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Thread: Homeworks Interactive System

  1. #21
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    How can I tell if my processor is stuck? I have the waterfall flashing lights on eac

    How can I tell if my processor is stuck? I have the waterfall flashing lights on each panel.

  2. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by Robinh View Post
    How can I tell if my processor is stuck? I have the waterfall flashing lights on each panel.
    If by panel you mean dimmers and/or keypads on the walls, the waterfall flashing lights mean that your processor is not communicating. If you look at the processor and there are lights on, or they're red, etc. it usually means it's stuck and can be revived. If only one light is on there or no lights, it means you have more serious problems and best case is that your power supply is gone and worst case, your processor is fried.

  3. #23
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    Waterfall flashing lights on keypad.

    Quote Originally Posted by SparkyCoog View Post
    If by panel you mean dimmers and/or keypads on the walls, the waterfall flashing lights mean that your processor is not communicating. If you look at the processor and there are lights on, or they're red, etc. it usually means it's stuck and can be revived. If only one light is on there or no lights, it means you have more serious problems and best case is that your power supply is gone and worst case, your processor is fried.
    Well, I turned the processor off and went to sleep (lucky that the lights in my bedroom were not stuck on). The next morning when I turned it on the system had reset. How lucky for me!!! Now to figure out if I need to just be happy with my luck or search for a replacement plan. This system was installed in 2000. Fairly large system so replacement will be very expensive - at least from what I have seen in this forum. Wish I could just match a new (and updated) processor panel to all the keypads etc already installed. Any thoughts on that plan?

  4. #24
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    It depends on what type of system it is...do you have dimming panels (RPMS) or do you have local dimmers? Is it wired, wireless, or a mixture? Is it a series 4 or 8 processor, Interactive, or god forbid, the original one?

    In my experience I've only seen the series 4 processors lock up and required a hard reset and putting a UPS for it helped that. Unless my customers are willing to just spend money (hasn't happened yet), I would say, run that thing to the ground until you're sure it's about to die or has died. If it's a wired system, you might be able to reuse some of the keypads, RPMS, etc. but it might be time to just redo the whole thing and reuse the wiring.


    Quote Originally Posted by Robinh View Post
    Well, I turned the processor off and went to sleep (lucky that the lights in my bedroom were not stuck on). The next morning when I turned it on the system had reset. How lucky for me!!! Now to figure out if I need to just be happy with my luck or search for a replacement plan. This system was installed in 2000. Fairly large system so replacement will be very expensive - at least from what I have seen in this forum. Wish I could just match a new (and updated) processor panel to all the keypads etc already installed. Any thoughts on that plan?

  5. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by SparkyCoog View Post
    If by panel you mean dimmers and/or keypads on the walls, the waterfall flashing lights mean that your processor is not communicating. If you look at the processor and there are lights on, or they're red, etc. it usually means it's stuck and can be revived. If only one light is on there or no lights, it means you have more serious problems and best case is that your power supply is gone and worst case, your processor is fried.
    Well. Luck ran out. Went back to waterfall on keypads. Again turned off for the night. Reset this morning. The processor show HWI -PO-120. Which model is that? I need to find a good person to work on this. The last guy that came out when we bought the home wasn't interested in reprogramming- only selling a new system (for big money). We live in Houston. Hoping to find someone that will work with us on this.

  6. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by Robinh View Post
    Well. Luck ran out. Went back to waterfall on keypads. Again turned off for the night. Reset this morning. The processor show HWI -PO-120. Which model is that? I need to find a good person to work on this. The last guy that came out when we bought the home wasn't interested in reprogramming- only selling a new system (for big money). We live in Houston. Hoping to find someone that will work with us on this.
    Ouch...that's the older Homeworks Interactive processor and as far as I know, there is no way to reuse any of the components for it in QS. I was thinking maybe it's a bad power supply (hence it works after being cooled off) but as far as I know, those models have it built in and it's not something that can be replaced. I really think you should be thinking of getting a new system as it sounds like the processor is failing somehow and there isn't much that can be done other than a complete upgrade. That's just how it goes with these systems but think of it like having a 15 year old computer system.

    But before you do that, maybe you can call Lutron's Homeworks Tech Support to see if they can recommend anything. Or heck, maybe just start a new thread since this one is buried and maybe other people have a suggestion. Also, I hope you have a copy of the programming on there saved somewhere because once that's gone, it's gone so even if you found something on ebay, you wouldn't be able to use it extracting the program isn't always possible from even a reliable processor.

    From a dealer's point of view, these are kind of the nightmare scenarios because we could be doing our best to try to fix it somehow but without Lutron's help (and they absolutely don't do repairs on processors, even current ones), we'd have to invent something on our own and either completely mess things up or keep getting call-backs and an angry customer who thinks we don't know what we're doing. In the end, the only way to provide a warranty is use Lutron's latest system, and believe me, there are a lot of improvements since Interactive. I'm sure there is a list of dealers in your area or you can google it and find something.

  7. #27
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    Quote Originally Posted by SparkyCoog View Post
    Ouch...that's the older Homeworks Interactive processor and as far as I know, there is no way to reuse any of the components for it in QS. I was thinking maybe it's a bad power supply (hence it works after being cooled off) but as far as I know, those models have it built in and it's not something that can be replaced. I really think you should be thinking of getting a new system as it sounds like the processor is failing somehow and there isn't much that can be done other than a complete upgrade. That's just how it goes with these systems but think of it like having a 15 year old computer system.

    But before you do that, maybe you can call Lutron's Homeworks Tech Support to see if they can recommend anything. Or heck, maybe just start a new thread since this one is buried and maybe other people have a suggestion. Also, I hope you have a copy of the programming on there saved somewhere because once that's gone, it's gone so even if you found something on ebay, you wouldn't be able to use it extracting the program isn't always possible from even a reliable processor.

    From a dealer's point of view, these are kind of the nightmare scenarios because we could be doing our best to try to fix it somehow but without Lutron's help (and they absolutely don't do repairs on processors, even current ones), we'd have to invent something on our own and either completely mess things up or keep getting call-backs and an angry customer who thinks we don't know what we're doing. In the end, the only way to provide a warranty is use Lutron's latest system, and believe me, there are a lot of improvements since Interactive. I'm sure there is a list of dealers in your area or you can google it and find something.
    Yuck. Super sad. Well. I doubt if the original owner (two owners ago) left anything behind for programming. I'll look but even so - seems this processor is on last leg. If we replaced with new system would they need to rewire etc? It really doesn't do anything special for us. The connections to the sound system are obsolete- so we don't use any of that. We only use the lights which are simply a complicated way to turn on lights these days. Is this system wired from keypad to processor making replacing with conventional light switches impossible?

  8. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by Robinh View Post
    Yuck. Super sad. Well. I doubt if the original owner (two owners ago) left anything behind for programming. I'll look but even so - seems this processor is on last leg. If we replaced with new system would they need to rewire etc? It really doesn't do anything special for us. The connections to the sound system are obsolete- so we don't use any of that. We only use the lights which are simply a complicated way to turn on lights these days. Is this system wired from keypad to processor making replacing with conventional light switches impossible?
    You can reuse the wiring in some capacity so it wouldn't need ripping everything out but your devices all will be replaced. There are a lot more options now including wireless (radio Ra ) depending on how many loads you have, distances, how the original system was installed etc.

  9. #29
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    Quote Originally Posted by SparkyCoog View Post
    You can reuse the wiring in some capacity so it wouldn't need ripping everything out but your devices all will be replaced. There are a lot more options now including wireless (radio Ra ) depending on how many loads you have, distances, how the original system was installed etc.
    Could I reuse the wiring to replace with standard switches. Meaning loose the lutron system entirely.

  10. #30
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    Sure, as long as you're happy with the current location of the lutron switches and dimmers, IE, the actual switch legs aren't hidden in a closet or equipment room but at the room where the lights are, you can just put dumb switches and keep it that way or get a system in another time if you miss it lol. I'd pick a local licensed electrical contractor that is Lutron certified to make sure they can trace the 120volt lines around a bit.

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