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[Montweeee]

Hello all,

I am a complete newbie when it comes to this system.  We just (yesterday) got a house that has everything set up in X10 and I have having one issue with my WS467s aka they don't work.  Before I start replacing them with new units. 

Currently there are two WS467s that are running my the exterior lights of the house with the following types of lights on each individual controls
1.  2 CFL (9 watts each), and 4 halogen bulbs (not sure of watts yet but they are landscape lights)
2.  8 CFL (9 watts each), and 6 halogen bulbs (not sure of watts yet but they are landscape lights)

The wiring is simple White, Black, Bare Copper wire romex. 

Based on what I have read in these forums the WS467 does not prefer to run anything other than incandescent bulbs, would running the CFLs and halogens cause the units to fail?

since I don't know the watts of the halogen bubls I could be getting close or exceeding the max wattage when they are in pair which I understand is 400W a piece.

Do you think I am having an issue with the types of bulbs?

Does X10 make a product that can handle more wattage and with simple romex wiring?

sorry I don't have all the information, I was just hoping a guru out there could at least point me in the right direction

Thanks in advance

[dave w]

If the halogen bulbs are 120V and not low voltage landscape, then the WS467s should work even with the CFLs.  The filaments in the halogen bulbs will supply the parasitic power the two wire wall switch needs.

When you press the buttons on the WS467, do the lights come on then?
Are the WS467A safety switches (directly under the button) in the ON positions?

ftp://ftp.x10.com/pub/manuals/ws467-is.pdf

It doesn't appear that you have a neutral in your wall box. It appears you only have a "Hot" and "Load" line. This does not offer a lot of options. Both X10 and Smarthome.com have relay controlled, non diming wall switches for CFLs and LED bulbs, but they require a neutral in addition to the hot and load lines.

[Montweeee]

The lights worked the last night but now nothing.  They are in the on position but nothing is coming on any more.

As for the landscape lights, they are hooked up through romex so I would imagine they are 120V

[Brian H]

The Romex goes directly into the light fixtures with the halogen bulbs in them and not into a transformer?

Even the local paddle will not turn them on and off.

What X10 controller do you have to turn them on and off remotely?

When they did work. Did they go on instantly or slowly ramp on and off. If they ramped on and off. They are new enough to be soft start and have a resume at dim feature. They may have been turned off in a low condition and that is where they will go to again.
http://kbase.x10.com/wiki/Newer_Wall_Switches_and_Preset_Dim

[dave w]

The lights worked the last night but now nothing.  They are in the on position but nothing is coming on any more.

As for the landscape lights, they are hooked up through romex so I would imagine they are 120V

Well just some logical thinking would lead me to believe the switches have been working for the original owner. Now suddenly they quit just today. Are you certain the switches are still getting power? X10 does have some problems but both switches failing same day seems to be more than a coincedence.

[Montweeee]

sorry for not updating sooner, just got done troubeshooting and taking everything apart and here is what I found

1 wire screw cap was partially melted
1 of the 2 controllers had a portion in the back that was partially melted
power is still making it in

obviously bad things are afoot

NOTE: I do have a licensed electrician coming over on monday but I wanted to make sure that I received your input as well, also all the power to the units is off so nothing should burn down.

Here was how the wiring was and I wanted to make sure this is how it should have been installed, also I am not sure of the lingo so here is what I mean when I use these terms

hot - mr. electricity is on this wire
load - the wire(s) leading to the lights

there are 3 load wires and 1 hot wire (all black).  The whites are all together and the grounds are all together in the back of the box

controller 1 was = blue wire was connected to 2 load wires and the black was connected to the hot
controller 2 was = blue wire was connected to the controller 1 load wires and the black was on the remaining load wire

is this right?  was the wiring messed up?

any help is appreciated.  like I said the electrician is coming over and it should be fine but I would like you input as well.  thanks

[Montweeee]

forgot to mention one thing

the same circuit that controls this unit is also the one that controls half of the irrigation system, so I would like this up and running since I do live in las vegas and it is getting hot or at least it will be soon

and the followup question is should I just dump the X10 controls on this particular light and go with something else?  Just wondering, thanks!

[Brian H]

Is it possible the partially melted wire nut was hitting the back of the switch with the melted area and melted it?
Could have been a poor connection that over heated and failed. As you saw everything working the night before.

Now one question. It is copper and not aluminum wire in your home?

[Montweeee]

copper wire yes

[dave w]

hot - mr. electricity is on this wire
load - the wire(s) leading to the lights

there are 3 load wires and 1 hot wire (all black).  The whites are all together and the grounds are all together in the back of the box

controller 1 was = blue wire was connected to 2 load wires and the black was connected to the hot
controller 2 was = blue wire was connected to the controller 1 load wires and the black was on the remaining load wire

is this right?  was the wiring messed up?

any help is appreciated.  like I said the electrician is coming over and it should be fine but I would like you input as well.  thanks

You have defined Hot and Load correctly.

You said;  "controller 2 was = blue wire was connected to the controller 1 load wires and the black was on the remaining load wire"

That ain't right! The output from one WS467 CAN NOT feed power to another WS467. IF the first WS467 actually turns on then any load from the  downstream WS467 will run through the first. Additionally it gives the down stream WS467 a headache (migrain).   Is the second WS467 the one that is melted or the first?

BTW call them "wall switches" or WS467, not controllers. When speaking X10, "controller" has a different meaning and I get confused way too easily.

[lodtrack]

Although this is a helpful place to come for X10 problems, I think your first reaction to get a licensed electrician is the route to go. Others here can access your understanding of electricity( which seems good) but for what is at stake when you have hot connections, do you really want to play around? The fact that you have already called an electrician shows a level of uncertainty.

[Edlafayette]

If anyone is still reading this topic this may be helpful.
All my exterior lighting is controlled be x10 wall switches (LM465) and one interior, foyer light, by an x10 3way switch (WS4777). These switches have been in use and working fine for at least 5 years. About a week ago I noticed that I could not turn any of these lights on with my CH12a remotes, which always worked before.
I then brought up my AHP to see if I could activate them from the software, no luck there either. The lights did work using the push buttons on the wall switches.
I spent the next couple of days trying different things including House Code changes to no avail. I  then remembered that about a week prior to noticing this problem that I had replaced ONE exterior bulb with a CFL but didn't think this wood affect ONLY the wall switches. I also use some appliance modules (AM466) and a bunch of lamp modules (LM465) for my interior lamps etc.. I had no problems with any of these. Just to do a complete troubleshooting procedure before I called for help from this forum I decided to remove the ONE CFL from the rear porch light.......everything was back to working order. Who would have thought...one crummy CFL could cause so many headaches!

[Noam]

I had a bad CFL cause problems for me, twice.
The first time, it was a CFL in one of my exterior lights, which completely shut down my entire system. I was lucky it was on the first circuit I shut off when I did the breaker box test, so I found it pretty quickly.

The second time I had the problem, I couldn't find it anywhere in my home. this went on for a few weeks. Finally, I found the problem CFL - on my neighbor's front porch! It was only affecting four of my switches, all of them from SmartHome. None of my other modules had any problems.
I bought my neighbor a new bulb.