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[Dave4720]

I have sensor lights all over a two-house compound, in 10 locations.  The sensor lights all go crazy during storms, so I put XPS3 relay switches in the feeds to the sensor lights.  Then I can hit F16 OFF and power down all the lights until after the storm - then F16 ON restores all sensor lights.

The sensor lights have a feature that if you turn them OFF and then back ON fast, they stay on (manual override).

When I hit my F16 OFF, all XPS3 relay switches go off, and so do the sensor lights.  When I hit F16 ON, some sensor lights stay ON, as if in manual override.  But they never did using the original wall switch.  Throwing the breaker switch OUT then IN also does not product this effect - just via the XPS3 relay switch.

I suspect a horrible switch bounce condition or other condition to the XPS3 relay switch triggering the sensor light’s manual override feature.

The function of the XPS3 relay switch makes my idea useless, because restoring the sensor light power causes the lights to stay ON and I have to go flip the breaker to get them back to normal operation.

Any ideas or insights?

[dave w]

Some of X10 engineering mystifies me. I am wondering if the XPS3 has leakage current through the load. Perhaps enough to keep the sensor lights from resetting back to full auto.

My only thought would be to pick one of the lights that will not reset, turn XPS3 off, and measure the line feeding the sensor light. Be careful when you do this. If there is leakage,  it could be as high as 60V and although very low current, it is enough to make you "dance" off a ladder.

If voltage is present, you have probably identified the problem. Maybe some one else can offer solution suggestion. All I got is:

A 7 watt night light across the sensor light feed line might "quench" the leakage current enough that the sensor lights properly reset.

Another solution might be to have the XPS3 power a 120V coil relay and have the relay couple power to the sensor lights.

[Brian H]

The XPS3 in a short test. Has a small current on the load when off. I believe it is the circuit that senses if the switch is on or off. That way if it is on and an on is received it doesn't toggle the load off by mistake. It does not seem to have any Local Control Sensing just the what is my switches status sensor.

OK. On a 40 watt light bulb. 0.3ma AC through the bulb and 7.8 mv AC across the bulb. Off; with no bulb is on the load terminal. There is a 69 Volts AC between Neutral and the Load terminals.
So there could be some current or voltage across your sensor fixture when off. It depends on what load they present to the switch and how they may react to this small voltage and current.

As a test can you wire a small night light across the sensor lights AC input or between the Neutral and Load terminals of a problem switch. If that corrects it;then the small sensing current is messing them up.