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[Brian H]

If there is something deteriorating in the lights. They could be tickling the Am I On or Off circuit in the XPFM and turning them On.

If you have not had a chance yet. I would try a new X10 House Code address. Noise would probably not care what the address is but a neighbors setup would be on a different one after the change.

[dave w]

The lights were on in the middle of the day within a few hours. So I guess the signal to turn on is not RF generated and is due to "noise" coming down the power line or from some "offending" appliance or light. I don't know what I can do about that.

$0.02
In another home, I had two high pressure sodium lights on the garage which ignited similar to your description of your "iodide" lights. My lights had a temperature controlled starter circuit that would trigger the "local sense" circuit in my wired in Appliance Module which controlled the lights. This might be your problem, although you seem to have a random delay where my would kick back on about 10 minutes after they were turned off, and if I understand, it is a new problem for you in an old installation.

You can search "local sense" or "local control" for more information. Older Appliance Modules can be easily hacked to disable the circuit (but the newer Appliance modules have been redesigned, and the hack will not work on them. No way to know where your XPFM are with out opening and looking at circuit board. If the controller chip is on the solder side of the PC board, you have the newer model.

That said, there is another hack which basically puts another load across the XPFM so it will not "see" a starter contact switch taking place in the load. Is there a way you could temporarily wire a an additional incandescent light (say 40W ) across the output of the XPFM and see if the lights come on unexpectedly with this "blindfold" in the circuit. If they do not, then at least you know what is causing the problem.

If an Appliance Module it is easy to use a "cube tap" to also plug a 7W night light in the circuit which works. A 33K ohm 3 watt or greater resistor may also make you XPFM blind.

[Caribouriver]

Thanks again everyone. I shall try what I can physically do without calling an electrician back. For starters, I'll try changing the addresses of the tranceivers and XPFM modules. Just one question nags: Do the XPFM modules ever go bad? The "system" here is two lights on the house (both powered through a single XPFM module) and a transceiver and a third light on a separate garage about 30' away. The garage light has its own XPFM module and transceiver. The transmitting switch is about equidistant from the transceivers (the one in the house and the one in the garage). They both used to work flawlessly. At the present time, the two house lights come on by themselves about ten times more often than the garage light. So I was wondering if maybe the XPFM modules may deteriorate over time and become increasingly sensitive to "noise" and errant commands. 

[Brian H]

It is possible the XPFM's have deteriorated.

My thoughts would be the power supply. Filter capacitors or one of the Zener Diodes is getting flaky.
I had a RR501 that I had to rebuild the power supply. Both the filter capacitor and zener diode where questionable.

[dave w]

Do the XPFM modules ever go bad?
I was wondering if maybe the XPFM modules may deteriorate over time and become increasingly sensitive to "noise" and errant commands. 

1. Sure they go bad.
2. I have used Appliance Modules (internally the same as the XPFM) since 1979  and the common failure mode I see is: it just dies.
The modules have a tuned circuit to pick off the 120KHz modulated pulses which are the X10 commands riding on the powerline. The tuned circuit then sends the pulses on to the controller chip. Yes this input circuitry could age and deteriorate. But my thoughts would be that the deterioration would degrade the sensitivity of the module so it would need stronger command signals,  not become less selective and "false" to ON frequently. I don't know what could fail external to the chip that would make it less selective. BUT just because I have not seen such behavior does not mean a thing.

[Caribouriver]

Well, this time, with the transceivers unplugged, the dog not allowed in the house and not changing my socks, the lights have stayed off for 12 hours. Yippee! Seriously, if they come back on after a few days (the two on the house came back on yesterday with transceivers unplugged after a couple of hours), I'll probably switch out the XPFM modules. If that doesn't work, I'll get rid of the dog.

[dave w]

 
I shoulda had a Depends on before I read that. 

[mike]

how old is the dog?  they can wear out......

[Caribouriver]

He's getting up there. I think he's getting a little doggy dementia if there is such a thing.