Odd X10 RF transmissions

[Bruce L]

I'm getting odd X10 RF received with my W800. The W800 has been working great for over a year now. Here is a snippet from my log.

3/26/2005 4:04:59 PM~!~W800 RF (32Bit) Controller~!~RF Decoded: X10 C 5 On
3/26/2005 4:04:59 PM~!~X10 Received~!~C5 (?) C On
3/26/2005 4:05:02 PM~!~W800 RF (32Bit) Controller~!~RF Decoded: X10 D 5 On
3/26/2005 4:05:02 PM~!~X10 Received~!~D5 (?) D On
3/26/2005 4:05:06 PM~!~W800 RF (32Bit) Controller~!~RF Decoded: X10 C 5 On
3/26/2005 4:05:06 PM~!~X10 Received~!~C5 (?) C On
3/26/2005 4:05:08 PM~!~W800 RF (32Bit) Controller~!~RF Decoded: X10 O 5 On
3/26/2005 4:05:08 PM~!~X10 Received~!~O5 (?) O On
3/26/2005 4:05:15 PM~!~W800 RF (32Bit) Controller~!~RF Decoded: X10 C 5 On
3/26/2005 4:05:15 PM~!~X10 Received~!~C5 (?) C On
3/26/2005 4:05:25 PM~!~W800 RF (32Bit) Controller~!~RF Decoded: X10 C 5 On
3/26/2005 4:05:25 PM~!~X10 Received~!~C5 (?) C On
3/26/2005 4:05:26 PM~!~W800 RF (32Bit) Controller~!~RF Decoded: X10 D 5 On
3/26/2005 4:05:26 PM~!~X10 Received~!~D5 (?) D On
3/26/2005 4:05:32 PM~!~W800 RF (32Bit) Controller~!~RF Decoded: X10 C 5 On
3/26/2005 4:05:32 PM~!~X10 Received~!~C5 (?) C On
3/26/2005 4:05:40 PM~!~W800 RF (32Bit) Controller~!~RF Decoded: X10 G 9 On
3/26/2005 4:05:40 PM~!~X10 Received~!~G9 (?) G On
3/26/2005 4:05:40 PM~!~W800 RF (32Bit) Controller~!~RF Decoded: X10 C 5 On
3/26/2005 4:05:40 PM~!~X10 Received~!~C5 (?) C On
3/26/2005 4:05:41 PM~!~W800 RF (32Bit) Controller~!~RF Decoded: X10 G 13 On
3/26/2005 4:05:41 PM~!~X10 Received~!~G13 (?) G On
3/26/2005 4:05:41 PM~!~W800 RF (32Bit) Controller~!~RF Decoded: X10 D 5 On
3/26/2005 4:05:41 PM~!~X10 Received~!~D5 (?) D On

These appear to be noise but the W800 has never had noise like this before. So maybe it is a RF unit with the batteries going bad ?

I have about 20 motion sensors, a couple of keychain remotes, some sticky switches and palmpad remotes. Any ideas on how to determine if this is noise or a bad unit. If a bad unit any options besides pulling all the batteries one at a time ?

Bruce

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

Hi Bruce:

Wow, 20 motion sensors .

This is a tough one to troubleshoot. One idea might be to determine if it is indeed noise or a problem with the W800 unit itself. Do you happen to have an MR26a or CM19a unit? Maybe even an RR501 or something that can receive your RF devices for a day or so just to see if that "noise" still appears.

If it does, then it points to RF, maybe try to eliminate house codes one by one in the W800 setup, hopefully that will help you narrow down the culprit.

Other than that I'm out of ideas.

Let us know how this works out.

BSR

 

[Bruce L]

Well now I'm receiving nothing from my W800 I've restarted HS several times and the server once. I've tested with a palmpad with fresh batteries. I initially receive a few responses but then nothing. I'm beginning to wonder if its the W800. I don't have another RF receiver available - well I do have a CM15A but that has no HS support at the moment. I may get a MR26A cheap just for testing. I'm beginning to think my W800 has gone bad :unsure:

 

[electron]

Have you tried adjusting the debugging level, maybe there is some other useful info in the logs.

 

[Bruce L]

I had basic debugging turned on but it turned on detailed and I'm getting lots of these in the log.

3/26/2005 11:14:00 PM~!~W800 RF (32Bit) Controller~!~Received RAW Bytes: D2 02 FD 2D At 6436.73
3/26/2005 11:14:00 PM~!~W800 RF (32Bit) Controller~!~Message was corrupt, invalid, or not recognized.
3/26/2005 11:14:00 PM~!~W800 RF (32Bit) Controller~!~Debounced duplicate message.

That is for pressing H14 ON on the palmpad. I get different RAW data with other devices (like the motion sensors) but they give corrupt messages also. So looks like the W800 maybe bad. On thing I need to check is the power supply wall wart.

Still hoping for other ideas as the W800 is about $70 to replace

Bruce

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

Still hoping for other ideas as the W800 is about $70 to replace

Maybe even more than that depending on the cost of its plugin for HS 2.0.

I'm still running my good old MR26a with my Homemade Antenna with no problems!

I may get a MR26A cheap just for testing.

Check out THIS thread Bruce!

 

[harleydude]

I had similar problems when my W800 was connected to the PC thru a USB->RS232 dongle. Since I have moved on to the Edgeport 8 port USb->RS232 I have not seen the problem at all.

If connected directly to RS232 port maybe it is failing.

Rick

 

[electron]

Bruce, I would try to contact the WGL plugin author, and the WGL company as well, they are very nice people and I am sure they can help you figure this out.

 

[Bruce L]

Electron: I have an email sent to WGL themselves to see if this is a known failure mode of the W800.

I have tried unplugging the W800 and letting it set. When I power it back up sometimes I get good data but it often then becomes corrupted. Othertimes I get no data at all after power up. I checked the power supply and the label states it puts out 9 VDC but with a multimeter I get 11.65 VDC. Is this too high and could that be the problem ?

Thanks,

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

I checked the power supply and the label states it puts out 9 VDC but with a multimeter I get 11.65 VDC. Is this too high and could that be the problem

Bruce:

This is waaaayyy out there, but by any chance is your AC line voltage high? Might be that the power supply doesn't have a regulator and is just being rectified and stepped down with a straight transformer/bridge setup.

 

[Bruce L]

The AC voltage from the outlet the wall-wart is 121.5 volts.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

Well, never mind that idea then.

 

[Bruce L]

Well I'm pretty sure it's the W800. I have disconnected the antenna from the W800 and I'm still getting a lot of nonsense log entries like those I posted. I guess the only way to know for sure would be to order another W800 and see if it worked ok. The main problem with that approach is they are $70 a piece.

 

[huggy59]

Many wall-warts will have a higher voltage when measured without a load on them, which will come down into the proper voltage range when the device (the load) is connected.

Most devices can withstand a voltage swing of at least a few volts from the wall-wart type power supplies, anyway, depending on the type.

I'll bet you've got either a device going bad, or the communcation is somehow going bad. No changes to the system that use the USB port or added/updated USB drivers?

 

[electron]

Did you try plugging it into a different serial port to see if this fixes the issue? Hopefully WGL will get in touch with you soon.