Pulling my hair out. Is this a problem with a switchlinc?

[ryarber]

I am having communication issues and I'd like to ask for help her please from someone here that knows more than I. That'd be about anyone.

 

I recently replaced some switches by my bed. I had icon relay switches there that control some low voltage lights in my ceiling. I replaced them with some switchlinc dimmers. After this, it seems I'm having some problems that I can't fix.

 

The ISY is no longer seeing signals coming from my bedroom except very rarely. When I look at my logs, only about 1 in 10 to 1 in 50 events are being logged by my ISY from the bedroom.

 

I have a signallinc plugged in in this room as well. The funny thing is, whenever I click a switch, the lights on the signallinc flash as if it were transmitting an event but the ISY doesn't pick it up.

 

I've unplugged everything that is on this breaker and nothing helps. I've unplugged the signallinc and the only thing I noticed was that it may have gotten a bit worse.

 

I seem to remember that there were some issues with a particular firmware with switchlinc dimmers that was causing some communication issues. How do I check my firmware version and does this sound like issues people were having with those switches?

 

Could it be my signallinc not working?

 

Another interesting thing is that I'm not getting communication failures when I try to query a switch in that room. If I turn something on in that room via the ISY, it is very reliable.

 

I never noticed these issues when I had the icon relays there.

[Brian H]

Is the Low Voltage Lighting rated to be used with a dimmer?

Most do not like to be on a dimmer.

This maybe your problem.

[ryarber]

I don't know. would it cause a problem even if the switch is turned off?

 

my switchlincs are revision 4.3

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi ryarber,

 

Your SWL version is not v35 which exhibited some of the same issues you are experiencing.

 

How about activating the scene(s) to which this device belongs; do you still get intermittent behavior?

 

And finally, do you have SignaLincs or Access Points? SignaLincs, in some cases, are incompatible with the newer devices.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[Brian H]

I don't think there is a problem when off.

There could be a problem if the low voltage lights don't like the dimmer when on even at 100% there are subtle changes to the AC waveform on the Load Side.

[ryarber]

I actually have the access points.

 

These devices aren't really in any scenes except the "my lighting" scene. I could put them in a scene and play around some.

 

I also pulled the pin on the switches today to deactivate them and reliability seemed to increase a bunch. I'm going to try it again tonight and see if it is consistent.

 

These switches stay off most all the time. The low voltage lights they control are in the ceiling above our bed. We use them as reading lights and they are only on late at night.

[Sub-Routine]

I also pulled the pin on the switches today to deactivate them and reliability seemed to increase a bunch. I'm going to try it again tonight and see if it is consistent.

 

It is possible the switches are bad. If you disconnect the loads do the switches still cause interference?

 

Rand

[IndyMike]

Hello ryarber,

 

As others have indicated, it sounds as if your Halogen lamps (i'm assuming they're halogen) are not dimmable and are causing an oscillation on the output of the Switchlincs.

 

As a test - disconnect the halogens from the output of the SWL (cap the red wire output). Re-apply power to the circuit and test communication with the ISY.

 

If the above works, I would strongly suggest going back to the relay units.

[ryarber]

Well, I think I fixed a lot of my issues last night. I was trying to get down and dirty in fixing this issue and noticed that other devices weren't being seen by the ISY in other parts of the house as well.

 

Devices were not having their status updated in the ISY, but would respond just fine to the ISY when it issued commands.

 

I moved the ISY to another part of the house last night and reliability seems to have increased greatly.

 

I appreciate you guys trying to help me out.

[oberkc]

It sounds as if you moved your ISY away from something that interferes with signals. Do you have any idea what that might be? Eliminating that problem device(s) will further improve your communication. Was plugged into the same outlets/room as your computer system? Do you have your computer system on a filter? Other ideas?