Lamp Module Poltergeist

gluasad · October 07, 2010, 07:44:33 AM

Hi all,

I've a strange thing happening with my lamp modules. Now, they do go on and off with the various remotes I have as well as with ActiveHome Pro, so that is not a problem. The problem is once I turn them off for the night they want to keep coming on during the night. Last night I turned them off and went to bed. In the middle of the night I had to get up and use the "facilities" and I noticed that all the lamps that were connected to lamp modules were all on. So I turned them off again. This morning I awoke, came downstairs and all the same lights were on again.

Is this a common problem? Hopefully there is a simple solution.

Thanks.

ActiveHome runs on a Windows 7 computer. All the lamp modules are on "A" housecode.

Brian H · October 07, 2010, 09:06:43 AM

Was the setup working OK and now something has changed operation wise?
Any motion sensors in your setup?
Can you see any extra commands in the AHP Activity Monitor?
All of your remotes counted for? We have seen a few cases where a remote got a stuck button in a drawer.

Regular incandescent bulbs on the Lamp Modules?

gluasad · October 07, 2010, 10:21:38 AM

Quote from: Brian H on October 07, 2010, 09:06:43 AM
Was the setup working OK and now something has changed operation wise?
Any motion sensors in your setup?
Can you see any extra commands in the AHP Activity Monitor?
All of your remotes counted for? We have seen a few cases where a remote got a stuck button in a drawer.

Regular incandescent bulbs on the Lamp Modules?

Thanks for replying Brian H,

No, the setup has been behaving this way right from the start. I have no motion sensors in the setup and there are no extra commands in the AHP Activity Monitor. I just have 3 remotes, the palm remote, a keychain remote and the platinum universal remote and all 3 are accounted for.

However, now that you mention it one of the lamps has a compact fluorescent bulb in it. Perhaps that is the problem. I'm at work right now but when I get home tonight I will replace that with an incandescent and see if that makes a difference.

Thanks.

hawk1 · October 07, 2010, 10:30:09 AM

My lights come on everytime I use my miter saw! Everytime I cut a board i'll go inside and all the lights came on!

Could be a spike in the electrical somewhere? (maybe air conditioner, furnace, etc....)

gluasad · October 07, 2010, 10:39:33 AM

Quote from: hawk1 on October 07, 2010, 10:30:09 AM
My lights come on everytime I use my miter saw! Everytime I cut a board I'll go inside and all the lights came on!
Could be a spike in the electrical somewhere? (maybe air conditioner, furnace, etc....)

Thanks hawk1,

That's a possibility too, although this is happening in the middle of the night when everyone is asleep. The only thing I can think of in the house that would be running at that time of the night is the refrigerator when the compressor kicks in. When I get home tonight I'll set up a little test to determine if the fridge might be the culprit coming on and causing a power spike in the line.

Thanks

dave w · October 07, 2010, 12:14:44 PM

$0.02
Very old Appliance Modules and Lamp Modules were sensitive to "spikes" (actually dips and then noisy recovery by power company or house wiring after something "big" started up). This was back in the early '80s, so should not apply here (unless X10 did another module "cost reduction" and took out a two penny cap or a five cent MOV). Not sure why I even brought it up, other than as an intro to say X10 has improved to the point I rarely see this happen any more....except on two wire light switch modules.

Could something be issuing a "All Lights ON" command? For giggles, change one or two of the lights to a different house code and see if they come on again.

gluasad · October 07, 2010, 12:24:05 PM

Thanks Dave W,

I'll give that a try. I'm still at work

right now and won't be home for a couple of hours, but I will try your suggestion once I get home.

Thanks.

Brandt · October 07, 2010, 02:10:34 PM

What house code are you using? Don't use A as that is the default that most people use..if you have a neighbor with it...

Dr.Fiero · October 07, 2010, 02:46:39 PM

You mention you have 3 remotes.
Have cats?
(sure you can see where I'm going)

As above - house code A is default - try simply setting to I or something (check AHP's TOOLS | FIND OTHER COMPUTERS and see what isn't in use).

MichaelHlubb · October 07, 2010, 04:01:12 PM

Quote from: gluasad on October 07, 2010, 07:44:33 AM
Hi all,

I've a strange thing happening with my lamp modules. Now, they do go on and off with the various remotes I have as well as with ActiveHome Pro, so that is not a problem. The problem is once I turn them off for the night they want to keep coming on during the night. Last night I turned them off and went to bed. In the middle of the night I had to get up and use the "facilities" and I noticed that all the lamps that were connected to lamp modules were all on. So I turned them off again. This morning I awoke, came downstairs and all the same lights were on again.

Is this a common problem? Hopefully there is a simple solution.

Thanks.

ActiveHome runs on a Windows 7 computer. All the lamp modules are on "A" housecode.

What's in the history file for those modules and times? F2 from Active home pro will pull up the history for you. It may help to track down where this is coming from.

gluasad · October 07, 2010, 08:19:43 PM

Quote from: Brandt on October 07, 2010, 02:10:34 PM
What house code are you using? Don't use A as that is the default that most people use..if you have a neighbor with it...

Hi Brandt,

I am using A. I'll try switching to another code and see what happens.

Thanks

gluasad · October 07, 2010, 08:24:02 PM

Quote from: Dr.Fiero on October 07, 2010, 02:46:39 PM
You mention you have 3 remotes.
Have cats?
(sure you can see where I'm going)

As above - house code A is default - try simply setting to I or something (check AHP's TOOLS | FIND OTHER COMPUTERS and see what isn't in use).

Dr.Fiero,

No cats. I'll give I a try. I checked FIND OTHER COMPUTERS and there are a couple of code combinations in use that aren't mine - probably belong to a neighbor, however, the code combos that I'm using aren't in use by any other computer.

Thanks for the input.

gluasad · October 07, 2010, 08:26:57 PM

Quote from: MichaelHlubb on October 07, 2010, 04:01:12 PM
What's in the history file for those modules and times? F2 from Active home pro will pull up the history for you. It may help to track down where this is coming from.

Hi MichaelHlubb,

The history file shows that during those wee hours of the morning no commands were transmitted to the modules. It's a mystery.

gluasad · October 07, 2010, 08:31:24 PM

Quote from: Brian H on October 07, 2010, 09:06:43 AM
Was the setup working OK and now something has changed operation wise?
Any motion sensors in your setup?
Can you see any extra commands in the AHP Activity Monitor?
All of your remotes counted for? We have seen a few cases where a remote got a stuck button in a drawer.

Regular incandescent bulbs on the Lamp Modules?

Hi again Brian H,

So I replaced the fluorescent bulb in one of the lamps with an incandescent bulb and turned the lamps in question off. So far (4 hours now), the lamps have not come on.

Fingers crossed.

Thanks.

gluasad · October 08, 2010, 04:51:21 AM

Hello to everyone who offered suggestions to help solve this problem.

Thanks to everyone and a special thanks to Brian H. Replacing the compact fluorescent bulb with an incandescent bulb in the one lamp did the trick. I woke up this morning to darkness.

It amazes me how one little fluorescent bulb can cause such havoc but that was the case.

Thanks again to all.

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Lamp Module Poltergeist