X10 Signal Sucker Identified... Rally Scooter's Charger!

[Jack Edin <nospam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hey Gang!

X10 stuff is intermittent; I know this.

Sometimes lights turn on for no (known) reason...

But X10 modules don't just stop, like mine did...

Some of my X10 modules were ignoring me!

They used to work...

So I tried to think of what I may have plugged in that is causing
problems...

I use many UPSs around here: 8 in use right now... And they're known X10
signal suckers/blockers.

I have one older UPS that I thought was the problem so I went to Smart
Home and bought a 15Amp plug-in filter. It solved that problem, which I
later learned wasn't the UPS at all. It was a SONY 36" WEGA flat-screen
CRT TV doing all the sucking...

Still filter that whole mess, but since replaced the TV.

I thought maybe it was a switching powersupply recently added... So I
got another identical filter, and plugged a whole bunch of potentially
problematic devices in through it...

Still my signals were blocked.

This can be seen at a glance when a 300' string of rope lights remains
on 24/7...

To think I bought this stuff to SAVE energy...

Well yesterday I unplugged my (father's) power scooter, 'cause I was
listing it on eBay. They had a 10-cent listing day...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=75068&item=5650702524

This morning I see the rope lights have indeed gone out.

Yippee!!

They're controllable once more!

And the scooter was on the same circuit, before the rope lights... Makes
perfect sense...

Adding to the intermittancy is the fact that the scooter is only charged
once in a while. Especially as nobody uses it anymore.

I'll bet some others in our home automation community may benefit by my
discovery.

Hope this helps!

Jack
:)