X10 troubles

We started having trouble with our Harmony dimmer a couple of days ago. It was working fine from the switch and but not responding to X10 commands. We tried resetting it, but no change. Then we noticed that the kettle wasn’t responding as reliably as usual, and the curtains also seemed to be a bit slow to respond. Not good when we’re planning to add more X10 devices.

Today we decided to try unplugging the electrical items that we had recently added to the house and see if any of those made a difference. We unplugged lots of things one at a time and nothing made a difference. Then we unplugged the remaining items upstairs - and everything started working again. We plugged the items back in one by one, and everything still worked. We’re none the wiser as to what was causing the problem.

When it next happens, which we’re pretty sure it will, we’ll make sure we unplug devices one at a time. If we can identify the culprit then an X10 plug-in filter might help.

At least we know it’s not a problem with the Harmony module.