Every year, a number of HomeVision units are damaged by lightning strikes. The most frequent damage occurs to the HomeVision serial port. It is also common for the digital I/O lines to be damaged. If you experience this unfortunate event, you will probably also have a number of other devices damaged besides HomeVision.

Our web page here can help you figure out what HomeVision chips are damaged, and our page here can help you obtain replacement parts. We recommend you have some replacement parts on hand so you can get back up and running as quickly as possible. Although the parts we recommend can fix most lightning damage, sometimes the damage is more severe, and the unit must be returned to us for repair (note that lightning damage isn't covered by the warranty). Many users who could replace the parts themselves still prefer to send it to us for a thorough checkout (lightning can cause odd damage). Some customers want to be extra safe, and they've bought a spare HomeVision to have ready as an immediate replacement.

Most of those struck by lightning don't have spare chips on hand. That's when we get calls and e-mails from them desperately wanting to get HomeVision back up and running as quickly as possible. The most common thing we hear is "I can't believe how dependent on HomeVision we've become - my wife wants it fixed immediately!" Users often request us to overnight them a loaner unit, then they return HomeVision for us to repair, then we send the repaired unit back, and finally they return the loaner unit. They're happy to pay all the shipping and repair charges, just so long as they get their home working again as fast as possible.

In order to help those of you who've become dependent on HomeVision and don't want to risk being without it for even a short time, we're making a special offer. We will sell you a complete spare HomeVision board for $200, plus shipping. However, there are two requirements. First, this offer is only for someone who already owns a HomeVision unit (version 1203C) and registers it with us. Second, you must agree to keep the board only as a spare and not to sell it to someone else. If we didn't impose these requirements, someone could buy the board, then buy the accessories (power supply, X-10 interface module, etc.) elsewhere, and could end up with a complete HomeVision unit (except for enclosure) for about half the normal price. We couldn't stay in business if new customers did this instead of buying a unit from our distributors.