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[jagMan653]

What could cause sudden total failure and then back to normal a couple weeks later?

Background
I set up what I believe to be a common X10 system in our home perhaps 10-15 years ago... back to the "Radio Shack period." It controls lighting in family room, living room, and yard lights. It's been pretty stable, although 5-6 years ago I had some problem. On the advice of JV Digital Engineering had a XPCR Coupler Repeater Amplifier installed. Also bought his XTMB Signal meter.

Now roll through several years until Thanksgiving this year (2022). Suddenly nothing worked. No response to button pushes, timers set up with app, absolutely nothing.

So over the last couple weeks I've been replacing modules, testing signal strength, moving the transceiver, etc. Nothing helped.

Then this morning my wife mentioned the living room lamp went on when she pressed the Family Room button, and off if she pressed the off button. I checked and found I had the Appliance Module with FR settings so I traded the two Modules.  Everything worked using the wall pad controllers too.

BTW, this was with a newly purchased CM15A mounted in the laundry room where it has been for years. My guess is the old one will also work.

Keeping in mind I have changed nothing since yesterday, my guess is the whole thing was because something happened in the power lines, main electrical panel, or the
XPCR Coupler Repeater Amplifier. Or, perhaps some neighbor set his house code to L, like mine, and was having parallel experiences. He caved in first and changes his to M?

Or, what else could be responsible for this bizarre behavior?

[brobin]

Think about things that have been plugged in the removed over that time.  Specifically, things like cell phone chargers or other 'wall wart' power supplies. I once sent Jeff a Cellet pug-in phone charger that shut down all signals in the house till I unplugged it. More recently, a wall wart for a TiVo mini that was fine for 7 years started blocking signals on several circuits.  Other causes can be from a CFL or LED bulb going bad where their internal power supplies swamp the signals.
So think about those kinds of causes. Did you have a guest with a charger?
Whatever it is let's hope it's gone!

[SkipWX10]

I noticed 'yard lights' in your description...I once replaced an incandescent spot light with an LED that was so noisy nothing on my system could turn it off once on. Maybe you have replaced a low voltage transformer or exterior light that does the same? Or, maybe some seasonal decorations?

[gadgetboy]

Had something sort of similar last summer.  We went on vacation last summer for two weeks and came home to a total meltdown of Windows 10, raspberry pi, and X10. However, it was not self repairing. With the tremendous assistance of Petediscreet and others at HomeGenie Club I rebuilt and re-installed my system over the next several months, including differene RPi, X10 CM15a, some various modules and switches I am very nearly back to where I was last year. Since then I also replaced a 15 year old HP laptop with a sweet HP desktop and now have my network up and running. No one else around here has reported any difficulties with power surges or anything like that so the cause of this all is a mystery. I am assuming, as you say, something in the power lines or some other occurance caused this sometime during our trip.

[petera]

@gadgetboy Can’t speak for Windows 10 but sudden power outages are the enemy of the RPI. Usually they end up thrashing your file system on the SD card. I always advise to have an exact copy of your system on an SD card located close to your RPI so it just means swapping one card for the other and you’re immediately back up and running. A simple inexpensive UPS could provide you with a little peace of mind too.

I’m petediscrete you refer to in your post. Unfortunately the HG forum has disappeared and doesn’t appear to be returning any time soon. Feel free to send me a PM here if you get into trouble on HG or the RPI again. Only too glad to help if I can.

[gadgetboy]

@petera thanks for the reply. I had noticed the disappearance of the forum but didn't know if it was gone or if I still needed to do more work on my system. Still need to spend time on my homegenie but for now everything is working. So best I let it continue for now at least.

[petera]

As I always say it works till it doesn’t work. For X10 you won’t beat the HG/RPI combination. A very low cost 24/7 server solution in these days of high energy costs.

[jagMan653]

Did you have a guest with a charger?
Whatever it is let's hope it's gone!

Thx. Did have 2 guests, both with laptops plugged in all the time for a couple days. But I would think when thy left the problem would go away immediately. Actually took a couple weeks! Also, I would think laptops wouldn't be a big issue. My wife has hers plugged in all the time.

BTW, the my timers still don't work.

Also, want to report that I've been working with my XTBM VolpMeter looking for noise at various outlets. The only one with Noise report is in my room where my desktop lives. Interestingly,  it doesn't kill the on/off signals to the appliance modules (which I use for all lamps cuz they have LED bulbs. The common refrain is to put filters on all noisy devices but it is a home-brew PC with a gaming board and 550W power supply. I'm now puzzling of how to deal with. Perhaps something like Furman  a SS-6B 6-outlet Surge Suppressor Strip? It's supposed todo filtering as well as surge protection.

[jagMan653]

I noticed 'yard lights' in your description...I once replaced an incandescent spot light with an LED that was so noisy nothing on my system could turn it off once on. Maybe you have replaced a low voltage transformer or exterior light that does the same? Or, maybe some seasonal decorations?

The yard lights are on 2 circuits, each with it's own power supply. After the miraculously recovery, they both turn on and off correctly with the Palm Pad controller and wall mounted controllers.

[brobin]

The laptops aren't the problem. It's the power supply bricks they use. They can and do go bad but before they give up the ghost they can swamp the line with enough noise to kill X10.  I've had it happen more than once.  But yes, as soon as it's unplugged it's over. If it happens again go around the hose and unplug all the wall warts and power bricks and keep testing.