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[Charles Sullivan]

Since Canada may be converting to metric time anyway.... maybe we should all convert to universal metric units for time measurement.


We are bringing humor back to the forum ....right?

That's pretty funny, but scary.  I've read that the cost of changing the dates of Daylight Saving Time in the US amounted to several billion dollars.  (Thanks, US Congress.)  Imagine what the cost would be to switch to one of these cockamamy "metric time" schemes.   (I suspect it would result in the collapse of civilization as we know it.)

[HA Dave]

That's pretty funny, but scary.  .............. Imagine what the cost would be to switch to one of these cockamamy "metric time" schemes. 

I think I can adjust to the 10 hours days... and the 10 day weeks. My thinking is the 10 letter metric alphabet.... could only IMPROVE my spelling.

[Charles Sullivan]

That's pretty funny, but scary.  .............. Imagine what the cost would be to switch to one of these cockamamy "metric time" schemes. 

I think I can adjust to the 10 hours days... and the 10 day weeks. My thinking is the 10 letter metric alphabet.... could only IMPROVE my spelling.

Not to worry!  Nowadays it's PC to overlook "creative" spelling, lack of punctuation, "stream of consciousness" run-on sentences, etc.   In any event, your 10 letter metric alphabet may already be close to reality among the text-messaging segment of the population.   

[steven r]

...My thinking is the 10 letter metric alphabet.... could only IMPROVE my spelling.

With my spelling luck it would be a 100 letter metric alphabet with 10 vowels.

[steven r]

The alternative is to manually readjust our congressmen/women next November. 

Who knows it might turn out to be faster than getting the software fixed. 

[Walt2]

With my spelling luck it would be a 100 letter metric alphabet with 10 vowels.

Not if I have to buy the vowels. 

[jrubenstein]

OK ... I've accepted the fact that until the fix comes out I will leave my CM15A connected to my PC during both the old (10/28) and new (11/4) weekend periods in order to allow the DST changes to occur correctly.  I typically only connect to the PC when I have changes to download, but I'd rather do this than have to manually change it.  I left it connected last night, with ActiveHome Pro running, and ... it seemed to work correctly.  (No time change.  Woo hoo!  )

Now I have a question, for those of you who leave it always connected to your PC's.  For this to work (for it to get its correct time from Windows, during the DST change next weekend), does it simply have to be connected via the USB port, or does ActiveHome Pro also have to be running on the PC to make the time change happen?

Thanks!

Jeff

[whsbuss]

Well all I do is connect up the laptop, clear the interface memory, and download the configuration. Then on Nov. 4 do it all over again. I don't think we will ever see a fix for this.

[murphy]

I left the CM15A connected to the PC last night with Activehome not running.  The lights came on at the proper time this morning so it appears that is sufficient.

[Dan Lawrence]

One thing for both our users who keep the CM15 connected 24/7 and those who don't.   Make sure X10 Net Services (x10Nets.exe, located in C:\Program Files/Common Files/X10) runs when Windows is running.  That keeps the status of modules and timers correct in AHP.

[Walt2]

I left the CM15A connected to the PC last night with Activehome not running.  The lights came on at the proper time this morning so it appears that is sufficient.

Are you sure you did not have ActiveHomePro running at all? 

Not even minimized to the task bar?

[murphy]

I left the CM15A connected to the PC last night with Activehome not running.  The lights came on at the proper time this morning so it appears that is sufficient.

Are you sure you did not have ActiveHomePro running at all? 

Not even minimized to the task bar?

Positive.  The only thing running was the X10 USB driver that loads when the PC is turned on. 

[Dan Lawrence]

As long as X10Nets.exe is loaded, AHP does not have to be open for timers and macros to run.  All x10nets.exe (X10 Network Services) does is keep track of actions until AHP is reopened.

[jrubenstein]

The concept that the real time clock is programmed (firmware) to increment time on a given date would be ludicrous programming even for X10.

I agree.  However, it is what it is.  Several of us who've run with the CM15a not connected to the PC over many years have confirmed that its firmware has the old DST dates hard-coded into it.  Before Congress changed the DST dates last year, everything worked fine.  Then after the change, we updated our Windows OS, and our PC's used the new dates, but the CM15a still used the old dates.  (Unless the CM15a was connected to the PC at the time.)  This causes problems 4 times a year.  Twice in the spring (when it changes the time and shouldn't, and when it doesn't change the time but should), and twice again in the fall.  Until X10 supplies a fix, one solution seems to be to leave the CM15a connected to the PC during the critical Sunday morning changeovers.  (Both the old dates and the new dates.)  I'm doing that this year.  We'll see what happens on Sunday morning.

On 11/3 daybreak is programmed for 8:21.
On 11/4 is set for 7:21 - end of story.

Am I missing something here?

If you're missing anything, I think it's again the issue of whether the CM15a is connected to the PC or not.  The ActiveHome Pro application certainly seems to know when DST truly starts and ends.  And that information seems to be available to the CM15a while it's connected.  But when it's not connected, it seems to fall back to its old dates ... which we assume must be hard-coded in its firmware.

By the way ... I personally think the whole DST concept is ridiculous.  All of the reasons for its implementation are no longer valid, and now it's a huge waste of time and resources.  There is no evidence that it saves any energy.  In the summer we may not turn on our lights until later at night, but we have to leave them on longer in the morning.  Do you know anybody who can explain why we have DST?  (With a straight face?)  I was impressed that Indiana was one of the few states smart enough to not fall for the DST scam.  But I guess they succumbed to peer pressure from neighboring states. 

[Dan Lawrence]

I've been reading a bit about the 2007 DST changes.  When the The Energy Policy Act of 2005 was passed and signed, the act does have the option of reverting to the traditional dates is the energy saved does not meet the savings specified in the Act.

We shall see.

One question that needs answering is why some AHP users don't have their CM15A connected to their PC 24/7?  With PCs so cheap these days, why not leave it connected? Those of us who do leave it connected don't run into any major problems.