Fried WS467

[bigmac]

Just checked out my daughter's light switch after she told me it quit working this weekend.  It only controls two 40 watt incandescent bulbs in a ceiling fixture.  I took the switch cover off and smelled that noticeable burnt smell.  The switch has a burn hole and is melted in the bottom right corner (have pic, not sure how to post?). 
Thinking of pulling all my X10 switches/modules. 
THIS COULD HAVE BEEN BAD! 
Has anyone else seen this issue?

Thanks,

Merle

[Brian H]

Burning smell with a hole in the case does not sound good.
Was it in service for a long time?
Not sure if a Newbie status allows a picture but you may want to see if the additional options tab near the bottom left of the reply screen give you any choices.

[bigmac]

It's been in service about 18 months or so.

[Brian H]

At about 18 months. It was probably a soft start version where it ramped On and Off.
There isn't a whole lot of user information on the new soft start ones.
We have seen older ones in photos and could maybe have made an educated guess to what failed from the approximate location of the failure.

[dave w]

I replied once to this thread, but it seems to have disappeared.
Bigmac
If any peace of mind, it is very rare for an X10 module to go incendiary. I have been a regular since the forum first opened (2003?) and this is only second or third report of fire. Also, I believe X10 uses a flame retardent plastic in their line operated modules

Interesting that it was a WS467 which does not have  a neutral line, meaning there was no direct short between line and neutral. I doubt it is a triac problem. Would be nice if you could post pictures and perhaps we could figure what part went poof.

[bigmac]

Thank you Dave.  Gives me a liitle sense of security....................
I have a pic but not sure how to post it?  The "insert image" icon just adds the hypertext?

[Brian H]

Photo didn't make it. The Additional Options Tab near the bottom left of the reply screen didn't have an attach feature where you could add your photo?

Since the WS476 is UL approved. I believe they require a flame retardant plastic case.
I am thinking the safety slide switch. Used to break the circuit for bulb changing. May have been failing. As all the current for the load and the electronics passes through it it got warm and got worse. Kind of like a domino effect.

[dhouston]

The "insert image" icon just adds the hypertext?

You have to supply a URL to the image.

[bigmac]

Let's try this.................... 

[Brian H]

WOW that is one nasty looking WS467.

[bigmac]

Yes, it either got so hot or flamed out that it deformed one of the wire nuts!

[dave w]

I don't have a WS467 to pop apart, but since it has two burn spots, I'm going to guess one of the big power supply reactor caps shorted.

[bigmac]

here's the inside.  Caps look OK???

[Brian H]

The caps dave w was talking about are not electrolytic.
One of them looks like it is just left of the big burned blob and below the left tuning coil.
Was one or both of the light bulbs in the fixture burned out?
Almost looks like the load was shorted to neutral or ground and the excessive current just went wild.

[pomonabill221]

It looks like the larger NON electrolytic cap might have shorted.  (it ain't there no more!!!)  WOW!! 
OR
The "lamp change" switch was making poor contact, and over heated the board and surrounding components.
This looks like a NON softstart wall switch.
The newer softstart wall switches have the processor in a different location, a daughterboard (AGC circuit), and two 10 ohm resistors in series rather than the one 22 ohm resistor.
(top picture is old style wall sw., bottom is new softstart)
Note the two 1/2 watt resistors tied together (extreme right in picture), and the processor is near the top and horizontal.
My picture of the new wall switch I have modified for the neutral wire connection (grey wire next to the larger blue cap).
The larger blue cap is part of the power supply and the smaller blue cap is part of the PLC coupling network from the 120Khz transformer.