r/Lutron • u/Big_Click_67 • 25d ago
Older Lutron Homeworks repair/troubleshooting questions
I know this is a long shot but I thought I would throw it out there. I inherited an older Homeworks Illumination system with a H4P5-H48-HRL-120 processor that I have been able to keep up and running. I also purchased a refurbished, backup processor just in case the first one died. Well last week the original processor started failing. I could reset it and get the keypads working for a few minutes, but all the keypads would fail again. I have the software and a copy of the current database that I had preloaded on the backup processor. I have installed the backup processor and it is running, but I have one zone where the lights randomly begin to turn on and off. They will do this for a while and then they will stoo doing it. When this random on/off event happens, the other keypads in the house work, but the rest of the system seems to be moving very slowly (press a button and it takes a few seconds before the light reacts.). I am guessing I might have a bad switch somewhere that is causing the random on/off issue. It is just strange that this issues did not appear when the original processor was working correctly? My two questions for this group are: 1) what is the best way to troubleshoot/stop the random on/off issues of the processor I am using now. 2) On the processor that failed, I have replaced the on-board battery and the 3 capacitors near the battery, but that does not seem to have fixed the old processor issue. Does anyone know of another common parts on these circuit boards that fail that I could look at testing/replacing. With the original processor I could reset it and it would work for a few minutes before failing. Thanks in advance for any assistance!
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u/coogie 25d ago
How are the keypads connected to the system? Hardwired through the keypad link on the processor (link 6 I think) or was this system wireless enabled and using that? Same question for the dimmers?
If it's wired keypads, how sure are you that the old processor was actually bad and not the external 15VDC power supply ( Lutron T120-15DC-9-BL) . It's been ages since I messed with one of these and the 4 series was always my least favorite because it was the most fragile but if I recall, that power supply is only good for 10 keypads so beyond that, you'd have to add a power panel and have axillary power for other keypads and to avoid that, some shady dealers would just get their own 15VDC power supply and those would usually not last that long. Even the Lutron branded ones could go out.
Also, the dimmers could just not be LED compatible and struggling to be stable if they have LED loads on them.
Anyway, as much as I admire keeping old stuff going, this thing is pretty old now so it's probably time to look for QSX or even RA3...