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[Tom G.]

Hi

My X10 system was working fine for years. In the last few months, a problem has developed. I believe a neighbor is using RF. Every morning, my timed lights come on as they should. However, at 6:15 am, ALL LIGHTS come on my house. This is not part of my timers and the only thing I see in the Activity Monitor is Receive RF, and sometimes M4, M6 or M12. All my stuff is on housecode A & B. (I know that's not great but it has been on this code since the 80's).

Here's what I want help with. Can I set up a Macro that looks to see if a module is On (A1, or A16) and if it is, then sends A1, A10, A12, A14, A16 OFF? I never used Macros so I'm not proficient at them. How do I make it "watch" for when A1 comes on? Do I need to use a two way module?

Any help or ideas at all would be great. I am tired of all the lights in my house coming on full blast when I am dragging myself out of bed each morning.

Tom G.

[Walt2]

Here's what I want help with. Can I set up a Macro that looks to see if a module is On (A1, or A16) and if it is, then sends A1, A10, A12, A14, A16 OFF? I never used Macros so I'm not proficient at them. How do I make it "watch" for when A1 comes on? Do I need to use a two way module?

If I read your description correctly, you need a smart macro for "A1 On".

Its conditional would be "Is A16 on? (too)".

If so, then send "A1 off", "A10 off", "a12 off", "A14 off", and "A16 off".

Of course, you need to have set "Monitor Housecode A".

[Tuicemen]

Tom G. : For what Walt2 is suggesting he is right you'll need SmartMacros!
But that won't stop the lights from comming on !
Also you'll need to Physically fire an "A1 on" signal in order to trigger the macro as the  trigger A1 isn't seen when all lights on is received!
The easiest way is to move your lights to another code!
Don't like the idea? Create a macro to turn all lights off then create a timer to trigger that macro at the time they come on! This also won't stop the lights from comming on but will turn them back off! unless it isn't at the same time every day!  In which case a remote at your bed side with the ability to send all lights off may be the best since even using Walt2s idea you still have to send a command!

[Tom G.]

Thank you both for your replies. One problem with Walt's idea is that A1 gets turned on by this unknown RF but it doesn't get identified as an A1 ON command. I can only surmise that the RF is sending an ALL ON. The Activity Monitor shows only Receive RF. So i was thinking I could buy a 2-way module on A1 and have the Macro check the state of the A1 module between 5:00 am and 7:00 am. If it is ON, then the Macro could turn all the individual lights off except the ones that I actually want on.

Tuiceman, how would moving all my modules to another housecode help? It is a big hassle since q number of them are behind furniture, etc. The View Other Computers shows that about 6 other housecodes are being used by someone. My immediate neighbors deny using any X10, so god knows who is using all these codes. I could try it if you really think this is the answer.

I already use the handy remote to turn everything off every morning and I am sick of doing this. It isn't exactly the same time each day but within a few minutes.

Tom G.

[Tuicemen]

Tuiceman, how would moving all my modules to another housecode help?

Usually the "All lights On" code is sent on only one house code at least this is the case with the remotes I have 

It is a big hassle since q number of them are behind furniture, etc. The View Other Computers shows that about 6 other housecodes are being used by someone. My immediate neighbors deny using any X10, so god knows who is using all these codes. I could try it if you really think this is the answer.

Try just changing the light that blasts you in the morning If it stops that from coming on then change the rest chances are good only one house code is being sent!

[Dan Lawrence]

Thank you both for your replies. One problem with Walt's idea is that A1 gets turned on by this unknown RF but it doesn't get identified as an A1 ON command. I can only surmise that the RF is sending an ALL ON. The Activity Monitor shows only Receive RF. So i was thinking I could buy a 2-way module on A1 and have the Macro check the state of the A1 module between 5:00 am and 7:00 am. If it is ON, then the Macro could turn all the individual lights off except the ones that I actually want on.

Tuiceman, how would moving all my modules to another housecode help? It is a big hassle since q number of them are behind furniture, etc. The View Other Computers shows that about 6 other housecodes are being used by someone. My immediate neighbors deny using any X10, so god knows who is using all these codes. I could try it if you really think this is the answer.

I already use the handy remote to turn everything off every morning and I am sick of doing this. It isn't exactly the same time each day but within a few minutes.

Tom G.

If your next door neighbor is using X10 and are fed from the same transformer, both of you will have to decide what house codes both of you are going to use. X10 supports house codes A-P and addresses 1-16.  If the "All Lights On" command is not coming from your system, then you two get to choose who gets what half each gets to use as their own.     

[Tuicemen]

If your next door neighbor is using X10 and are fed from the same transformer, both of you will have to decide what house codes both of you are going to use. X10 supports house codes A-P and addresses 1-16.  If the "All Lights On" command is not coming from your system, then you two get to choose who gets what half each gets to use as their own.     

This is true how close is the niegbour? X10 RF usualy won't travel more than 100 feet  most are lucky to get half that!

[steven r]

...My X10 system was working fine for years. In the last few months, a problem has developed. I believe a neighbor is using RF. Every morning, my timed lights come on as they should. However, at 6:15 am, ALL LIGHTS come on my house. This is not part of my timers and the only thing I see in the Activity Monitor is Receive RF, and sometimes M4, M6 or M12....

Absolutely no changes at all to your timers or macros? I had a ghost ON commands from one of my macros till I put a delay command after the dims.

...The easiest way is to move your lights to another code!...

...how would moving all my modules to another housecode help? It is a big hassle since q number of them are behind furniture, etc....
...My immediate neighbors deny using any X10, so god knows who is using all these codes....

You could send a few All Lights on commands yourself and maybe your neighbor would change his code. 
Actually I'm leaning to it not being from a neighbor. AHP has challenges receiving RF signals in a lot of homes much less a house away. If you're receiving power line signals from a neighbor, you might eliminate it with a whole house surge protector. I have one that I lease from the electric company. They installed it at the breaker. (It's only about $6 a month and it includes appliance insurance against surge.)

[Walt2]

Absolutely no changes at all to your timers or macros? I had a ghost ON commands from one of my macros till I put a delay command after the dims.

"Ghost ON commands" is an interesting thought.

If an A1 and OFF is sent, followed later by an ON command, then A1 will turn back 'on'.  This is also true if an A1 and OFF is sent, followed by a garbled/lost/weak A4 and then a clear ON.  A1 will turn back 'on'.

[Tom G.]

I think it may be ghost commands or RF. It doesn't seem to be powerline signals. I have tried sending Housecode M ALL OFF to see it I can spot any house nearby that might be affected. Nothing happens. And I don't see any new activity that turns M back on as you would expect. What's weird is how can an RF signal issue an ALL ON to my housecode A yet be identified in the Activity Monitor as M4 ON, M6 ON, etc.

I will try adding short delays to my Macros to see if this helps.

Tom G.

[steven r]

I think it may be ghost commands or RF. It doesn't seem to be powerline signals. I have tried sending Housecode M ALL OFF to see it... ...I will try adding short delays to my Macros to see if this helps....

I use to make one of the first things I did after moving was to send an "All Lights On" followed by an "All Units Off" commands repeatedly to flush out any X10 neighbors. Never found any.

In spite of much discussion on this forum and I'm not even sure X10 has acknowledged it yet, AHP has a "ghost bug" known to many of us here. In my case, C5 keep turning ON. I didn't realize it till my mom came to visit and let me know the next day that the light in her room had come on in the middle of the night.

In most cases the ghost ON command occurs after a dim command. Most of the times you can do a series of dim commands but if you immediately follow a dim command with an ON or an OFF command a ghost command can appear. The mystery ON doesn't show up on the AHP Activity Monitor. It would probably take a scope on the power line to figure out why this happens but the work around is to follow the last in a series of dim commands with a 1-3 second delay. Some have said a 0 second delay will work but it never has for me. The delay command seems to work like fairy dust. A little bit in the right place works magic. I have one macro that a 2 second delay didn't work but two 1 second delays did. (In retrospect I imagine a 3 second delay might of worked but at the time I was so glad to get the thing working that I left the two 1 second delays in it.)

[ArtClark]

Just to throw in some confusion.  It SOUNDS like it really is RF.  The "M" house code is all zeros and the Code 12 "M 12" is also the all zeros data.  If the "RF" signal was close enough to a proper start of X-10 signal, that would be what you would see....

The confusion is why this hits an ALL LIGHTS ON for house code A.  As a wild one, I have a vaccum cleaner that actually transmits an RF code via motor noise.  I won't discuss how much it took to prove to myself it wasn't power line noise, but I can say for sure that it IS the RF noise.  It's possible that something has lost a noise filter and just happens to match up.....

I realize that none of this is really helpful, but I put it here because there can be very weird RF responses to noise from Motors, etc. that can be VERY hard to define.  Just keep this in mind while trying to locate the source of the interference.

[Tom G.]

Hi Art

I believe you're right. I think it is an RF problem. I recently had a new furnace with electrostatic air cleaner installed and it coincides with the appearance of this problem. I suspect this is what is sending the RF. Bu what can I do about it? I can try moving the ActiveHome upstairs farther away from the furnace in the garage. Other than that, I don't think there are any filters or blocks for RF. 

Tom G.

[ArtClark]

Well, I have a feeling you may have hit the nail on the head.  ELectrostatic filters have been known to put out a lot of RF noise.  Unfortunately, filtering RF really will come down to shielding the unit, going on the assumption that the small arcing in the filter is generating the RF.  You can always try extra grounding and adding caps to the voltage generation circuit (Time for engineering..) but I'm not the expert on this type of stuff.  The people who sold the filter, or the manufacturer, may have some good ideas, seeing that RF noise is supposedly limited by radio rules in most countrys.

All I can say at this point is "Good Luck" in finding a good RF filter method, and be sure to verify that it IS the source.  I guess you could turn off the filter (Full power cut, of course) for a day to see.  Could even be one of those Nasty cases of a business nearby causing a voltage spike in the power line, causing the output of your filter to increase just a little at just that time.  Sounds goofy but I have seen that at a comercial account.  If that were the case, you might be able to filter the input line to the Electrostatic FIlter with one of those small transformers.  Of course, that's a WILD guess.......

Again, Good Luck with this one.  I'm sure there are others here that can offer much easier solutions.  I hope someone who is reading this "Has the light bulb go off" in their head and can give you better info.

[Noam]

After reading through this thread (and not seeing the answer to this question), I have to ask:
You said it happens at 6:15 every morning.
Is there anything else happening at that time (coffee maker, electric alarm clock, etc) that could be generating the RF noise?
You mention the furnace filter. does the furnace kick in at 6:15 (like by a programmable thermostat)? Does it happen when it cycles on at other times of the day as well?