X10 Community Forum
💬General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: eegorr on March 21, 2007, 11:51:26 AM
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Well, I received my CM15A in the mail yesterday, and today I am wondering why I wasted my time!
I have been running a CM11A (actually, two of them) with ActiveHome for years and have been fairly happy with it.
Here are my issues with CM11A:
1) I have to run two of them to cover my entire house, despite the fact that it is only 1500sf (one story). It is a hassle to have to swap them back and forth.
2) Serial communication - this is not as much of an issue now that everything else I run uses USB, so the serial port is typically free. But it prevents me from programming my second CM11A, which is located some distance away from my desktop PC, with my laptop.
3) ActiveHome software has not been updated in many years -- this is clearly a dead product that, for some reason, X10 still sells to the gullible public.
4) There is no capability for web control of lights and appliances.
Here is what I was hoping to gain with CM15A and ActiveHome Pro:
1) I figured that the CM15A would be updated to increase power or do whatever was necessary to improve communication between phases -- after a short evaluation this does not appear to be the case, despite the fact that CM15A is physically twice the size of CM11A. Why is it so big? Why does it use 4 batteries when I have never run down a set of batteries in all the time I have been running CM11A, which uses only 2?
2) I figured that ActiveHome Pro would support CM11A in addition to CM15A since they have not updated ActiveHome software in years. This is not the case.
3) I figured that I would be able to import my old configurations from ActiveHome to ActiveHome Pro. This is, apparently, not the case.
Bottom line is: because CM15A is no better than CM11A at communicating over two phases, I would have to buy another CM15A to do the same thing I am doing now. That is not going to happen. I would rather buy a single PowerLinc from SmartHome, especially since there is no apparent upgrade path provided by X10 from CM11A to CM15A.
I am planning to pack everything up and send it back for a refund unless someone here can convince me otherwise.
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3) I figured that I would be able to import my old configurations from ActiveHome to ActiveHome Pro. This is, apparently, not the case.
Did the AHP conversion not work for you?
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If you really want disappointment install Windows Vista, then you have absolutely NOTHING! But of course, there is nothing anywhere on their Website, be it in the Tech Support pages, or anywhere to tell you that your chit out of luck if you have Vista, but hey, BUY, BUY, BUY! They might as well put a page up that says "We don't support our products or software unless we feel like it, when we feel like it and IF we feel like it, but you need to buy our products anyways because we need the money to support our personal habits, pay for our outrageous vacations, oh, and our legal bills too!"
"Just because we have a 100% mark-up on our prices and tell you we are selling them at half price doesn't mean a thing."
I used to be a big fan of X10. I would have defended their products and went to bat for them, as I once did, when ever the need arose. But that was about 5 years ago before then went to Bankruptcy court, and ever since then it's been like a wild rollercoaster straight downhill. They seemed to have changed their whole business tactics and attitude when it comes to customer service and support. Now you're better off going to the message boards in order to find any kind of support or even information about anything. They haven't updated their products or their website other than to add more and more Ad's with every click, scroll and webpage.
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Bottom line is: because CM15A is no better than CM11A at communicating over two phases, I would have to buy another CM15A to do the same thing I am doing now. That is not going to happen.
Who ever claimed it would be? ???
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#1 I have seen tests of the powerline signals and the test showed close to the same output between the CM11A and CM15A. Have you done the looking for noise makers; signal suckers to troubleshoot the coverage problem? Also do you have a phase coupler or X10 repeater. All installs should have at least a phase coupler to get X10 signals to the other phase of the house wiring.
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3) I figured that I would be able to import my old configurations from ActiveHome to ActiveHome Pro. This is, apparently, not the case.
Did the AHP conversion not work for you?
What conversion?
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If you really want disappointment install Windows Vista, then you have absolutely NOTHING! But of course, there is nothing anywhere on their Website, be it in the Tech Support pages, or anywhere to tell you that your chit out of luck if you have Vista, but hey, BUY, BUY, BUY!
But that is true of about 99% of the PC hardware I own, and from much larger companies like HP. Gosh, there hardware that I own, that there isn't even XP driver support for, yet (though I have given up waiting).
Sorry, but IMHO, it is problem is jumping onto Vista way, way too early. ;)
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Bottom line is: because CM15A is no better than CM11A at communicating over two phases, I would have to buy another CM15A to do the same thing I am doing now. That is not going to happen.
Who ever claimed it would be? ???
I guess it was unreasonable for me to expect an improvement in design and functionality over a 10+ year old product with known problems. ::)
Looks to me like all they did was change the interface from USB to serial, add the RF (which adds nothing for me since I already have a TM751), stuff (?) it all into a bigger package that requires more batteries, and call it a day. They didn't even include the extendable antenna that comes with the TM751!
I have been looking for a reason to move to SmartHome and now I have it. Till then, I will just stick with my crappy ActiveHome/CM11Ax2 setup, which, at least, won't cost me any more money!
Thanks for nothing, X10.
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Sorry, but IMHO, it is problem is jumping onto Vista way, way too early. ;)
True, that! Microsoft is just X10 with a larger following and more money in the bank! ;D
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#1 I have seen tests of the powerline signals and the test showed close to the same output between the CM11A and CM15A. Have you done the looking for noise makers; signal suckers to troubleshoot the coverage problem? Also do you have a phase coupler or X10 repeater. All installs should have at least a phase coupler to get X10 signals to the other phase of the house wiring.
So, what is the point of upgrading to CM15A/ActiveHome Pro?
I am better off buying a phase coupler (from SmartHome since X10 does not even sell one) and aftermarket software to allow me to control devices over the web.
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What conversion?
Go into "Help", up on the tool bar, and once in Help, read thru the topic entitled "Getting Data from Previous Versions".
It is all there. ::)
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I am better off buying ... aftermarket software to allow me to control devices over the web.
Nope. That's one of the available plug-ins (MyHouse online specifically), and it is those optional plug-ins, which make AHP better than AH.
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I am better off buying a phase coupler (from SmartHome since X10 does not even sell one)
Actually, X10 has always sold a good phase coupler - the XPCP - but you can find cheaper ones on eBay.
Following this thread, there was some assumption that the CM15A would somehow eliminate the need for a phase coupler. That is not possible for any device that just plugs into a 120V receptacle. I wrote a tutorial on couplers if you want to know more:
http://jvde.us/x10/x10_couplers.htm
The CM15A RF link has the advantage of being able to monitor more than one housecode. Also, because the command doesn't have to be passed over the powerline first, macros in the CM15A can be triggered directly with almost no delay.
I used a CM11A before I participated in the CM14A beta test. The CM14A was a much more capable unit, and included macros that gave it the ability to handle special conditions. The CM14A never reached distribution, but the CM15A is pretty much a USB version of that device. In the limited testing I did here, it seemed to work very well.
Jeff
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I used a CM11A before I participated in the CM14A beta test. The CM14A was a much more capable unit, and included macros that gave it the ability to handle special conditions. The CM14A never reached distribution, but the CM15A is pretty much a USB version of that device. In the limited testing I did here, it seemed to work very well.
The CM15A is missing a LOT of features, which were in the CM14A. Everything from being to send IR commands, to being able to manually query/set flags. Plus the RF and transceiver functions in the CM14A worked far better than in the CM15A. Too bad the CM14A never exited beta test.
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I didn't remember the IR capability because I never tested that feature. I haven't upgraded the CM15A to the "Smart Macros", but that looked like it would do pretty much what the CM14A could. I wonder why that isn't included in the basic CM15A. The CM14A RF link was excellent. I had seen reports of poor range with the CM15A, but I understand there is an antenna mod that addresses that problem.
I was disappointed that they didn't market the CM14A, and eventually migrated to the Ocelot. Since I use it for real-world analog inputs, it is a better overall system than anything X10 offers at this time.
Jeff
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I haven't upgraded the CM15A to the "Smart Macros", but that looked like it would do pretty much what the CM14A could. I wonder why that isn't included in the basic CM15A. The CM14A RF link was excellent. I had seen reports of poor range with the CM15A, but I understand there is an antenna mod that addresses that problem.
The "Smart Macros" on the CM15A are way more limited. For example, one can only have up to two conditional checks (with just one "AND" or "OR" between the two) on the CM15A. I don't think there was any limits on the number of conditional checks on the CM14A. I also liked the "flow chart" way of drawing the macros the AH2 software had with the CM14A.
The CM15A doesn't have a way to "test" the dim level of a light. I really miss that.
Yes, the RF link is MUCH better on the CM14A. Matter of fact, I have completely given up on the RF/Transceiver functions in my CM15A, and went back to using the CM14A just as a multi-housecode transceiver.
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I wish I could remember exactly why the CM14A project died. I think it was a victim of circumstances and timing. I know that different people did the firmware for the CM14A than the CM15A for sure, and that there was some question of cost. For those people who were not part of the CM14A beta test, not only did the CM14A have more extensive trigger logic than the CM15A, it also had conditional logic for internal branching of a macro. That's on top of the IR and other features that aren't part of the CM15A. It would have been cool to get a chance to implement those things in AHP.