Eclypse Posted August 24, 2009 Posted August 24, 2009 I have a problem that has been occurring for months now and I have been trouble shooting this whenever I can. At one time I thought I had figured it out by removing my WGL whole house Transceiver but, that wasn’t it. Periodically I have been getting a barrage of x10 signals that show up in the log. Obviously when these are occurring normal signals don't go thru. These signals are never the same house code but for the burst that is occurring. There are some patterns I have found, but nothing noticeable. My house has been on x10 for years and luckily I have had very few problems. With signal strength or noise. Not to say that it wasn’t happening it just wasn’t apparent. As it is I have everything running off my ISY. The interface between the ISY and the ELK I tried to work with but because my system is both x10 and Insteon. I couldn't make use of the import feature. I have old switchlincs and some 2 and 4 button Leviton switches. There are a lot of ISY routines that run off IR from MX-950 Home Theater Master remote I have a link of my log if that will help. I would love to solve this as it does not make the wife happy when the fan won't come on because the system is sending the codes over and over. Any suggestions comments ideas are welcome as I have disabled devices, Replaced devices, and beaten my head on a few devices. Then waited day/weeks (depending on when I had time) ran the log and still get these random bursts. Thanks in Advance Here is the log http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=27e12aa89ec3aa13d1014a7a667fa2b41a76e24d85b2cf87ce018c8114394287
Brian H Posted August 24, 2009 Posted August 24, 2009 Wow what a X10 signal firestorm as shown in your log. Are any of the firestorm X10 addresses a valid one in your system? Do you have any X10 Repeaters between the phases, in your setup? If so what brand and model.
Eclypse Posted August 24, 2009 Author Posted August 24, 2009 There are no repeaters. I do have two ElK 9100's which control my pool pump and my Hot water heater. I am not sure though if the repeater function is even on, though it is one thing I can look at. I have two of the Insteon Access points in the house for the thermostats and the 4 or 5 insteon switches I have replaced. There is nothing on housecode A M is master bedroom K is kitchen B is my sons room G is my daughters room & garage O is outside lights C16 is Pool Pump H5 is Hot water heater F is Foyer light H1 and H2 are upstairs and downstairs Hall lights thats all I can think of off the top of my head I think some of the Insteon devices are also sending x10 when they are shut off? Here are the logs from this morning and the event viewer log http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=27e12aa89ec3aa13d1014a7a667fa2b4e04e75f6e8ebb871
Brian H Posted August 24, 2009 Posted August 24, 2009 Only reason I asked was; some have been reported to go into firestorms; in automation forums. Not just in Insteon Installations. I know my Smarthome Dryer Outlet one was touchy and ACT CR134 was getting touchy also. My XTB-IIR seems to be stable and not a problem with Insteon signals. I have also seen the Leviton HCA02 being reported as a problem with the X10 CM15A Controller.
Eclypse Posted September 1, 2009 Author Posted September 1, 2009 I email'd support about this thread and they were GREAT as always. They suggested I start to organize the programs I had in my ISY into managable folders. So the next day was busy breaking out folders and tidying up the programming. While doing this I noticed my log was showing a M command being repeated over and over. So I went and cut power at the breaker for my POOL pump which has a ELK Ultramate 9100 connected to it. I have two of these one at the hot water heater and one at the pool pump. After cutting the power I returned to look at the event viewer and the M command repeating had quit. At that point the Herald Angels Sung so I left the breaker off all night and did not have any repeating signals. The next morning I went and moved the jumper for the Ultramate that turns off the repeater. The repeating function is on by default so maybe having two of them caused some sort of loop. So with this simple action all was fixed. I still have errant x10 signals going off whenever some insteon devices goes off or its status is checked but thats a problem for another day.
Brian H Posted September 1, 2009 Posted September 1, 2009 Nice to hear you are one BIG step closer to solving all the issues. Thanks for the update. I does sound like the repeaters where resending each others signals in a never ending loop. One more point. A module with an Insteon module with an X10 address. When locally toggled sends the X10 address on; off or % of dim on its primary address. Well that is how my older ones work. I have no data on what may have changed in present versions.
unispeed Posted October 10, 2009 Posted October 10, 2009 Power strips and ups(s) are the worst for x-10. especially if the are near x-10 and or insteon. I think is is the caps in them not sure though. I had intermitent x-10 traffic so bad I did a x-10 orsim. I pulled my electric meter so the whole whose was dead and isolated from the outside... Still getting x-10 traffic checking with a x-10 signal meter that was dc powered....It was a power strip...ya gotta have them in todays world but keep an eyeout that's why I am switching to insteon on or zwave.... Good luck with your xorsism
Brian H Posted October 10, 2009 Posted October 10, 2009 Power strips and UPS units can also degrade Insteon signals. Insteon modules can also degrade X10 signals. Since they also have a power line transmitter in them. They absorb signals if not the unit transmitting. Insteon signals are resent, X10 signals are not. Some have reported their X10 systems degrade as they where switching over to Insteon.
Recommended Posts