jcwarren Posted December 8, 2009 Share Posted December 8, 2009 I was wondering if anybody has had any devices turn on / off at random in their home while the controller is running. My programmable thermostat turns the central air on and I have a touch lamp that turns on and off. I tried both wired and wireless connection between controller and pc, but no difference. Kind of annoying.... Just wondering if anyone else has experianced this.Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Simmons Posted December 8, 2009 Share Posted December 8, 2009 Could you please add your location to your membership info?Is the air real dry in your house? I've had issues with a touch lamps during the winter if we're not running the humidifier. How old is the wiring in your house? Are you subject to surges from your local power company - we've had that here in the past and it also affected the touch lamps. Haven't had issues with the thermostat before though... there are some threads floating around regarding lights dimming and/or flickering that you might want to check out. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eldoradoboy Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 you arent running any X-10 in your house are you? I found when i had the electrics in my display misbalance in prior years that the voltage variations from the load of the lights mimicked X-10 codes and was turning on and off lights in the house..ive got less X-10 in the house this year and a more balanced light show so i dont have the issue..touch lamps could be sensitive to voltage fluctuations due to the lights..the thermostat could be remote controllable and is resetting the same way-Christopher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffF Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 Our newer washer will turn on during heavy current draw so we unplug it after doing the wash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 Touch lamps (at least the ones I've known of) will turn on if the power goes out, then back on. It's possible you're "browning out" the power to the degree this is happening... Is it on the same circuit as the Christmas lights? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Hamilton Posted December 12, 2009 Share Posted December 12, 2009 Yeah I had this trouble about 4 years ago pretty badly. I use X10 devices, but that wasn't the reason. As a couple others suggested, it could be brown-outs or dropouts due to surges.In my case it was simply line noise due to lots of surges and the controllers. I installed one of those line filters at my service panel (cost about $200 for the one I bought that mounts on the wall near the panel and wires into the panel), and suddenly everything worked nice. Even after Christmas, my X10 devices work a lot more reliably. I have never seen a single problem in the last 4 years. I think it also helps to minimize surge issues with other sensitive electronic devices in the home when things like the pool pump or refrigerators kick on or off (especially when they turn off due to inductive kickback in the line).See this link for general information about "Service Entrance Surge Protectors". FYI, I'm not saying this will solve your problem, but it solved my issues and likely helps with reducing other electronic failures."http://www.statefarm.com/learning/loss_prevent/surge_protection.asp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcwarren Posted December 12, 2009 Author Share Posted December 12, 2009 OK I switched outlets to try another circuit and that seemed to help the touch lamp tremendously. I also turned on our humidifier and I don't think that the lamp has turned on since. However the thermostat still trips out. It is a battery operated remote control programmable thermostat. So I disconnected all the wires going to it and it hasn't been tripping out. A fan light would turn on and it would make clicking noises, but it hasn't done anything since I disconnected the wires. I am supicious that the problem is noise in the wires coming from the HVAC system. I was going to test them with a voltmeter, but I keep forgetting to bring it home from work. Thanks for the advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eldoradoboy Posted December 12, 2009 Share Posted December 12, 2009 what kind of thermostat is it? make and model?-Christopher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wbottomley Posted December 12, 2009 Share Posted December 12, 2009 Shoot.... the first night I turned my lights on, the toilet flushed. I knew it would be a crappy night after that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Hamilton Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 warrenjc wrote: I am supicious that the problem is noise in the wires coming from the HVAC system. I was going to test them with a voltmeter, but I keep forgetting to bring it home from work. Thanks for the advice.A voltmeter isn't going to show you any noise on the line. Voltmeters are "averaging" devices and have too slow response to capture anything like that. And if it did, there is no real way to display the result. Odds are that you are just going to see the nominal 120 VAC, and you won't be able to come to any conclusion with that result.If you want to see line noise, you are going to need a storage O'scope or similar device. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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