.... I would also LIKE to get back the ability to turn on/of any or all of the 3 PR511s from the MiniTimer controller inside the house.
And who wouldn't! Something has gone wrong somewhere... and the only way to fix it... is to track down what when wrong where. Randomly adding new stuff (XP53) might give you gthe disired results... or it could just waste time and money.
The best way to resolve you problem.. is to begin at the beginning. How-To: Map Your Electrical Circuits
After you have your circuits mapped and on paper:
- Check to make sure (with all other circuits off) that you mini-timer works on it's own circuits.
- With all other circuits off... EXCEPT the two with the floodlights and mini-timer.... and then all other devices except the floodlights and mini-timers removed. See if the mini timer operates ether the floodlights (OR an added control module).
I already have my circuits mapped. I have made some effort toward removing various things from the circuits, but not rigorously. However, I have just done another test I found under Troubleshooting in this Forum. I rigged a small incandescant lamp I could plug into a working lamp module. With this I started testing the wall outlets in the house, using both the Mini Tester and the RF controll RC5000. I did 5 and they all worked fine. I then decided to cut to the chase and go directly to the circuit with the 3 PR511s. I have two wall outlets on the same circuit, so I plugged my test lamp/module into each. It worked fine on both. This tells me it is NOT a signal/noise problem. It is simply that the PR511s are not responding to the line signals. These outlets are within a few feet of two of the PR511s. I am sorely tempted to conclude that the PR511s, at least the ones I purchased perhaps 10 years ago, are not robust, reliable units. I have just ordered a new one ($50 including 4-5 other goodies and shipping). It will be interesting to see how well it works. I might add that I have also had several failures of lamp modules in recent years. Maybe they use the same signal processing circuits as used in the PR511s.
BTW, the Sensor/Dusk settings on all 3 PR511s are in the OUT positions, i.e., not controlling any other lights. The house codes are all set to the same letter as I use on my controllers. The Start codes are set to 1, 2, and 3 respectively. Of possible interest/importance is originally (years ago) had the Sensor settings all set to the start code of a chime module. I unplugged the chime because it drove us crazy in windy weather due to swaying bushes. Somewhere in the same time frame we had problems with spurious lamp on/off episodes which I finally traced to the PR511s. This was a long time ago so my memory is not clear, but I believe I fixed it by putting all the Sensor/Dusk settings to OUT.
Ed
