Noise crashing Insteon devices?

[mdcastle]

Anyone heard of this. I have a pair of low voltage halogen lights with electronic transformers that absolutely refuse to work with an icon on/off module. It'll work once or twice, then upon attempted turn on I hear a double click, the LED goes out, and it will not work further. Two seperate icon modules do this. Someone on the Smarthome board suggested the lights could be producing noise, but wouldn't a more likely result of that be communications difficulties rather than lockups. Am I going to need to buy a filterlinc to resolve this?

[Guest]

Low voltage halogen lights use high frequency switchmode power supplies that generate a lot of noise. I have seen high end test equipment give incorrect readings because of the noise.

 

MAYBE the micro's in the appliancelincs are locking up from the noise?

 

Some people blame anything unexplainable to noise. In this case I can see the noise from the power supply as a real possibility. If you have a filterlinc you can experiment with plug the filter into the applianclinc with an extension cord then then the lights into the filterlinc. See if it helps.

 

Possibly a ferrite bead on the PS cord might help as well? I am no expert on noise elimination but if I have a chance I will ask someone I know at work that is.

[Mark Sanctuary]

Like your and low voltage halogen light pucks issue, I am also having problems with a bathroom fan (aka. **** fan) which makes the bathroom switch not function when you turn the fan off, and the motor spins down, which is most likely producing some back EMF noise. Sometimes it resets the switch too and I have to go and to a “Device Restore†from my ISY. I plan to add a filter up in the fan housing to fix the problem. There are some filters over at Smarthome.

X10-Pro 20-Amp 3-Wire Noise Filter : 4834
Leviton Noise Block : 6287
Leviton In-Line Noise Reducer : 6289
Smarthome Filterlinc 10 amp : 1626-10
Smarthome Filterlinc 5 amp : 1626

Halogen light pucks and bathroom fans are the most common mentioned noise issues for home Automation.

[mdcastle]

I ordered a wired in filter of ebay and will see how it works. If it does I plan to switch to switchlincs and outlets mounted in a five gang switchbox with a short cord, as my setup is getting ridiculous and potentially unsafe even without adding a filterlinc and another cord. I have a power strip plugged into a short exension cord, two *lincs plugged into the power strip, a cubetap plugged into each of the *lincs, and two lamps plugged into each of the cubetaps. Oh, and a brick for a phone plugged into the constant on outlet of the lamplinc.

 

The Ikea lights I'm trying to install are kind of intersting. The powerpacks were obviously designed for Europe as they're cylindrical and look like they'd fit exactly into the recess of a mainland European outlet; presumably there's a model sold abroad with round European pins. And the lights have nice long cords and plug into the powerpacs using- get this- an RCA connector.

[Brian H]

I believe those Ikea lights where mentioned in the X10 Forums and the person posted a photo. Yes they do look kind of unique.

[mcrean]

I have a digital picture frame that does that exact thing. It would also cause an X10 Appliance module to turn on and off repeatedly. I tried 2 filterlincs back to back between the Module and the transformer and it did not fix the problem. I ended up using a different "wall wart" I had laying around.

[Jon_W]

I had similar problems with my kitchen under-cabinet lights (LV Halogen/Electronic Xfmr) and first tried several diferent SWL's, including a High power version.. no change (erratic behavior, usually lost communications with my ISY, sometine would lock up, requiring an air-gap reset). After posting about this problem awhile back, I noticed comments from others regarding a Leviton filter.

 

So.. I just installed a Leviton 6287 filter, and so far (120 minutes and running...) its working great! No erractic behavior or communication problems.

 

Its a small 1.5" x 1.5" block that I had to install in a electrical box in the attic, between the SWL and the split to the 4 Xfmrs I have for my kitchen.

 

Jon