Help Troubleshoot UPB Switch

I have two SA 240 switches that no longer connect to the network but work just fine at the switch. I have CQC adjust my lighting and recently I noticed they no longer did what they were suppose to. I tried to connect to them through UPStart but they can't be found. I tried to re-add them and put them in test mode but no luck. Any way I can troubleshoot this or is now just an expensive switch?

Thanks
Eric

It may be that something you've plugged in recently is effecting the network in that part of the house. UPS boxes, to name one, are notorious for doing that. You might want to try running Upstart with the PIM plugged in at two or three different places in the house to see if you can see the switches from there. Try putting one into setup mode, and then go around the house and plug the PIM in several different places and see if you can find it. And if it wouldn't be a lot of trouble, you might want to pull one of them out of where it is and temporarily install it elsewhere in the house.

Try different outlets around the house - ideally on the same phase as the affected switch. If you don't have a phase coupler, you may need one... and the signal sucker can be something hard to identify but think of anything you've added or changed lately. In my case it was the power injector used by DirecTV - just a simple little wall-wart.

The next step is to go around the house and unplug absolutely everything and test again - then start plugging things back in and doing the test.

If you open Upstart you'll see a Network Communications Test - that'll test all your devices and can repeat the test as many times as you want at the frequency you choose - this is very valuable for troubleshooting.

If you can find the noise source quickly, then that is probably the trouble.
If not, I would confirm the switch is working correctly first, before you started the tedious search.
I had one switch (of 50+) stop on me, so it does happen (rarely).

I have a pigtail 3 conductor cord that I use for setting up and testing switches.
Wire the switch to the Ground, Hot and Neutral with wire nuts (cap all the other wires).
Plug the switch and the PIM into the same extension cord or power strip so you know they are talking and see if you can get UpStart to recognize it in discover mode.


If you can't find the noise and the switch works correctly, did you change any of the programming recently?
I had massive problems when I accidentally gave a couple switches the same unit IDs as other ones.
As I tried to fix it in UpStart I had cascading failures with switches getting completely confused (and me too).

Thanks for all the responses. I have added a lot of small items to the house recently but realized I added a big piece of equipment earlier this year...a pool filter. So, this morning I checked the switch and everything was normal, UPStart saw the switch and tested fine. I figured after the pool filter turned on it would stop working...nope, it worked well all day. I was able to use CQC and adjust the light level. Now, I just went to check it and now it doesn't work again. So, something is affecting the signal in the evening. The hunt is on to find the culprit.

More to come when I get some info.

EST said:

Thanks for all the responses. I have added a lot of small items to the house recently but realized I added a big piece of equipment earlier this year...a pool filter. So, this morning I checked the switch and everything was normal, UPStart saw the switch and tested fine. I figured after the pool filter turned on it would stop working...nope, it worked well all day. I was able to use CQC and adjust the light level. Now, I just went to check it and now it doesn't work again. So, something is affecting the signal in the evening. The hunt is on to find the culprit.

More to come when I get some info.

Click to expand...

And CFL or other light bulbs that are only on in the evening?

Well it seems to be an LCD TV in my office. My question is why does this affect only 1-2 switches and not all? Is it a proximity issue (Rooms, breakers, ...)? I want to add more switches so how can I make my signals better to prevent this?

Add: FYI: This TV has an audible hum all the time.

Thanks

EST said:

Well it seems to be an LCD TV in my office. My question is why does this affect only 1-2 switches and not all? Is it a proximity issue (Rooms, breakers, ...)? I want to add more switches so how can I make my signals better to prevent this?

Add: FYI: This TV has an audible hum all the time.

Thanks

Click to expand...

Something like this should help: http://www.aartech.ca/znf10a-p-noise-filter.html

EST said:

Well it seems to be an LCD TV in my office. My question is why does this affect only 1-2 switches and not all? Is it a proximity issue (Rooms, breakers, ...)? I want to add more switches so how can I make my signals better to prevent this?

Click to expand...

because it likely is only affecting sources either close to the noise source, or far enough away that they're getting drowned out. In a case in my house it was affecting a couple switches on the opposite phase on long electrical runs - but when I fixed the source of the noise all of my signal levels increased.

Also it'll generally not even show as "noise" in upstart - just a signal suck that causes all the signal levels to be lower.

If you want to add switches, just watch signal levels - and consider a phase coupler if needed for the opposite phase.