Re: Water heater eating X-10 signal

[graftonfot@xxxxxxxxx]

On Apr 16, 7:48 pm, nob...@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Dave Houston) wrote:
> grafton...@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
> >Hello,
>
> >I've had a modest X-10 system running in our house for a few years.
> >It took me a while to get it working reliably enough to get the WAF to
> >a level where my wife wasn't cursing "HAL" every other day.
>
> >Part of that effort involved installing an active phase coupler in our
> >mains panel.  Everything was working pretty well, until we recently
> >added an electric water heater to the panel.
>
> >The water heater is wired to a double pole 30 amp breaker in the panel
> >via about 60' of 10/2 w/ground (no neutral connection on the heater,
> >just the two hots).  After I installed it I noticed that our X-10
> >controlled outside lights weren't coming on in the evenings.  After a
> >little troubleshooting I discovered that if I switched off the breaker
> >for the heater, the X-10 system went back to normal.  Switching the
> >breaker on makes the problem reappear.
>
> >I'm guessing that the connection to heater and/or the heater itself is
> >"sinking" the X-10 signal.
>
> >Is there a wired, in-line filter available that I can fit in after the
> >breaker to block the X-10 signal from the heater and its wiring?  Is
> >that the correct approach in this case?
>
> >Thanks.
>
> What happens if you disable your active coupler?
>
> http://davehouston.nethttp://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/roZetta/
> roZetta-subscr...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sorry for the delay, finally got time to do a little data gathering on
this issue.

I find my measurement results a bit confusing.

In my breaker panel I have a Leviton HCA02-10E coupler/repeater.  It's
wired via an existing 2-pole 30A breaker feeding a dryer, and was part
of my working configuration before this problem started.

To do some measurements, I wrote a small HomeSeer script consisting of
a loop which sends "B1" "ON", waits 3 seconds, sends "B1" "OFF", waits
another 3 seconds, then repeats.

With this script running I measured signal levels in the breaker panel
using an ESM-1 connected via alligator clip leads.

Here are my (somewhat puzzling) results.  I've arbitrarily labeled the
phases "A" and "B", and expressed the observed signal strengths in
terms of number of bars lit on the ESM-1:

Condition: HCA02 breaker OFF, water heater breaker OFF
    Phase A: approx 1.5 bars
    Phase B: 0 bars

Condition HCA02 breaker OFF, water heater breaker ON
    Phase A: approx 1.5 bars
    Phase B: 0 bars

Condition HCA02 breaker ON, water heater breaker OFF
    Phase A: 5 bars
    Phase B: 4 bars

Condition HCA02 breaker ON, water heater breaker ON
    Phase A: 5 bars
    Phase B: 4 bars

Apparently the HCA02 is performing its repeater function quite well.
But what's puzzling is that with the coupler in-circuit, closing the
breaker for the water heater apparently has no visible effect on the
signal coupling as shown by the ESM-1 at the breaker panel, even
though I've repeatedly confirmed that it debilitates my control of my
front yard lighting.

Shouldn't I expect to see a big drop in Phase B signal with the water
heater circuit connected?

Thanks.