X10 Community Forum
🖥️ActiveHome Pro => ActiveHome Pro General => Help & Troubleshooting => Topic started by: rlcohen7 on September 27, 2010, 07:34:00 PM
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I just upgraded from Active Home to Active Home Pro and am having problems with it. I obtained CM19A, the wireless transceiver but it is not working. It is plugged in to my laptop but the LED on the front never lights up and although AH Pro shows that lights have gone on via the timer., in fact they have not. I can however, turn them on with my remote or using AH Pro on my computer. Is the CM19A unit defective?
Also what does it mean when the brightness bar for a lamp module is colored blue and there is a "?" in the box that shows the % brightness?
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The CM19A is strictly an RF sender and receiver.
What transceiver are you using to get the RF command on the power line?
TM751; RR501 or another X10 console that can receive RF and place it on the power lines.
Does AHP indicate it found the CM19A? If I try and run AHP and don't have either a CM15A or CM19A on the computer. AHP warns no interface was found.
The Red LED on the CM19A flashes briefly when an RF command signal is being sent.
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What did you define the lamp module as?
If you called it a LM14A that many use for the newer soft start lamp modules. The original LM14A was a two way device and the software could poll it for its brightness level. Started my AHP with CM19A and my lamp module that was defined as an LM14A showed a ?. I believe this ? is AHP could not get the reply from the module with its brightness level.
Also with my CM19A connected. There are two X10 devices showing in Device Manager.
Universal Serial Bus Controller. Shows a X10 Firecracker Interface (ACPI-Compliant)
Human Interface Devices. Shows a X10 Hid Device.
You may want to see if Device Manager Shows those entries when the CM19A is connected.
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My device manager only shows the Firecracker USB device. I am using the same lamps that I have always used successfully with ActiveHome. I do not use the LM14A designation. I am using lamp modules HD465 originally from IBM.
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I am using TM751 and AHP does recognize CM19A when downloading data to it and connecting and disconnecting it from my laptop. Still it does not turn my lights on!
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I am using TM751 and AHP does recognize CM19A when downloading data to it and connecting and disconnecting it from my laptop. Still it does not turn my lights on!
If the CM19A red LED is not flashing when you turn on something in AHP, I think it is bad.
Is the CM19A plugged into the same outlet that the CM11 was using?
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You are using AHP 3.271?
The ? and Blue bar changed the first time I told AHP to turn it on or off. To a Green bar and % brightness reading.
Are your Lamp Modules the soft start? Maybe not as you indicated you had replaced an older Active Home setup.
Did you import the settings and modules from the old AH setup?
The hid device listing may have been a hold over from some other X10 installation as it seem to be there even when no CM15A or CM19A is connected.
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I am using AHP 3.271. The CM19A is not plugged in to an outlet. It plugs into a USB port on my laptop. The LED DOES blink when I send a command from AHP on my computer to a lamp module. However, as stated the transceiver does not turn my lights off and on. I can only do that with a remote or directly from AHP on my computer. Also when I check the CM19A device via my computer it says that it is functioning normally. Thus, the question remains - why doesn't it turn my lights on? I am using House Code D and a series of unit codes for my lamp modules. Is it possible that the CM19A does not derive enough power from my laptop's USB port to transmit the required signals? If so, what is the remedy?
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move the TM751 to another outlet
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Sounds like to me that you have run into the infamous "range" problem. Like Knightrider said move the tm751 to a different outlet closer to the cm19. Test again, and see what happens. :)
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I also say it could be an RF range problem.
Could also be a power line signal problem from the TM751s location to the Lamp Modules location.
Signal suckers, noise makers and phase coupling all come to mind.
Try moving the TM751 and see if you can find a location that has RF reception and can control the lamp modules.
A quick test for RF range could be a module on unit code 1 of the chosen house code. If you can toggle the TM751 on and off. It is receiving the RF signal from the CM19A.
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Thanks, all. Moving the 751 to another outlet seems to have solved the problem. The lights, which I had turned on via the computer last night, went off at 1 am automatically as programmed. I am concerned that the CM19A does not have a battery backup and must be plugged in to a computer to function as I will be away from this home for several months this winter. It seems vulnerable to a power outage. Any suggestions?
My next problem has to do with a camera which I just installed. I'll post that separately.
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The CM19A is not my choice for AHP.
The kits with the CM15A that can store timers and macros. With internal battery backup and Real Time Clock.
The stored timers and macros will run from the CM15A. Even if running stand alone. I believe the standalone users connect to the computer to update the Daylight Savings clock change as needed.
My tests seem to show that the CM19A does not store timers and macros. Others think it does.
I setup three timers and used the store function.
Five minutes apart so I cold reboot between times.
After closing AHP the first one fired.
Rebooted with a old DOS disk in the drive so the power was never off. The second timer did not fire.
Reboot to XP but didn't run AHP. It did fire the third timer.
So the computer has to be running in Windows for timers to work.
Since X10 controls modules over the AC power lines. If the power is off. Nothing works anyway.
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Brian, I believe as long as x10nets.exe is running it should run the macro as long as you don't have like a windows command statement in your macro.
Ricohen7, if the power is out then none of your lamp modules are going to work anyway. Even if you had a battery backup on your computer with the cm19. The batteries in the cm15 are to make sure you don't lose your macros and timer if there is a power outage, also you don't need it connected to your computer 24/7. But again with a power outage it won't turn on your lamp modules on either since it needs plc to turn the lamp on.
The best thing you could do is to get a battery backup (UPS) for your computer and hope that the power comes back on before the battery runs out and shuts your pc off.
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Yes the x10nets.exe sounds like a very logical choice.
After a power failure. Lamp modules revert to the off condition. Appliance modules revert to the state they where in when the power was lost.
The UPS on the computer sounds like a good thing.
Some computers can be set to restart after the AC is lost.
So even if the UPS batteries shut it down when drained.
It maybe possible for the computer to restart. When the AC returns.
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I am using AHP 3.271. The CM19A is not plugged in to an outlet. It plugs into a USB port on my laptop.
Momentary brain flatulence, I meant to ask if the TM751 plugged in same outlet as the CM11A was using? That has now been clairified. Thanks
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The CM19A is connected to my laptop, which of course, has a battery and would keep running for a while after the power goes out. Since I will be out of town for a while, it seems that must I keep the computer on although in sleep mode for the CM19A to function. It would appear that I would have a better chance of maintaining the timers and macros in the event of a power failure if I use the CM15A instead of CM19A. I have been using HD11A with AH for many years without incident but I understand that it is not compatible with AHP. The X10 web site is so confusing that I have been unable to find a price for CM15A.
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Always comes with a copy of AHP.
Best deal I saw today was.
http://www.x10.com/promotions/cm15a_ed_ahp_1m_promo.htm