Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Puck]

What exactly is the purpose of the monitored house code?  There is very little in the help text on this.  I was thinking it was the house code to be discplayed in the Activity Monitor.

All house codes get displayed in the activity monitor. The monitored house code is the only one that Active Home Pro allows you to use the modules state in macro conditions.

[PajamaGuy]

Ed,

I feel your pain.... and the best advice comes from some posts Puck & Tuicemen put up.  Start reading HERE

I've been playing "Throw your money at X10" since December.  Sometimes it's more like, "So, you gotta go left for 1 mile in order to arrive 6" from where you started" - but it is fun, and these guys like helping.

Read up on Monitored vs. Tranceived.  Then tackle Phantoms & Flags.
I don't have any 2-way modules, so nothing I post refers to them.

For the CONDITIONS part of macros, ("IF" statements) -
1. Only those modules that are set to the "monitored" HouseCode can be used.
2. Only one HouseCode can be monitored.
3. Flags CAN be used - and there are 16 FLAGS available to you - they're ON-OFF, and they're changed ONLY by your macros.
4. If you have "ELSE's", they work much better if you put explicit conditions in them:
           IF A1=ON
                 Do this
           ELSE IF A1=Off  (rather than just a blank ELSE)
                  Do that
I use PHANTOMs (AM486's) to (1) show me the state of flags (F1 shows me how FLAG#1 is set, etc. rather than having to run the STATUS report) and (2) trigger other macros - You can use FLAGS as conditionals, but they can't trigger.  Also, If AHP locks-up, and/or gets restarted, sometimes it doesn't remember the state of modules, but the FLAGS in the interface seem to still be there, so I created a manual macro that tests each flag and sets the cooresponding Phantom - with delays between each - this also runs all phantom-associated macros.  Sort of like a whole-system reset.

Off topic, but to help keep whatever hair is left:
When something doesn't work the way you think it should:
a. Make sure you've saved & downloaded to the interface.
b. Moved the interface as far away from your PC as you can.
c. Tested with the sensor close by, and the module plugged into a KNOWN controllable outlet.
d. Have another scotch
e. Save often & have a backup AHX
f. Tell the wife it won't stay like that - you're only "testing"
g. Have another scotch
h. Test putting a 2-second delay at the beginning or end of your macro
i.  Is ther another macro already running?  Does the macro work if it's the only one running?
j.  Burn the receipts so that even you won't know how much you've spent.

[ed n]

Hey, you been playing "Throw your money at X10" since December?  I've been at this for over seven years and I don't know if I'm too studip to walk away from this stuff or if I have some kind of hidden belief that it does work reliable.  I have cameras, two Pro modules, one of the old serial modules, light switches all over my house, pan&tilt units, alarm system, Motion sensors up the ying yang and still it seems that things are not reliable enough to say I have a full system.  I just ordered a bunch of other stuff to give it another try and already my outside lights aren't coming on with a simple timer.

I've printed off your post and will go through it and my setup again over the next few days.

Thanks for your assistance.

Don't take this wrong but I'm glad it's not just me.

[ed n]

I think much of my problem is the lack of connections between the two side of my panel.  I have the link in place but it doesn't seem to be sufficient.  Oce of the X-10 techs mentioned that I might be better off using the RF codes from the macros in the interface and sending commands to two transcievers on the two sides of the panel.  Is there a way to tell the interface to use only rf commands so the operations from the windows application can work this same way?