ardai@bass.bu.edu (Michael Ardai) (01/21/90)
I have recently started using the X-10 system (R/S Plug 'n Power) and have ran into a bizarre problem. It works fine (even though the controller is on the other phase from most of the modules), but my TV has an annoying habit of randomly turning my lights on and off (mabye once or twice an hour.) This only happens when the TV is on, so it isn't someone else with the same house code. Any ideas how to fix this? I thought of putting a 0.1 uF cap accross the TV's linecord, but there is an X-10 module in the same power strip as the TV and I don't want to lock it out. Thanks in advance, /mike \|/ Michael L. Ardai ...!sun!teraida!maven.DECNET!ardai (preferred) --- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- /|\ ardai@bu-pub.bu.edu
greg@sj.ate.slb.com (Greg Wageman) (01/30/90)
Opinions expressed are the responsibility of the author. In article <50888@bu.edu.bu.edu> ardai@bass.bu.edu () writes: >I have recently started using the X-10 system (R/S Plug 'n Power) >and have ran into a bizarre problem. It works fine (even though >the controller is on the other phase from most of the modules), but >my TV has an annoying habit of randomly turning my lights on and >off (mabye once or twice an hour.) This only happens when the TV is >on, so it isn't someone else with the same house code. Any ideas >how to fix this? I thought of putting a 0.1 uF cap accross the TV's >linecord, but there is an X-10 module in the same power strip as the >TV and I don't want to lock it out. I read an article that talked about this problem. I believe it was in Ciruit Cellar, Ink. Basically, your TV (or some other device) isn't sending X-10 codes, but is creating noise on the line that tricks one of your X-10 controllers into thinking that one of its command keys is being depressed. You see, the switch matrices on the command consoles are floating at line-voltage levels, and a noise spike on the line can look like a button-press to the chip that scans them. The solution is to put capacitors across the switch matrix in the overly-sensitive controller. I'll bet you're using the Radio Shack 8-unit controller; the one with 4 unit-selector buttons and a slide switch? I found this unit to be extremely sensitive to line noise. Copyright 1990 Greg Wageman DOMAIN: greg@sj.ate.slb.com Schlumberger Technologies UUCP: {uunet,decwrl,amdahl}!sjsca4!greg San Jose, CA 95110-1397 BIX: gwage CIS: 74016,352 GEnie: G.WAGEMAN Permission is granted for reproduction provided this notice is maintained.