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[theDUFF]

Hi All,

This is my first post so apologies in advance if I sound like a complete newbie because that is what I am!

I bought some X10 kit with the purpose of having al alarm clock which will raise the lighting level in a bedroom just before the alarm goes off.

After chatting to my friendly X10 sales chap he suggested the flowing:

1 x LW12 in wall dimmer

1x MT10 X10 controller (one of these in-fact

http://www.reallycleverhomes.co.uk/acatalog/Marmitek_MT10_instruction_manual.pdf)


These are all setup; the dimmer works and can be operated from the MT10 controller. So far so good.

The MT10 can raise the lights before at certain times, but these times are fixed. X10 sales chap said that if I want to have the lights raised relative to the alarm time then I need a macro. Macros are run on a CM15Pro which I have installed and setup so I can control the lights in the bedroom from the PC. This works fine too.

The only remaining problem is that I need to write the macro so the  lighting level on the LW12 is raised relative to the alarm time on the MT10. After a day or so of trying I am completely stuck on how to do this.   

So I have a LW12 on channel A1 and an MT10 with and alarm time set at T

I would like the LW12’s lighting level to raise 25% at T-20 minutes, T-15 minutes, T-10 minutes, T-15 minutes.  If anyone could give some pointers on how to do this it would be **much** appreciated.

I am using the CM15Pro’s software (ActriveHomePro).  The problem is that I cannot see how to reference the MT10’s alarm time in a macro. If I could do that it would be easy. If anying can point me to the a manual page that shows how to do this then I’ll be ok.

The only way round I can think of is to use signals or flags (??). Eg. Set a flag at the right time relative’s to the MT10’s alarm time. They I’d need a second macro to poll for the signal and raise the light level when the signal or flag is set. My attempts to come up with a macro like this have been pretty pathetic as I have no idea what I’m doing. 

I have been through the sample macros on this site and I cannot see one that has tried to do something like this. I’m actually starting wonder if it’s even possible.

So if anyone could offer some help or pointers it would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.


theDUFF




[/list]

[dbemowsk]

Let me first say thank you for all the detail in your post.  Many first timers are vague and we have to ask for more information.

I think what you want to do is create a macro that is triggered on a different address than what your unit selector is normally set to such as A5 if you normally keep the unit selector on 1-4.  With that said, here is how the macro would go.

Macro name: (whatever you want)
Trigger: A5 ON
Macro resides in: Bedroom
Macro steps:
A1 brighten 25%
Delay 5 minutes
A1 brighten 50%
Delay 5 minutes
A1 brighten 75%
Delay 5 minutes
A1 brighten 100%

After creating this macro, you want to set the MT10 alarm to actually trigger A5 on 20 minutes before you want the lights at full brightness.  The macro will then take care of ramping the light up to full brightness in increments of 5 minutes.  So if you would normally set your alarm (T) for 7:00 AM, just program an action (page 4 of the MT10 manual) to start the macro at 6:40 AM which is T-20.  If you also want the alarm to sound at 7:00 AM, you would then program a second action that will actually trigger A1 on at 7:00 AM and setting your wake up switch to ON.  If your wake up switch is set to OFF, the second action will have no effect since it will try to turn light A1 on, but it will already be on from the first action.

To review, your first timer action starts at 6:40 AM and ramps the light on A1 to full brightness over a 20 minute period.  At 7:00 AM, the light on A1 will already be at full brightness, so the second timer action turning the light on at 7:00 AM will not matter, but it will sound the alarm.

[Brian H]

Welcome to the forums.

Are you physically using the Alarm Sounder function of the MT10 for your wake up?
The CM15Pro can not read the time from the MT10 so you may have to modify dbemowsk's macro to start at -20 minutes before the alarm event. Using time as the trigger.

Now if you are not using the Alarm Feature the macro should work fine.

Personally I use a Chime Module for my wake up call. 

[dbemowsk]

you may have to modify dbemowsk's macro to start at -20 minutes before the alarm event. Using time as the trigger.

After creating this macro, you want to set the MT10 alarm to actually trigger A5 on 20 minutes before you want the lights at full brightness.  The macro will then take care of ramping the light up to full brightness in increments of 5 minutes.  So if you would normally set your alarm (T) for 7:00 AM, just program an action (page 4 of the MT10 manual) to start the macro at 6:40 AM which is T-20.  If you also want the alarm to sound at 7:00 AM, you would then program a second action that will actually trigger A1 on at 7:00 AM and setting your wake up switch to ON.  If your wake up switch is set to OFF, the second action will have no effect since it will try to turn light A1 on, but it will already be on from the first action.

To review, your first timer action starts at 6:40 AM and ramps the light on A1 to full brightness over a 20 minute period.  At 7:00 AM, the light on A1 will already be at full brightness, so the second timer action turning the light on at 7:00 AM will not matter, but it will sound the alarm.

There should be no modification necessary as I did mention that the MT10 should be set to T-20 to start the MACRO at the appropriate time.  I also mentioned that to use the ALARM, 2 MT10 timers should be programmed; One for the macro, and one to trigger the alarm if needed.

[Brian H]

Bad Day
Missed the second timer.
Should work.

[theDUFF]

Thank's guys that the kind of thing I was looking for.

I think the problem was I was looking for someway to get the MT10's  alarm to drive the Marco which would turn up the lights. Turns out that's not the X10 way of thinking.
I should have been trying to get the MT10 to trigger a macro which would do the alarm and the lights. Simple. 


I'm away on work for the next few days but I'll give it ago as soon as I'm back.

Update to follow.

theDUFF

[dbemowsk]

I think the problem was I was looking for someway to get the MT10's  alarm to drive the Marco which would turn up the lights. Turns out that's not the X10 way of thinking.
I should have been trying to get the MT10 to trigger a macro which would do the alarm and the lights. Simple. 

Just for clarification, the MT10 will still do the alarm unless you have an external siren for an alarm.  The MT10 will first trigger the macro and then trigger the alarm.

[theDUFF]

Thanks al l for the previous posts.

Unfortunately this is not an ideal solution because you have to have two alarms set on the MT10. I wanted to avoid that as I keep having to change the time the alarm is set for and I know I won't really bother using it if the have to set two alarms. That's what I **really** wanted to avoid. I guess I could use a door chime to do the alarm like Brian H suggests, but then I don't think the sleep functions on the MT10 will work (I think ).

Still I have a much bigger problem now. I copied my macro to the CM15Pro and plugged it in the bedroom and tried to get the alarms on the  MT10.

It is al this point that I found out the wall light (behind which the LW12 is located) no longer operates the lights!  I can turn them on and off from the MT10 and from the PC (with the CM15Pro plugged in) but If I operate the wall switch nothing happens!

Again I am complete stumped on how to fix this. I kind of need to get this fixed as the other half is not impressed. I spend a few days sitting in a dark bedroom waiting for the lights to come on by themselves, and now after a week of playing around I cannot even turn the lights off by the switch  ! She finds it all quite funny but unless I get it to work she wants me to rip out all the X10 jiggery pokery and give up.

The other problem is the MT10 which is not an impressive bit of kit. It runs really hot, but even worse it seems lock up when I try ans set the second alarm with the channel selector set to 5-8. It always locks up and just displays 18:30. From this point its completely unresponsive to any buttons and you cannot even set the time.  The only way to bring it back to life is to set switch it off at the mains. Are there any alternatives???

Any help much appreciated

[Brian H]

On the MT10. You may want to see if it needs a warranty replacement. It should not lock up and need a power cycle to correct it.
I don't think our MT10A manual has any added data in it but if you want to look at it:
ftp://ftp.x10.com/pub/manuals/mt10a-om.pdf
I can't remember how warm mine got when I had one in use and it is no longer in the storage box of test subjects.
I do have a MT12A and MT13A.

On the LW12. You may want to check that the local control switch wired to it is connected tightly and has not failed.
Manuals also indicates the LW12 has a dim level that can be set. Not sure if it applies to only the local switch or all control methods, but you may want to verify is is not set to 0% dim and looks off.
We don't have the MicroModule line of X10 devices here. So my observations are only from the manuals I was able to find online.