Re: Water heater eating X-10 signal

[graftonfot@xxxxxxxxx]

On Apr 24, 11:03 pm, grafton...@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
> 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.

Ooops, one other thing I meant to add:  all the measurements I made
were performed simply by switching the new water heater's circuit
breaker on and off.  In particular, I made no effort to determine
whether or not the water heater was active, i.e. one or both of
heating elements were energized and heating water.