On Sat, 7 May 2011 13:33:17 -0700, "William Sommerwerck"
wrote:

Or is it normal for something controlled by Powermid to work with
such a weak remote signal, while a directly controled device won't?

It's possible that the Powermid transponder (or its extender) puts out more
IR than the remote control itself. Regardless, you have a problem of some
sort, either with the remote or the receiver in the device.

By the way, regular fluorescent lamps can cause problems with IR-controlled
devices.

Thanks. I didnt' know that. (Just as I didn't know about the CFL's
until less than a year ago.)

I don't have any regular fluorescents.... but I have bought a fixture
for my kitchen. Ugh. I guess that would likely increase my problems.

It came with two long U-shaped bulbs, 2 to 3 feet long. I don't
suppose those are a known exception and don't emit IR.

I have no idea what would make a particular CFL eligible for an EnergyStar
label. Fluroescents produce about four times as much light (for a given
power input) as regular incandescent lamps. They are inherently
energy-efficient.

That's what I thought. Maybe the Energy-Star people are bluffing or
lying, but it's worth a few dollars to find out, regarding CFL's. But
in the kitchen, I would think those long U-shaped ones are expensive,
to replace brand-new bulbs when I have no other place to use them.

I guess what I have to do is connect the fixture without attaching it
to the ceiling, and see what effect it has.

Then if I have to, I can give away the whole fixture. (I also spent
about 30 dollars to replace the wall switch timer with a special
fluoresent-compatible wall switch timer, to keep the house looking
lived in when I'm away.

Thank you for bringing this up. I definitely would not have thought
to do testing before installation if you hadn't.


(In order to get more light in the kitchen, I exceeded the 60 or 75
watts allowed in those glass spheres (there are three of them). and it
didn't cause a fire of course, but over the course of a decade or
more, the bakelite? or plastic that surrounds the threads of the
socket turned brittle and somewhat fell apart, largely in one case,
and also there's not as much to hold the metal threads in place, and
one socket won't work anymore, probably no longer makes contact with
the center of the bulb. I coudl repair all this or, I think, buy a
brigher non-fluorescent fixture, bigg but I thought fluorescent would
look nice. Modern, since I'm stilll living in the 50's anything from
the 60's seems modern to me. )