Command Line control with activehome PRO and CM15A

[Tuicemen]

THAT WORKED!!!!!

I  presume that will also work with ahcmd in it's regular location, since it worked fine in the C:/Test location.

Yes! you have to tell the command prompt to go to the folder location where ahcmd.exe is Guess I wasn't clear enough about that!

[roger1818]

One question if you donââ,¬â,,¢t mind.  I understand that sendplc is send power line command,  sendrf is send radio frequency command but what is sendrawplc?

The thread Powerline Commands Applied to Many X10 Addresses!? gives a brief description of this command.

I'm understanding the on, off, dim and bright commands but I'm not understading the presetdim command.  For instance what would be the presetdim command for a1 to 50%?

Check out Using Pre-Set Dim.  X10 never supported this command in any of their modules.  The 2-way lamp module uses an Extended Dim instead.

[specter333]

Ok maybe Iââ,¬â,,¢m not looking at this the correct way.  As I understand it the dim (or bright) command dims by what percentage you assign it.  So if the command is dim 25% and the light is on full then it will dim to 75%.  If you use the command again the light will dim to 50% and so on. 


How do you send a command to dim or bright the light to 50% regardless of the current value?   So if the light is at 20% percent it brights to 50% or if the light is at 90 percent it dims to 50%.  Or do I have to set a relative value of 0% or 100% first in order to get the light to go to exactly 50% every time?

I've tried sending the code sendplc A3 ExtCode 31 1F to a lamp module but it does nothing.

I hope I'm making sense, i'm new to the programing side of this.  Thanks for the help.

[billy]

specter333,

You are correct the % is incremental from the current level. So my guess is you turn the light on to 100% then dim to 50%.
So your application would have to keep track of the light level.

Lamp modules do not use extended codes.

[billy]

Also the Dim ??% seems to be a PLC command only.
Light does not change using sendrf A1 Dim 50
Probably the same with the Bright command.

[specter333]

Thatââ,¬â,,¢s disappointing but not the worst thing.  Weird thing I have noticed with what I hoped would be a temporary work around. 

I set my lights off command to dim 100% instead of off so it will fade up to 50% instead of going full and then dimming down.  Then if I want my lights at 50% I say lights to half when they are off and dim lights when they are on.  When I fade up from 0% to 50% my lights are quite a bit brighter than when I fade down from 100%.   To counter this I just dim up to 40%. 

Thanks for your help.

[specter333]

Something I just thought of, does Billââ,¬â,,¢s X10 voice command do the dim/bright to 50% like weââ,¬â,,¢ve been discussing?

[roger1818]

You are correct the % is incremental from the current level. So my guess is you turn the light on to 100% then dim to 50%.
So your application would have to keep track of the light level.

Lamp modules do not use extended codes.

Billy is correct on both accounts.  It is a limitation of the cheap lamp modules (you get what you pay for).  That is why ActiveHome Pro will brighten the module to 100% first and then dim by the appropriate amount.  Most other brands of lamp modules will support either the old PresetDim or the new Extended Dim (and as I said earlier the X10 brand 2-way modules support the Extended Dim).

[-Bill- (of wgjohns.com)]

Something I just thought of, does Billââ,¬â,,¢s X10 voice command do the dim/bright to 50% like weââ,¬â,,¢ve been discussing?

Yes, BXVC does.  The way I chose to do it is as follows:
1) Always issue dim 100
2) If the requested level is 0 (zero) you're done
3) If the requested level is greater than 0 (zero) issue bright (requested level)

So to set module A1 to 50% brightness, issue:
A1 dim 100
A1 bright 50

Hope that helps;
-Bill-