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[Nandy]

I have been trying to figure it out but I cant.  I set up a macro to email me when somebody rings the bell in the house or my kids open the front door. That works perfectly. However, I want that to happen only between 8 am and 11 pm. I added a condition to my macro. It says
Trigger conditions Door Chime - Sensor Triggered adn
The time is between 8:00 am and 11:00 pm
End trigger conditions.

SEnd email notification ....

It simply dont work. What am I doing wrong. I have the cm15a, AHP 3.206. I have set up my location and save it to the cm15a. Any help?

I have been researching and looks like this x10 software does not work properly. I just bought this last week. I guess I am in time to return it if it cant be fixed!!!

[KDR]

Nandy,
 
It takes 3 Macros to send an Email with OnAlert (triggered by a Security Sensor) if there are also conditions that need to be met:

• Macro 1 is setup for the Security Sensor Status and then triggers Macro 2 by way of a Dummy Module with the same address as Macro 2.
  
  
  
• Macro 2 contains your conditionals and another Dummy Module which turns ON if the conditions are met.
  
  
  
• Macro 3 , which has the same HouseCode and UnitCode as the Dummy Module in Macro 2, turns ON at the same time executing the content in Macro 3 which is the Send Email Command.
  
  
  

We are all hoping that someday X10 will fix this bug but, until then, the above 3 Macros is a working work-around.

^{----------------KDR}

[TTA Edit: Combined 2 posts; formatted; added X10 Glossary LINKs. GREAT JOB KDR! Adding the text to the screen prints took time but helps immensely.

[Nandy]

KDR, thank you very much for your effort! I should have been more especific and especify that I had already done what you have. Im using one timer and a macro and it is working fine. I was just at an awe trying to figure it out if it was me not understanding how to set this up the way it is intended, using the conditions or if it is in fact a software bug issue. I am surprise, after more reading, to find out, just like you posted, that x10 has a software bug and apparently has not fix it yet. I am currently looking for other options to do the same emailing thing I am doing with their gear. I am not paying for a software that is not working and a company that dont seem to care and keep selling a buggy software. I really dont want to do bussines with a company like that. I told the salesperson what I wanted to do, that person probably knew the issue but still went ahead and did her sale... Disapointing...

Thanks

[Tuicemen]

Many that have this problem  use X10dispatcher as a work around!
Unfortunately the SDK which X10dispatcher uses doesn't yet support security devices so Both programs need to be running.
If your not using any security devices AHP doesn't need to be running for X10dispatcher to work
Note: This isn't the only work-around that X10dispatcher can do many of the actions that are possible with it were introduced before AHP created the plugins!
In fact You could use it as a stand alone (the only) program for the CM15A only it won't upload to the CM15A.
 

***The best part is it's free!***

[TakeTheActive]

...I told the salesperson what I wanted to do, that person probably knew the issue but still went ahead and did her sale... Disapointing...

Don't bet on it...

[Nandy]

TTA, you might be right, if this is a new sales person. But I would expect any knowledgeable salesperson to know the equipment it is selling, including its short comings so they can better advise the customer. If x10 don’t make that information available to their salesperson then it is more disappointing.

The worst part is that I find the concept of their equipment great. I really like how it all sounds in paper and I would definitely buy more gear from them If I were to see a frank attempt to fix the problems. I have found post of problems about the cm15a since 2005, if I would say dec 2005 that would be over a year without any fix or at least acknowledge of a problem. I attributed the few negative threads to disgruntled customers or customers not understanding the technology. I meant how come a company will do what they claim and still be in business? Wrong...

Had a radio and TV repair shop in the neighborhood when a teenager back in 83. Went to college and made my major in Electronics. I had my own business in electronic security dealing with alarms, video and intercoms. Dealt with Moose, Ademco, DCSC, Napco and a bunch of other security systems. Build and sold computers since1989. My latest hobby was building custom game cams, designing my own board to manage the motion detector and make the decision of taking the shots with the camera. Wrote my own software to manage downloading the photos and more. I say this just to give a background that technology is not an alien world to me.

I know a lot of you are very supportive of the company, but to me it is apparent that the company is not taking a lot of care of their customer. Shame as again, I do like the concepts they are bringing.

Drifted enough from the op.

Good day...

[MichaelC]

Is the problem you guys are talking about in the OnAlert trigger conditions? It definitely sounds like a software bug. I wonder if in this instance you could work around this problem by hooking up the door bell and the magnetic sensor for the door to a Powerflash module and use that to trigger the macro -- the non-OnAlert conditions for this work, right?

[Nandy]

Michael, the problem is when you are using conditions with macros. In my case, when I used a timed condition. The first time I built the macro i used no condition. I set up AHP to send an email when triquered by my security door/window sensor. That work perfect. Then I added the condition. I only want to receive emails from 1 pm to 10:30. I selected the time condition to only send the email when the sensor is triguered between those times. It never worked. I played with it extensivelly to no avail. I end up creating a fake switch sensor with a timer. I set up the sensor timer to turn the sensor on at 1 pm and turn it off at 10:30. Then the condition I used in the email macro was for this fake sensor to be on before the email can be sent. It works but I would have expected for x10 to have fixed a problem that seems to be over a year old. Adn if they cant fix it then train their salesperson into telling the customer that they cannot do that cause their software is broke.

[MichaelC]

Nandy, I noticed that several users specifically mentioned this problem in relation to conditions introduced in OnAlert. That's what I was asking about.

Before OnAlert was introduced, the only conditions available for a macro were those that CM15A supports running in the interface alone. I'm pretty sure that those were working and that problems you saw from 2005 were fixed. OnAlert introduced new trigger conditions (triggering from security sensors and remotes), and I was clarifying that those are the ones that force the workarounds everyone told you about.

[jayhalloran]

 My requirements were:

1. IF motion detected in front entryway AND it is nighttime THEN turn on front entryway light.  Turn front light off after 30 seconds.

2. IF motion detected in rear entryway AND it is nighttime THEN turn on rear entryway light.  Turn rear light off after 30 seconds.

3. IF sliding door is opened AND it is nighttime THEN turn on porch light.  Turn light off after 5 minutes.

4. IF sliding door is closed THEN turn off porch light.

The requirements appear to be very simple and should have been accomplished wirh 4 macros.  I went through all the gyrations typical of a new user (I find newby to be a condesending title.  I prefer troll) who was not aware that the software could not work as intended.  So I esentially plagerized the work done by KDR (see above) to get my macros to work.  Now I have managed to get the job done with only 10 macros and 6 dummy/ghost modules.  Isn't that rediculous?  Reading through several posts here I get the idea that this problem has existed through at least a couple of update releases.

My thanks to KDR and the others who provide the assistance that allows some of us to get our systems working.  Without that help I imagine considerably more product would be returned to X10.  I hope the people at X10 are grateful for you guys saving their behinds.