Re: Random X10 all lights on/all units off over and over

["Jeff Volp" <JeffVolp@xxxxxxx>]

Actually, those patterns look too well defined to be noise.  Since another
RF command interrupted the sequence, I would look for a X10 RF device
screwing up.  People have reported that some X10 RF devices will transmit at
random as their batteries are dying.  However, that would require a
transceiver still plugged in somewhere to accept those signals.

Do your close neighbors use X10?  If so, do you use a whole-house filter to
block their X10 commands from coming in?  Do you have a repeater?  What
other transmitters were still plugged in?  You must have had some sort of
line interface for Homeseer.  Is there any chance the source was there?

That B9 Bright 7 should be pursued.  Noise would not produce a solid pattern
like that, so something must be transmitting it.

Since it was raining, do you have any motion detectors that might have
gotten wet?

If you want reliable X10, you really should invest in a signal measurement
tool.

Jeff

<looper@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1165640754.919497.251890@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Ok, this was embarassing.  I drove home today to find all the X10
> lights in my house toggling on, toggling off, on, off, on off.  My
> house is X10 Haunted!
>
> As soon as I got inside, I unplugged the CM11A,  and the TM751
> transceiver, and a mini-switch I have. These are all the devices that I
> have that can possibly generate X10 signals.  The haunting continued.
> After about a minute, I tried to use one of the wireless remote
> controls, (which should have had no effect since the transceiver was
> unplugged) and suddenly everything stopped.
>
> Checking my homeseer logs, I see a lot of noise, which I usually get,
> but I'm too cheap to buy a signal analyzer/filter and debug it.
>
>
> 12/8/2006 7:59:08 PM~!~X10 Received~!~A14 (?)  A On
> 12/8/2006 7:59:17 PM~!~X10 Received~!~A14 (?)  A Off
> 12/8/2006 7:59:24 PM~!~X10 Received~!~A14 (?)  A On
> 12/8/2006 7:59:30 PM~!~X10 Received~!~A14 (?)  A Off
> 12/8/2006 7:59:32 PM~!~X10 Received~!~ B All Lights On
> 12/8/2006 7:59:32 PM~!~X10 Received~!~ A All Lights On
> 12/8/2006 7:59:34 PM~!~X10 Received~!~ A All Units Off
> 12/8/2006 7:59:34 PM~!~X10 Received~!~ B All Units Off
> 12/8/2006 7:59:34 PM~!~X10 Received~!~ A All Lights On
> 12/8/2006 7:59:35 PM~!~X10 Received~!~A14 (?)  A On
> 12/8/2006 7:59:41 PM~!~X10 Received~!~ B All Units Off
> 12/8/2006 7:59:41 PM~!~X10 Received~!~ A All Lights On
> 12/8/2006 7:59:41 PM~!~X10 Received~!~ A All Units Off
> 12/8/2006 7:59:46 PM~!~X10 Received~!~A14 (?)  A Off
> 12/8/2006 7:59:55 PM~!~X10 Received~!~A14 (?)  A On
> 12/8/2006 8:00:01 PM~!~X10 Received~!~A14 (?)  A Off
> 12/8/2006 8:00:18 PM~!~X10 Received~!~B9 (?)  B Bright 7
> 12/8/2006 8:00:19 PM~!~X10 Received~!~B9 (?)  B Bright 7
> 12/8/2006 8:00:34 PM~!~X10 Received~!~B9 (?)  B Bright 7
> 12/8/2006 8:00:34 PM~!~X10 Received~!~B9 (?)  B Bright 7
> 12/8/2006 8:00:35 PM~!~X10 Received~!~B9 (?)  B Bright 7
> 12/8/2006 8:00:39 PM~!~X10 Received~!~B9 (?) B2 (Family Room TV ON on
> remote) B9 (?)  B Bright 7
> 12/8/2006 8:00:39 PM~!~X10 Received~!~ A All Lights On
> 12/8/2006 8:00:39 PM~!~X10 Received~!~ A All Units Off
> 12/8/2006 8:00:39 PM~!~X10 Received~!~ B All Units Off
> 12/8/2006 8:00:39 PM~!~X10 Received~!~ A All Lights On
> 12/8/2006 8:00:40 PM~!~X10 Received~!~ A All Units Off
> 12/8/2006 8:00:40 PM~!~X10 Received~!~ B All Units Off
> 12/8/2006 8:00:40 PM~!~X10 Received~!~ A All Lights On
> 12/8/2006 8:00:42 PM~!~X10 Received~!~ A All Units Off
> 12/8/2006 8:00:42 PM~!~X10 Received~!~ B All Lights On
> 12/8/2006 8:00:42 PM~!~X10 Received~!~ A All Lights On
> 12/8/2006 8:00:46 PM~!~X10 Received~!~A14 (?)  A On
> 12/8/2006 8:00:52 PM~!~X10 Received~!~A14 (?)  A Off
> 12/8/2006 8:00:58 PM~!~X10 Received~!~A14 (?)  A On
> 12/8/2006 8:01:08 PM~!~X10 Received~!~A14 (?)  A Off
> 12/8/2006 8:01:14 PM~!~X10 Received~!~A14 (?)  A On
> 12/8/2006 8:01:19 PM~!~X10 Received~!~ B All Lights On
> 12/8/2006 8:01:19 PM~!~X10 Received~!~ B All Units Off
> 12/8/2006 8:01:19 PM~!~X10 Received~!~ A All Lights On
> 12/8/2006 8:01:20 PM~!~X10 Received~!~ A All Units Off
> 12/8/2006 8:01:21 PM~!~X10 Received~!~ B All Units Off
> 12/8/2006 8:01:21 PM~!~X10 Received~!~ A All Lights On
> etc etc.
>
>
> I don't know what the B9 Bright 7 is, it's noise I always get from
> something and just ignore.A14 is the night/day unit for a motion sensor
> I have - not sure why it was toggling, it often does that, I should
> replace the batteries or replace the sensor
>
> I'm willing to put up with noise and a generally pretty unreliable X10
> system, but coming home to every single light in my house toggling is
> very, very embarassing.  Especially since I really don't know the cause
> of it.  Fortunately, according to the homeseer logs, it onlly went
> completely nuts about 30 minutes before I got home, and the wife wasn't
> home, so that embarassment was spared.
>
> I have a mixture of appliance switches, wall switches, lamp modules,
> etc.
>
> Can anyone suggest what it could be? I thought it could be a faulty
> transceiver or a faulty Cm11a, but when I pulled all of these it was
> still insane. I'm assuming that there's no concept of "buffering" in
> the units so it couldn't have been afteraffect from a broken
> transmitter that had been unplugged.  The only other clue I can offer
> is that we're having a rainstorm.
>
> By the way, searching through my log, I don't see any other time when
> "B All Units Off" was hit. It seems this was a unique occurence.  I
> just dont want it to hit again in the middle of the night and have to
> go unwire all the x10's from my house, or change their house codes.
>
> Thanks.
>