shannong Posted December 4, 2016 Share Posted December 4, 2016 Greetings. I have a few 15A (AF120) and 20A(AF300) filters from ACT now. Originally ,I purchased them from the smarthome.com site. I had one die and needed an additional one but found they were no longer selling them. Also, I could not find them on any other site so I guess ACT quit making them. Any recommendations for 15A or 20A Insteon filters? I see the X10 XPF 20A filter on the smarthome.com site but I couldn't find any info on frequencies it passes/filters. Is it a low-pass, high-pass, or band-pass? Have others had success with it? I need one for some noisy fluorescent lights and a "smart" dryer. Thanks! Link to comment
Teken Posted December 4, 2016 Share Posted December 4, 2016 Any of the X10 filters will operate just fine with Insteon. Your biggest challenge with the XPF is finding room for that honking case! ========================= The highest calling in life is to serve ones country faithfully - Teach others what can be. Do what is right and not what is popular. Link to comment
stusviews Posted December 4, 2016 Share Posted December 4, 2016 The most common reason for an ACT filter failure is the fuse. The XPF filter is a band-pass filter. It is effective for Insteon powerline signals. All my computer gear (PCs. UPS, router, Ethernet switches, printers, even more) is on a dedicated circuit filtered using an X10 Pro 3-wire XPF noise filter. Link to comment
shannong Posted December 4, 2016 Author Share Posted December 4, 2016 The most common reason for an ACT filter failure is the fuse. Ha. Thanks for the tip. I tested the existing fuse with a multi-meter and also replaced it just to make sure. Link to comment
shannong Posted December 4, 2016 Author Share Posted December 4, 2016 The XPF filter is a band-pass filter. It is effective for Insteon powerline signals. All my computer gear (PCs. UPS, router, Ethernet switches, printers, even more) is on a dedicated circuit filtered using an X10 Pro 3-wire XPF noise filter. How do you know it's band-pass? I googled and found several docs on it but none of them mentioned the low- and high- cutoff points. Or anything about frequencies. Link to comment
shannong Posted December 4, 2016 Author Share Posted December 4, 2016 Any of the X10 filters will operate just fine with Insteon. Your biggest challenge with the XPF is finding room for that honking case! Ha... Yeah. Not space efficient but one is in my HVAC closet, the flo's in the garage, and the other is in the utility room cabinet. Compatible? I have not doubt. Effective? Depends. Is it low-pass, high-pass, or band? Signal suck vs noise and the type of noise are totally different problems to solve. Band-pass fixes most. High vs low depends on the situation. Link to comment
paulbates Posted December 4, 2016 Share Posted December 4, 2016 Shannon I've used the XPNR in several different high noise situations. Easier to install IMO, and has worked perfectly for me against HVAC motor noise (especially when I had older PSC) and transformer line noise. It doesn't carry the load, so no fuses or limits. Its for 120 /240. Yes, its 120khz vs 131.65 KHz, but I've not found that to be an issue. I found that x10 and insteon plug filters were interchangeable with no differences. Paul Link to comment
Brian H Posted December 4, 2016 Share Posted December 4, 2016 (edited) ACT stopped making all of their X10/A10 devices awhile back. I understand they sold off all the stock on Ebay. JV Digital Engineering makes a 10 and 15 amp plug in filter. I know their stuff is made with quality parts and not pushed to near maximum component ratings. http://jvde.us/xtb-f10.htm I found a question I had asked Jeff on his forums. He indicated that the filters have a wide enough bandwidth to also be effective on the Insteon 131.65KHz power line frequency http://jvde.us/forum/index.php?topic=46.0 Edited December 4, 2016 by Brian H Link to comment
ELA Posted December 6, 2016 Share Posted December 6, 2016 How do you know it's band-pass? I googled and found several docs on it but none of them mentioned the low- and high- cutoff points. Or anything about frequencies. How do you know Stew....? I had thought it was a band stop filter? Maximum impedance at about 120khz or so. Drops off and impedance goes down on either side of that. Can be easily altered by removing one capacitor to increase the impedance 6 fold at 120-130Khz if desiring to use as a circuit isolator (suck reduction) rather than a noise attenuator. Link to comment
stusviews Posted December 6, 2016 Share Posted December 6, 2016 You are correct, it's actually a band-stop filter keeping frequencies around the X10/Insteon powerline frequency from entering the device (signal sucker) or being transmitted for the device (signal stomper). Link to comment
madcodger Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 You are correct, it's actually a band-stop filter keeping frequencies around the X10/Insteon powerline frequency from entering the device (signal sucker) or being transmitted for the device (signal stomper).Hi all. I have a switchlinc that controls several fluorescent lights in our basement, and while I can turn them on using the ISY, they won't turn off. I suspect this is due to noise from the fluorescents. As each fluorescent is just plugged into a ceiling outlet, can I simply use one of these filters at each light and expect good results? Alternatively, is there a way to just filter at the switchlinc, as this would be less expensive than buying 4-5 filters (one for each light)? The line noise does not seem to affect anything else in the house (40+ other Insteon devices). Thanks for ideas and feedback. Link to comment
paulbates Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 Hi all. I have a switchlinc that controls several fluorescent lights in our basement, and while I can turn them on using the ISY, they won't turn off. I suspect this is due to noise from the fluorescents. As each fluorescent is just plugged into a ceiling outlet, can I simply use one of these filters at each light and expect good results? Alternatively, is there a way to just filter at the switchlinc, as this would be less expensive than buying 4-5 filters (one for each light)? The line noise does not seem to affect anything else in the house (40+ other Insteon devices). Thanks for ideas and feedback. Yes, "on only" problems are very likely due to the load flooding the powerline with noise after energizing. In many cases the disruption to the Insteon device is sever and it doesn't matter that its dual band. In the case of my previous furnaces' PSC motors, the noise would actually kill the PLM that was a few wire feet away after a week or so. I had an on/off outletlinc that would "freezup" after yard lights were turned on because the low voltage transformer made noise, and I would have to use the downstream GFI to revive it. Look at the XPNR I linked above, if there is room in the wiring box or fixture, you simply wire nut it at the source where the fixture attaches to your power line. I've never had to make any changes other than bigger wire nuts. You should put one in each fixture's wiring box, close to the noise source Paul Link to comment
madcodger Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 Yes, "on only" problems are very likely due to the load flooding the powerline with noise after energizing. In many cases the disruption to the Insteon device is sever and it doesn't matter that its dual band. In the case of my previous furnaces' PSC motors, the noise would actually kill the PLM that was a few wire feet away after a week or so. I had an on/off outletlinc that would "freezup" after yard lights were turned on because the low voltage transformer made noise, and I would have to use the downstream GFI to revive it. Look at the XPNR I linked above, if there is room in the wiring box or fixture, you simply wire nut it at the source where the fixture attaches to your power line. I've never had to make any changes other than bigger wire nuts. You should put one in each fixture's wiring box, close to the noise source Paul Thank you, Paul. Will likely order later today. Taking Christmas week off so will have some time to tinker and install. Link to comment
ELA Posted December 13, 2016 Share Posted December 13, 2016 madcodger, please do read the datasheet for the filter that was recommended. It recommends other choices as a first choice. Link to comment
paulbates Posted December 13, 2016 Share Posted December 13, 2016 I read those recommendations. At the same time, I successfully installed 4 XPNRs, by themselves; on PSC motors and low voltage lighting transformers where Insteon had problems working consistently. I tried them first to see if they worked alone, because they fit in the existing box. The XPF would have required an additional electrical enclosure. Had the XPNR not worked alone, I would have proceeded to make changes and use the XPF too. Paul Link to comment
MustangChris04 Posted December 13, 2016 Share Posted December 13, 2016 Try shooting Phil Kingery, from ACT, an email. He was selling a bunch of the AF120 filters at an extremely low price last year as they were liquidating all their inventory. He had a TON of the AF300's available. x10.pcc.act (at) gmail dot com Link to comment
Brian H Posted December 13, 2016 Share Posted December 13, 2016 (edited) Try shooting Phil Kingery, from ACT, an email. He was selling a bunch of the AF120 filters at an extremely low price last year as they were liquidating all their inventory. He had a TON of the AF300's available. x10.pcc.act (at) gmail dot com I understand Phil retired, when the ACT line was discontinued. I have read what was left was dumped on EBay. Edited December 13, 2016 by Brian H Link to comment
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