X10 Community Forum
🖥️ActiveHome Pro => ActiveHome Pro General => Help & Troubleshooting => Topic started by: just4fn on April 30, 2006, 11:26:24 AM
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I have 2 lamp modules and 2 wall switch's in my family room. My cm15a is upstairs. I am trying to get one of my lamp module to turn on at a timed setting. It wont turn on. I trouble shot and put both wall switch's and both lamp modules to turn on at a certain time. both wall switch's came on, but the lamp module's did not. Does anybody have a reason? Thanks for the suggestions, Doug
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Can you manually turn them on from the AHP screen?
Where all the modules on the same address when the test was tried?
Try the lamp modules in a different outlet preferably on a different circuit.
Most homes are split single phase. Sometimes an X10 signal sent on one phase [cm15a] and modules on another phase [lamp modules ] may not communicate to each other. The Wall Switches maybe on the same phase as the cm15a. A rough test for phase things is if you have an electric dryer try the things again with it on. Sometimes it will act as a phase coupler and show communications improvement. If so a coupler or repeater/coupler maybe needed.
Also if anything like a TV Computer etc. is on the same circuit as the lamp modules. Try unplugging them. Some devices make powerline noise on the X10 band or absorb the signals. An X10 filter can fix that if you have interfeering devices.
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I dont know if I can manually turn them on. When I unplug the cm15a and put it upstairs- no I cant turn them on, am I suppose to be able to from the computer with it unplugged? but if I have it hooked up to the computer downstairs they work fine.
All of the modules are on house code A.
This maybe be a phase coupling issue. but if I put the cm15a in another room upstairs. the macro's in my bedroom don't work.
I have tried the dryer thing but it didn't help.
One more question. In the software there is a box for monitored house code. Doesn't it monitor all of the house codes?
I have the family room at code A, bedroom at C and garage at B. Should I change anything?
Thank you, Doug
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I don't know if I can manually turn them on. When I unplug the cm15a and put it upstairs- no I cant turn them on, am I suppose to be able to from the computer with it unplugged? but if I have it hooked up to the computer downstairs they work fine.
This maybe be a phase coupling issue. but if I put the cm15a in another room upstairs. the macro's in my bedroom don't work.
It sounds to me like a phase coupling issue. If you haven't already, check out my tutorial on Phase Coupling (http://kbase.x10.com/wiki/Phase_Coupling) for more information.
I have tried the dryer thing but it didn't help.
Turning on a dryer only provides a marginal improvement in phase coupling. As a result there are many instances where poor phase coupling is the problem, yet the dryer test doesn't show that.
One more question. In the software there is a box for monitored house code. Doesn't it monitor all of the house codes?
The CM15A only has enough RAM to monitor one house code.
I have the family room at code A, bedroom at C and garage at B. Should I change anything?
It doesn't really matter which housecodes you use. I tend to stay away from Housecode A to minimize the chance of a conflict with a neighbour and motion sensors will sometimes revert to A1 when their batteries are getting weak.
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I guess this is a stupid question.
What does it mean by monitoring a house code?
All of my rooms work, they are set at different house codes - A,B,C. What is it doing when it is monitoring?
Thanks for clearing this up, Doug
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Start with one HC, monitor it for special triggers... transcieve only the HC you use.
check Find Other Computers, under tools often and pick a clear HC (HouseCode)
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from what I understand from your post is to use only one house code throughout the house if it is not interfered. If I use the option of all lights on- all of the lights in the whole house come on. I thought the intent was to use different house codes for different rooms. Is this a wrong thought? Thanks, Doug
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Doug,
Do you have any type of X10 RF remote? If so, make sure that all transceived house codes are checked in AHP hardware configuration.
See if you can operate the units with the remote. Make sure the remote is set to the same HC of module your trying to control.
Try it downstairs first, then move the CM15A upstairs.
If the CM15A works in some outlets but not in others, like Brian H stated you may need a phase coupler.
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I guess this is a stupid question.
The only stupid question is the one you don't ask. ;)
What does it mean by monitoring a house code?
The thread MONITORED House Code (CONFUSED ??) (http://www.x10community.com/forums/index.php?topic=4684.msg34266#msg34266) does an OK job of explaining what the "Monitored House Code" is, although there still is a bit of confusion in the thread. If you don't have Smart Macros, monitoring doesn't do much for you though.
All of my rooms work, they are set at different house codes - A,B,C. What is it doing when it is monitoring?
It remembers the status of the modules on the selected house code. It is important to note that if you change the status of a module locally, standard (not 2-way) modules will not transmit the update in status and AHP won't know its correct status (i.e. if you turn a wall switch on using the button, AHP will still think the light is off).
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from what I understand from your post is to use only one house code throughout the house if it is not interfered.
It is up to you whether you use one house code for the entire house or have different house codes for different rooms. There are pros and cons to both methods. In most cases I really don't care if the CM15A remembers the status of a module. In my mind, the only time you really want it to remember the status is when you want a macro to be conditional on the status of a module.
If I use the option of all lights on- all of the lights in the whole house come on. I thought the intent was to use different house codes for different rooms. Is this a wrong thought?
I would not consider it a "wrong thought" but it isn't necessarily the "intent" either. Controllers typically only work on one housecode (unless you write macros to map commands from one house code to another) so if you want to be able to controll more than one room with the same controller, it might be advantageous to put them on the same house code. Also, the AllLightsOn and AllUnitsOff commands (as found on remotes and controllers) only work on one house code. AHP also has virtual AllLightsOn and AllUnitsOff commands that work on either the entire house or individual rooms.
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I think I understand. Since I am not running any macros that depend on the module status I shouldn't care what house code is being monitored. I have ordered a phase coupler- capacitor. We will see if it works.
thanks for the info, Doug