X10 Community Forum
🔌General Home Automation => Automating Your House => Troubleshooting Automation Problems => Topic started by: sniper33 on February 14, 2008, 11:41:26 AM
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Hi,
I have just starting using X10 and I am having problems using my WS467. I have a CM11A installed on my PC by USB (used serial to USB adaptor). I am using Activehome software to control the module. The problem is when I open up the light bulb (60 watt) it barely gives off any light. The bulb is so faint that I can't barely see it. This is a new bulb since I tested on an ordinary light switch and it just fine. When I tried to dim the light it didn't dim. I am using A1 as my housecode and tried different codes as well. I followed all the instructions in setting my my CM11A on my PC and it seems to be fine. Could it be that my house wirring is just too old (built in '61) or my module is defective ? Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.
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Can you make the bulb brighter by holding the button on the WS467 down (at the switch itself)?
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Thanks Dave for your prompt reply. Even if I hold the button down, it doesn't get any brighter.
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Is this a recently purchased WS467?
The new WS467 come ON at the last brightness level they were set at. The light can be dimmed locally at the switch.
The old WS467 came on at full bright and did not have local dimming capabilities. I was asking because if you had new switches, and someone had dimmed the light down very low before turning it OFF the light would come back ON at the very low level.
If it turns ON and OFF at the switch and turns ON and OFF through Active Home, can you brighten it using Active Home?
It has been so long since I have used Active Home that I can't help anymore, other than:
If it turns ON and OFF with Active Home but will not DIM/BRI, you might just have a bad switch.
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I purchased the switch about two month ago through eBay (the name of the dealer was X10 warehouse). I can turn it off and on at the switch but not through Active home. I can't dim the light at the switch nor with Active Home. I suspect it could be the switch. The switches were pretty cheap about $6.00 CDN each. I will try another switch when I get home later tonight.
Thanks for the help.
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Can you make the bulb brighter by holding the button on the WS467 down (at the switch itself)?
The way the "new" WS467 works with the push button is as follows:
A quick tap on the button will turn the light on or off. If turning on, the light will resume the brightness level it was at when it was turned off.
After turning on, press an hold the button (for a somewhat longer time than a "quick tap") and the light will (usually) get dimmer. Nothing will happen if the light is already at its dimmest level (which is not visual darkness like the old WS467).
Release, then press and hold the button again. Now the lamp will get brighter.
Dimming and brightening will alternate as you release, then press and hold the button again each time.
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I will try it this when I get home tonight form work. If it still doesn't work, then I'll change the switch.
Thanks for the help.
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I purchased the switch about two month ago through eBay (the name of the dealer was X10 warehouse). I can turn it off and on at the switch but not through Active home. I can't dim the light at the switch nor with Active Home. I suspect it could be the switch. The switches were pretty cheap about $6.00 CDN each. I will try another switch when I get home later tonight.
Thanks for the help.
This is a bit different from what I originally understood.
When you turn the light ON and OFF at the switch, does it come on at full brightness? If it does, you could have an old style switch which is working correctly, but have a coupling or noise problem on the CM11 side of the equation.
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I purchased the switch about two month ago through eBay (the name of the dealer was X10 warehouse). I can turn it off and on at the switch but not through Active home. I can't dim the light at the switch nor with Active Home. I suspect it could be the switch. The switches were pretty cheap about $6.00 CDN each. I will try another switch when I get home later tonight.
Thanks for the help.
This is a bit different from what I originally understood.
When you turn the light ON and OFF at the switch, does it come on at full brightness? If it does, you could have an old style switch which is working correctly, but have a coupling or noise problem on the CM11 side of the equation.
No, it never comes at full brightness when I turn it on or off. If it is a coupling or noise problem, what would I need to do in order to make the switch work properly ?
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Coupling and noise problems will not cause the bulb to not go to full brightness. It could cause the CM11s signals to not get to the switches in question.
Since the WS467 steals power through the load, technically the bulb may light 99% of what it would with a standard switch.
It is a standard 60 watt bulb we are talking about here?
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Coupling and noise problems will not cause the bulb to not go to full brightness. It could cause the CM11s signals to not get to the switches in question.
Since the WS467 steals power through the load, technically the bulb may light 99% of what it would with a standard switch.
It is a standard 60 watt bulb we are talking about here?
Yes it is.
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I think ya got a bad WS467.
An old style WS467 would come on at full bright when you pushed the switch button.
If a new style WS467, it might come on dim, but would get bright if you held button down. Your WS467 does not react in either of these two ways when operated locally at the switch.
About the only thing left is a bad switch module.
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You were right on the nose dave ! Bad module. When I replaced it the light became extremely bright. However, now I can't seem to turn it on, off or dim it using Activehome with my PC. I am going to verify my configurations to see if everything is installed correctly.
Thanks again to everyone for their advice and help.
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You were right on the nose dave ! Bad module. When I replaced it the light became extremely bright. However, now I can't seem to turn it on, off or dim it using Activehome with my PC. I am going to verify my configurations to see if everything is installed correctly.
Thanks again to everyone for their advice and help.
OK now you can start troubleshooting for noise or coupling problems.
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You were right on the nose dave ! Bad module. When I replaced it the light became extremely bright. However, now I can't seem to turn it on, off or dim it using Activehome with my PC. I am going to verify my configurations to see if everything is installed correctly.
Thanks again to everyone for their advice and help.
Go to the ActiveHome 1.42 menu Configuration > Set interface clock window and make sure the CM11A clock is ticking away in sync with the system clock. This will verify that ActiveHome is actually talking with the CM11A.
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Is this a recently purchased WS467?
The new WS467 come ON at the last brightness level they were set at. The light can be dimmed locally at the switch.
The old WS467 came on at full bright and did not have local dimming capabilities. I was asking because if you had new switches, and someone had dimmed the light down very low before turning it OFF the light would come back ON at the very low level.
If it turns ON and OFF at the switch and turns ON and OFF through Active Home, can you brighten it using Active Home?
It has been so long since I have used Active Home that I can't help anymore, other than:
If it turns ON and OFF with Active Home but will not DIM/BRI, you might just have a bad switch.
dave w,
I just purchased WS467 and they DO NOT dimm at the switch and I phoned x10 and they said that they are not supposed to. When I ordered them I asked the saleslady if they did and she said YES they all dimm at the switch by holding the button down as you described it. However x10 is now giving me another story. HELP!
-
Is this a recently purchased WS467?
The new WS467 come ON at the last brightness level they were set at. The light can be dimmed locally at the switch.
The old WS467 came on at full bright and did not have local dimming capabilities. I was asking because if you had new switches, and someone had dimmed the light down very low before turning it OFF the light would come back ON at the very low level.
If it turns ON and OFF at the switch and turns ON and OFF through Active Home, can you brighten it using Active Home?
It has been so long since I have used Active Home that I can't help anymore, other than:
If it turns ON and OFF with Active Home but will not DIM/BRI, you might just have a bad switch.
dave w,
I just purchased WS467 and they DO NOT dimm at the switch and I phoned x10 and they said that they are not supposed to. When I ordered them I asked the saleslady if they did and she said YES they all dimm at the switch by holding the button down as you described it. However x10 is now giving me another story. HELP!
Nobody at X-10 ever seems to know what's being shipped at any time, and many of their people are not even aware that there have been changes made in the WS467.
When you push the button, does the light snap on and off immediately or come up and down slowly over the span of a second or two?
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dave w,
I just purchased WS467 and they DO NOT dimm at the switch and I phoned x10 and they said that they are not supposed to. When I ordered them I asked the saleslady if they did and she said YES they all dimm at the switch by holding the button down as you described it. However x10 is now giving me another story. HELP!
Sorry I hit the submit button before adding a response. Nobody told me it had to be in order. ;D
Birdzeye, I think X10 may have found old stock, or are purposefully with holding shipment of new WS467 to change firmware, since there are serious operational issues between AHP and the new WS467. My guess is they now realize they should have come up with a new model number for the new WS467, since the new number could be incorporated properly in AHP. As it stands now one has to identify a new WS467 as a LM14A (old 2-Way Lamp Module) to get it to work properly. As far as I can tell, the only way to find that out is here on the forum.
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ust purchased WS467 and they DO NOT dimm at the switch and I phoned x10 and they said that they are not supposed to. When I ordered them I asked the saleslady if they did and she said YES they all dimm at the switch by holding the button down as you described it. However x10 is now giving me another story. HELP!
Nobody at X-10 ever seems to know what's being shipped at any time, and many of their people are not even aware that there have been changes made in the WS467.
When you push the button, does the light snap on and off immediately or come up and down slowly over the span of a second or two?
When I push the button it goes on and off, period. :-\
[Edited by CS to correct quoting.]
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ust purchased WS467 and they DO NOT dimm at the switch and I phoned x10 and they said that they are not supposed to. When I ordered them I asked the saleslady if they did and she said YES they all dimm at the switch by holding the button down as you described it. However x10 is now giving me another story. HELP!
Nobody at X-10 ever seems to know what's being shipped at any time, and many of their people are not even aware that there have been changes made in the WS467.
When you push the button, does the light snap on and off immediately or come up and down slowly over the span of a second or two?
When I push the button it goes on and off, period. :-\
[Edited by CS to correct quoting.]
I found the following on The Home Automation Store ( eBay X10 reseller) page for the WS467. Make what you will of it.
"On Jun-29-07 at 13:03:32 PDT, seller added the following information:
PLEASE NOTE: X10 has made a design change in these switches where they now have a soft start. This means that when you press the light on it dims from off to on and on to off depending on the state of the light. This is a temporary change and will not be around very long so if you like that feature these are the ones to get."
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I found the following on The Home Automation Store ( eBay X10 reseller) page for the WS467. Make what you will of it.
"On Jun-29-07 at 13:03:32 PDT, seller added the following information:
PLEASE NOTE: X10 has made a design change in these switches where they now have a soft start. This means that when you press the light on it dims from off to on and on to off depending on the state of the light. This is a temporary change and will not be around very long so if you like that feature these are the ones to get."
So they're calling the change a mistake? It seems like an improvement to me. I just wish they had changed the model number and updated AHP to take full advantage of it's features.
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I just got a few WS12A decorator dimmer switches from X10-warehouse on eBay. They have the soft start, local dimming, and memory features. I wonder how long it will be before X10 neuters this switch as well -- if they haven't already...
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You were right on the nose dave ! Bad module. When I replaced it the light became extremely bright. However, now I can't seem to turn it on, off or dim it using Activehome with my PC. I am going to verify my configurations to see if everything is installed correctly.
Thanks again to everyone for their advice and help.
Go to the ActiveHome 1.42 menu Configuration > Set interface clock window and make sure the CM11A clock is ticking away in sync with the system clock. This will verify that ActiveHome is actually talking with the CM11A.
Yes it is indeed talking with the CM11A. The settings seem to be fine. I reinstalled the software to make sure but I can't turn it on/off nor dim the light. It's very frustrating. I forgot to mention is that I'm running Vista Ultimate. Would this make a difference ?
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You were right on the nose dave ! Bad module. When I replaced it the light became extremely bright. However, now I can't seem to turn it on, off or dim it using Activehome with my PC. I am going to verify my configurations to see if everything is installed correctly.
Thanks again to everyone for their advice and help.
Go to the ActiveHome 1.42 menu Configuration > Set interface clock window and make sure the CM11A clock is ticking away in sync with the system clock. This will verify that ActiveHome is actually talking with the CM11A.
Yes it is indeed talking with the CM11A. The settings seem to be fine. I reinstalled the software to make sure but I can't turn it on/off nor dim the light. It's very frustrating. I forgot to mention is that I'm running Vista Ultimate. Would this make a difference ?
If ActiveHome is indeed taking to the CM11A as evidenced by the "Set interface clock" test showing both clocks simultaneously ticking, then once you send the command to the CM11A, the ball is in the CM11A's court. Vista would have nothing to do with it unless it is somehow secretly intercepting the serial port traffic in another one of these stupid DRM schemes gone wrong (which I doubt).
Maybe this was previously asked, but do you have any other X10 module, like a plug-in Lamp Module, you could use for a test? It's possible the CM11A is sending out the signal to a perfectly good module but the signal is being corrupted by AC line noise or is being attenuated by a "signal sucker" appliance on the line. (Some PCs and UPS devices are notorious.) Or perhaps the CM11A and WS467 are on different phases of your house wiring and can't see each other. Or could your CM11A be plugged into a surge-suppressor power strip which is attenuating the signal.
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I just got a few WS12A decorator dimmer switches from X10-warehouse on eBay. They have the soft start, local dimming, and memory features. I wonder how long it will be before X10 neuters this switch as well -- if they haven't already...
My switches are the same way as well. I like the features myself, I don't see why they wouldn't include this normally. I do however have an issue with turning them ON remotely though AHP and have yet to narrow down the cause. Once ON I can turn them OFF or DIM them without a problem. Maybe they don't play nice when OFF and that is why X10 is updating them. Again.
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You were right on the nose dave ! Bad module. When I replaced it the light became extremely bright. However, now I can't seem to turn it on, off or dim it using Activehome with my PC. I am going to verify my configurations to see if everything is installed correctly.
Thanks again to everyone for their advice and help.
Go to the ActiveHome 1.42 menu Configuration > Set interface clock window and make sure the CM11A clock is ticking away in sync with the system clock. This will verify that ActiveHome is actually talking with the CM11A.
Yes it is indeed talking with the CM11A. The settings seem to be fine. I reinstalled the software to make sure but I can't turn it on/off nor dim the light. It's very frustrating. I forgot to mention is that I'm running Vista Ultimate. Would this make a difference ?
If ActiveHome is indeed taking to the CM11A as evidenced by the "Set interface clock" test showing both clocks simultaneously ticking, then once you send the command to the CM11A, the ball is in the CM11A's court. Vista would have nothing to do with it unless it is somehow secretly intercepting the serial port traffic in another one of these stupid DRM schemes gone wrong (which I doubt).
Maybe this was previously asked, but do you have any other X10 module, like a plug-in Lamp Module, you could use for a test? It's possible the CM11A is sending out the signal to a perfectly good module but the signal is being corrupted by AC line noise or is being attenuated by a "signal sucker" appliance on the line. (Some PCs and UPS devices are notorious.) Or perhaps the CM11A and WS467 are on different phases of your house wiring and can't see each other. Or could your CM11A be plugged into a surge-suppressor power strip which is attenuating the signal.
Unfortunately, I don't have a plug-in lamp module to test it out. I'll purchase one this week in order to perform further testing. Also, I don't have the CM11A plugged in the power bar. Thanks for the help and advice.