I'm having problems with what appear to be random "all lights on" commands in my X-10 system. I have lights being controlled on 5 different house codes (for different rooms) and about 3 to 6 lights or fans in each room with different unit codes. A few times a week, at different times of day, I'll notice all the lights on in one of the rooms. Yesterday evening, all the lights came on in 3 rooms at the same time, but the fans with in line appliance modules did not come on, that's why I think it is "all lights on".

I've seen many threads about adding a coupler/repeater, which I have, and noise filters, which I don't have, to avoid signal lose and to get a good strong signal, but will these filters also help stop random commands? Could I have some motor that is generating noise on the powerline that looks like an X-10 command? Will surge protectors add to this problem? I know they absorb signals, but can they create noise somehow?

Help, please!

Neighbors using similar technology? Try changing to different house-codes.

What, type of switches? If X10.com, it could be the old power fluctuation problem. Kind of strang it would be that many but possible if all on the same circuit. Non dimming appliance products don't have this problem.

Bill
www.homeautomationnet.com

One room has 3 PCS Scenemasters, one room is Switchlinc stuff, and the rest are X10Pro lamp modules or in-line modules. All rooms have had the problem. That does make me wonder if Larry is correct. I would never have guessed that any of my neighbors would have x10, but you never know.

Is it really that easy to travel from house to house? With the problems I had getting a good signal before I got a coupler/repeater (from Bill) it seems hard to imagine it going from house to house. I'm not saying Larry is wrong. I've been reading this forum long enough to know that Larry is 'the man', I'm just trying to get a feel for how likely it is.

If it is likely, is there a simple fix other than having to coordinate with my neighbor what codes we can each use?

Thanks again.

There are x10 filters you can put at entry to you electical service that will remove incoming x10 on the wires. Do you use RF receivers? If so my guess is that is where the signals enter.

What are the chances that neighbors are using all of the same house codes as Todd (he says the problem occurs for all his house codes)? Slim, I'd guess. Sounds to me more like a noise problem.

Could something in the fans be generating the "all on" signal?

If you removed the coupler for a few days you might be able to determine which phase the problem is happening on (see if the lights on one phase in a give room turn on and the others don't, or if all the lights in a given room are on the same phase, if only rooms on one phas and not the other appear to be affected).

If you can determine a particular phase is a problem, you can troubleshoot it further.

Joe

If the PCS units are comming on, it really would take something commanding them on. I would suspect Larry is right or you have a controller thats not under control. It would be very odd for noise to be able to hit multiple house and unit codes.

Bill
www.homeautomationnet.com

It would be nice to find the source of the noise and place a filter on it. Are there any high energy ballast for a florescent. They are often the cause of noise on the line. I had that problem. Lights connected to X-10 lamp modules would turn on when off and lights on would turn off. Filters eliminate this problem.

Thanks for all the feedback. I've ordered some filters and will do some experimenting with those when I get them to see if I can eliminate the problem.

Let us know what you came up with.

I have had pretty good luck with a whole house surge suppresser by levington ,and it has improved all the cases. I have worked with, the x 10 filter it was high price and solved nothing. Keep in mind levington makes power line carrier switches also ,and there pretty trick. So I believe that there filter reduces the filtering of your x 10 signal, other filters may cut the signal all together.
The levington filter is not cheep around $250.

Whole house surge suppressors do nothing to improve X10 noise, but they will help protect your X10 devices from surges. As far as the Leviton goes it's a good unit, but the Di-Tek has better specs and is about half the price.

Bill
www.homeautomationnet.com

I experienced similar problems with both single lights and entire groups of lights coming on at random times. All light switches are Leviton HCM06 600W dimmers. Also have a Leviton HCA02 amplifier/repeater. My first step was to connect a Smarthome PowerLinc Controller Model 1132CU and record all X10 commands. This verified that random X10 commands were appearing on the power line. I installed a Smarthome 10A plug-in filter on every TV, printer, and UPS unit in the house, but the problems continued. Next I bought a Monterey X10 Power Line Analyzer to provide a picture of what was going on. Sure enough, at random times of the day, the X10 noise level jumped from about 10mV up to 100-200mV. When it was at 200mV, I went the the breaker panels and started shutting them off one by one. When I turned off the well pump breaker, the noise dropped back to 10mV. I installed an X10 Pro XPF 20 Amp 3-wire filter at the pump controller, and have not had any random lights turning on since.

I have an interesting problem. I've been using a CM11 successfully for a couple of years (RS232 version). I upgraded to a CM15 a couple of weeks ago and now I get this problem... some times per week I come home and all lights are on (no applicances, just lights). I can't suspect noise because my CM11 was Ok. Somthing strange about the CM15 maybe??

The only time I had problem like this is when I had a bathroom remodel going on. The guys' tile saw would turn all kinds of lights on in the house. I didn't know what the heck was going on at first. You need to figure out what's turning on at the time it occurs.