I have had UPB for about 9 months now and have been very happy with it after switching from x-10, which I have previously used for seven years. However, I did have a problem with severe noise. It first showed up about four months ago and was so bad I had very limited control with switches on one phase. After playing around with turning breakers on and off, I determined it was not originating from my house. I then loaded up a laptop, a lamp module and some beer and did some door to door testing on my cul-de-sac. In addition, to finding out my neighbors enjoy beer (actually already knew this), I discovered that half the homes on the cul-de-sac are on one transformer and the other half are on the one servicing my home. With the first transformer there was no noise and it also gave very strong signals on both phases. However, the other three homes sharing my transformer showed the same severe noise I was experiencing.
At this time I called Brad from Simply Automated and he was very helpful explaining some possible causes. I then called the Hydro Company to come and take a look at the transformer. The guy that came had no testing equipment and just looked to see if he could see anything wrong which he didn’t. I then set things up for them to send a technician, but then subsequently cancelled it as the noise disappeared after two weeks. After that it would appear randomly and only for about a day at time for the next three months.
The most recent time it showed up was a couple of Saturdays ago. At that time I saw one of my neighbors was on the street. He has a large workshop so I thought I would ask to see if he was currently trying out any new equipment. He indicated he had bought a new fan so he unplugged it but this made no change. After some more discussion, he volunteered to turn off his main breaker and boom the noise was gone! We then went breaker by breaker (definition of a great neighbor) and we isolated it to a new remote controlled dimmer switch he installed, guess what about four months ago. We discovered that simply turning it on, dimming it, or when it was completely off was no problem. However, when it was just almost turned off so there was no light coming from the fixture and the dimmer switch was just barely on, (one light bar on the switch) it would cause the interference.
The happy ending is nothing has to be replaced or changed as he just indicated they would always make sure the light is fully turned off and I now have zero noise again. It is a little disheartening though that something simple like this from a house about 75 feet away was causing limited control on one phase of my house. However, not disheartening enough that I just placed another order from Martin for another 13 SA switches. :blink:
Thought I would share this in case someone finds it helpful in tracking down noise that they might have.
Pete
At this time I called Brad from Simply Automated and he was very helpful explaining some possible causes. I then called the Hydro Company to come and take a look at the transformer. The guy that came had no testing equipment and just looked to see if he could see anything wrong which he didn’t. I then set things up for them to send a technician, but then subsequently cancelled it as the noise disappeared after two weeks. After that it would appear randomly and only for about a day at time for the next three months.
The most recent time it showed up was a couple of Saturdays ago. At that time I saw one of my neighbors was on the street. He has a large workshop so I thought I would ask to see if he was currently trying out any new equipment. He indicated he had bought a new fan so he unplugged it but this made no change. After some more discussion, he volunteered to turn off his main breaker and boom the noise was gone! We then went breaker by breaker (definition of a great neighbor) and we isolated it to a new remote controlled dimmer switch he installed, guess what about four months ago. We discovered that simply turning it on, dimming it, or when it was completely off was no problem. However, when it was just almost turned off so there was no light coming from the fixture and the dimmer switch was just barely on, (one light bar on the switch) it would cause the interference.
The happy ending is nothing has to be replaced or changed as he just indicated they would always make sure the light is fully turned off and I now have zero noise again. It is a little disheartening though that something simple like this from a house about 75 feet away was causing limited control on one phase of my house. However, not disheartening enough that I just placed another order from Martin for another 13 SA switches. :blink:
Thought I would share this in case someone finds it helpful in tracking down noise that they might have.
Pete