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[lviper]

I installed a socket rocket in a bathroom ceiling fixture. Coded it to F3 with a kr22a. Turned the light on and off several times without any trouble. However, my daughter turned the light on late last night, went about her business and when going back to bed the light would not turn off. I tried this morning and none of the remotes would turn it off. I even tried using the remote within a few feet of the cm15a but I didn't think it would matter since the remote was working the other lights just fine. So I thought maybe it lost it's programming or my daughter may have done something to screw it up when it wouldn't turn off by pressing and holding buttons.

I decided to turn the power off to the light, wait a few minutes and reset the code. As soon as I turned the power back on, the light started working from the first press of the remote. I didn't have to reprogram the socket rocket. Is it possible I have a bad socket rocket that once left on for several minutes will get stuck on?

I need to test it more when I get back home tonight. Didn't have time to reproduce the problem this morning.

[dave w]

Is it possible I have a bad socket rocket that once left on for several minutes will get stuck on?

That would be a new and unusual failure mode, but I don't think it can be ruled out. However the problem is also a classic description of an electrical noise source preventing the powerline commands from reaching the Socket Rocket.

http://jvde.us/x10_troubleshooting.htm

[troll334]

Viper,
Now, my sitch defies logic but I have to chime in here. I had the same problem! Bathroom light, daughter, etc.
Although the circuit that powers the blow-dryer is seperate from the lighting, every time she used that blow-dryer,
the SR in the bathroom would flake out. I swapped that SR with a different one and problem gone. The suspect SR,
moved to a different location (w/o a blow-dryer) is working reliably. Go figure...

[Brian H]

I have not seen a Socket Rockets electronics get scrambled by noise but it could be possible. I have had other model modules lock up from noise and need a power reset to clear it.

[lviper]

Well, didn't consider noise. This is a spare bathroom with only lights in the room. The ceiling and over the sink. The ceiling light does have a fan but it is disconnected since it doesn't work. I'm not sure what circuit it shares, but then again, I have enough electronics in the house to open a used electronics store. And I did move my cm15a to a more central location and was using an all-in-one pc for AHP that also uses wifi. I turned the PC off last night and my reception got much better.

So, with 5 tv's, 4 dvd/bluray, 4 laptops, 10 plus computers and several other various electronic items, I think I better start with the XTBM and start filtering the noisy circuits before I go gray and lose all my hair.

[dave w]

Also, what could be ON when you daughter was in the bath but might be OFF later?

Second consideration is: did she just plug in a cell phone, I Pod, etc.? Switching chargers can make more noise when they are in the high charge mode, and then cease being a problem when the battery is charged and they switch to a lower current mode.

[lviper]

Second consideration is: did she just plug in a cell phone, I Pod, etc.? Switching chargers can make more noise when they are in the high charge mode, and then cease being a problem when the battery is charged and they switch to a lower current mode.

No, nothing plugged in. It is a bathroom you can pass through, 2 doors, as you come downstairs to the family room. She just came down, turned on the bath light then the family room light and went to the kitchen. Got a drink or whatever and went back upstairs. Turned off the family room lights then tried to turn off the bath which wouldn't turn off.

I believe it is a noise problem. I need to get me a meter and start checking all the circuits before I continue srtting things up.

[Brian H]

Standard incandescent type bulb?
Is the fixture enclosed so heat builds up?

[lflorack]

I installed a socket rocket in a bathroom ceiling fixture. Coded it to F3 with a kr22a. Turned the light on and off several times without any trouble. However, my daughter turned the light on late last night, went about her business and when going back to bed the light would not turn off. I tried this morning and none of the remotes would turn it off. I even tried using the remote within a few feet of the cm15a but I didn't think it would matter since the remote was working the other lights just fine. So I thought maybe it lost it's programming or my daughter may have done something to screw it up when it wouldn't turn off by pressing and holding buttons.

I decided to turn the power off to the light, wait a few minutes and reset the code. As soon as I turned the power back on, the light started working from the first press of the remote. I didn't have to reprogram the socket rocket. Is it possible I have a bad socket rocket that once left on for several minutes will get stuck on?

I need to test it more when I get back home tonight. Didn't have time to reproduce the problem this morning.

I can tell you that I've had several Socket Rockets that worked fine as long as they weren't left on long enough to get hot.  Then they wouldn't shut off.  It really depends more on the size of the bulb and the physical configuration of the particular light/socket more than a particular socket rocket.  In every case, that I've encountered, it was a bulb-down configuration and in every case I swapped socket rockets and the 'faulty' one worked fine elsewhere and the new one exhibited the same issue (wouldn't turn off) once the heat had a chance to build up.  I wasn't able to flip the bulb-down configuration to a bulb-up config so, I 'fixed' the issue by lowering the bulb wattage so as to not create too much heat.