A system for a client just sort of stopped working. Mostly. He bought the stuff and I installed it an programmed the remotes.

The master bedroom system uses RF for all components except the TV, a Samsung 8000 (skinny) very flat unit. Zone 2 runs from here. There's a T2C and an RP1.

The living room is strange. Its T2C also controls the house system. Locally, there's another skinny Samsung on the wall and a Samsung combo Blu-ray amp below it; those are run by IR. There's a cable box out of sight run through a second RP1.

The living room Motorola cable box power codes quit working reliably. I can get them to operate as individual codes (via RF), but the power on macro is spotty and the power off doesn't work. Channel control is also spotty.

The same cable box upstairs has the same problems. Also, the Yamaha surround receiver (RX-V????) upstairs doesn't always respond to commands.

The RP1s show no interference, and oddly, sometimes show no RF signals at all from the T2Cs. I've checked and RF is turned on; plus, operation is spotty, not absent.

IR performance is perfect in both rooms.

Does this sound like anything you've run across? Sorry about the model numbers; I didn't supply anything and simply worked on what was there rather than designing from the beginning.

I had a bad power supply that caused some erratic IR control. Have you tried swapping a new PS in?

 When you say channel control, do you mean channel macros or just hitting channel up/down?

Sounds a lot like an IR gain problem; just odd that it would happen all of a sudden....unless maybe a firmware update to the box changed how it handles IR?

+1 on trying a new power supply (or maybe swapping the two just for testing)

Ernie-

Which Motorola model is he using? Also, does the RF work better when you are very close to the processor antenna or is the same experience? I have had problems like this before. I would make sure firmware is good, resync everything and change the channel on the systrem.

Motorola cable boxes do not have separate power on and off comands. did you use flags for this?

Finally going out there tomorrow for this -- they say the entire system just doesn't work reliably, which is to say that it rarely works right, not that it occasionally messes up.

Power supply issues sound like they fit that scenario, except it's unlikely that two messed up in exactly the same way at the same time unless the house took quite an electrical hit. This is in a beach community quite near Los Angeles. On the one hand, you'd think that makes for less likely power problems; on the other hand, when I worked on a restaurant remodel in downtown Beverly Hills, a regular feature of the power was a slight brownout -- notieceable enough that the electricians and we A/V people stopped dead and looked around -- at least four times a day!


No. If a Mot box is off and you hit a channel number, it will turn on. The ON macro, therefore, is zero followed by exit. OFF is zero, exit, power.


Yeah, I should have the model number, but I don't.


I haven't tried this at closer than about five feet. I will.


I take it that making sure the firmware is good means flashing it, and I need to look into how to do that.

When you say change the channel on the system, do you mean change the zone code in system properties? I'd like to change the channel, by which I mean frequency, but I don't see anything specifically named that. Please tell me.

RF interference? I had a T2c/RP1 had intermittent RF interference. Everything usually worked fine while I was there. I ended up putting a 3db attenuator on the RP1 anttenna and solved the problem.

[Link: rackmount-devices.com]

Good point, but it malfunctions while I'm there and the RF light never comes on except when I send commands.

Then there are the times when a macro runs and the RF light does not come on.


Elegant. Smart. Shows, too, just how hairily you're on the edge of non-performance. If anything changes a bit, as happens on this mostly analog planet, there will be problems.

Since your ir codes work reliably alone, but not in a string of commands in a macro, try isolating them with time delays in between in case it is getting confused.. I had similar issues with a yamaha rx-v series recciever.. I used the ir pro to capture codes and they just would not work right for me.. I used codes from a similar model out of the RTI ID master library and they have worked fine for me since..

Make sure the wire from the RP1 to the connecting block is done correctly, as well as screwed down properly. I have had a new tech not pay attention and use the 4th pin instead of 1 - 3, I have also had someone screw down a terminal with the wire underneath, so it was not grabbing it. Both of those systems worked erratically.

sirroundsound,
the question in your case is why that system ever worked at all! I'll definitely check the wiring!

I bought another RP-1 to try out on site.

It's too bad that RTI's warranty policy is the way it is, based on approximately when they think they sold the unit to me rather than my invoice date to my client. I will return this unit when I'm done because I can't afford to have a unit in stock with its warranty ticking down while not having sold any RTI. So, power supply good or bad, this one's going back!

EDIT:
Now on site. 
Master bedroom system had about twelve feet of RF range.  Power supply was connected to the block, not the RP-1.  Moved it to the RP-1, RF range is now at least fifty feet.

The wiring is correct.  Whenever there are four wires but I need three, I connect four to minimize mistakes and to ensure that if I need to use that other function some time in the future, I don't have to go connect one damn wire.

Living room system works fine, except for a problem with the Samsung TV and Blu-ray -- see here --

honestly I have had all of these problems many times, I am still confused about the power macro for the Motorola cable boxes, why would you even turn them off at all? Further, if these are older DVRs then they can be intermittent freaks, I had one doing this today, unplug it for 1 minute plug back in and sluggish channel change problem was gone .

Some of the Yamaha receiver codes in the data base are wonky and can cause some of the symptoms you have experienced on this project, try different codes, also if you move the emitter a little off the mark this can sometimes get the RX units to behave better.

I "fixed" the bedroom system problem today. I confirmed that the bedroom remote and the house remote, which work with the same upstairs bedroom RP-1, had very short range.

I had connected the RP-1 power supply to the distribution block because RTI has told me you can do that. I moved it to the RP-1 itself and voila -- all initial functions were restored. Again, the question: why did it ever work properly?

Incidentally, they have a horrible time getting their wireless internet to work sometimes. It just quits from time to time.

This is two blocks from the beach in a highly residential area of Huntington Beach., the original "Surf City." They're more likely to have salt water on the floor than strong RF in the neighborhood.


Customer wants it turned off. Also, whenever he turns on the system, he wants it to go to MSNBC, and you can preset the cable's turn-on channel. I could do that with the system turn-on macro, too, but he wants it turned off. Okay.

I DID have control problems with that cable box, and don't know why I don't have them now.


Haven't actually had that problem yet. Hope I don't as the cable box is on a ledge up ten feet. But so is the wireless modem -- see above. While I was there, the 18 year old daughter got out the ten foot ladder so she could climb up and reset the wireless modem.

Both systems are now working well, except that the Samsung BD Player is basically screwed. He already replaced it once as the first one was bad out of the box. The present one will turn off the TV sometimes when you eject, will play most discs sometimes, some discs never. When that's fixed we'll see if there are any RTI problems with it.

Glad you got it fixed :-)

We refuse to install samsung bluray players, they are just plain crap in my book, we have spent way to much time trying to deal with their intermittent BS. We now use the Panasonic players for our lower cost bluray needs, all discrete codes , netflix interface and rarely a problem.