XPPF Plug In Noise Filter - Use to Control Line Noise for X10 Home Automation Items Only

I like to have some of these on hand to block noisy electrical devices from polluting the AC powerline. This plug-in filter is great for trouble shooting, especially if you don't own an AT004 X-10 (PCC) Multi-Tester.The pros:+ Lowest price I could find. $11.36 each when I bought two.+ This filter works well & is easy to install... just plugs in & the offending device plugs into the filter outlet.+ 120VAC - 5A.+ UL tested, approved.The cons:- No free shipping when I bought mine, so that added $8.28 shipping.- This filter is rated at 5A, so care must be taken when it's installed! As the current draw approaches 5A, this filter will get warm to hot... I had one burn up!- 3-prong plug, so it has to plug into a grounded receptacle. ◄ See my workaround below in my closing remarks.- This filter will give off a noticeable "buzz" as the current thru it increases, approaches the 5A rating.- This filter can't be used on dimmed devices. Example: AC outlet > dimmer > this filter > load. The filter will buzz!Closing remarks:▪ I've been automating my houses for over 40 years with X-10 devices. I'm not sure what going on with X-10 products, but the price of modules & especially noise filters have increased greatly! There are deals to be found, but it takes some serious searching! :(► NOTICE - Opening this device could void any warranty!▪ For those that are handy with electrical wiring, this filter can be easily removed from the case & hardwired into a device or outlet box. Just keep in mind these can give off an audible buzz & are rated for 5A.▪ This plug-in filter has a 3-prong... grounded plug, but the ground is just passed thru & not required for the filter to operate. This simplifies the wiring if you're going to modify this for a direct wired installation.▪ I've removed the ground prong to use this on a 2-wire extension cord or on a 2-wire X-10 module. The ground is just passed thru & not required for the filter to operate. If you do this, the ground on the socket MUST be plugged to prevent a device requiring a ground from being plugged into the filter... a safety precaution.

I installed these filters on almost everything in the house that uses a switching type power supply and this has eliminated all of my X10 receivers from intermittent operation or not working at all. It also greatly reduced AM radio interference. I've never had a problem with one of these filters. If unplugging something gets your X10 system working than put one of these filters on that device.

I bought these to filter noise from laptop adapters on AC lines. But, I am not using X10 equipment. I am using HomePlug AV2 (Powerline Networking) equipment. I have a network of 3 Netgear PL1200 PLAs (PowerLine Adapters). My internet provider is a solid 90Mb/s download. At the dining room table I can get 65Mb/s down with neither laptop plugged in to power. If they are both plugged in I get maybe 44Mb/s at best. Using this between my laptops power cords and the wall outlet I can get up to 52Mb/s at best. I suspect the fact that X10 frequencies are around 120Khz and Homeplug uses 2-85Mhz may explain why they are not 100 percent effective. They were never designed for what I am doing, but they make a difference.

Plugged a computer into this and then into an outlet. Solved an intermittent light problem.

We have a Radio Shack "Plug-N-Power" X-10 system controlling three lights. After we bought our new Samsung flat screen TV one of the light controllers on the same outlet started working erratically. About 10% of the time it was unresponsive. It's been a few months now since I installed this filter on the TV plug and we've had no problem controlling the light. However, the female receptacle on this filter doesn't grab the plug very well and it feels loose. I have the filter plugged into a power strip so it's horizontal, but if I had to plug it into a wall vertically it may not grip well enough to keep the plug from falling out. If not for this flaw I'd give it five stars.

I was having an issue with my X-10 Lighting in my Home Theater. Some X-10 modules worked, some did not. Through the process of elimination, I found that when my PC was plugged in, it was causing noise on the electrical lines in the room. The PC did not even have to be turned on. Even in the off position, it's still drawing power to the motherboard. (I.E. there are LED lights on the motherboard that stay lit even when the PC is off or in standby mode). If I physically unplugged the PC, all X-10 devices functioned properly. The X10 XPPF Plug-In Noise Filter was the answer! After installing this between the PC and the wall outlet, my problems were solved. Then, I noticed I had the same problem with my musical keyboards when they were turned on so I connected the XPPF to a powerstrip instead and plugged my PC and keyboards into the powerstrip. Problem solved!

I was shocked to see that this device actually made things worse. As many know, X=10's press and pray protocol has some to be desired but for the price, to me it's worth some of the difficulties. Along with controlling the normal lights in the house, I also use it to control my holiday displays (at least the power for them). I know that the X10 signal can be affected by items like PC UPS's and refrigerators so when we bought a smaller wine cooler, I purchased one of these to plug it into. Everything seemed fine until Christmas rolled around. I put a set of candles into the windows in the room where the wine cooler is and connected them up to the X-10 controller that has been controlling them for years and when sent an on command to test them, they did not turn on. I figured that the issue was the cooler so I unplugged it and the filter and tried it again and the candles turned on. For the hell of it, I plugged the cooler back into the wall without the filter and the X-10 controller still worked fine. Without the filter things worked and with it, they did not. It appears that this should be called a noise amplifier instead of a filter.