USB RFXCOM receiver problem

[pieterdg]

Hello,

I'm the happy owner of a RFXCOM USB receiver, an RFXmeter (pulse and power), and 3 oregon sensors. The RFXCOM is connected to an NSLU2, I'm running Heyu to receive the RF data, Heyu then triggers my scripts to write to MySQL and generate some graphs (RRDTOOL). All this was working fine for more then a year now.

Since a few days however, the receiver is going crazy :
A few days ago the receiver stopped receiving (my sensors are still sending, but the green led at the back of the receiver does not blink). After a few hours everything was back to normal (without me doing anything). The next day the receiver again stopped receiving. After a while I noticed that I did receive some RF messages from the RFXmeter sporadically (the RFXmeter is very close to the receiver), but since then I never received any oregon messages.

I connected the receiver to my Win XP PC and used the tool to check the baud rate, that was OK. I also did some tests with an oregon sensor. When the sensor is within 1 to 2 meter from the receiver, the messages are received. When the sensor is further away, the receiver does not receive anything (the green led at the back of the receiver does not blink when the sensor sends its message).

Is the antenna broken ? Do my neighbours generate RF noise ? I don't have a clue.
Anyone ?

[b_weijenberg]

it is possible that an RF signal disturbes normal sensor RF data.

Test the receiver on another location far from your home and take an oregon sensors with you to test.
If you still have receive problems contact support.

[richard naninck]

Dect phones can disturb signals on 433MHz as well as Marmitek Powermids etc. I once had a faulty garagedoor keyfob. Whenever the battery dropped below a certain voltage, the keyfob started sending messages. I coudn't even unlock my car anymore (also on 433MHz). So just about any wireless source on the same freq could be an issue. Also heard a story where a wireless doorbell stopped working because a neighbour bought a broadband headphone and was jamming the complete 868MHz band.

[pieterdg]

My receiver is sometimes working OK (i.e. receiving all my sensors) and sometimes not working OK (i.e. receiving only the RFXMeter or receiving nothing at all). So probably there's nothing wrong with the receiver (I still have to try the receiver on another location to verify this). So there must be something disturbing the RF signals, so far these are the candidates :

* A month ago I replaced my ADSL modem, I'm now using a Fritzbox (adsl modem / wlan router / Dect base station). I noticed that when I disable the DECT functionality of the fritzbox, the reception of RF messages improves (though it doesn't solve the problem completely, I get better reception of the RFXMeter, I still don't receive the oregon sensors). I don't understand how this is possible, DECT works on the 1880 MHz–1900 MHz band ?

* I have to check our garage door openers. They are in use for 6 years now, maybe there's one with an almost empty battery.

* I don't think I have any other RF applicances at home, so the only other possibility is that one of my neighbours bought a new RF appliance. I hope this is not the case because then I'm pretty much screwed aren't I ?

[richard naninck]

I use FS20 on 868MHZ to control lights. Whenever I am using my cell phone (GSM T-Mobile @ 1800MHZ) close to the FS20 switches, they don't work. So it seems possible to jam in across frequency bands.
What about neighbours? Do you have them and if yes, did you ask them about this issue?
I have lots and lots of wireless stuff going on in my house using different freqs but very many devices are involved. It all works and did so for the last 2.5 years. No neighbours though..

Hope you figure it out!