[ANSWERED]Duration of X10 commands?

I've built my system with a lot of old X10 modules I've collected over the years. I know the X10 stuff is deprecated (or is that decrepit? yeah, that too), but I've got it and it works for the most part, and I can't afford to go out and replace everything with Insteon hardware today.

In that light, I do have a couple modules that require a little extra oomph to get going consistently. I'm not sure if it's noise on the line, or just the distance (or most likely, just X10), but if I trigger them from a keypad, I can hold down the button long enough to get the lights to toggle. When I send a command from Indigo, it won't work the first time. Sometimes, I'll have to hit ON or OFF half a dozen times for it to work. I've even taken to programming some of my Actions to do ON, Wait 1s, ON, Wait 1s, ON, Wait 1s, ON, to see if that helps.

It does, sometime. I've got a test action created that pretty consistently works with half a dozen ON or OFF commands duplicated in it.

Is there any way to program my PowerLink 2413U to send out more copies of the ON/OFF commands? I presume that's what holding down the button on my KR22A keypad is really doing.

Or does this sound like some other potential problem with my setup? I've already re-plugged all of my modules. Without a meter, it's pretty difficult to identify the noise level on the line. I do have a bridge between the 2 phases in my house, too.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

[jay (support)]

No way to have the 2413U do that automatically. And note - assuming it is some signal noise issue (which is what it sounds like to me), repeating commands too frequently can actually make it worse...

You might want to consider replacing your current interface (assuming it's X10 only) with a PowerLinc 2413U - then you can start replacing the X10 devices that are less reliable with an INSTEON version while keeping the rest of your X10 devices in tact. So you don't have to replace everything all at once. Depending on where your initial INSTEON devices are located WRT the PowerLinc and what kind they are (single or dual-band) you may need to add another dual-band device at the beginning to get the initial coverage. That will get better over time as you add more dual-band INSTEON devices.

I've already got a 2413, that I got when I bought Indigo.
That's pretty much what I suspected, but thought is ask, just in case there might be a setting that I might have overlooked. Thanks, Jay.

@alphaman,
Over the last month, I've encountered similar issues with my assortment of old X10 gear, and a new Indigo system with a 2413U.

Here's what I've found:

- my X10 devices (mostly lamp modules) that were problematic were 'near' to a UPS, or a power strip with a computer plugged in to it. By 'near', I mean plugged in to the same fuse/circuit breaker, and close to the receptacle with the UPS/power strip. (i.e. same receptacle, same room, or other side of a common wall).
- one of the problematic X10 lamp modules was switching a CFL bulb. CFLs seem to be notorious for generating EFI that can interfere with the X10 signals. I replaced the CFL with an incandescent, and it started responding to the OFF commands from the 2413U much more reliably.
- I improved performance of my X10 devices by relocating the 2413U. It's now located at my breaker panel, plugged into a dedicated circuit. The circuit is fed from a 220V (dual) breaker with a phase coupler on it. Hence, the 2413U is transmitting its power-line signals (X10 and Insteon) right at the nexus of my home wiring. Even so, it does not perform as well as my old RR501 and X10 Minitimer. They seem to have more powerful X10 transmitters than that in the 2413U.
- I bought an Insteon FilterLink, and used it to buffer my primary (and noisiest?) UPS from the power line. That seemed to help.
- As Jay suggested, I replaced a couple of the most unreliable X10 devices with Insteons. I removed/moved a couple of surge suppressor power strips (X10 'signal suckers'). I'm now pretty happy with overall performance.

If you've not already found it, this website has a lot of good information on making X10 more robust/reliable: http://jvde.us/x10_troubleshooting.htm
They offer an X10 signal level meter, if you really want to track down the sources of X10 attenuation and interference.