X10 Community Forum
🖥️ActiveHome Pro => ActiveHome Pro General => Help & Troubleshooting => Topic started by: jj on February 08, 2005, 05:16:06 PM
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Somebody Markets this CM15A like it really
is great enough to run a Life Support
System. I wouldn't trust it to start a
coffee maker in the kitchen with the gas
stove. I'd fear it would reach over in the
middle of the night and ignite the stove
somehow. My point is, with all these timer
and clock issues, the product should be
pulled from the market, till theres' a sure
fire fix. Start with the basics, from the
CM11A, It works fine. My whole reason of
going to the CM15A, was the USB ploy. Its
tough to find a serial port on new computers
these days. I feel you guys are getting
closer to solving these issues, but I still
can't get my second Cm15A to give more than
a good two day, consistent operation. I'm
not giving up you at x10.com. I feel, you
guys in the trenches got dealt a bad hand
with this situation too. Keep plugging at
it, and I'll be looking forward to that
update v.xxx.xxx that makes us all happy
again.. I just wish somebody above you guys,
had to answer to these problems, and give
the loyal customers some kind of timetable
on what they are doing about all of the
misleads, they say this Cm15A can do. Thanx
for the Vent...
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Interesting.. but my CM15A has performed "as
instructed" since installation 2 day after
Christmas 04. I have 20 modules, lamp
modules,chimes,appliance etc. 3 motion
sensors cover all bathrooms and utility rooms
for auto lighting, Evening lamps on some
macros, outdoor lamps/w motion sensors, dusk
to dawn to alert of motion by the deck/pool
after dark , Timers and macros all running
without fail each day. Even a DingChime at
7:00am (wakeup coffee)and another at 5:00pm
(during weekdays only) to alert me to the TV
news. I even have some batteries being
charged by appliance modules based on time
and day. Not sure why mine has been so
gracious to me but I am happy so far.
Started with 3.175 and upgraded each time
with absolutely no trouble. I never leave
unit connected to my PC. System: Dual
P3,WinXPpro/SP2,all updates.Norton Corp A/V.
I must have one that was tweaked and peaked
before shipping. I have my fingers crossed !!
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Steve,
How much of the units memory is unused?
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SteveRF
I'll trade you my first, no, make that my
second, no wait, I'll give you my third
CM15A for yours.. Maybe you would be
gracious enough, to send them yours, so they
could copy that miracle you have in your
possession.. Just kiddin, you better hang on
to that baby...
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Steve Rf,
What happens when you unplug it and plug it
back in? Does it accurately maintain time?
That is the biggest problem I have. Any
power glitch and it goes into a time zone
other than mine.
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SteveRF
You've got the only working CM15A in
existance. I have not heard of a second
person who's had their work more than a
week.
Anyone else have a working unit, that
operates without being connection to the PC?
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I'm for nominating SteveRF to appear on
Guiness Book of World Records...you guys with me?
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My CM15A has been working just fine since the
last time I modified the program on January
5. It is disconnected from the computer.
There have been no power failures during that
time so it has had continuous AC power since
the download was performed. It was
configured using the 3.175 version of the
software running on XP PRO SP2 with all
patches installed. I have timers, timer
triggered macros, and dusk triggered macros.
So there are at least two that work.
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I have had no major problems connected or
disconnected from the PC since ver 3.174. I
have had to add delays to get some of my
macros to work properly. I have one dusk
controlled timer and two smart macros using
flags. I have not tried to power down and
move the unit to another location.
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Murphy and Steve RF - I understand both
your untis are working while disconnected
from the computer. Was the CM11A simply
disconnected from the USB, or did you
actually disconnect the unit from AC power
to, say, move it to a different location?
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Mine seemed to work fine to until I got the
memory down below 80%. Now it will not run
for 10 min. disconnected from the computer.
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The CM15A was disconnected from the USB
cable using the proper procedure. i.e.
stop the AHP software and then use the icon
in the system tray to stop the USB
interface. The cable is then disconnected
after XP says the interface has been
stopped. The CM15A was programmed in the
AC outlet where it is used. It has not been
disconnected from AC power at any time.
Based on experience with two CM11As,
disconnecting from AC power to move it to a
different outlet is a bad idea. The unit
will be continually trying to ask the non-
existant computer for a time update. The
firmware should be smart enough to not do
that if the cable is disconnected but my
experience with the older CM11A says that
is not the case.
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Jim.. My CM15A shows 93% Memory remaining,
that is with 18 modules, 8 macros (some with
timers), 7 Timers. Monitored house code:C,
codes specified B,C and D. * day dusk to
dawn resolution.
AL...ARF1410 UNPLUGGING
I stop AHP, pull the USB plug (I do not stop
USB services or anything like that. I simply
pull the USB from the bottom of the unit), I
Pull the CM15A from the wall and move it to
the utility room and plug it back in. That
room is middle of the house and also has a
breaker box and a passive coupler installed.
The CM15A seems to maintain the correct time.
I have chimes that sounds twice a day at 7am
and again at 5pm during weekday. They
confirm time ... so I am so lucky SO FAR...
regards,
Steve
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Jim... Since you are down to 80%..How many
modules, macros and timers are you using...I
thought I had a good start with 18 modules, 8
macros and 7 timers but I end up with 94%
after all that.... ???
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I'm down to 79% dusk dawn use 13% of that
macros and timers use the rest.I've had my
cm15a since Sept and I've only lost time
once and that was just before update to
3.175. the unit is conected to the pc 24/7
but the pc or AHP isn't allways on. I tried
the cm15a disconected for over a week and it
never failed. I've had my problems but they
have been minor and software related. RF
range is exceptional 75+ feet except with a
credit card remote.
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Steve,
I am down to 78.65% memory left. I have 37
modules which includes motion sensors,
lamp, outlet, power flash, universal remote
and cameras. I have 41 macros programmed
and 26 timers. Most of the macros are
conditionals with most using the else
function.
If I reload a smaller program, say 5%
memory consumption, my CM15 works fine
disconnected from the computer. With the
larger program loaded the module will crash
within minutes. By crash I mean all timers
stop working and all of the macros stop
functioning.
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Jim,
Just out of curiosity, do you disconnect
the CM15A from the computer while a macro
is running? If so, try only diconnecting
when there are no macros running.
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My luck finally ran out... BAH HUMBUG...
at approx 93 memory remaining...I added 2
macros to dim bathroom lights after 12pm and
before 5am using "time between", Flags and
dimming features...
It workd last night but today all went south
and most macro and timer functions stopped.
I removed the 2 macros after spending 2 hours
making darn sure they were stable and correct
and even reducing them to not what I really
wanted to do..and still the CM15A refused to
perform as it did yesterday... So I removed
the 2 macros and reverted back to motion
sensors to turn the lights on and off.
So much for a good running CM15A....darn..
If I cannot use macros , functionality of the
untit drops to 10% ! And I am still a bit
confused about Monitored House Codes and
Flags... Seems a bit restrictive to me...
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I too have just started having problems.
It seems to be related to the upgrade to
3.179. The clock used to be accurate and
now is gaining between 15min and half an
hour a day. Also both the transceiver and
USB port lock up within a day. The timers
and macros (if you send the commands over
the power line) still seem to be working
though. I have to unplug the unit and
remove a battery to fix the problem. I am
running it disconnected from my PC.
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Steve RF - Rats...you were our hero (though I
had no idea you were using 7-8% of the
memory). Would you believe I have 58%
capacity left in my Smarthome 1132 (they have
similar storage to CM15a)!! No wonder my
CM15a was all-but-useless way back in Oct/Nov!
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Michael,
Thanks for the tip but no macros are running
when I disconnect although several timers
are.
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Well..my CM15A is beginning to make me pretty
darn unhappy. It is now requiring too much
time to set up simple tasks and now I am
having failures. I reinstalled the 2
offending macros today and got the same
result. Stopped working again. The I
removed them and installed in one
bathroom..success. BUT it started dimming
during the day and ..jsut turned into a total
can of worms.. Finally I deleted it all
..went throught it all again and stored it on
the PC instead of in the unit... Dim to many
times...slow response.. dim ina "time
between" that it was suppose to turnon
in...wow !.. so I saved again to teh
CM15A..Now it works... but only when
connected to the PC... More testing
tonight..then...this may become to
unreliable...but I'll give it one full week
of testing.
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Jim,
Are you uploading your "large" program to the
CM15A and leaving connected or are you
"running from computer" ? I replaced 2
offending macros today and ran from computer
only to have a can of worms. I am now
running ONE of them "uploaded" but the CM15A
is now connected to the PC 24/7 for a test.
(btw, since you have a large system, are you
using or considering any A/C thermostat
control ?)
regrads, steve
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Steve,
I store everything in the interface and
disconnect it from the computer. I don’t
like to leave my computer on if I am not at
home. The large program seems to run fine
as long as the computer is on and the
module is connected. Disconnected it will
not run for more than a couple of minutes
before crashing. For this reason I have
reverted back to a much smaller program.
I’m hoping X10 will get things working as
they should so that I can use the CM15 for
all of the things I purchased it for.
NO, I would not even think of connecting
anything as important as my thermostat to
something as unreliable as the CM15. I live
in PA where it can get very cold in the
winter. I could just picture coming home
after being gone for a weekend to a frozen
aquarium and frostbitten cat. I think I
will wait a while before trying that.
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Where can you get an X10 A/C thermostat?
Thanks.
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Julian,
Take a look at Smarthome.com under
Temperature Controls and Sensors for some A/C
thermostats that can be controlled by X10
signals.