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Author Topic: Ghosts and Gremlins  (Read 6727 times)

chuck53

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Re: Ghosts and Gremlins
« Reply #15 on: April 13, 2014, 11:32:10 AM »

good advice thank you

I will get to the CM11 in an hour or so..

I just swapped the bedroom(gremlin zone) breaker with a bathroom breaker, different 120 legs and got things working again.   somewhat

i have only one lamp module out of 5 that will work with the bedside table incandesant lamp.

I tried 4 other appliance modules and they all work fine. just did this for testing.

what is the recommended filter that most use, Im of the opinion now this is a true noise issue, beit the electric incoming lines or a rogue appliance, but I suspect the first as I did do the breaker test before swapping AC legs and still had the problem.

Ill ck lines in that room with the CM11 and see what may be going on, also in other rooms.

this has been interesting.  and thanks for all the input.
« Last Edit: April 13, 2014, 11:34:32 AM by chuck53 »
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bkenobi

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Re: Ghosts and Gremlins
« Reply #16 on: April 14, 2014, 10:41:24 AM »

Jeff Volpe has a signal attenuator that some people have claimed works well for them.  I have no experience with it, but it's the only one I know of on the market.

http://jvde.us/xtb/XTB-ANR_description.htm

If it's just a low signal strength, you could add a higher performance coupler/repeater/signal booster.  I tried the passive one from X10 and was underwhelmed.  Others recommended Jeff's XTB-IIR, and after installing it I'd recommend it to others.
http://jvde.us//xtb/XTB-IIR.pdf

He also has some high performance filters (have no personal experience with these, but his other tools are great so these should be nice, too):
http://jvde.us//xtb/XTB-F10_description.htm

If you can figure out the source of the noise/signal sucking, you can add a filter on that device.  If it's a plug-in type, you can use pretty much any filter you can find.  I'm preferential to the SmartHome FilterLinc (Ebay has some good deals periodically), but there are some other units that would work fine.  If the device is wired in (furnace, water heater, oven, etc), then you would need to use a wired type filter.  That can be more challenging since those filters only go up to 20A and many of those devices are much higher.  If you are familiar with electronics, you can probably solve the problem by putting the filter on the logic board rather than the whole unit, but that's not something I would do as a first step.

joe s.

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Re: Ghosts and Gremlins
« Reply #17 on: April 14, 2014, 05:41:57 PM »

Even during the signal storm I was able to get my commands thru with "persistence" so I have to agree with the others - this has just got to be some serious noise in (or entering) your home!  Personally - I would search for CFL's (never liked those puppies - but I've had good luck with dimmable LED's). 

I used to have to deal with noise fairly frequently (from inside the home) as various electrical devices were added/changed/aging etc.  Thru the years I ended up installing 4 or 5 filters on TV's, UPS, old microwave etc., but I only ever got X10 to perform COMPLETELY AWSOME by purchasing and installing Jeff's XTB-IIR repeater and have never looked back.  I'm not suggesting his repeater is a filter - but it makes such a difference to the actual X10 signal levels that most noise is kinda left in the background.

If you go to his forum - he still might have the ONE "used" (but updated with current firmware) repeater for sale (http://jvde.us/forum/index.php?topic=330).

Well worth it in my humble opinion! - even if you do solve this current riddle; its a terrific addition to your X10 system.  His repeater makes X10 work just like it used to in the olden, olden days.  Its a clever piece of engineering.  Before I had it, I always had occasional dead spots (caused by everything from distance, weak X10 signal levels and probably some random noise).  No dead spots now, though!
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Noam

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Re: Ghosts and Gremlins
« Reply #18 on: April 18, 2014, 01:47:03 PM »

and no neighbors, as my sons house is next door and he and I are the only ones on this circuit.
Any chance there were changes over at his house, or perhaps he has a failing CFL that has gotten noisy?
You might be able to take some parts over to his house to test. If they work fine there, then that really points to *something* in your house.
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