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Smarthome PowerLinc 1132B frequent failures

I use a PowerLinc 1132B

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with a Ware Brothers sprinkler controller
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It sends X10 signals to control landscape lighting.

The 1132B fails fairly often, perhaps every six months or so. Monitoring the X10 signals with another unit and the Synapse PC software shows symptoms of seemingly garbled commands.

I order another unit and replace it, and the symptoms clear. But then several months later, the same problem recurs.

One highly unscientific test: Malfunctioning units seem to smell of burnt electronics, although opening the units doesn't reveal any visible damage.

Judging by other posts on the newsgroup, the 1132B suffers from a reputation of poor quality. But I don't see an easy alternative, as it's the only unit available compatible the Ware Bros. sprinkler controller (with which I'm quite happy).

Does anyone have suggestions about how to avoid these frequent failures? Would some sort of filter protect it from noise or spikes burning it out? I've read of Jeff Volp's XTB

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but this seems designed to boost outgoing X10 signals, not to protect the transmitter.

Or shall I just program the Smarthome warranty replacement number into my speed dial? :-)

Thanks! Larry Lang

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Two people reported problems using the 1132B with the XTB. However, their system worked fine with a X10 TW523. Because of this, I do not recommend pairing the 1132B with the XTB. Sorry...

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff Volp

The Ware Brothers site seems to be down so I couldn't find much information. I did see one reference on a dealer site to an optional serial port to interface with the PowerLinc II.

There is nothing else that uses that proprietary serial protocol so I think you are stuck.

Have you tried Ware Brothers? I'm sure they've had a lot of similar complaints - maybe they have an alternative.

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snipped-for-privacy@yahoogroups.com

Reply to
Dave Houston

not sure if i was one of the two or not (can't remember what i posted re: this problem) but I did also have a 1132B fail on me, after it had been hooked up to an XTB for some period of time. I have no way of knowing if the XTB had anything to do with it or not. got it replaced under warranty by smarthome but since then i haven't hooked up the new one up to my XTB out of fear something about the signal boosting was harming the module.

in my case the failure pattern was that first sending became less and less reliable (did not stop entirely, just had to send multiple times to get devices to respond, even going through XTB) and then eventually sending stopped working entirely, along w/ receiving.

I don't mean to disparage the XTB at all here because i have no way of knowing if the two were related whatsoever, probably was pure coincidence if the 1132B is as unreliable as seems to be indicated here, but just figured i'd add my anecdotal info.

It's a shame because the XTB was helping me get to the last corner of my house...some CFLs that would turn on but not off w/o XTB. Guess i need to explore filters instead.

Jeff Volp wrote:

Reply to
random735

To clarify, I do not have an XTB now, so whatever is causing the 1132B frequent failures, that's not it.

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googlegroups

I do have your order, but can't find any report from you regarding the

1132B.

Actually, the XTB-II pretty much isolates the X10 transmitter from the powerline. AC coming into the XTB is clamped by a MOV, and is provided to the X10 input recepacle through a damped low-pass filter. That should prevent any transients from getting through. The return signal amplifier is clamped with schottky diodes to less than 1 Vpp, so that certainly couldn't be a problem. The XTB does put about a 25 ohm load on the transmitter at

120 KHz, but the TW523 spec says it tested with a 5 ohm load. The XTB should be a very benign load to whatever is plugged into the X10 input receptacle.

The only reason I suggest not pairing the XTB and 1132B is that two people did report commands were not getting through. However the 1132B did work when plugged directly into the wall. The XTB worked fine when they substituted the standard X10 interface for the 1132B. I never heard anything else from either of these people.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff Volp

makes sense. sounds like it was just a coincidence then, I guess it's time to invest in TW523. Are there any theories on why the XTB might interfere w/ 1132B plc reception, but not TW523 plc reception? (i know, now i'm thread jacking, sorry)

Reply to
random735

There were some reports of noise sensitivity back when the 1132 came out. The XTB has an amplifier in the return signal path to restore signal lost in the coupling networks, but that will also amplify any noise on the line with content in the 120 KHz region. So line noise is one possibility.

The XTB was designed to work with a typical X10 receiver design, such as in the TW523. The 1132 design is significantly different, and its characteristics may deviate enough to cause a problem.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff Volp

I had a PowerLinc 2414u that failed about 6 months ago. It would still work fine with Insteon stuff but would no longer send or receive X10 signals. A few other people on the Indigo message board had the same problem.

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The 1132B fails fairly often, perhaps every six months or so.

Reply to
machead

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