Odd behaviour with X10 lamp module and LED bulb

General lounge
1

In my bedroom I have an X10 lamp module that I’ve been using for at least 10 years, it works. I have a multi button remote control for controlling the other lights in the bedroom via X10.

Until yesterday I had a dimmable CFL installed, it worked, of course it buzzed as you dimmed it, but that’s expected from the cheap/basic X10 lamp modules, will likely replace it with an Insteon unit in the future.

So I see Costco had some nice regular bulb shaped LED lights, replaced the CFL with the LED and notice 2 odd things, the LED doesn’t buzz throught the entire dimming curve (like the CFL), mainly from about 90% until about 50/60%, then not again until about 30% on down.

The second and more concerning issue is that when I turn off the lamp module, the LED bulb does not completely turn off, it looks like it’s at about 2-4% brightness. Only way to fully get it off is to actually turn off the physical switch on the lamp itself.

I swapped the CFL back in and it turns off as normal so it’s something specific with the LED bulb.

Anyone seen this before and know cause and easy fix until I replace the X10 lamp module itself?

2

This happens because the x10 module leaks a small amount of current through
the load even when its off. For some devices this is used to detect when
the load gets turned on or off via a switch.

I put a 22k 1/2 watt resistor across my christmas LED lights to make them
go out completely. I’ve read of others using various other resistances (47K
and 100k), so you may need to try some different values to be sure.

At 120V, a 22K resistor will only draw 5.5 mA.

This works out to 0.6 watts (0.0055 * 0.0055 * 22k = 0.6655) so 1/2 watt is
marginal if you’re paranoid. With larger resistances 1/2 watt will be fine.

Dave Hylands