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[ratchet]

I knew I was forgetting something!  A Davis weather station 6' away and at the exact same height too.  

Oh, thats worth looking in to.
Current Davis units are in the 800MHz - 900MHz spectrum. Older units might be down in the 300MHz band,(?). The current 900MHz equipment should not cause a problem but 900MHz is a multiple of the X10 frequency, plus at least one Davis unit uses frequency hopping. The outdoor sensors are  transmitters, I don't know if the base station polls the outdoor units which would make it a transmitter also. It might be worth removing all the batteries for a day or two to see if the SC1200 still acts silly.  

edit:  I just checked the Davis manual, 902 - 928 MHz!  Even states on the console it causes interference. 
I agree!  The moment I thought about this, I decided the next time we are away I was definitely going to take the batteries out of the weather station, although it is probably at least seven years old so it probably is not 900MHz.  The other thing I'll do is completely take the answering machine off line, including the phone line.  I let it on (via timer) for several hours during the day and off the rest of the time but my experiment didn't work as I could not access the 1200 during the periods when there wasn't any power to the answering machine.  

[dave w]

although it is probably at least seven years old so it probably is not 900MHz. 

You are right. If you have had it that long, it could be a much older design. Which may put it down in the old UHF "garage door controller" spectrum of 300MHz.

My LaCross weather station updates about every 3 minutes, so similar periodic updates from the Davis could be the root of your problem, but I think it could also be attributed to some X10 problems.

Good luck with your troubleshooting!

[Brian H]

If it has an FCC ID on it.
You can look up its frequency in the FCC Database.
http://transition.fcc.gov/oet/ea/fccid/
https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/oetcf/eas/reports/GenericSearch.cfm

[Knightrider]

what's the third harmonic on 928 mhz?

[dave w]

what's the third harmonic on 928 mhz?

2.784GHz    

but the third sub harmonic is 309.33Mhz         h-m-m-m, pretty close to 310MHz.
Power would be very low, but the proxiimity is so close.  Might be on to something there, Knight. Especially if the base station polls.

[Knightrider]

sub harmonic, potato potahto.  My thinking was right, my typing was wrong. 

I'm kinda doubting that there's enough ERP to worry about such things, but you know how Murphy likes to operate.

[dave w]

 
Sorry, 28 year at Motorola makes me do that.  

Did you make the Dayton Ham feast?

[ratchet]

If it has an FCC ID on it.
You can look up its frequency in the FCC Database.
http://transition.fcc.gov/oet/ea/fccid/
https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/oetcf/eas/reports/GenericSearch.cfm

I did and it's 902 - 928!

[dave w]

edit:  I just checked the Davis manual, 902 - 928 MHz!  Even states on the console it causes interference.  

Interesting, especially if they are using spread spectrum - frequency hopping. The radiated power has to be very low otherwise the FCC would not have issued a "Type Acceptance" for the transmitter.

If the problem turns out to be the Davis, maybe a few feet more separation will fix the problem(?).

[Brian H]

Well I found out someting else kind of by accident.

I registered all of my DS12As in a short time. Started registration and opened each door and window. Doing a mass registration.
While doing some tests on what they send when checking in. They sometimes where like less than a second apart in sending. Also the DS12A has TWO Zones in it even if one is not registered. Both send I am open or I am closed during the check in.
I saw lots of opens for the unregistered internal ones I was not using. I think most users will have the supplied external zone jumped by default and see it always closed.

I guess in theory they could step on each other if the timing was just right.

I have not see any open zone message when they where closed. Though I have never used the internal ones either and the externals are all Large Gap {1.75"} magnetic switches.

[ratchet]

Perhaps it was just a coincident, however, I did disable the weather station and the 1200 armed without any zone issues, truly a rare occasion.  Later I armed again with the weather station up and it still armed fine.

[ratchet]

I just read this monumental thread (again) and I'm beginning to wonder if X10 is just re-shipping the returned 1200s.  I mean I'm rather late in this game, purchasing the 1200 in June, yet experience the same "mystery" problems as those who purchased in March.  Or, are all of the 1200s bad?  Also, I wonder what ever happened with ROBERTH's issue as he was going to replace his 1200.  I guess there were some others also.  How long do the batteries last by the way?  Some doors are opened and closed (with system off of course) numerous times/day so they are transmitting each time.  Relative to the message machine issue, would be possible for them to do some kind of firmware update if they get that issue resolved?   

[Brian H]

I doubt they would reship returned units as new. They could show up in one of their "Certified Like New" or "Scratch and Tent {not a typo that is what they called it} sales.
If there where any improvements made to the hardware. Most likely the ones in the supply pipe line would just be sold as they where received.

I don't think X10 has much of a rework facility here in the US.

When we had the Soft Start Lamp Modules that only turned on to 50% problem. They just replaced them as users called in. The warehouses didn't really have a good way to test them before shipping.

[ratchet]

I may have cracked this (I shouldn't have said that)!  I believe the most important thing is absolute perfect alignment of the arrows with these 12As.  Lets assume the encased magnets aren't exactly all in the same location and your sensor alignment is off down or left a 32nd and the magnets off up or right a 32nd, you end up off a 16th.  My zone 4, which is a window about 12' away and in the same room as the console, would keep flashing after every disarm.  Then I'd have to open and close the window several times before it would re-arm!  I've made a minor adjustment and so far so good!   

[Brian H]

That could be a valid point with the magnets aligning with the sensor body.
I have seen a report where the door and the sensor on the frame where not flush with each other. The user found the door went past closed enough to go back open. Even when the door was closed.