Even since I did my RF conversion my T2 has been unreliable--it works for a few commands, then fails for a few. It seems a little less reliable from far away than it is close up, but it often works from other rooms and it often fails from within 10 feet. Is this typical? What are the likely suspects?

Where did you place the antenna and receiver?

The antenna and receiver are both on top of a bookcase, about 6'6" high, 4 feet away from my receiver and 10 feet from the TV. Is placement likely to be the critical issue? Is the new antenna likely to help?

Weird....

Yes, placement of the antenna is key, although this sounds a bit odd. Just for test purposes, place the antenna right smack in the middle of an open space, and see if it still behaves like this.

Another thing to check is the IR output level on your IRF-6 ports.

Not very helpful, sorry...

Thanks for the suggestions, Arjen, but the problem continues.

I did move the antenna out into the center of the room, and it didn't seem to help. I haven't done anything with the output levels, but I'm skeptical--I have blink emitters, and when the RF is working I see flashes on both the IRF-6 itself and on the emitters. Neither of these things flash when the RF fails.

(I'm looking forward to the much-complemented RTI technical support--so far they've ignored my emails.)

RTI did tell me that in some environments the IRF-6 can not distinguish the RF noise in the environment from T2 RF signals and no antenna placement is going to help in this situation.
Do you live in a large urban area? It is also a possibility the IRF-6 is malfunctioning, although I have seen only one IRF-6 die. I do have a customer that is evaluating some intermittent problems also.

Bill
www.homeautomationnet.com

Dan,

Instead of emailing RTI, I suggest you give them a call and ask for Mitch. You have me baffled. Bill's remark on RF noise may very well be the case, hope not for your sake.

Dan,
612-253-3137 speak to Mitch, he will probably ship you a new unit. We have had several IRF-6 units mysteriously behave just like yours is. Replacements have corrected the issues. What is the serial number on your IRF-6 ?

Good Luck

John

As John predicted, Mitch did swap out the IRF-6 unit, but the problem persists.

I've reprogrammed my T2 with parallel pages for IR and RF commands so that I can use IR when I'm sitting in front of my equipment and RF when I'm elsewhere. This is not exacty an elegant solution, but it may be the best I can do.

If this is a common problem, as John suggests, maybe I should try a third unit. I'm also thinking of trying a different antenna. Any thoughts?

Dan,

You mentioned that the LEDs on the IRF-6 and your IR emitter blinkers seem to simultaneously light up or stay off. That indicates that the IRF-6 apparently has no trouble sending data to the emitters.

What about the single LED on the IRF-6 that indicates if it receives RF data? Does that stay off too when the others do? In that case, it could be that your IRF-6 is fine, but your T2 has faulty RF circuitry.

Arjen, the single LED does light and not light in the same way that the LEDs on the output ports and the blinkers do. Thanks for the succestion--I'll see if the RTI folks want to try swapping out the T2.

I just got the IRF-6 and T2 yesterday and it works great with IR alone, but the RF range is very bad! Only 10-20 feet and very intermittent from that distance as well. I have the antenna well over the 6 feet point and the receiver is well away from my electronics. The buttons are correctly configured for RF etc. I have even tried shutting off various AC circuits near the receiver to no avail. I live in a small town with no major RF intereferce that I'm aware of. Are others having these problems too? If this is the norm for this system, then I'll be forced to send it back. It just doesn't fit my needs.

Dan

It seems that there's just too much RF interferance in my neck of the woods to eliminate the problem. It's not for want of effort on RTI's part, though--Mitch ended up by setting up and testing a new T2/IRF-6 pair. They worked in Chanhassen, but not in St. Paul.

Thanks to Mitch and all those who offered advice.

Well I guess I was wrong assuming that RF interference is a big city problem. I wish there were an inexpensive way to determine if there is a problem with the IRF-6 or if the problem is the environment. Any ideas?

Bill
www.homeautomationnet.com

Dan, I have had the exact same problem. Mitch sent me a 2nd IRF-6 and it made no difference. I wondered if it could be a problem with the transmitter on the T2 as well. But I found out that a 48 hour charge off the batteries are the norm. The only solution that worked for my client was to amp the cable heavily. I boosted the gain on the antenna about 100 dB. How did it all work out for you?