Has anyone out there installed nore than one of these T2's with the IRF-6? We have had the what seems to be the only misfortune according to RTI of 3 bad IRF-6 units and 5 T2's. They have sent replacements which work but this kind of problem does not seem to appear on other threads. We were among the first to receive our units and our distributor maintains the first "batch" had problems. The last S/N we had difficulties with was 020-005146 does anyone have a unit close to this? Do you have any problems? We think this product is a great alternitive to more expensive options in the control world but the time we have had to spend troubleshooting these system has far outweighed the price these other system would have netted us.

John,
I have been through a dozen or so T2's w/ no signs of trouble. It seems the IRF-6 does not execute the commands exactly as the T2 does in ir however. One needs to be particularly careful w/ the timing of macros when issued by the IRF-6 that execute perfectly on the T2 alone. I also had a bit of trouble issuing commands to an EAD TheaterMaster Sinature Classic through the IRF-6 that went fine on the T2 alone. That being said, tech support at RTI (and a little persistance) has been able to overcome any difficulty I ran into. It ain't Crestron (a product with which I have never had an RF interferance issue), but it doesn't cost that much either.

jcmitch

JCmitch;
Our problems have'nt been with our programs, but with the the actual operation of the IRF-6 and T-2 themselves ie, backlight burnout after two hours, intermittent power to the IRF-6, IRF-6 dropping program. Not to mention the normal IR learning problems, Our concerns are centered on this production run and if there are any other contractors or end users with similiar difficulties. I appreciate your input on the macros and the difference between the IR and RF timming and will keep those in mind.

Thank you

John

Really sounds like you are having a round of bad luck, do you live in the Bermuda Triangle.

I have sold several dozens of the T2's and a quite a few IRF-6's. To date I have had one T2 backlight fail, one T2 just die, and one IRF-6 that slowly stopped receiving. The one thing they have all had in common is that RTI and my distributor immediately offered support and replacement. RTI is willing to back their product and dealers to the hilt so other than inconvenience I would not worry about quality.

As a side note I recently met with the RTI National sales manager and got to see their new IRF-6 high gain antenna (out about a week) and the new T2 decorative front faces coming out next month, starting with silver but getting progressively wilder. No word on when the CM-232 will be available but they are expecting them soon.

Bill
www.homeautomationnet.com

Bill,
Thanks for the RTI plug. Yes Bill things do seem to be falling out of the sky around us all the time and the weather is wonderful;). We have a couple of the (much longer) RF antennas and have installed them. I appreciate too the expedient support Mitch offers. He is truly a genuine help. My concerns are still based on the production run I mentioned in my earlier thread. Do you have any records pertaining to the bad units you have received back? I presume you are a retailer and not a integrator by the sales mention I have seen on other threads here. If you have any info on the bad RF units it would be helpful. The latest IRF-6 we had go bad (second one on this job) had a prod # 020-005148. We replaced it with 020-005645. So it seem according to our records, that the 020-005100 production run was plauged with problems. I'm sure Bill, you can appreciate the fact that I do not want to arbitrarily return product to RTI for replacement as those units might be reshipped to another unwitting end user in error. I have a vested intrest in this products success as we have several large scale projects in the works with T-2's in the spec.

Thanks

John

Can someone give some insight as to what is the cm-232 that Bill E. referred to 2 posts back? Thanks.

A module that plugs into an IRF-6 port on one end, and into some device with a serial interface on the other end (e.g. home-theater PC). In the T2 Designer software, you can specify that a button push or a macro step should send a string of characters to the IRF-6 port. The CM-232 will convert that into a standard signal as expected by serial interfaces (what is usually done by a 16550 UART in a PC).

Hey guys,
I our company has installed over 20 of these remotes. On one job we had 7 with RF receivers, all on different channels, and some right near the other. ALL SYSTEMS worked great. I did notice if you do not fully extend the wire to the antenna you will have some interference. I also noticed the trial and error with the little "o" rings on the 1/8th inch minis. After a little work and some early testing, my clients are happy and I even purchased a T2 for my media room at home! My wife and 7 year old son love it.

Also, I want to thank Mitch for always having the answer to any question I may have.

Pat

John,

I finally got the defective IRF-6 back from my customer. Unfortunately it is S/N 020-005243 which blows the production run theory, maybe?

I know this is a defective vs. RF interference as it worked great for about a month and then faded to no reception distance at all. As you suggested, it would be worth our while keeping a running log, but so far it looks random.

Bill
www.homeautomationnet.com

Bill,

I still seem to have an intermittent problem with the RF. It almost seems like I have null spaces in which the RF won't work. If I then move the T2 a half inch in any direction, the RF works. These failures are very annoying while excecuting macros. I have my ant mounted on the wall 6' in the air and have experimented with moving the base out into the open with no perceivable difference. I wonder if it is a problem with the T2 sending the RF? By the way, range is not an issue. These problems happen when I am 5' from the base / ant.

Any ideas.

Mike

Mike,

Talked to Mitch at RTI about your problem. He was telling me that dead spots are common with RF signals. He described it as sort of a wave effect, and that sometimes the signal is being carried on the low part of the wave and does not get through. He went on to tell me that RTI is considering packaging two antennas with the IRF-6 to eliminate this problem. I have asked them to put together some sort of retro kit that I can offer existing IRF-6 owners that are having problems. I will let everyone know what RTI comes up with. Thanks for your patience.

Bill
www.homeautomationnet.com

Mike,
Our last project we used two IRF-6s with different addresses and two Ts per IRF-6. We also had a fifth T2 for IR operation only. Starting with the IR unit and working back, all programming and operation went flawlessly until the second T2 on the second IRF-6. No matter what I did I could not get reliable operation via RF. I swtiched the programming with the single T2 in IR mode and the new remote worked just great. The T2 unit with the problem RF worked just fine in IR. I programed the *troublesome* T2 to the other IRF-6 and had the same problem.

In my case it seems to be the T2 in RF mode that was the problem: range was not the issue. All other units worked at distances and conditions that I thought they should not(44+ feet, two concrete lathe and plaster walls, antenna and IRF-6 near/on TV and equipment) with standard issue antennae.

I agree with Pat that fully extending the antenna wire helps for reliability.

Rob

Mike,

Let's settle this. I will send you an additional antenna with cable and a BNC Tee with a coupler to see if Mitch is right. I will have these out tomorrow, you should have them by Saturday. If it does not solve your problem I will send you another remote to try out to see if Rob is right. And if that doesn’t work we will change out the IRF-6, and if that not the problem I guess we chalk it up to environmental noise.

Bill
www.homeautomationnet.com

Thanks Bill,

Hopefully we'll get to the bottom of this. I appreciate your persistance in trying to troubleshoot this problem.

Mike

Bill,
I got my T2/IRF-6 from you a little while ago and I am getting similar problems, I seem to have very bad RF range (less than 50 feet) and also "blank spots").

I was thinking of installing 2 antennas in my house and one outside (I control my system from outside as well).

So I have a couple of questions

1) What's the news on the RTI hi-gain antenna, as I assume this should fix my range problem?

2) If I was to extend my existing antenna using T-pieces, what cable should I use and what additional antennas should I purchase?

3) Could I install 3 antennas off the IRF-6, or is this going to cause me more problems?

Many thanks
Richard Palmer
Sydney, Australia