using?

[locorider21]

Ok heres my set up. My house is 2400sqft. I have 8 decorator dimmer switches, 1 lamp module, 2 credit card controllers, and 1 palm pad remote controller. I have the lamp module in my den on two lamps. I have the decorator switches, 1 in the master, 1 in the master bath, 1 in bedrom #1, 1 in the hall, 1 for the porch light, 1 for the entry way light, and 1 in the kitchen, and 1 in the bed room bath. All incadescent and all above 60w. I have the CMA15 in the central part of the house, the living room. From the CMA15 to each end of the house is no more than about 40-50 ft. Im using the plam pad remote mainly and it controls everything but 1 switch in the bathroom and 1 in the hall. The bathroom turns off only by remote, not on. The hall turns on only by remote and not off. However ALL switched are operable manually directly from the switch. I have unplugged EVERYTHING in my house to check for noise and i still have the same problem. I have moved the CMA15 around, and nothing changes.

[Puck]

I would initially suspect the PC you are using with the CM15A as being a possible signal sucker, but you said that you moved the CM15A around to different locations (hopefully without a PC attached... for test purposes).

Since the problem only affects those 2 locations, I am thinking they might be on a different house phase. A quick check would be to either turn on your oven or your dryer and see if they work better. If they do, you will need a phase coupler.

[locorider21]

Yes  did move the cma15 without a pc attached. But is it better to leave the pc attached at all time then? Cz i usually dont, it just sits on its own in the living room now (the cma15) I did the dryer test and still the same thing.. HA, it seems as if nothing is working for me.. Whats next. Im standing by my computer now waiting for responses

[KDR]

What model switches are you using and did they ever work or did they act this way out of the box. It is possible you have a couple of bad switches but the only way to be sure would to be switch it with one that is working (lots of work since there hardwired.)

What house code and unit code are you using? Did you try switching unit codes?

[Puck]

I know it can be frustrating, but the laws of electricity apply.... something is preventing the signal from reliably getting from point A to point B.

As KDR suggested, sometimes you have to move a known good unit to a questionable location, just to eliminate the possibility of a bad switch.

At this time, I can't think of anything else, but if you try anything and see different results, please keep us updated. Sometimes seeing a different type of failure can help lead to a solution.