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[bkenobi]

The new power reclining sofa my wife bought is pretty nice, but since it has a switching power adapter it breaks at least one of my lights.  I told her she should have added that to the requirements when she was looking for a couch (must be HA compliant) and she gave me the look.  Apparently that was the wrong thing to say after she spent 6 months finding the perfect one.   

Adding a SmartHome filter and a power strip will fix it so I guess I won't make her return it.   

[Brian H]

Thank you for pointing out. That even things we may not think of having electronics in them can effect power line communications.

I have a portable AC and found its electronic controls killed some power line communications in my home.

[Tuicemen]

I told her she should have added that to the requirements when she was looking for a couch (must be HA compliant) and she gave me the look.

I know that look! 

Thank you for pointing out. That even things we may not think of having electronics in them can effect power line communications.

And yet there are still some that ignore this, stating noise and signal suckers are a myth, and play with software reinstalls & settings are the way to fix things.
Or they state x10 is unreliable and move to something else.

[Brian H]

Well in my case it was Insteon.
My XTB-IIR kept the signals strong enough and the XTBM showed the lower X10 signals for my troubleshooting. X10 commands never failed.

[Tuicemen]

Besides electronic devices, I once had a incandescent light bulb cause me grief. took me days to find it as it only affected things if power was supplied to it.

[bkenobi]

My XTB-IIR was not able to overcome whatever the sofa PSU was doing.  I didn't check my wiring schematic so I'm not sure how close that outlet is to the light.  Perhaps it shares a neutral or something silly.  Either way, unplugging it fixed things so I just need to get an extension cord or something so I can plug it in.

[Tuicemen]

Make sure the extention cord isn't able to be seen or you'll get that look again! 

[SkipWX10]

Besides electronic devices, I once had a incandescent light bulb cause me grief. took me days to find it as it only affected things if power was supplied to it.

I have an outdoor spot with two halogen bulbs that affect X10 commands when it's on....can't even turn it off without using the switch...been that way for two years. Can't just rush into those bulb changes !! 

[JeffVolp]

My XTB-IIR was not able to overcome whatever the sofa PSU was doing.

A switching supply often means a noise generator.  Just isolate it with an appropriate filter.  If the load is just a few amps the X10 XPPF should do the job.

Jeff

[bkenobi]

A switching supply often means a noise generator.  Just isolate it with an appropriate filter.  If the load is just a few amps the X10 XPPF should do the job.

Jeff

I installed a 10A SmartHome filter with a temporary extension cord to confirm it would work (orange shop cord will not lead to acceptable WAF).  The light seems to operate correctly though I'm not yet ready to say it works 100%.  I sent an on command this morning from a table top PLC unit and the light turned on.  However, the LED on my XPT wall switch did not illuminate.  I was able to command the light off from the wall controller so I'm not sure if there is an issue with signal strength still.  I haven't done any real debugging yet so it's possible a different filter from my parts box will work better.

[brobin]

While you're digging through the parts bin maybe you can find an old non-switching wall wart for the recliner.  I never toss a working wall wart and actually still have a 9v one that's over 50 years old  from Olson Electronics (still works)!

[bkenobi]

Unlikely I'll find a 29v/2a psus with the proprietary connector keyed the right way.

[dave w]

and she gave me the look. 

Oh yes! Been there - got that.