A bulb blue-flashed failed in my lamp controlled by a
standard X-10 lamp module, the result being that now
the module when turned off only goes to half-brightness,
both by dimming and by commanding OFF via the remote. I
don't have money to buy another one, but may have the
ability to fix this one if it's a known failure mode
and replacement parts are in my giant bin-O-parts.

Anyone know enough about these to offer pointers or
advice?

JazzMan
--
************************************************** ********
Please reply to jsavage"at"airmail.net.
Curse those darned bulk e-mailers!
************************************************** ********
"Rats and roaches live by competition under the laws of
supply and demand. It is the privilege of human beings to
live under the laws of justice and mercy." - Wendell Berry
************************************************** ********

JazzMan wrote:
A bulb blue-flashed failed in my lamp controlled by a
standard X-10 lamp module, the result being that now
the module when turned off only goes to half-brightness,
both by dimming and by commanding OFF via the remote. I
don't have money to buy another one, but may have the
ability to fix this one if it's a known failure mode
and replacement parts are in my giant bin-O-parts.

Anyone know enough about these to offer pointers or
advice?

JazzMan
Triac....

Google it.

jak

jakdedert wrote:

JazzMan wrote:
A bulb blue-flashed failed in my lamp controlled by a
standard X-10 lamp module, the result being that now
the module when turned off only goes to half-brightness,
both by dimming and by commanding OFF via the remote. I
don't have money to buy another one, but may have the
ability to fix this one if it's a known failure mode
and replacement parts are in my giant bin-O-parts.

Anyone know enough about these to offer pointers or
advice?

JazzMan
Triac....

Google it.

jak


Thanks, I would (given my luck) spent a couple of days
googling before I stumbled across a repair. Now to find
a triac.

JazzMan
--
************************************************** ********
Please reply to jsavage"at"airmail.net.
Curse those darned bulk e-mailers!
************************************************** ********
"Rats and roaches live by competition under the laws of
supply and demand. It is the privilege of human beings to
live under the laws of justice and mercy." - Wendell Berry
************************************************** ********

JazzMan wrote:
jakdedert wrote:

JazzMan wrote:

A bulb blue-flashed failed in my lamp controlled by a
standard X-10 lamp module, the result being that now
the module when turned off only goes to half-brightness,
both by dimming and by commanding OFF via the remote. I
don't have money to buy another one, but may have the
ability to fix this one if it's a known failure mode
and replacement parts are in my giant bin-O-parts.

Anyone know enough about these to offer pointers or
advice?

JazzMan

Triac....

Google it.

jak



Thanks, I would (given my luck) spent a couple of days
googling before I stumbled across a repair. Now to find
a triac.

JazzMan


You can get one at Radio Shack, if you can't find one there, email me
and I'll send you one.

JazzMan wrote:
jakdedert wrote:
JazzMan wrote:
A bulb blue-flashed failed in my lamp controlled by a
standard X-10 lamp module, the result being that now
the module when turned off only goes to half-brightness,
both by dimming and by commanding OFF via the remote. I
don't have money to buy another one, but may have the
ability to fix this one if it's a known failure mode
and replacement parts are in my giant bin-O-parts.

Anyone know enough about these to offer pointers or
advice?

JazzMan
Triac....

Google it.

jak


Thanks, I would (given my luck) spent a couple of days
googling before I stumbled across a repair. Now to find
a triac.

Okay, I've done it for you. (It's been a while since I played actively
with this stuff...I was curious.):
From the FAQ for the comp.home.automation newsgroup at
http://techsupt.winbatch.com/TS/T000002007F31.html

"Q508. How do I repair a "blown" X10 lamp module?

X10 lamp modules have a bad habit of dying premature deaths. Most of the
time, the problem can be traced back to a bad triac. Why the triac is
the weak link has been debated hotly. It is possible to "resurrect" the
module by simply replacing the triac. Caution must be stressed here;
there are a lot of triacs available, but whichever one you use must have
an isolated tab. The most universally available replacement is from
Radio Shack, part number 276-1000 [Does this part actually have an
isolated tab?], or Digi-Key part number L4008L6-ND. In addition to
having an isolated tab, it also has a higher rating than the original
one, so will be less likely to fail.

If you don't know a triac from a mouse trap, you'd better not try to
replace it."

jak

JazzMan

You don't use peanut butter on the triac, right?

jakdedert wrote:

If you don't know a triac from a mouse trap, you'd better not try to
replace it."

On Thu, 09 Feb 2006 10:12:45 -0600, Mike Berger wrote:


jakdedert wrote:

If you don't know a triac from a mouse trap, you'd better not try to
replace it."

You don't use peanut butter on the triac, right?

Do you mean bird ****?

James Sweet wrote:

JazzMan wrote:
jakdedert wrote:

JazzMan wrote:

A bulb blue-flashed failed in my lamp controlled by a
standard X-10 lamp module, the result being that now
the module when turned off only goes to half-brightness,
both by dimming and by commanding OFF via the remote. I
don't have money to buy another one, but may have the
ability to fix this one if it's a known failure mode
and replacement parts are in my giant bin-O-parts.

Anyone know enough about these to offer pointers or
advice?

JazzMan

Triac....

Google it.

jak



Thanks, I would (given my luck) spent a couple of days
googling before I stumbled across a repair. Now to find
a triac.

JazzMan

You can get one at Radio Shack, if you can't find one there, email me
and I'll send you one.

Success!!! I had a dead wall switch module, it quit responding to
the remote a long time ago. I looked at it and it had a triac
similar to the one in the lamp module. It was BTA10 400C, and the
lamp module triac was marked BTA10 600C. It took some finagling
the leads because the center lead was bent opposite on the wall
switch compared to the lamp module, but after getting it in it
worked perfectly. Thanks a bunch, folks!

JazzMan
--
************************************************** ********
Please reply to jsavage"at"airmail.net.
Curse those darned bulk e-mailers!
************************************************** ********
"Rats and roaches live by competition under the laws of
supply and demand. It is the privilege of human beings to
live under the laws of justice and mercy." - Wendell Berry
************************************************** ********

JazzMan wrote:
James Sweet wrote:
JazzMan wrote:
jakdedert wrote:

JazzMan wrote:

A bulb blue-flashed failed in my lamp controlled by a
standard X-10 lamp module, the result being that now
the module when turned off only goes to half-brightness,
both by dimming and by commanding OFF via the remote. I
don't have money to buy another one, but may have the
ability to fix this one if it's a known failure mode
and replacement parts are in my giant bin-O-parts.

Anyone know enough about these to offer pointers or
advice?

JazzMan
Triac....

Google it.

jak


Thanks, I would (given my luck) spent a couple of days
googling before I stumbled across a repair. Now to find
a triac.

JazzMan
You can get one at Radio Shack, if you can't find one there, email me
and I'll send you one.

Success!!! I had a dead wall switch module, it quit responding to
the remote a long time ago. I looked at it and it had a triac
similar to the one in the lamp module. It was BTA10 400C, and the
lamp module triac was marked BTA10 600C. It took some finagling
the leads because the center lead was bent opposite on the wall
switch compared to the lamp module, but after getting it in it
worked perfectly. Thanks a bunch, folks!

JazzMan
One thing that goes wrong with the WS modules (a couple of things,
actually) is that the cutoff switch, below the push button, gets tweaked
out. Either the contacts get dirty or the switch just gets forgotten.

There's a small gauge wire jumper on the board that sometimes goes
kablooey as well. I believe it's meant to be a sort of fuse, but I've
never seen reference to it anywhere. I've brought a couple of those
back to life by simply replacing it with similar gauge wire.

jak