Re: WARNING re X-10 (again) & computer-modems

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Yurtle Turtle by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <yurtle_t-at-yahoo-dot-com>

I haven't been in our new house more than several
months before I had to order a new $75 dollar board
for my garage door opener. Fortunately my new openers
have two boards, only one of which was roasted. In my
old house, the openers had a single board, which cost
over $100. Unplugging them probably helps, but when a
stray streamer hits the antenna...

Adam

--- Tesla list <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com> wrote:
> Original poster: "Malcolm Watts by way of Terry
> Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <m.j.watts-at-massey.ac.nz>
> 
> Hi Ken,
>         I've also had past problems caused by
> operating high powered 
> electronics in the vicinity of other equipment.
> Problems caused fell 
> into two categories: interface destruction, and
> sometimes capacitor 
> destruction where the caps were bypassing high
> frequencies from power 
> rails to ground. I inferred from those failures that
> external wiring 
> was coupling transients into the equipment and now
> disconnect all 
> cables from equipment in the vicinity (e.g. network
> cables, both 
> ends, printer cables, both ends, etc.
> 
> Regards,
> malcolm
> 
> On 8 Feb 2002, at 16:36, Tesla list wrote:
> 
> > Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz
> <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
> <Kchdlh-at-aol-dot-com>
> > 
> > I'll repeat my warning about operating Tesla coils
> in the vicinity of X-10
> > lighting-control units--and also add something
> about computer modems:  In
> > short, WATCH IT!
> > 
> > I have about 7, X-10 wall-switches installed in my
> home in locations
> varying in
> > distance, from where I operate my coil, between 15
> and 30 ft. or so.  For
> those
> > who don't know, X-10 units are radio-controlled
> triac-regulated wall switches
> > operating together with remote controllers.
> > 
> > Also, my computer is located in the room directly
> above my workshop,
> where the
> > coil is.  And unhappily, both mains- and
> phone-lines cross within the ceiling
> > almost directly above the coil.  Do you begin to
> get my drift?
> > 
> > Yes...both the X-10 units and the computer have
> been affected.  Here's what
> > I've experienced:
> > 
> > 1.  All of the X-10 wall units remain operable
> locally, i.e. by pushing their
> > buttons to turn their lights on & off.
> > 
> > 2.  None of the 5 closest X-10 wall units will any
> longer turn on
> remotely but
> > they may be so turned off .  Except: two of them
> will turn on remotely,
> > sometimes, but only in the evening; not during the
> day (and who can
> figure that
> > one out?).
> > 
> > 3.  The closest wall-unit has additional charming
> problems:  When turned on
> > (locally), it often goes off by itself 2 or 3
> times--after some minutes each
> > time.  Once I caught it dimming itself down to
> full-off, so maybe that's what
> > it does, when I'm not looking.  Usually this unit
> will not dim when
> others, not
> > seemingly affected and set to the same "address",
> are dimmed, but
> sometimes it
> > does.
> > 
> > 4.  Those others--two of them--are the farthest
> away from the coil and
> seem not
> > to have been affected; they remain responsive to
> remote turning on & off and
> > dimming.
> > 
> > 5.  One or two wall units, located at an
> intermediate distance from the coil,
> > will very occasionally come on all by themselves,
> and not when I am operating
> > the coil or anything else electrical, except
> sometimes watching the
> nearby TV.
> > 
> > 6.  I employ 4 remote-controllers, all sending
> their signals via the power
> > line.  I can't be sure that they have not been
> affected but it seems as
> if the
> > problems lie only, or mainly, in the wall units. 
> But I also employed one
> > additional sender that was incorporated into my
> burglar alarm and that
> seems no
> > longer to function.
> > 
> > As to the computer (a PC Pentium III running W98),
> its modem, on the
> > motherboard, has malfunctioned several times.  I
> even had the entire
> > motherboard replaced, before I thought about the
> Tesla coil, and the new one
> > still malfunctioned similarly.  But the
> malfunction (a steady, loud, clicking
> > occurring during dialing) has seemingly gone away
> once I uninstalled, and
> then
> > re-installed, the modem in Windows.  So maybe that
> was some baffling kind of
> > software problem.  The evidence as to the coil
> being the source of the
> problem
> > is only circumstantial but pretty compelling.  I
> suspect I've been lucky,
> > there, in not having had worse problems with the
> computer.
> > 
> > So once again:  Everyone with X-10s and/or a
> computer...take great care with
> > them big sparks!
> > 
> > Ken Herrick
> > 
> > 
> > 
> 
> 
> 
> 


=====
Adam Minchey
yurtle_t-at-yahoo-dot-com
http://www.geocities-dot-com/yurtle_t/index.htm

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