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Author Topic: Do RR501s fail after years of use?  (Read 8801 times)

Dan Lawrence

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Do RR501s fail after years of use?
« on: December 22, 2010, 10:52:53 AM »

I have 2 RR501s, one in the Living Room that is on housecode A and one in the Breakfast Room on housecode F.  Yesterday the RR501 in the BR stopped  receiving signals from the Stick-a-Switch in the Room, which now suddenly sends signals to the RR501 in the Living Room and turns off/on lights in there - from the Breakfast Room.  I presume the RR501 has failed.
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Brian H

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Re: Do RR501s fail after years of use?
« Reply #1 on: December 22, 2010, 11:25:52 AM »

Check the battery in the Breakfast Room Stick-A-Switch.
A weak battery could have made it default to A which is the code in the Living Room.
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Dan Lawrence

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Re: Do RR501s fail after years of use?
« Reply #2 on: December 22, 2010, 12:43:40 PM »

Check the battery in the Breakfast Room Stick-A-Switch.
A weak battery could have made it default to A which is the code in the Living Room.

Replaced the battery, It seems the RR501 has failed. Since AHP has the timers, and can reach to the Breakfast Room/Kitchen and control the modules, I'll order a couple of RR501s from Automated Outlet after New Years.  I tried the RR501 in 4 other outlets, its dead.   Oh,well, life ain't perfect.
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HA Dave

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Re: Do RR501s fail after years of use?
« Reply #3 on: December 22, 2010, 12:52:34 PM »

..... Oh,well, life ain't perfect.

Try switching the House addresses and locations of the living room and Breakfast Room RR501's.
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Noam

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Re: Do RR501s fail after years of use?
« Reply #4 on: December 22, 2010, 01:08:09 PM »

The contacts on the code wheel may be dirty.
Try rotating the Housecode wheel a few times, and see if that makes any difference.
You might also want to try using a PalmPad, and seeing if it will respond to an RF commands (try different housecodes, just for good measure).
Is it "dead" in both the "Unit 1" and "Unit 9" positions, on all housecodes?
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JeffVolp

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Re: Do RR501s fail after years of use?
« Reply #5 on: December 22, 2010, 02:09:11 PM »

Replaced the battery, It seems the RR501 has failed.outlets, its dead.

I took out one a year ago with a static zap to the antenna.  The internal relay still responds to powerline commands, but the RF is dead.

Jeff
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Noam

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Re: Do RR501s fail after years of use?
« Reply #6 on: December 22, 2010, 02:45:20 PM »

I took out one a year ago with a static zap to the antenna.  The internal relay still responds to powerline commands, but the RF is dead.
What, YOU couldn't figure out how to fix it? ;-)
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JeffVolp

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Re: Do RR501s fail after years of use?
« Reply #7 on: December 22, 2010, 03:51:31 PM »

What, YOU couldn't figure out how to fix it? ;-)

I figure the RF input transistor was fried.  It is in the queue of things to do if I ever have some spare time.  Of course, there are much higher priority items in that queue, such as replacing the bake ignitor in our GE stove.  Repaired myself for $31 and half an hour, compared with an estimated $200 service charge.  That buys a lot of RR501s.

Jeff 
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Brian H

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Re: Do RR501s fail after years of use?
« Reply #8 on: December 22, 2010, 04:13:44 PM »

I repaired a power supply in one myself.

Seems the zener diode they used is close to its full rating and got warm. The PCB actually started to show blackening and the solder looked flaky.
I used two of half the original voltage in series to replace it and for good measure did the two electrolytic caps also. Using a slightly larger voltage and capacity.
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Dan Lawrence

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Re: Do RR501s fail after years of use?
« Reply #9 on: December 23, 2010, 05:56:56 PM »

..... Oh,well, life ain't perfect.

Try switching the House addresses and locations of the living room and Breakfast Room RR501's.

Tried that, when it did it the Living Room lights would not respond to the SS13, but the kitchen lights responded as they did before.  So I've ordered 2 from Automated Outlet.  One goes in the Breakfast Room (the original RR501 is back in the Breakfast room), the Living Room RR501 is back. 
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Dan Lawrence

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Re: Do RR501s fail after years of use?
« Reply #10 on: December 31, 2010, 08:03:20 AM »

Now, how do you reset a SS13 "Stick-a-Switch?  The new RR501 is in the Breakfast Room but the SS13 is still stuck and sending RF signals to the Living Room RR501.  Remove the battery from it?  For how long?
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dave w

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Re: Do RR501s fail after years of use?
« Reply #11 on: December 31, 2010, 02:49:42 PM »

ftp://ftp.x10.com/pub/manuals/ss13a_is.pdf

Not sure if removing battery will force the Slim Line Switch to A1 like a motion detector. I just changed button cell in one of mine and it retained the programming.   :)%
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Brian H

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Re: Do RR501s fail after years of use?
« Reply #12 on: December 31, 2010, 03:30:33 PM »

I took a spare and set it to B1 from the default of A1 for the top button.
Removed the battery like I was changing it and then installed the battery back it still was on B1.
Test 2. removed battery and held a button for maybe ten seconds. Then reinstalled the battery. It was back on A1.
I don't know how long the electronics's would need to discharge alone but the button pushing made it happen faster.

You could also just use the button push sequence to set the House and Unit Codes to what you want. From where it is now.
« Last Edit: December 31, 2010, 03:32:06 PM by Brian H »
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dave w

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Re: Do RR501s fail after years of use?
« Reply #13 on: December 31, 2010, 03:58:00 PM »

I took a spare and set it to B1 from the default of A1 for the top button.
Removed the battery like I was changing it and then installed the battery back it still was on B1.
Test 2. removed battery and held a button for maybe ten seconds. Then reinstalled the battery. It was back on A1.
I don't know how long the electronics's would need to discharge alone but the button pushing made it happen faster.
One has to ask, why the heck didn't X10 put the same "battery change-code retention" cap in the xxxxEye motions sensors?
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Brian H

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Re: Do RR501s fail after years of use?
« Reply #14 on: December 31, 2010, 06:17:48 PM »

I found the schematic on the FCC web site.
I don't see a external cap to hold the voltage up.
Though I don't have much data on the EM78P153 IC it uses. It may have some short term memory not sure.
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