to_lighter Posted November 29, 2008 Posted November 29, 2008 Hi gang, I have a set of track lights that I think are generating signal noise when they are dimmed. If they are off or at full brightness I can control with with my ISY99i. If they are dimmed, the switch is no longer responsive, and the administrative console reports communication errors to this switch. For now I have left it out of scenes that require dimming, but if in the future I wanted to control these lights with the ISY99i, is there a preferred noise block? I found this one: http://www.aartech.ca/xpf-x10-pro-inlin ... u-xpf.html Any advice appreciated. Cheers!
MikeB Posted November 29, 2008 Posted November 29, 2008 I'm curious - what kind of bulbs in the track lighting? Standard incandescents?
to_lighter Posted November 29, 2008 Author Posted November 29, 2008 Hi Mike, They are up high and I can't see the exact bulb type, but they look like halogens. Cheers!
Brian H Posted November 29, 2008 Posted November 29, 2008 The XPF Filter being a 20 amp filter maybe large physically for your use. I have seen in the X10 and other forums the Leviton Noise Block 6287 mentioned as working well. It is smaller and has a 5 amp rating. Some say it fits most fixture boxes. If the lights have a greater than 5 amp rating then the XPF maybe the one you need. Having not used either I can not say which would be better. Both have been recommended for noise reduction in other Automation Forums.
to_lighter Posted November 29, 2008 Author Posted November 29, 2008 The XPF Filter being a 20 amp filter maybe large physically for your use. I have seen in the X10 and other forums the Leviton Noise Block 6287 mentioned as working well. It is smaller and has a 5 amp rating. Some say it fits most fixture boxes. If the lights have a greater than 5 amp rating then the XPF maybe the one you need. Having not used either I can not say which would be better. Both have been recommended for noise reduction in other Automation Forums. Thanks Brian, I definitely have noise problems in that part of the house. So here is another question. I thought that Insteon was supposed to get around electrical noise by also utilizing RF. Why do I need to worry about this at all? Cheers!
ulrick65 Posted November 30, 2008 Posted November 30, 2008 Insteon is RF, but only in certain devices. Switchlincs, Keypadlincs, Lamplincs, Appliancelincs, etc. are NOT in that category. I was taken by surprise with this same fact. The wired in devices (at least none that I know of) do not repeat via RF... Eric
Brian H Posted November 30, 2008 Posted November 30, 2008 The RF communications has not been covered well by Smarthome. many think all the modules also use RF. They do not. Only the Access Points [old SignaLinc RF; that didn't do I2; also ] use RF to communicate with each other to bridge phases and also to receive and send to things that are RF. Like the Motion Sensors, RemoteLincs; the new wireless sensor they are now pre-ordering.
jhimmel Posted November 30, 2008 Posted November 30, 2008 So here is another question. I thought that Insteon was supposed to get around electrical noise by also utilizing RF. Others have already cleared up the RF question for you, but I thought I'd offer some of my early experience with Insteon. Even though Insteon is supposed to be less sensitive to "noise" than X10, it still has its issues. I had a set of LV Halogen under-cabinet "puck" lights that rendered my Insteon network useless. I have a Powerline Signal Analyzer that showed severe noise levels whenever they were switched on. Insteon commands failed all over the place. I eventually decided to change them out for line-voltage puck lights. In doing so, I found that someone had connected a neutral and a ground wire in a box on that switch leg. I know that both wires ultimately go to the same wire bar in the panel, but have no idea if it could possibly affect an Insteon signal. The good news is that once the lights were replaced and the wiring corrected, the noise was gone and my Insteon signals were solid and reliable. Unfortunately, I have no way of knowing at this point if simply fixing the wiring would have solved it. Jim H.
Brian H Posted November 30, 2008 Posted November 30, 2008 I had a small TV put power line noise out. Was a strange case. The LED on the Access Point closest to it would flicker as it was seeing the noise. The strange thing was most of all my modules would flicker unless I unplugged that Access Point? Anyway a filter on the TV fixed it. I also have a 10 amp Smarthome filter on my APC BX1000 UPS as it's input filtering absorbs both X10 and Insteon power line signals.
jrabin Posted December 1, 2008 Posted December 1, 2008 Even though Insteon is supposed to be less sensitive to "noise" than X10, it still has its issues. I had a set of LV Halogen under-cabinet "puck" lights that rendered my Insteon network useless. I have a Powerline Signal Analyzer that showed severe noise levels whenever they were switched on. Insteon commands failed all over the place. How usefull is the Powerline Signal Analyzer for Insteon? I guess it can help to show noise level, but does it do anything else? Are there good Insteon alternatives? Jeff
jhimmel Posted December 1, 2008 Posted December 1, 2008 It can show noise, but that's about it. I have it from when I used X10. It would be nice to have real Insteon signal tools. Jim H.
Brian H Posted December 2, 2008 Posted December 2, 2008 I have not seen any Insteon Line Testers. I have used both an ELK ESM1 and a Smarthome TesterLinc to look at the power line. X10 uses 120 KHz. for their signal frequency. Insteon is 131.65 KHz. Though not conclusive. Most times if I see X10 noise on one of the test units it is also bothering an Insteon Signal.
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