ResIpsa Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 One of my KeypadLincs has recently begun exhibiting an odd behavior. It (suddenly) goes dark on its own, with the back lighting turning off completely on the buttons that are "off", and staying on dimly on all buttons that are "on". Two days ago I swapped out the KPL, thinking it was defective (I used the "replace" function in ISY). Today the replacement unit did the same thing. On both KPLs, air gapping it for a few seconds brings back the backlighting. 'The behavior seems to be totally random. I have four other KPLs in my network, plus one KPL timer, and not one of them displays this behavior. Ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeB Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 Was the replacement KPL brand-new, or one you had hanging around? Are they the same revision #? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ResIpsa Posted October 2, 2009 Author Share Posted October 2, 2009 Good question, Mike. The replacement KPL was hanging around. It was still in the box, but it's still about eighteen months old. The old KPL was Rev. 1.6 (reported by ISY as v.2C). The replacement is V1.8 (reported by ISY as v.2D). Was the replacement KPL brand-new, or one you had hanging around? Are they the same revision #? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeB Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 I experienced a similar issue with a v1.65 KPL in a single location (others in my home experienced no problems). I replaced it with a spare v1.65 I had kicking around, and experienced the same problem. I ended up RMAing both and received v1.8 KPLs, and I have not experienced a problem again in that location. You might want to RMA one (or both) if you have 2 experiencing the same issue, but you also might want to try isolating anything that might be causing problems on that circuit. I pulled pretty much everything from that circuit, and when the problem persisted I decided to RMA. What kind of load on that KPL? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ResIpsa Posted October 2, 2009 Author Share Posted October 2, 2009 There is no load on the KPL, so the red wire is capped. The KPL is in the master bedroom and controls a couple Lamplincs in the room through scenes. It also provides status indicators for certain areas throughout the house. Do you really think that something like noise on the line could cause the KPL backlight to dim on its own? This location has never exhibited any communication issues. FWIW, I checked the LED Brightness setting on all five of my KPLs while the trouble KPL was in its self-imposed dimmed state, and they all reported "1" as the OFF level and "15" as the ON level. I experienced a similar issue with a v1.65 KPL in a single location (others in my home experienced no problems). I replaced it with a spare v1.65 I had kicking around, and experienced the same problem. I ended up RMAing both and received v1.8 KPLs, and I have not experienced a problem again in that location. You might want to RMA one (or both) if you have 2 experiencing the same issue, but you also might want to try isolating anything that might be causing problems on that circuit. I pulled pretty much everything from that circuit, and when the problem persisted I decided to RMA. What kind of load on that KPL? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeB Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 Do you really think that something like noise on the line could cause the KPL backlight to dim on its own? This location has never exhibited any communication issues. Not necessarily noise. My problem KPL was in the garage, so I was looking for things with motors that could potentially be pulling down voltage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Algorithm Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 On 2008/07/07 I received an e-mail from Smarthome, describing a problem with KPL dimmers that sounds very similar to your issue. It does not specify a particular version/revision, but says it applies to the "2486D series". The problem described is the KPL "becoming unresponsive to manual and remote operation. This is usually caused by a power-related problem like power surges, momentary black-outs, or excessive noise on the home's power lines that "glitch" the KeypadLinc and it will appear unresponsive. While we are in the process of making our product more resistant to this, performing a power restore will "wake" the unit back up." The e-mail goes on to describe doing an air-gap to restore the KPL. I also recall a forum discussion (techmall?) about KPLs going 'dark', which I think was about the same time. It seems to me that all these issues may be related. I've had a few KPLs go 'dark' (one still does so occasionally), and an air-gap usually brings them back, though sometimes I've had to do a factory reset, followed by a restore from ISY. BTW, it was that same e-mail which announced the 5-year warranty extension for the infamous 'paddle failure' issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeB Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 I've experienced issues with earlier rev KPLs (v1.4 or so) where I would find them completely dead. No LEDs at all, completely unresponsive. These issues seem to resolve once I replaced them with v1.65 KPLs. The more recent issue I experienced, which I believe is similar to ResIpsa's, is different in that the KPLs are not dead - the LED dim values are simply mucked up somehow. Interestingly, they are not saved because as ResIpsa points out a simply reboot of the switch restores the previous functionality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.