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[shelly]

It's great to read the laundry list of new
features in 3.200.  BUT, wouldn't it be
better if the software could reliably perform
basic functions.  I just bought a new
computer without serial ports, so I naively
upgraded to the CM15 & AHP. All I'm doing is
trying to control some lights.  AHP3.199
proved unreliable for this so I upgraded to
3.200.  THIS SOFTWARE IS A JOKE!!! I do mean
that calling this working software is laughable.

- Lights go on and off in a somewhat random
manner.
- In neither version could I get a lamp
module to go to 100%  brightness in a macro.
I have to set to 60% (absolute) delay 30
seconds, increses by 99%. Yes, I did set
preferences to send an ON when set to 100%.

- When a light (wall switch) is on from
dusk-1:00 until 11:30, it will go off at odd
times. I manually turn it back on and it just
goes off again a while later.
- Set a macro to turn several lights on and
several others go on at the same time. They
must be sympathizing with the lights that
were really supposed to work.
- The other evening a macro that was supposed
to turn some lights on at dusk-30:00 and off
at various times after 10:00 PM did the
following: On but dimmed at dusk-1:00; dim
some more about 7:00 PM off about 7:30PM; on
about 10:00PM but really dimmed; off After
12:00AM.  Is this a working system?

These are all macros that worked fine for
years with the old software & CM11.

I personally know at least 2 people who were
considering buying AHP because of how
flawlessly I told them it worked.  Then they
looked on the net at all of the problems and
decided against it.

I am a software engineer and would be
appalled to ship a product that worked this
poorly.  Let alone allow myself to be in the
position that I was busy adding new features
rather that first bring it to the level where
it worked as reliably as the product it was
replacing!

Would anyone at X10 buy a car that when you
floored the accelerator - somtimes stopped,
sometimes slowed down, sometimes
jackrabitted, and sometimes accelerated slowly?

Have you no shame!!!

[Dan Lawrence]

Other than the lockup problems, there is the
possibilty that the .ahx files (where the
modules, timers and macros are stored) can
get corrupted. The suggestion is to delete
the .ahx file(s) in the Active Home Pro
folder and create a new one. Create a simple
lamp with a single timer and upload it to the
interface. If it executes properly, contunue
to set up the rooms and other
motdules/timers/macros you need. Upload them
(after clearing the interface) and monitor
the modules.

I have a system with multiple housecodes,
modules, timers and a single macro, but none
of the add-ons. I did upgrade to 3.200, but
the lockup problem with Finding Other
Computers had me back to 3.199.

If you have no add-ons to AHP and a simple
system, AHP should work properly. Since I
first got AHP, every upgrade worked fine
until 3.200. There is suppossed to be a 3.201
to correct the lockup problem, but no release
date yet.

[Henri T]

Hi,
I have multiple 8 wall switchs, 5 appliance
modules, 9 lamp modules, 3 cams, a
floodlight cam, 2 socket rockets, a 220
volts heavy duty module, 3 remote chime
devices, 10 hawk eye motion detectors, 2 x-
10 security systems, a lot of door
detectors, 3 security motion sensors , etc.

All of this module are in operation.

I use AHP and the CM15A since the begins of
it.  I've bought all the plugins (smart
macro, iWitness and myHouse).

YES, this system works, but you have to
make fine-tuning, buy some signal filters
and a phase coupler. You have to program
your macros step by step, testing them one
by one.
You will have to put a lot of time to get a
working system.
It's not easy to make it working that it
should be.  There is a lot of factors that
influence a system base on the power line
of a house.

But I agree with you guys, the customers of
any product should have a working thing and
they not supposed to be beta tester after
buying it.

The CM15A is a very nice device working
well when there is no AC power turbulence.

Thanks

[shelly]

I've been using x-10 for over 10 years.  I've
followed all the threads I could find on
these forums.  I've rebuilt macros, I've
cleared the cm-15 & reloaded.  Still Some
things work and others are totally
unpredictable.  I've even done some
dissecting of the .ahx file to check its
validity and see if some of the quirks are in
there. I couldn't find them, but early on I
did find that any macros inported from my old
ActiveHome data that fired before dusk were
translated wrong by the AHP software.

Yes, any one module or macro work fine
sometimes, but I can't predict which one.

For anyone to suggest that it is proper for
x-10 to still be using their customer base to
debug a product that has been on the market
for well over a year is ridiculous.  To
suggest that it is resonable for me to go out
and spend money on signal couplers, etc. in
order to accomplish the same tasks as I was
doing 2 months ago, is equally unbelievable.

Would you buy a new car that was supposed to
be an upgrade from your old car. Only to find
that you can't drive it to work and have some
other customers tell you you should need to
put in new streets (signal couplers ...) or
rebuild the arms that you are using to steer
the car!!

All I want to do is what I've been doing for
years.  I did my fine tuning years ago and
feel that I have the right to expect that I
could have my "upgraded" (AHP & CM-15)
running cleanly or at least reproducibly
within a month of installation.



For the two of you

[jeffl]

I've enjoyed these posts.  I have a post to
point out some bugs with the newest
version. Maybe the bugs were there with the
past version I had.

We needed to move our 15CMA module from one
wall to the other.  I didn't want to do it
but as soon as we did one module stopped
turning itself off.  Everything else worked
OK.  My opinion is that it all should have
worked OK.

I too enjoy the product but it is not very
predictable.

[Charles Sullivan]

Shelly,
I had a similar experience with the CM15A and
the original release of AHP when I first got
it about 18 months ago.  The software was
completely new to me and in entering the same
schedule I had used on the old CM11A I made a
lot of screwups and corrections.  The end
result performed similarly to yours -
unprogrammed lights coming on, lights going
on/off at the wrong times, etc.

I redid the schedule from scratch, taking
care to get it right the first time, and
after that it worked OK.

I don't know if the most recent versions of
AHP have fixed whatever problems existed in
making extensive changes to existing
schedules - maybe they haven't.  I'd suggest
you redo your schedule starting from scratch
and see if you have better results.

BTW, sending an ON (or ALL_LIGHTS_ON) signal
to a standard lamp module like the LM465 has
no effect when the module is in the Dimmed
state - you have to use the Brighten signal
to bring it back to full brightness.  This is
a "feature" of that module.

[playitagainsam]

Because of all the problems with 3.2, I
returned to 3.199 but STILL had
unpredictable function of the CM15A.

SO .... I scrapped the CM15A (until the
software and/or hardware is fixed by the
mfr) and went back to me old reliable (for
years) HD11A.

TO X10:  WE NEED HELP OUT HERE WITH THE
CM15A software and maybe hardware too!

[Mystyx]

When you all did the switch from the CM11A to the CM15A did you resetup the accual modules?
how was your CM11A setup with what repeaters or transcievers??

Some repeaters will cause havok with CM15A and so far I find that the CM15A setup on CLEAN housecodes (check "find Computers" for a week or use the tools to test it) and without repeaters works the best. I currently use a RR501 out front for my RF P/T Cam, RF RLM20 Light & motion sensor only because the CM15A doesnt have the same distance setup the CM11A did. a single repeater or a antenna mod could make it work to the point of a few minor things but reliable again as the CM11A was for you but better software