Do X10 modules degrade over time?

[Joerg <notthisjoergsch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello Folks,

We have a weird phenomenon, or maybe it's normal. Older X10 appliance
and dimmer modules begin to become erratic. Mostly they miss the switch
off command more and more. Until some day they plain don't work. It's
not signal strength or anything because I can take a (newer) module that
works in another location to that outlet and it's just fine.

The modules that fail are about 5 years old. Took a few apart and one
was definitely shot (the receiver input was shorted inside the IC). I
couldn't find anything wrong with the others except for really sluggish
response of the 120kHz LC circuit when turning its core. More sluggish
than on newer modules (I always align them because I found lots of them
to be way off).

So, is it normal that they slowly die?

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com