Mini controllers suddenly frying

[philspice1]

I have been using X10 products (made for and sold by RadioShack as Plug 'n Power) for several years.  I have now had 2 mini controllers suddenly sound like they were frying and then no longer work at all (red LED won't even light).  Has anyone else had this experience?  I know it's not my house since this has happened in 2 different houses.

[roger1818]

I haven't had this problem yet, but someone by the name of Doug Smith had a bunch of them get fried by a power surge.  He said the all failed in exactly the same way and was able to fix them easily.  He describes the process for doing this (with pictures) at:

X-10 Mini Controller Repair

You can also find an abbreviated version of Doug's article at:

X10 Home Automation Knowledge Base

I hope this helps.