No X-10 in dining room

Is there any other electrical device operating on the circuit? I found that my new digital tv caused interference that kept x10 from working in the general area. I purchased a plug-in filter unit and that fixed it.

I had one receptical in the middle of a circuit run that would not function with the X10 plug-in units. The next receptical down, and the one before it, worked fairly well. It was checked for bad connections a few times over the years but looked fine.

I concluded there must have been some kind of tuned tank circuit that interfered withe X10 frequencies. I never did solve the problem.

One other thought, though unlikely in a dining room is that this circuit is protected by a ground-fault circuit. I have found x-10 to be unreliable on such a circuit.

Sorry I haven't responded. Moving into a new house makes for a lot of work.

Unfortunately, there is no GFCI on that room. There are also no other devices in the circuit. It has two lights, and a few empty outlets.

I see that Smart Home sells an X-10 recorder with signal strength. Unfortunately, it is $300.

Thanks for the ideas. If I come up with a solution, I'll post it here. In the mean time, I'm using a mechanical timer for my china cabinet lights.

One more question... How well does mixing X-10 and Insteon work? Can I run them at the same time without interference?

Thanks.

-- Jim

Jim, I have no experience with Insteon so I am afraid I am no help there (not that I have been otherwise).

Can you put a controller unit in the dining room and test to see if X-10 works in a different outlet? I am not sure what this would prove, but it could at least show if X-10 can work at all on that same circuit.

One other thing is that I tried a passive coupler unit on my clothes drier and it didn't help that much. I have heard that the coupler/repeaters work much better.

David White wrote: > Can you put a controller unit in the dining room and test to see if X-10

Thanks to your idea, I think I have figured it out.

I attached the X-10 controller to my laptop, and installed the software there. I then hooked it up in the dining room, and plugged in a lamp and module. It worked in the dining room, but could not control modules in the other rooms.

That was when I realized that my dryer is on a sub-panel. When building the house, I went over the 200 amps that the panel provided. I had a choice of digging the power line trench again, and running a bigger cable, along with installing a 400 amp panel. This option would have cost $4,000. I also had the option of adding a 100 amp sub-panel in my laundry room which cost $400. The choice was clear. Now, the dryer is on the sub-panel, and so is the phase coupler. I'd bet that doesn't solve the coupling problem for the main panel.

I suspect the only fix would be to put a phase coupler on the main panel. But, I'm not an expert, so if others know better, I'm open to any input.

Thanks to all for your suggestions and help.

-- Jim

Jim,

Good to have figured this odd one out. I suspect you are correct. I suspect that a phase coupler wired into the main panel will solve your troubles. There was a guy who posts here regularly who's name I cannot recall that makes what I read was a really good unit. I am sorry but I cannot find his site right now. Perhaps a posting with a title like "seeking a wired-in coupler/repeater" would get his attention. Other than that there are some wire-in units at SmartHome. All of these would likely require a bit of electrician's time to get safely and properly installed. But I sense it is not a big effort.

David