I haven't blogged any more projects since moving as moving and summer with the children home is enough of a monumental task without having to document it for posterity. I did however just solve an ongoing problem with the automation in the new house and it is such a relief that I have to tell somebody about it.
Basic functionality is to manage the outdoor lighting, can be as simple as on and dusk off at dawn or dimmed and brightened in response to movement in the yard or anticipated visitors or whatever. I never quite got to that point. I installed a used UPB switch that I had purchased in a large lot off ebay a year or so ago and used that to control the lights over the garage doors. Sadly I added 2 variables at the same time by doing that and also putting in some fancy cold cathode compact florescent bulbs at the same time. Something there generated huge amounts of powerline noise when they were on. They would turn on just fine, but after a few seconds they would no longer turn off. They taunted me for a month of my waking up only to discover the lights still on. Sometimes other X10 switches would turn on during the night too, mostly just the backyard light on the same circuit so no big deal but also very frustrating.
After weathering this for a while I installed an inline X10 filter between the switch and the lights thinking this would surely fix the issue. I just had done the same thing to the overhead garage lights after I discovered that GE replacement electronic T8 tube ballasts also made enough powerline noise to shut down automation in the whole house. (doesn't some government agency test these things to see if they are any good before letting them put all those stickers on things?) Installing the filter was no easy task either. I actually added another 2 gang box above the switchbox in the garage wall and mounted it there relocating wires. There was no access to the light boxes themselves at all.
After all that the problems remained. Deciding that these mail order CCFL lamps were just too powerfully evil to be saved I broke down and bought replacements of regular CFL bulbs from the hardware store and installed them. The outside lamps make this very difficult as they are very fancy fixtures with totally rusted bolts that do not come apart easily. I still have scrapes and scratches on my hand from squeezing it into them holding the bulbs as far as they would open.
After all that, STILL no change in the amount of noise!
That left only 1 other possibility, well, it might be that the brand of bulbs I bought at HD was defective too but I've used those before without difficulty. I took out the inline filter and spliced an extension cord into the line going up to the lamps and plugged it in. The lights turned on with no noise. I turned on the switch with no load connected to it at all (but with the lines carefully capped for safety of course) and it generated all the noise all by itself! The lights were not implicated at all it was a defective switch!
Replaced it with another switch and there is sanity again with my outdoor lighting. I had been avoiding really going to town installing switches in the house until I was certain things would actually work. Now I think I know why this person was selling a whole house full of UPB switches on ebay. He was tearing them out after tearing his hair out why they just wouldn't work.
So never overlook the obvious, that is the most likely place for the problem to be. Now to move on to other sources of frustration!