Re: LampLinc 2000STW - mystery solved

[Kevin <Spiritbranson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"John" <jonjon.winn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
news:ddgc3m$hs$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:

> "Dave Houston" <nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:42fc54c0.156557738@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>I bought one of these when they were first introduced, placing my
>>order
>> before they were shipping. I then posted here that I was disappointed
>> because it would periodically go deaf to the powerline while randomly
>> flashing its LED. An LM465 & LM14A in the same circuit performed
>> flawlessly.
>> Using my scope card and ACT Scope-Test2, I could see nothing on the
>> powerline to explain it but still suspected there was some noise
>> (outside the Scope-Test2's bandwidth) that was bedevilling the
>> 2000STW. (I've seen periodic reports from others that they've seen
>> the same thing with this and
>> similar LampLinc modules.)
>>
>> At the time, SmartHome asked if I'd be willing to be a beta tester
>> and offered to replace the 2000STW and give me two more. I declined,
>> saying that
>> my health was too iffy to guarantee I could give it the time
>> warranted. They
>> replaced my 2000STW and gave me two more, anyway. All did the same
>> thing but
>> were OK if used in other circuits so I've been using one with a
>> bedside lamp
>> since then with only one glitch - a couple of weeks ago a brief power
>> outage
>> caused it to lose its address.
>>
>> Recently I tried the others again in the circuit that had given them
>> trouble
>> and they were OK. In the interval between the original and the latest
>> trials
>> I had given one of my PCs to a niece who was moving out of town. My
>> guess was that the power supply on that PC was the culprit.
>>
>> Yesterday, while experimenting with various lamp modules (See the
>> X-10 Dims
>> thread.), I dug out the unused 2000STWs. They were again OK.
>>
>> This morning, they both exhibited the deafness and flashing of the
>> LED (although its now constant instead of random). Again, an LM465
>> and LM14A perform flawlessly in the same circuit.
>>
>> A few days ago I wiped out my printer and had to order a new one. The
>> new one has a switch mode power supply. The 2000STWs are fine when in
>> a circuit
>> isolated from the printer.
>>
>> I think the 2000STW is overly sensitive to out of band noise.
>
> Hey Dave..
> I have a bunch of their lamplinc and appliancelinc modules and have
> several with the same problem.  They work fine until the power goes
> off, when the power comes back on they are as if they were reset.
> They lose their programming and code setting..Very frustrating, some
> of them are behind heavy furniture..I emailed Smarthome and they said
> "sounds like your getting surges, we recommend a whole house
> protector"..Well..I have two..One in each panel...
> Now we have had several power failures and most of them last only 1-2
> seconds..But seems the only thing not liking this is the smarthome
> modules...
>
> Anyone else having similar troubles?
> John
>
>

Yes John,

I have about a dozen or so of the Smarthome modules/Switches. Out of the
12 I have 2 that will lose their address during brief power outages. I
also have a whole house surge supressor. I don't know why only 2 out of
the 12 have this problem, I have even switched the location of the
modules with locations I have no problems with, and the problem follows
the module.