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[bronco]

Every once in a while I get Pages(in the AHP Activity Monitor) that 'Receives status off'  As long as 21 minutes receiving a cmd one or two times every second.
I ran the old ActiveHome v1.41 and looked at its log file and it showed " L status Off"
I never ask for a status of anything, let alone House Code "L".
I use 'L' for a motion detector Model=PR511.
I can't find anything on the PR511 sending any status request.

I also get Extended cmds randomly?  Anybody know why?

The Unit code "M" pops up randomly at times for no reason.

My nearest neighbor is over 500 ft away and they don't do X10.

[Charles Sullivan]

Every once in a while I get Pages(in the AHP Activity Monitor) that 'Receives status off'  As long as 21 minutes receiving a cmd one or two times every second.
I ran the old ActiveHome v1.41 and looked at its log file and it showed " L status Off"
I never ask for a status of anything, let alone House Code "L".
I use 'L' for a motion detector Model=PR511.
I can't find anything on the PR511 sending any status request.

I also get Extended cmds randomly?  Anybody know why?

The Unit code "M" pops up randomly at times for no reason.

My nearest neighbor is over 500 ft away and they don't do X10.

A legitimate "Status Off" would come from a module capable of responding to a "Status Request", such as your PR511, but you report seeing no "Status Request" signals.  My suspicion is that your PR511 has gone bad and occasionally has spells of spewing garbage.

I've never characterized a PR511 and don't know what commands it might support other than the usual On/Off/AllOff and the Status Request.  Might it also (secretly) support Extended Code commands, thus accounting for the occasional Extended command you report?   Try programming it as an LM14A 2-way Lamp Module in AHP and see if you get any response in the Activity Monitor when you click the "Poll" button on the icon.

[bronco]

Actually I don't have the PR511 programmed in the CM-15 or the cm-11a.  I only get it showing up when the PR511 triggers because of motion and the AHP activity monitor picks it up.
I also wonder why the old cm-11A LOG gives more info than the AHP.  At least the old log told me that it was coming from the Unit "L".  The AHP just said "Status Off".   
Reminds me of the old IBM and Honeywell mainframe error messages "OP code Fault"
    meaning somewhere in the code is a problem, good luck finding it.

I think the AHP should at least give as much info as the cm-11a.

Are they ever going to allow flags to be set from a Macro run on the PC?

[TakeTheActive]

Every once in a while I get Pages(in the AHP Activity Monitor) that 'Receives status off'  As long as 21 minutes receiving a cmd one or two times every second.
I ran the old ActiveHome v1.41 and looked at its log file and it showed " L status Off"

...I use 'L' for a motion detector Model=PR511...

Unless you have another TRANSMITTER installed on HouseCode "L", I go along with Charles' theory. It's so easy to verify - just change the HouseCode on your PR511 and see if the problem follows it.

...The Unit code "M" pops up randomly at times for no reason.

M13 is the HouseCode/UnitCode combo that X10 Transmitters output when all of their "program input lines" are open (not connected to switches).

Take a walk around your house and "exercise" all of the HouseCode/UnitCode dials on all of your transmitters to attempt to remove any oxidation. Remember the mechanical tuners on the early televisions?

[Charles Sullivan]

Actually I don't have the PR511 programmed in the CM-15 or the cm-11a.  I only get it showing up when the PR511 triggers because of motion and the AHP activity monitor picks it up.
I also wonder why the old cm-11A LOG gives more info than the AHP.  At least the old log told me that it was coming from the Unit "L".  The AHP just said "Status Off".   
Reminds me of the old IBM and Honeywell mainframe error messages "OP code Fault"
    meaning somewhere in the code is a problem, good luck finding it.

I think the AHP should at least give as much info as the cm-11a.

Are they ever going to allow flags to be set from a Macro run on the PC?

You asked about the Extended codes you are receiving.  I proposed a 2 minute test which might shed light on the issue.  The ball is in your court.

[bronco]

Charles, sorry I missed that test in your first message.  I did the test as you stated for L1 through L6 and all I saw in the Activity Monitor was the Transmit "L1 Extended Code 0 37".   So I guess the PR511 does not support the Polling.

Of course, since I originally wrote about these items; I haven't seen anymore.

Thanks for your help.

[Charles Sullivan]

Charles, sorry I missed that test in your first message.  I did the test as you stated for L1 through L6 and all I saw in the Activity Monitor was the Transmit "L1 Extended Code 0 37".   So I guess the PR511 does not support the Polling.

Of course, since I originally wrote about these items; I haven't seen anymore.

Thanks for your help.

X-10 recently added Extended codes to the LM465 and WS467 modules and I suspected they might have done something similar to the PR511.   Another beautiful theory brutally ravaged by a gang of facts.   

To give a non-answer to your other questions: AHP and the CM15A have a number of rough edges (to put it mildly), and it's anyone's guess whether X-10 will ever see fit to do anything about them.

[Charles Sullivan]

bronco:
What other X10 devices capable of _transmitting_ do you have besides the CM15A, CM11A, and PR511 ?  E.g., do you have any transceivers?   If so, what kind?

[bronco]

Charles,
I have 4  Tm751 tranceivers and had a SR-731 repeater.  I unplugged the sr-731 a couple of days ago and no change.
The sr-731 should not have any effect since the sr-731 is supposed to only repeat over the air signals not signals on the power line.

I got a slew of "Status Off"  today.  I am beginning to think this message is coming from my CM-15a that I am using for setting and checking flags. 
Given I use two CM-15s,  for now I'll indicate them as (1 for checking and resetting flags) and (2 for running recording macro)

When I get the signal from my driveway alert(motion detector-not an x10) it is connected to a x10 Powerflash that sends a code to CM-15(1) .

    If Flag is ON then
        Run Macro on CM-15(2) to start recording and turn on power to PR511(I don't want the Motion detector on all the time)
    If Flag is Off then quit macro   (because recording is in progress)

I  am beginning to think that multiple hits from the the Powerflash to check the flags is causing the CM-15(1) to issue
   the "status Off"  message because at that time the flag status is OFF.

However, today when I came home there should have only been on signal from the driveway alert.  Multiple ones usually occur when someone is working near the driveway alert or a deer is eating near it.

I use the flag check because at times when the driveway alert sends multiple signals it overwhelms the CM-15(2) while recording.
So I use CM-15(1) to check & reset flags and CM-15(2) to do the recording.
I appears the CM-15 processor is too slow to handle both with any reliability.

I had this same problem with the EagleEye Motion Detectors to find out what was eating my tomatoes in the garden.
It turned out to be a family of racoons.  But they kept triggering the motion detector and screwing up the CM-15.
I tried flags here but found that using an appliance module to cut the power to the transceiver that the EagleEye was using worked much better.  Turn the module off on the first trigger and turn it back on after 5 minutes.

I can't use the module for cutting the power on the driveway alert as there is no AC power near there.

   

[Boiler]

Charles, sorry I missed that test in your first message.  I did the test as you stated for L1 through L6 and all I saw in the Activity Monitor was the Transmit "L1 Extended Code 0 37".   So I guess the PR511 does not support the Polling.

Bronco,
I think you may have misunderstood Charles test.  The PR511 do respond to polling with a Status ON.  The issue is that you do not see any Status Request in your activity monitor.  Charles was trying to determine whether your PR511 units had additional (undocumented) capabilities that could account for the Extended code transmissions that you are observing (very different from the Status ON responses).

Summarizing:

• You are receiving Status On/Off responses without any obvious Status request
• You are observing Extended Code transmissions without any modules that are extended code capable (this is what Charles proposed the test for).

...
I have 4  Tm751 tranceivers and had a SR-731 repeater.  I unplugged the sr-731 a couple of days ago and no change.
The sr-731 should not have any effect since the sr-731 is supposed to only repeat over the air signals not signals on the power line.

    If Flag is ON then
        Run Macro on CM-15(2) to start recording and turn on power to PR511(I don't want the Motion detector on all the time)
    If Flag is Off then quit macro   (because recording is in progress)

A couple of observations:

• You have 4 TM751 transceivers which are not very smart devices.  These devices should be on different housecodes to prevent interference.  Even when on different housecodes, if two are somehow activated at the same time you will get signal collisions on your powerline.  The TM751 does not check the powerline for X10 activity before transmitting.  This could be the source of some of your mystery transmissions.  Not really an extended transmission, just a garbled one due to collisions.
• It sounds like you are using a separate X10 switch to remove power from your PR511 (correct?).  A suppose it's possible that, when you turn on the PR511 (apply power), it goes through a power-up sequence that includes sending its Status.  This would explain the Status response without a Status Request.  I just tried this with my units and didn't get any transmission but I wouldn't call this a standard configuration.

Suggestions:

• If you haven't already done so, turn off the transceived housecodes in AHP that correspond to your TM751's.  This is located under Tools/hardware configuration.
• Try eliminating a TM751 or two.  If you have more than 1 TM751 responding to outside events, start there.  Outside events can easily be synchronous (wind blowing, flock of geese).  If you have multiple outdoor sensors fed to multiple TM751's you will get collisions.

EDIT - Just re-read Bronco's post and noticed that he's getting a "Status OFF" response.  My scenario with the power switching to the PR511's doesn't make sense with a "Status Off" (there's no power - it can't reply). 

[Charles Sullivan]

bronco:
You have a pretty complex system.  I gather you have nothing else but the PR511 on housecode L and that's the housecode associated with the Status Off storm.  The first thing to try is switching the PR511 to a different housecode to see if the storm follows the housecode.

[bronco]

I'll try switching the house code to something else than "L'.  The PR511 is 'L1'  and I have 'L2' on the PR511 set to go on also.  I have always noticed that MOST of the time when the power is turned on for the PR511 that L2 is transmitted.  I had a Chime set to 'L2'.  But not always.

When I trigger the power to 'L1' via RF or through AHP I see the 'on' and 'off' for the power but no 'L' activity

Boiler, This Morning, When the power came on for the PR511; the activity monitor showed
   Receive ExtendedDataTransfer
   Receive L1
   Receive ExtendedDataTransfer

Their was no info showing for 'L2' which should have gone off.
   
I got no 'Status messages' and everything worked ok except that apparently the flag did not reset.
    I see multiple triggers of the driveway alert but no recording or other info that would show that my recording macro
      ran.  So for some reason, even tho the Macro(N16) ran, it did not reset the flag.
     I use a  macro(N16) in Cm-15(1) to reset the flag, N16 is sent from CM-15(2) defined as a one way power module in AHP.

  However, this afternoon the alert was sent but because the flag was not sent, my recording macro did not go off.

I just changed N15 to J5 because somewhere I think I read that to set flags one must use the same House code that is Monitored on the CM-15.  In my case I had 'J' set to be monitored.


The tranceivers I have are all set to different house codes and not close together.

The macro that controls the recording is on house code 'L'.
I'll change that.

[Charles Sullivan]

Boiler, This Morning, When the power came on for the PR511; the activity monitor showed
   Receive ExtendedDataTransfer
   Receive L1
   Receive ExtendedDataTransfer

Be aware that "Extended Data Transfer" is NOT the same as Extended Code.

Extended_Data_Transfer is one of the basic X10 functions (0x0C) which has never been implemented in any of X-10's own devices but which has apparently been used in the past by some other manufacturers (Honeywell?).

ActiveHome Pro displays "Extended Data Transfer" in the Activity Monitor as a catch-all for X10 functions it doesn't support, which are:
  Extended_Data_Transfer
  Preset_1 and Preset_2
  Hail_Acknowledge

[bronco]

An update on the PR511 status messages.
Given: L1 = PR511
    cm-15(1)     J12 = Set off by Motion detector and checks if Flag = On, if so then launch L12
    cm-15(2)     L12 was the Macro that controlled the video recording
    CM-15(1)     N16 was the Macro that changed the flag back to 'ON' after the recording was done

    Monitored status on CM-15(1) = J

    N16 did not reset the flag correctly but once I change it to J5, it worked ok, except that sometimes it probably collides
        and never reaches the CM-15.  I have tried sending it twice in macro L12.  The activity monitor this afternoon only
        showed one of the J5 to reset the flag, but it did work.

  Changing L12 to N12  seemed to stop the Status Off messages.  Not had any since Last Fri.
       Doesn't make any sense to me but seems to work so far.