X10 Community Forum
🔌General Home Automation => Original ActiveHome => Topic started by: JoAnn on September 04, 2014, 11:34:35 AM
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I had to go from XP to Win7. Had the original ActiveHome, so bought a CM15 interface to get the USB cable. Now the computer won't recognize my original 1.3 disk or my 1.4 update. I need help, but not very computer savvy! Miss my X10!
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Active Home only works with the CM11A Serial Port Interface.
There is a link on the Active Home page of the X10 wiki. For Active Home VISTA. I believe it also worked with the CM15A as it is not the original Active Home Program. Though I have no experience with it.
http://kbase.x10.com/wiki/ActiveHome
The CM15A has to be used with Active Home Pro. So your original Active Home Disks would not be used.
There are a few threads here on installing Active Home Pro. As X10 Wireless Technologies went bankrupt and the new owners don't have the registration servers running yet. There are work arounds for the registration issues.
http://forums.x10.com/index.php?topic=28795.0
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I went to the thread to download the ActiveHome Pro and it worked. Tested my CM15 interface and told me it was working properly. Turned my light on and off with the first screen, but then stopped working. The timer didn't turn it on or off either. I tried the remote (with new batteries) and it doesn't work either.
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Did you download Active Home VISTA or the unregistered copy of Active Home Pro?
If you are trying Active Home VISTA. I have no experience with it but I am sure others may have added information for you.
There are some threads on Tuicemen's Forums and here on getting Active Home Pro to run with out the registration process.
http://tuicemen.com/forum/index.php?board=67.0
http://forums.x10.com/index.php?topic=28795.0
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I used the unregistered copy of Active Home Pro. The window keeps coming up to register and I just keep closing it. Is there a work around for that? For the past 2 nights I have been watching the 10 o'clock news and at 10:15 my lamp goes off. I was SO excited. However, it still won't come on and my remote just won't work. I must be doing something wrong. Is it possible that the HR12A remote won't work with the new interface?
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Since you moved up from a CM11A and Active Home. Good chance your LM465 Lamp Modules are before the Soft Start feature was added.
Do your LM465s go On and Off immediately or ramp On and Off at a about a three second time?
There are two Lamp Drop Down choices in AHP. Lamps is for the newer Soft Start dimmers and Older Lamps (No SoftStart)
If your LM465s are the older ones that do not ramp On and Off. Use the Older Lamps (No SoftStart) list or they will turn Off but not On.
For the HR12A. It should work with the CM15A Interfaces internal X10 RF Receiver. Unless it is out of receiving range.
Try Tools; Hardware Configuration.
Tranceived House Codes.
Make sure it is set to Auto.
Though sometimes you have to use Specific and pick the House Code you are using. I picked all of them as Auto didn't work for me.
I don't have much information on the registration message. There are others with more experience that should be able to add to your question.
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Brian: I haven't posted anything to you in a while, but have been reading, reading, and reading a lot of the portions of the forum on anything that could possibly help without bothering you all the time. I found one that suggested using a different outlet for the new CM15. Long story short - substituted an appliance module for the lamp module, and everything started working. Then, even though I had put new (supposedly) batteries in my remote, it still wouldn't work, so I replaced the batteries, again, and presto, it is working also.
Just one more thing that I haven't been able to solve. We had our furnace on the old X10, but I haven't been able to make it work. Does everything that works on Activehome Pro need a module to plug it into? My husband can't remember (medical reasons) how he set it up or if there is a module somewhere. If you say there is a module somewhere, guess I'll have to crawl the attic and find it. Would appreciate a reply. You have sure been a life saver.
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There where some thermostats made by RCS that came in an X10 compatible version.
The TX16 and the older TX15. Both used an X10 TW523 or X10Pro PSC05 two way power line interface for X10 use.
Can you find a manufacturer and model number on the thermostat? That may help us in getting you some information.
There maybe other ways a furnace could be controlled. So knowing what you have would help.
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Here is all I can find about our thermostats: They are White-Rodgers. Inside the cover there are specs, amps-voltage-etc. and type:1F56W-444 -
LR27935
Class 2
We do have 2 of them, one under the other and the only thing I could find inside was one was stamped "9549 E7 1" and the other was "9549 E7 0" Which leads me to believe that they were probably bought as a set.
On our old computer/X10 the name of the module was Furn a16 and the house code was A11. We did some kind of macro that turned one thermostat on during the day, and turned the other one on during the night.
This isn't very much info, but it's all I've got.
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What you found is fine.
The thermostats are not X10 controllable. The A16 and A11 in the macro. Indicate they are controlling an X10 addressable module to switch which thermostat is controlling the furnace.
You may have to do some searching to find the X10 module or modules controlling the furnace. As I have a few different thoughts on what maybe in use.
If the furnace is in the basement. You may want to look there before crawling into the attic.
I did find the actual Installation & Users Manual for the 1F56W-444 thermostat.
I have attached it to this post.
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You may have to do some searching to find the X10 module or modules controlling the furnace.
They may be inline modules, making them even harder to find. For example:
- http://www.authinx.com/manuals/X10/XPFM.pdf
Also, there may be breakers or switches that turn them on/off.
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Our furnace is in the attic so asked our son to come up and search for a module. He found one (Magnavox lamp module - don't know why), but since we couldn't get our older X10 lamp module to work on our lamp, I didn't want to leave a lamp module up there. We had one more X10 appliance module left, so had our son put that in. The macros are certainly different in the AHpro than the older version. We had the macro turn on the top thermostat at 7:00am and turn off at 9:00pm. Then the lower thermostat would be on from 9:00pm to 7:00am. I will read what I can about macros and see if I can make it work without really messing up the whole program!! Guess who I'll ask if I can't get it to work?
Thanks for the specs on our thermostats. Got them run out and in a special place.
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Magnavox Lamp Module. X10WTI did make OEM modules for Heathkit, Radio Shack, IBM and Magnavox. To name the ones I remember.
I wouldn't have thought of a Lamp Module.
Maybe it was being used to switch the thermostat connections with a hidden 120 volt AC relay.
I have never used it but Active Home Pro has a way to import the older Active Home programs. I also don't know if doing this made problems.
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I think you are 'spot on' when you started talking about a relay. That sounds exactly like what my husband would have done. Is it possible that the relay would be inside the module? Could you find out from this info?
Magnavox Lamp Module - Model LMT-101
120 vol AC 60Hz
300 watts max.
Indoor incandescent lamps only
No Appliances
By Philips Consumer Electronics Co.
We probably did buy it at Radio Shack
If it doesn't have a relay, would you tell me how to import the old X10 files from our old computer? And how to find them? I read a couple of items in the forum that people did import them, but had to change the extension or something.
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To use an Active Home file Tab
Open
File Type Pick Active Home. Their files end in .X10
In the Help Tab, Contents,Setting Up Active Home,Getting Data From Previous Versions. Will give you more information.
No the Lamp Module will not have a relay in it.
Is there some wiring connected to its output outlet. That wire will lead to what it is controlling.
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Sometime during the last month my virus software disappeared, had malware problems, couldn't use my old version macros (the extension on mine were .ahx not .x10) and sometime during all this, I was not able to get in to the actual AHpro program, so haven't even been able to change the time settings on my lamp. The window comes up and a message says: Error - File not found C:\program files (x86) ActiveHomePro\avcodes.x10. I finally tried to uninstall everything and start over. That didn't work for some reason. I still get that same error message. Maybe the uninstall didn't get everything? Any suggestions?
We did find a relay up by the furnace and the x10 module.
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The avcodes.x10 is indeed a needed file.
Check the file location to be sure it is there.
The uninstall doesn't get rid of all AHP files and many have to be manually deleted.
This is the first I've seen of the avcodes file vanishing however a reinstall should have rewritten it.
If your virus software disappeared I'd get a different one, there are many free ones available.
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The avcodes.x10 is there and is in the ActiveHome Pro directory. They never vanished. That was my virus protection that vanished and let all sorts of bad stuff in. I did install Avast and also Malwarebytes. Hopefully, after several full scans, that part is OK.
I'll try to uninstall again and then go thru manually to delete anything that seems to relate to x10. Will let you know!
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Some locations to look for that don't get uninstalled
C:\Program Files (x86)\ActiveHome Pro
C:\Program Files (x86)\AHSDK
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\X10
C:\ProgramData\Active Home Professional
C:\ProgramData\x10 settings
>!
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Thanks - that will help
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Sometime during the last month my virus software disappeared, had malware problems, couldn't use my old .............. Any suggestions?
Anytime your computer shows the signs of a malware download or a virus infection you might want to consider a "restore". The restore function allows you to revert to a prior date when you PC was trouble-free.
I always run a scan first (using my anti-virus software). Then I check my programs for "new" programs I never intended to download or install. Particularly... look for very recent installs.
Then [if needed] do a restore. Search for directions [if needed] for a restore for your Operating System (it's different on Vista than on win8). DO NOT download "helpful" fixes from the internet. Only restore as far back as needed. If your problems began today... a restore from last week or last month should work fine.
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It has helped that you told me several places to look for files that an 'uninstall' doesn't get rid of. However, under C:\program files (x86)\common files\x10\ there were 2 files that I couldn't delete: x10net.dll - application extension and x10nets - application. It stated that "the action can't be completed because the file is open in x10 Device Network Service" whatever that means.
Then under C:\profiles(x86)\common files\x10\home control:
6291
6291.INS
6381
6381.INS
etc., etc
AM14A
AM14.INS
etc., etc.
Guess I'm concerned that I'm going to delete things having to do with my new CM15 interface.
Should I get rid of all these?
I decided not to do a restore at this time since I don't know exactly when the computer was working correctly.
After I hear from you about these files, I'll try to download the unregistered version of x10 again and see what happens.
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x10 nets is a service and can only be deleted once it has been stopped this can be done in safe mode or you can go into services and stop it or disable it once done it can be deleted.
the cm15 uses these
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I cleaned out all the x10 files and folders that I could find and then reinstalled the unregistered AHP again. I have the same results, which I can't understand because the avcodes were also reinstalled with the program, but I am still getting the error message when I try to open AHP: file not found - C:\program files (x86)\active home pro\avcodes.x10.
I don't like to give up, but I'm really tired of beating my head against a brick wall. Is there a way to purchase x10 on a disk that would over-ride any and all files that I currently have on the computer? Or do you do remote work? I still probably couldn't get my furnace to work right on it.
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That is weird.
Is your PC windows a 64 bit or 32 bit version?
You can try the Marmitec (European) version (http://www.tuicemen.com/downloads/setup_ahp_marmitek_316.exe) and see if you can get it to work.
If you can get it working there is a conversion tool to bring it to a North American version.
>!
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My computer is 64 bit.
I uninstalled the AHP again then installed the Marmatek version. It installed quickly, but I got the same results when I double clicked on the icon. However, I went to the directory where it was installed and didn't see anything called avcodes as previous AHP versions. But there was something called My Home. I double clicked on that and wonder of wonders, the proper window popped up and I actually could make time changes to my lamp. I downloaded that to the interface and it worked great. I went into the tools tab, "hardware configuration" and in the place where it says location, it said "Badalona, Spain" and the drop-down only had places in Europe. The time zone reads "mountain standard time" (which is correct for where I live) and the interface time is correct. So it seems to work.
I can't figure out how to tackle my furnace problem with my 2 thermostats, an appliance module and a relay, as I posted on Oct. 16. Is it possible to switch back and forth or do I need something special?
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Is it possible to switch back and forth or do I need something special?
If you mean switching from the Marmitec to North American version I think they would need to be in different directorys I haven't played around that way.
However I did make a conversion tool (http://tuicemen.com/downloads/European%20AHP%20Conversion%20tool.exe)to convert the Marmitec version to a North American version
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Find the X10 Address of the module controlling the relay.
With it Off and see which one of the thermostats work
Turn it On and the other thermostat should then be working.
Then you can see if a scene or timer is controlling the X10 module connected to the relay.
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Sorry, but I don't know how to find the X10 address of a module. Should I try to use the "conversion tool" to convert the Marmitec to a North American version first?
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The appliance module has two dials on it.
One is House Code the other is Unit code. You can look at the dials pointers and see whet it is set to.
I am not a software person. So another member can tell you if the other version of AHP should be loaded.
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I would most definitely convert to the North American version.
Since you are unfamiliar with basic modules, it may be difficult to find a European module in AHP that works correctly.
With the North American version once you find the controlling modules you can easily find the correct corresponding one in the software.
>!
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I did convert to the North American version and it seems to work fine. Guess I'll give up on trying to make the furnace work on our 2 thermostats. I used the remote and the correct module address, but couldn't get anything to turn on or off or switch thermostats. I've either got a bad module or the relay isn't working. In any case, I can't fix either problem. I really do appreciate your help and at least I have one thing working.
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If you can't get things working as you want with the hardware you have, you could consider a different approach. I have seen thermostats that have a remote option built in. If you get such a thermostat, the second unit can be set up as a remote control that will connect directly to the first as is. I didn't review the thread (read it a while back) so I might be forgetting something, but as I recall you have multiple heater strips that you want to link together with an appliance module. Seems to me that if that doesn't work, using multiple thermostats that can talk to each other might work out for you. I'll try to find a link to an example model.
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Thank you. Would appreciate that.
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My quick search found several options for remote sensors, but limited options for remote thermostats. The most promising I think is the Honeywell slave units. These are designed for use with floor heating but might work for you. They basically are designed to make it possible to control more than 15A of floor heating with a single thermostat by controlling a slave unit. That might work since I assume these are relay control. I think if you look for "slave thermostat" you should be able to find something. If you don't find what you need on your own, I'd recommend emailing the manufacturer (e.g., Honeywell) directly as I've had good luck with them being responsive. Or, you could find one of the many forums dedicated to heating. I found a community associated with NEST during my 5 minute search. Unfortunately, the thread I found indicated that NEST could not work with slave thermostats currently.
https://customer.honeywell.com/en-US/Pages/category.aspx?cat=HonECC%20Catalog&category=Master%2fSlave+System++Units&catpath=1.2.1.1.67
If the link doesn't work:
Home > Residential > Thermostats > Programmable > Master/Slave System Units
I did a quick review of the thread and it looks like you have an appliance module controlling a furnace and need to turn it on/off by a thermostat elsewhere. If that's the case, then these master/slave units would probably work as long as the furnace in question doesn't pull more than the allowable current. Typically a whole house furnace would pull well over 15A, so if this is a whole house unit it wouldn't work. If it's a unit for a single room, then it might. Sorry, that's the best advice I can come up with.
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After 2 weeks with the flu.....
Guess I'll try to find a programmable thermostat or figure out a slave unit then.
You have all tried to be very helpful and I appreciate it.