Weird Communication Problem

[JCrank]

I have a decent sized instead system 70 devices at least half of them are dual band.

 

I system works reasonably well except I have an issue with a fluorescent aquarium hood.  Most of the time when it is on I have loads of communication problems.  So I put a filterlinc on it.  It helped slightly but I still have major communication issues when the light is on.  

 

The fixture is a 36" 4 tube T5 HO.  The fixture has to separate  ballasts each running a pair of the tubes.

 

So my question is what can I do if a filter link won't stop the noise or signal sucking from a fixture? Maybe try different ballasts in the light?

 

I've had the light in use for almost a year it's always had a problem but it seems to be getting worse.

[stusviews]

That'll happen as ballasts age. Which outlet on the FilterLinc do you have the aquarium lighting plugged into, the front outlet or the bottom outlet. Is the filter an Insteon 1626-10 or something different? Did you get the filter new? What source?

[Brian H]

Only the outlet on the bottom is filtered.

So if you are using the front outlet. It will not filter out the noise.

 

I have seen some messages here. That the X10Pro XPNR Noise Reducer has helped in some situations.

Many of the online vendors have them along with the new owners X10 site.

https://www.x10.com/x10-pro/specialty-devices/filters/xpnr-noise-reducer.html

[JCrank]

I’m using the insteon 1625-10 it was purchased new from amazon. And it is plugged into the bottom outlet. I may try one of those xpnr noise reducers.

 

Thanks for the reply’s

[MrBill]

my advise, look at the new LED aquarium lights.  They are going down in price finally, to the point the new fixture will pay for itself in about 20 months.  (I think i was using .149 kw/h in the break even calc)

[JCrank]

It turns out all my issues where do to another dying PLM this one was a warranty replacement that only lasted a little over a year.  I noticed that scenes from device to device worked fine but commands from the PLM where not being received very often but the PLM would receive status updates fine.

 

I purchased and installed new PLM and everything is now working fine.

 

So chalk it all up to another early PLM failure.

[Brian H]

If you are electronically handy and the bad one is out of warranty.

There is a very long thread here on rebuilding failing ones.

http://forum.universal-devices.com/topic/13866-repair-of-2413s-plm-when-the-power-supply-fails/

 

Smarthome has indicated they found a problem part in the serial PLM and have updated it as of revision V2.3.

I know the RS232 chip was changed on the daughter board and the power supply capacitors C7 and C13 where again upgrade to a higher voltage rating.