X10 log events, no X10 devices

[jasont]

I was looking for advice on if this is something I should just let ride, or something I should look to take action on:

I have no X10 devices in my house, but starting about a month ago, my ISY is showing X10 events in the logs.

I originally thought this might be a side effect of a failing PLM.  About two/three weeks after the X10 events started appearing in the logs, some of my ISY programs were randomly failing to turn on/off SwitchLincs.  My PLM was 2.5 years old, so I figured it was dying and ordered a new one.

Installed the new PLM last night.  Restore Modem had a problem with one of my SwitchLincs, and the little dialog box looked like it said X10 something or another when it was trying to write to it.  I ended up having to restore that device.  It's been working great since then.

After the PLM replacement, I'm still seeing X10 commands show up in the logs, some with commands like "All Units Off" and "All Lights On".  I don't know if/how the ISY reacts to these commands, if they may interfere when the ISY talking to my Insteon devices (because when they happen, there seem to be a lot of X10 commands back-to-back), etc.

Thinking about anything that may have changed electrically around the house, ... my roommate is working on growing some flowers (truly just flowers) from seeds for the first time, so he has recently added three LED grow lamps (on from 8AM-midnight) and a heating pad thingy (on 24 hours) that goes under some of the plants.  I've heard that grow lamps can cause "interference", but I thought it was RF and not electrical.  The X10 events happen randomly, even when the lamps are turned off, so I'm wondering if the heating pad thingy he has may be introducing noise on the wires that the ISY thinks may be X10...

Should I be worried about the phantom X10 commands they ISY is seeing if none of my programs look for them?  Is it worth trying to filter out?

Thanks for any advice!

X10 J Hail Acknowledge (62018/03/14 10:39:59 System 5 X10 B All Units Off (13)2018/03/14 10:40:00 System 5 X10 P Off (11) 2018/03/14 10:40:16 System 5 X10 J Off (11) 2018/03/14 10:40:50 System 5 X10 N14 2018/03/14 10:41:07 System 5 X10 P Off (11) 2018/03/14 10:41:21 System 5 X10 N Status Request (10)2018/03/14 10:41:28 System 5 X10 N4 2018/03/14 10:41:39 System 5 X10 B6 2018/03/14 10:41:44 System 5 X10 H Preset Dim (12)2018/03/14 10:41:46 System 5 X10 L2 2018/03/14 10:41:49 System 5 X10 F All Units Off (13)2018/03/14 10:41:51 System 5 X10 H Off (11) 2018/03/14 10:42:28 System 5 X10 J Status Request (10)2018/03/14 10:42:29 System 5 X10 P All Units Off (13)2018/03/14 10:42:33 System 5 X10 H Extended Data (16)2018/03/14 10:42:34 System 5 X10 B Status Request (10)2018/03/14 10:42:59 System 5 X10 J Extended Code (9)2018/03/14 10:43:24 System 5 X10 B5 2018/03/14 10:43:42 System 5 X10 M3 2018/03/14 10:43:44 System 5 X10 B All Lights Off (1)2018/03/14 10:43:53 System 5 X10 L All Lights On (5)2018/03/14 10:44:01 System 5 X10 M12 2018/03/14 10:44:13 System 5 X10 B Status Request (10)2018/03/14 10:44:22 System 5

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[Brian H]

It could be power line noise from an electrical device.

Grow lights maybe the culprit or the heating pad. They can make power line noise.

If the noise is there when an Insteon command is being sent. It maybe possible it will interfere with it or delay it. As I believe Insteon Modules are polite and wait for a clear power line.

I see a few messages in your log. House Code J and Status Request messages are both all 1 bits.

You may want to do some troubleshooting. Jeff's tutorials are for X10 but some of them can be applied to other things.

Look at the one on the cheap cellphone charger. Practically wiped out all X10 signals and Insteon is not too far away.

http://jvde.us/x10_troubleshooting.htm

You may want to try a FilterLinc on a few of the devices you think maybe causing the issue. If the current isn't too close to five amps. The X10Pro XPPF.

[jasont]

I wanted to thank you for your advice.  Putting my roommate’s lights/heating pads behind FilterLincs totally fixed the problem... haven’t seen an X10 command show up in the ISY log since then.  Thanks again!

[Brian H]

Thanks for the update.

Glad you are now not seeing rouge X10 messages.