Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!sjsca4!greg
From: greg@sj.ate.slb.com (Greg Wageman)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: My TV is an X-10 controller!
Message-ID: <1990Jan29.185123.735@sj.ate.slb.com>
Date: 29 Jan 90 18:51:23 GMT
References: <50888@bu.edu.bu.edu>
Reply-To: greg@sj.ate.slb.com (Greg Wageman)
Organization: Schlumberger ATE, San Jose, CA 95110
Lines: 34

Opinions expressed are the responsibility of the author.

In article <50888@bu.edu.bu.edu> ardai@bass.bu.edu () writes:
>I have recently started using the X-10 system (R/S Plug 'n Power)
>and have ran into a bizarre problem.  It works fine (even though
>the controller is on the other phase from most of the modules), but
>my TV has an annoying habit of randomly turning my lights on and 
>off (mabye once or twice an hour.)  This only happens when the TV is 
>on, so it isn't someone else with the same house code.  Any ideas 
>how to fix this?  I thought of putting a 0.1 uF cap accross the TV's
>linecord, but there is an X-10 module in the same power strip as the 
>TV and I don't want to lock it out.

I read an article that talked about this problem.  I believe it was in
Ciruit Cellar, Ink.

Basically, your TV (or some other device) isn't sending X-10 codes,
but is creating noise on the line that tricks one of your X-10
controllers into thinking that one of its command keys is being
depressed.  You see, the switch matrices on the command consoles are
floating at line-voltage levels, and a noise spike on the line can
look like a button-press to the chip that scans them.

The solution is to put capacitors across the switch matrix in the
overly-sensitive controller.

I'll bet you're using the Radio Shack 8-unit controller; the one with
4 unit-selector buttons and a slide switch?  I found this unit to be
extremely sensitive to line noise.

Copyright 1990 Greg Wageman	DOMAIN: greg@sj.ate.slb.com
Schlumberger Technologies	UUCP:   {uunet,decwrl,amdahl}!sjsca4!greg
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