RE: [ukha_d] AD10 - clunks but doesn't always turn on the light ?

[Marcus Warrington <marcusw@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Nigel,

> I like the pictures, quite a dramatic change to the rooms....

Thanks :)... it's a lot of work.. and still not finished :)

I always like to take pictures because you sometimes forget
what it used too look like and how far you've actually come.
Having said that I don't have any pictures (well not digital) of
how it used to look in the very beginning, when it had all the old
kitchen units in there. The dining room was the kitchen and the kitchen
was a small self contained bed-sit flat for their son, the utility room
had a horrible metal shower cubical painted in blue hammerite paint!

> Rather than relying on the Lights to confirm the operation of the AD10

> have you tried connecting a Digital Voltmeter just to confirm if the
> relay in the AD10 is operating.

No.. but since the second press of the button does NOT clunk I'm pretty
certain that the relay has mis-fired and is left in the off state, even
though the firmware thinks it on.

I'll try plugging one of my plug in electricity meters into the output
of
the AD10 and see what it registers.. I wired the input and outputs from
the consumer unit as plug/sockets to aid in wiring everything up i.e.
didn't
want to try wiring the X10 units into the consumer unit while standing
on a
Ladder and peering through a 6" gap between the two ceilings!

> From my limited knowledge of x-10 modules and the AD10 in particular
it
> is just a relay so the load, being 350 - 400w, should not be causing a
problem...
> There are issue with Lamp Modules (LM10?) because of the dimming cct.
> On a related note are you using XLobby to switch x-10?

Funny you should ask.. I'm just "trying" to get that bit working
but
without much
success at the moment... early days though :) I've installed the French
X10 plug-in
but haven't had much success so far.. I'll post back if I do ever get it
working.

Eventual plan is to then have some 3COM Audrey units around the house
(bedside
tables etc) that will run off Xlobby's web interface and allow control
of the lights
and MP3's etc.

The latest experimental build of Xlobby has certainly made the PPC
client interface MUCH
faster and slicker than previous versions

Marcus
http://www.marcusw.dsl.pipex.com/webalbum/


----Original message below-----

From: Marcus Warrington [mailto:marcusw@xxxxxxx]
Sent: 05 July 2006 08:32
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: [ukha_d] AD10 - clunks but doesn't always turn on the light ?

I've just finished rewiring the the hallways and dining room for X10
control, but have a small problem that I hope someone can solve for
me. The dining room has a dropped central ceiling that has strip lights
around the perimeter that act as concealed wall wash lighting.

The central cieling is approx 3m x 4m and has one flourescent tube at
each 3m end and 2 tubes along each 4m side, giving a total of 6  tubes
(around 350-400watt)-. These are chain wired one to the next and are
(now) fed from an AD10 mounted in a consumer unit hidden on top of the
dropped ceiling. The wall switch has been replaced with a  momentary
switch to toggle the AD10. I've also had to put a plugin filter in-line
between the AD10 and the strip lights otherwise they  become
"invisible" to X10 commands when turned on.

If this doesn't make a lot of sense I've uploaded some pictures that
may make it clearer..

HYPERLINK
"http://www.marcusw.dsl.pipex.com/webalbum/Dining%20Room/slides/CIMG0674
."http://www.marcusw.-dsl.pipex.-com/webalbum/-Dining%
20Room/-slides/CIMG0674.
html

HYPERLINK
"http://www.marcusw.dsl.pipex.com/webalbum/Dining%20Room/slides/CIMG0672
."http://www.marcusw.-dsl.pipex.-com/webalbum/-Dining%
20Room/-slides/CIMG0672.
html

You can also see some pictures of the touch screen monitor I've sunk
into the wall (although I need to sink it a bit more to get the
stainless steel bezel installed flush) , this is connected to an old
PIII 500mhz machine that runs XLOBBY for MP3 selection/playback in  the
kitchen and dining room. The soundcard is feed into a Sonic Impact T-AMP
and feed to speakers above the wall cabinets in the kitchen  and to
some speakers (tempory fix) in the dining room.

Now this all works but occasionally (maybe one time in ten) the AD10
will "Clunk!" but the lights don't come on. If I press the switch
again, then there is no clunk and nothing happends, press again (third
time) and there is a Clunk and the lights come on. Usually this  only
happens when the lights have been off for a few hours (overnight). My
best guess is that the relay is firing but not latching i.e.  going
back to its off state even though the AD10 firmware "thinks" its
on...
Question is why and how do I "fix" it ? Is it to do with the 
strip
lights or does it sound like a faulty AD10 ?

Marcus