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[robotmakermickey]

This product clearly isn’t going to be
functional anytime in 2005 given the
duration I’ve endured this product and it’s
problematic updates. I purchased my CM15A
as a replacement for my CM11A back in early
September 2004. Here it is, 8 months later,
countless software updates and I still
can’t get my CM15A to work ONCE reliably
and always fall back onto my CM15A. I can’t
type the explicits that are going through
my mind now, but I finally packaged the
CM15A and threw it in the garage,
Literally!!! I figure X-10 eventually get
this product going, but I feel a firmware
update is needed and maybe even a hardware
modification. The turnaround time between
updates from X-10 is extremely too long,
and may solve some issues but new ones are
generated. However, the bottom line for me
is it’s complete unreliability. I’ll check
back in 2006 and hopefully I can pull the
cobwebs off of my CM15A and try it again.

[mark n]

I'm afraid I have to agree... I have been
playing this game since last October. For a
while there, it really looked like X-10 was
gonna pull it out... I spent several months
putting new units and software revisions to
the test, and communicating bugs and
results back to X-10 support. However, for
the last 2 months, I can't get a reply to
any of the emails I send, and no one will
return my calls at X-10 tech support. The
most recent S/W update was apparently a big
step backwards, and has just been rotting
there for weeks. Last fall, new updates
came out every week or two, and you could
see the progress that was being made. Not
so, anymore...
Also noticably lacking is any dedicated
effort by folks at X-10 to respond to
problems on the forums... they used to post
here regularly, but hardly a post is being
made now by X10Pro...

This really looks like the symptoms of a
sinking ship... Should we all stand by to
be orphan'd?

[Tigger]

 
I have been reasonably happy with my CM15A.

Admittedly, I have a relatively simple setup:

11 wall switches, 3 different manufacturers.
2 appliance modules
2 motion sensors
2 plug-in controllers,
3 hard-wired controllers,
4 rf remotes.

10 macros using 4 different house codes,
and simple time-delays.  No TIMERS.

I have run into the "things not working
after software upgrade" problem, but the
problems were resolved.  Granted, there are
steps involved that I SHOULDN'T have to take,
but I hope that these will be cleaned up
with future software releases.

While I am not thrilled with having to jump
through these hoops, they seem to work for
me.  Perhaps they'll work for you as well.
(Note:  I do NOT use Smart Macros)

I will post these steps in this forum,
under the title "CM15A upgrade tips"


T

[carmine pacifico]

Tigger

It’s like saying: I bought a new car;
everything is working great except when I
put it in drive it only goes up to 30 mph
and the  reverse does not work.
The CM15a + AHP + smart macros has to work
as advertised, or it’s a failure; X10
refuses to acknowledge any hardware
defects, and there are many, the so called
DIAGNOSTIC unit is an attempt to fix the
hardware flaws with firmware changes; as
far as the PC software it’s even worse,
their install program does not always work,
especially if you want to revert to a
previous version. This ship is sinking,
this product had 86 upgrades from the time
it was released, it’s not a sign of a
company improving their products, but a
sign of a lots of lemon-aid, and it’s not
working it’s just buying time for X10.

[SteveRF]

My CM15A works pretty well, 20 modules, 11
macros, 10 timers etc etc... Diag unit on
XP/Sp2.  AND "EVERY" manufacturer has
upgrades.. The CM15A will see one eventually.
In the meantime, I bet lots of us have
working units.  More of the not working come
here than working ..smile
SteveRF

[robotmakermickey]

My system is not what I consider,
extensive. I went to the Pro to expand it.
Configured in my CM11A is 6 Dimmable modules
(Plug and Wall), 14 Appliance modules(5
have duplicate house/unit codes), 2 20
amp/220vac modules, 4 Motion sensors, 29
macros all on 5 different house codes. I
have different groupings for different
functions because I like to use the all
units off per house code. I mask out my
motion sensors during the day by feeding
the transceiver module through an appliance
module, and switching the appliance module
on  & off via my timed macros. With all
this, I’ve never gotten as far as  my one
main timer to turn the lights on at dusk +
10… That’s where it always fails. I have
thought maybe I have some bad memory and so
added dummy modules to this main macro,
shifting my main macro into other memory
locations. The CM15A simply cannot handle
my main timed macro to start my evening
lighting events let alone, the rest of my
stuff. FYI, in this main macro is the ON
command to command the masking appliance
module for my exterior motion sensors so
I’m not getting communication on my lines
during the daylight hours. I have used an
oscilloscope on my AC lines measuring it
against the wave forms I have found on
other sites, to ensure I don’t see anything
else that should not be there. The CM11A
works 99.99% of the time and I’ve had that
for 5 years… The CM15A always fails
miserably! I too have communicated my
findings to X-10, but their lack of
response has conditioned me to stop that
avenue.

[robotmakermickey]

Forgot to add: 6 timers, one of which is on
at dusk+00:10

[Tigger]

 
If you get bored, and have your .ahx file
around, I'd be interested in seeing it,
to see if the problem is reproduceable
from module-to-module.

TiggerLasV at/aol/dot/com.

I'll try poking around with timers
over the next few days.

With regards to multiple house codes,
and the CM11A, what kind of transceiver
modules are you using?  TM751's, or RR501's?


T

[Former AHP User]

If you did not buy too many extra items when
you purchased AHP, you can still get a
refund even though you are out of the 30 day
window.  The only catch they have left thogh
is that you must return EVERYTING

[Former AHP User]

Sorry, my finger slipped and hit submit
(sure would be nice to be able to edit
posts).

Anyway, as I was saying, you can get a
refund no matter how long ago you purchased
this, but you have to send back everything
you purchased with the AHP/cm15a.  This is
the only catch that X-10 has left to keep
everyone from demanding a refund.
Fortunately, when I purchased mine, I only
bought a couple of modules that I was
planning to use to expand my system, but
since AHP never worked right, I never
installed them and was able to return for a
full refund.  Have a nice day!

[Tigger]

Mickey -

I took a peek at your .ahx file, and
didn't see anything "odd" in relation to
the "Evening Begin" timer.

I tried recreating a similar timed macro
on my unit, which seemed to work OK.

I will try fully downloading your .ahx
file tomorrow, and see what kind of
response I get.

One thing that I did see that was odd
(and maybe X10 can elaborate on this) -

When you create a macro with a DELAY,
the delay is represented in the AHX file
as SECONDS only.  i.e., a 1 minute 30-second
delay shows up in the ahx fie as 90 seconds.

When you create a TIMER, and there is a
DELAY BEFORE/AFTER DUSK, it shows up in
a different format.  5 minutes (300 seconds)
shows up as "3000000000".

It still works, but seemed rather odd.


T