New to the forum, struggling with a lighting issue.

I am running an X10 IR543 to control my room lighting (ceiling lights, fan, lamp and a tower fan) in conjunction with a Harmony 880 remote.

Whenever my Vizio TV is turned on, the X10 system will no longer function, in that 90% of the time, commands are not accepted via the IR543 until the TV is turned back off. I have already tried plugging my TV into an X10 XPPF 5 amp filter in the following configurations:

TV ---> 6 way ---> Filter ---> Outlet
TV ---> Filter ----> 6 way ---> Outlet
TV ---> Filter ---> Outlet

I have also relocated the IR 543 to every different outlet available in my room with no avail.

Would it be likely that I would fare any better spending the 30 bucks on the bigger X10 AF120 15 amp filter, or am I doomed to have to do some sort of re-wiring, involving terms I don't understand like phase, couplers and the like?

99.9% certain that the issue behind your problem is not X10 signal strength or powerline noise from the TV - but rather IR interference from the LCD/Plasma TV. Try moving or shielding the IR543 such that the TV doesn't have line of sight to the IR sensor on the IR543. It's not always easy - as the IR noise from the TV will reflect off walls and pictures. Check out the IR repeater gear available and you'll find plasma proof sensors that can filter out the noise from LCD and plasma TVs. Good Luck!

Your hunch seems to be correct. When I hold the IR543 close to my body to block the TV's light, it works. Also, when it locks up while receiving a command, covering the IR sensor makes it ok again.

However, I have tried placeing the device behind the TV, above, below, off to the sides, even at angles such that it is shaded from the TVs light in different corners of the room. Somehow, it is still getting IR bouncing off of something.

Can you direct me to one of these plasma proof sensors? I am having trouble locating them in my searches.

Found a solution while Google-ing. Although I did find LCD proof sensors that were $100.00+ (and about 5 times more than I wanted to spend), I saw just as many complaints from people saying that they didn't work any better.

I found a post online stating that masking tape placed over the IR sensor with about 3 layers or so would do the trick. At that thickness, my TV would still block out the sensors effectiveness for the first minute or so while warming up. I decided that I might as well try an opposite approach. Rather than putting just enough to make the TV not cause interference, and having to wait for it to cool down so that I could test the warm up cycle, I put a ton of layers on (20 or so) and just removed one layer at a time until the remote worked regularly. I am guessing I am between 8-12 layers still on the device currently. It works! The TV is not interfering with the unit anymore.

For anyone else wanting to try, as a reference I used Ace Hardware's store brand masking tape 1 1/2 inch width (painter's grade, color is light tan) and cost less than 5 bucks. The setup I was using it on was a Harmony 880 remote, X10 IR-543, and the TV that was the culprit was a Vizio 42" 1080p LCD set VW42LFHDTV10A.