UPB Noise problems!!

[UPBseer]

It could be the power supply for the laptop. Electronic power supplies may create noise that is seen by UPStart. Noise that is in the 4-40 kHz range, and is in the position on the sine wave that UPB uses, show up in USPtart. A plug in filter might help. Many have had success with the Leviton 6288 Noise Filter.

Brad

 

[DeLicious]

and..... it's back. ALL DAY this time. if you'll believe, it's my wife who is talking me out of ripping out all the UPB and going back to normal switches. we'll see how she feels later tonight when she can't go to sleep because the light is still on (as it has been all day).

at this point, i'm thinking of calling the electricity company, but i don't know what i can expect out of them. if i call to complain, but all my electricity is on, aren't they going to laugh in my face? do they have any obligation to provide a clean power signal?

 

[sharby]

and..... it's back. ALL DAY this time. if you'll believe, it's my wife who is talking me out of ripping out all the UPB and going back to normal switches. we'll see how she feels later tonight when she can't go to sleep because the light is still on (as it has been all day).

at this point, i'm thinking of calling the electricity company, but i don't know what i can expect out of them. if i call to complain, but all my electricity is on, aren't they going to laugh in my face? do they have any obligation to provide a clean power signal?

I would contact the local power company and let them know that you are having power quality issues with your lighting and that you had an electrician come out and advise you of calling them. I recommend buying a UPB Pocket programmer so you can tap onto the incoming line and show the 100% noise levels on the leg(s).


-=*Sharby*=-

 

[DeLicious]

well, it was all day again today as well... we'll see if it happens on a weekday, or it's just some a**hole neighbor keeping something on all weekend. what can the upb pocket programmer do for me that upstart can't with regards to detecting noise?

 

[LightenUP]

I'm curious of the outcome.

Have both phases been tried? I might try aligning to opposite phases at this point to for S.A.G. If the noise is showing have you turned off breakers to locate?


As frustrating as this is for me as well, I have to think of it as a challenge and opportunity to learn and prove that Upstart is a dynamite tool for a PLC technology.

You can also run NOISE logging in Upstart to determine a pattern.

I've got a house with noise that is random. I think it's from outside but the electrical company provided no service to me. They did come out, checked there connections then left without improving anything. They don't have equipment like an oscilloscope. I guess that's why the pocket programmer was suggested for portability.

I'd like to help you establish some type of pattern.

 

[DeLicious]

well, i have determined through breakers that it is not coming out of my house... also, was able to convince a neighbor to shut off his main breaker for 30 seconds, to no effect. i'm fairly sure this is not random since it came on in the morning and went off around bedtime. it's just a matter of finding the right neighbor, i guess. i did convince the electric company to send a technician out to look at the transformer, but beyond that, i have little hope from them.

 

[Deane Johnson]

I know this is a bit of an old thread, but I'll jump in with a question.

I have a lot of X-10 and an Ocelot. I am beginning my research as to which protocol to migrate to as I begin to replace X-10 products. It seems to me to be between UPB and Z-Wave.

I have read through this thread with interest, since I'm growing weary of noise issues (and others) with X-10.

My question here is "is Z-Wave a safer approach than UPB"? That would assume having enough devices to provide a decent "mesh".

I'll appreciate any comments as I continue my education on this stuff.

 

[DeLicious]

as the original poster, i will say that for me, so far, z-wave has worked well where UPB failed. however, for every one of me, there are 100 or 200 people who swear by UPB. and just as there is 1 out of 100 that has problems with UPB, there are also 1 out of 100 that have problems with z-wave. i think what it comes down to is trial-and-error, personal preference, and environmental factors such as age of house, type of wiring, type of walls, etc.

 

[Deane Johnson]

Because I use an Ocelot extensively for a number of things, I'm sort of stuck in neutral until ADI finally gets the replacement (code named Firecracker) on the market. That's been promised for a year and still isn't in sight.

The delay is giving me time to devour information on forums such as this and also watch for developments. My wife and I were talking only this morning about how much we take the HA for granted, but how much we now depend on it to make day to day living more pleasant.

I'm really bouncing back and forth between the UPB and Z-Wave, but I still have lots of time thanks to ADI.

 

[LightenUP]

You might look into the new UPB product lines. Dealing with noise the PCS, HAI and now Web Mountain have improved the performance in noisy environments. I will put out a challenge to Delicious to try this in his environment to compare Gen I and Gen II. That is if he hasn't tried that already.

 

[DeLicious]

to be fair, i have not tried Gen II UPB, but i believe i have put forward my reasons for not doing so in other posts. here they are in short:

1) my noise is extremely intermittent, sometimes once a month, sometimes once a week, and wholly unpredictable. it would be very difficult to know whether or not things were working because of Gen II or simply because there had not been any noise for a long time
2) Gen II anecdotally only handles noise up to levels of 20-25 (as measured in UPStart). my noise levels were 40.
3) I don't think my wife ever wants me to say the letters UPB to her ever again

 

[Steve]

That third reason is a biggie!

Deane, you may want to get a UPB starter kit from AO and get a feel for UPB. If it turns out you don't like it or it doesn't work for you, its a small investment.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

Because I use an Ocelot extensively for a number of things, I'm sort of stuck in neutral until ADI finally gets the replacement (code named Firecracker) on the market.

I'm in the same boat as you and not really anxious to try any of the new technologies as I've read problem after problem with Insteon, Z-Wave, and UPB.

Instead I opted to try to make my X-10 as robust as possible by purchasing a signal strength meter and a bunch of noise blocks. I then went around my house and eliminated the signal sucks one by one (took a while to do this testing).

You would be surprised what devices sucked down the signal:

http://www.cocoontech.com/index.php?showto...00&hl=night

Once I did this, my reliability skyrocketed and I will now miss an X-10 command once every other month (which I don't think is bad with as many commands as I initiate during the course of a day/night period).

I'll admit X-10 is far from perfect, but I'm willing to live with it as I really don't feel like spending big bucks, rendering my Ocelot useless, and troubleshooting new problems (don't have the time or patience)! Yes, I could use software to establish links between the X-10 commands and the newer technologies, but then that would defeat the purpose of the Ocelot doing soooo many things in a stand alone scenario.

 

[Deane Johnson]

I've had the Elk meter and many filters for some time now. I couldn't live without them.

I have a circuit right now that something intermittently sucks the signal to zero. I've unplugged everything in the circuit one at a time and nothing changes. Those are the type problems I am growing weary of. By intermittent, I mean it works for a couple of minutes, then doesn't work. Letting it sit for a while, it sometimes will then work. I thought perhaps an electrical device had something that was heating up then cooling, but I've eliminated everything by unplugging each thing with no change.

I keep wondering if Z-Wave is the safest since it doesn't use the power line at all.

 

[Steve]

FWIW when I tried to use x10 I had very similar issues, I could not even make it work on the same circuit, with everything unplugged, including removing hard wired fan controllers, etc. I got so frustrated I have up and evaluated UPB and Insteon and went with UPB. For the most part it has worked great, but yes, you can still have noise or phase issues but they are usually very easily rectified with UPB. Don't be fooled into thinking Zwave will be problem free. Sure, it works great for many and may for you as well, but you potentially can have same/similar issues. Instead of powerline issues/noise, etc you simply get wireless interference, signal blocking, etc. Bottom line is any technology is going to have its issues. For me I choose not to use wireless for several reasons. One thing to is at least with powerline, you can measure things easily and narrow down to apply fixes. I'm not too familiar with Zwave but I'm sure its not as easy to see what potential noise or interference there is 'in the air'. Maybe there are ways, but not as easy or cheap (free) like with using UPStart. But if you have time, try both and then invest in the one you are confortable with.