Intermittent X10 Signal Problems

[twittydavis]

I realize that this isn't technically a HomeSeer problem, but I've hit a brick wall in my attempts to figure out this problem.

I've got three X10 modules, all on the same circuit, that used to work fine several months ago. Now they will work sometimes and other times they won't work. There doesn't appear to be a pattern as far as time of day or anything, but the length of the time periods where it works or not are usually several hours. I've looked at everything I can possibly think of as far as appliances, etc. being on/off, plugged in/unplugged, etc. during those periods.

I have a Leviton coupler/repeater that was installed way before any of this started happening.

I've looked at light bulbs, I've got filters all over the place. I've checked the heating system, water heater, clothes dryer, everything in my garage (air compressor, etc.).

As I said, sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. I see the commands logged in HomeSeer, and the device status changes, but it never reaches the modules.

At this point I'm beginning to wonder if there is something at my neighbors house, but that doesn't seem to make sense because it's only the one circuit, all of the others are fine. Unfortunately the devices on this circuit are among my most used.

Does anybody have any ideas? Is there a methodical debugging approach I can take to track this down?

Thanks!

Mick

[BrettS]

Once the problem starts occuring I'd first go to your breaker box and start by shutting off every circuit except the one homeseer is on and this one. Then see if everything works reliably. If not, then unplug every device on these two circuits (except for homeseer and the devices in question, of course). If they still don't work, then try to move homeseer to an outlet on the same circuit as the devices and shut off the circuit breaker for the circuit homeseer was on. If that doesn't work, then try to move homeseer and the devices back to the circuit homeseer was on. If they still fail, then it may be bad devices. If you can get it to a point where they start to work, then start plugging things in one at a time and turning circuits on one at a time until you discover the problem device. Unfortunatly problems like this can be a pain to figure out and when it's intermittant it can be even worse.

Good luck,
Brett

[Rupp]

Mick Davis,
If it's that intermittent the circuit breaker route may take you several weeks if not months to trouble shoot the problem. I would suggest 2 approaches. First If possible swap out the X10 modules for Z-Wave modules. That would more than likely solve all your woes. The second suggestion would be to contact Martin Custer at Martin@AutomatedOutlet.com. He will loan you an X10 signal tester for the cost of shipping. This way you can know for sure if it's a noise problem or a weak signal.