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[jerry tall]

X10 -

I have a fairly typical scenario of Smart
Macros using motion sensors to activate
lights inside the house only at nighttime.
I find that I still need lighting for up to
an hour after dawn and for about a half
hour before dusk.  Please modify the Smart
Macros so that the conditions Time Range,
Daytime, and Nighttime can be set to use
offsets from dawn and dusk.

This is shown as a screenshot
(http://www.activehomepro.com/ss_smartmacro_
wizstep.html) in the advertising for the
Smart Macros.  I've been waiting patiently
for it to be implemented, but it doesn't
appear to be a priority so far.  I think a
lot of other Smart Macro owners would
benefit from this.  If any Smart Macro
owners agree, please chime in here so that
X10 knows this is a feature that several
people would find desirable.

Thanks!

[david k]

I too have been needing to use this
function but it is not to be found.  This
is about as close to false advertising as
you can get.

[marty]

This isn't close to false advertising. This
IS false advertising.  It's still not a feature.

[mark]

That screen shot is why I bought
SmartMacros and now I find that they aren't
implemented.  Very bad business!

[david l]

Jerry, I know this software is very
frustrating because it has more than 4000
bugs and a lot of features have not been
implemented yet.  However, I have to give
some kudos to X10 because I have submitted
probably 50 “wish list” items and they have
implemented almost every one of them in very
short order.  This software is under
development and I guess they could have
waited another year before releasing it but
then we hackers would have lost a whole year
of playing around with it.

One of the challenges of programming in any
language is to develop workarounds for
features that are not available (and bugs
too).  So here is  my idea for a simple
workaround to give you EXACTLY what you are
looking for.

I’ll do this in multiple postings as it
won’t let me send it all at once.

[david l]

(Your Own Nightime Flag Continued)
First of all, forget about using
the “nightime” condition that they give you,
and create your own.  Here’s how:

Pick a flag that will be your “night time”
condition.  I will pick Flag-1 for this
discussion.

Now create a “phantom” appliance module in
any room.  For instance, lets create an
appliance module in room “WORKAROUND” and
give it address N1 (for “Nighttime”).  Of
course I am assuming that N1 is not used
anywhere else on your system, and that the
appliance module does not really exist
either, other than in the software room.

Now set the timer settings for appliance
module N1 to come on/off at any offset you
want from dusk and dawn.

Now write two simple one-line macros:
n   Macro “StartNight” triggers with N1-
ON and sets Flag-1.
n   Macro “EndNight” triggers on N1-OFF
and clears Flag-1.

Now you should manually toggle appliance
module N1 On then Off just to get the flags
initialized.  You only need to do this once
after you write the two simple macro.

Now, in your other macros, just test Flag-1
to tell when it is  nighttime.  Forget about
their night condition.  Adjust the appliance
module timer to give whatever offsets you
want.

All this assumes that you can get AHP to run
these macros in a non-flaky way.  Sometimes
the bugs get in the way.