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[tom j]

Hi guys created this simple smart macro for turning up the brightness on my porch lights when someone approaches the porch at night. I have a timer that turns the front porch lights on at dusk and dimes them to 65% so I created a macro that increased and decreased the brightness relative to their current levels please see below. The problem I'm having is that sometimes, occasionally after I walk up to the porch at night the macro will dim the the lights so much that the lights appear to be off, I don't see anything wrong with the macro but I don't know maybe someone can take a look and tell me if it's because of how I constructed it, I can't figure why this is happens so I'm hoping someone can help me identify the bug. I really need this macro to function going out of town and I've already had one break-in a few years back through this very door at night the reason was I believe because my porch lights were dimmed but my trusty dx7000 and three large powershorns and the fact that basically all my lighting is x10 controlled foiled the attempt but that's another story. Hoping someone can take a look and help me figure this one out. Thanks

Tom j

Trigger Condition D4 On And
It's Nighttime
End Trigger Conditions
Brighten Porch Lights +35%
Wait For 5 Minutes
Dim Porch Lights By -35%
Store In Interface

[Don N]

As an alternative you might try creating two Macros.  One for increasing the brightness of the lamp.  And the other Macro to dim the lamp.  I'm assuming you are using a motion sensor (D4) as your trigger.  You can use the "delay after motion before an Off command is sent" feature of the motion sensor to get your desired delay between brightness and dim. 

Macro 1
Trigger Condition D4 On and it's Nightime
End Trigger Conditions
Brighten Lamp by 35%

Macro 2
Trigger Condition D4 Off and it's Nightime
End Trigger Conditions
Dim Lamp by 35%

Hope this helps.  I have several lamps setup this way and it is extremely reliable.

[tom j]

As an alternative you might try creating two Macros.  One for increasing the brightness of the lamp.  And the other Macro to dim the lamp.  I'm assuming you are using a motion sensor (D4) as your trigger.  You can use the "delay after motion before an Off command is sent" feature of the motion sensor to get your desired delay between brightness and dim. 

Macro 1
Trigger Condition D4 On and it's Nightime
End Trigger Conditions
Brighten Lamp by 35%

Macro 2
Trigger Condition D4 Off and it's Nightime
End Trigger Conditions
Dim Lamp by 35%

Hope this helps.  I have several lamps setup this way and it is extremely reliable.

Thanks! great idea now why didn't I think of that  Will give it a try say tell me Don any idea why my original macro had problems? seems like it should work. Saw the same thing again tonight the first 3 times it worked perfectly the third time went outside to walk the dog the when I came back the lights were completely out or dimmed to the point they were not visible. Just wonder if anyone else has noticed something simuliar maybe it's a software bug.

Tom j

[tom j]

As an alternative you might try creating two Macros.  One for increasing the brightness of the lamp.  And the other Macro to dim the lamp.  I'm assuming you are using a motion sensor (D4) as your trigger.  You can use the "delay after motion before an Off command is sent" feature of the motion sensor to get your desired delay between brightness and dim. 

Macro 1
Trigger Condition D4 On and it's Nightime
End Trigger Conditions
Brighten Lamp by 35%

Macro 2
Trigger Condition D4 Off and it's Nightime
End Trigger Conditions
Dim Lamp by 35%

Hope this helps.  I have several lamps setup this way and it is extremely reliable.

Hi Don tried that version you suggested and it worked fine for every bit of 4 days then I noticed for the first time last night it dimmed the lights to complete darkness again Anymore thoughts on this. I think I'm going to pickup one of these x10 Tester Linc signal tester if you're going to debug this thing seems like you might need the right tools to do it, this thing is actually incredible for the price take a look at the manual if you have a chance and tell me if you think this could identify the problem, any thoughts on if this might be hardware or a software bug. Thanks!

Tom j


http://www.smarthome.com/4819a.html

[Don N]

Let's try something else before you invest more money.  Have you looked at the Activity Monitor to see what is going on?  The Activity Monitor should give you a big clue on what things are being acted upon.  Follow the sequence of events or steps that show up in the Activity Monitor.  If you've done things correctly the Activity Monitor should mimic the steps in your Macros.

[tom j]

Let's try something else before you invest more money.  Have you looked at the Activity Monitor to see what is going on?  The Activity Monitor should give you a big clue on what things are being acted upon.  Follow the sequence of events or steps that show up in the Activity Monitor.  If you've done things correctly the Activity Monitor should mimic the steps in your Macros.

Sound good will give it a try I'm always ready to save a little money the only reason I was considering something like that signal tester was that I've already invested so much money in this stuff that I just determined the figure out what's going on. Don one thing I've noticed though is that the history in the timer window often reports the incorrect dim levels but I'll definitely give it a try, as a matter of fact just hooked it up to my notebook and headed outside with the dog. Thanks maybe you could check back in 5 days or so and I can give you a update. 

Tom J

[tom j]

Say Don one thing can I just use the "macro and transmit" under view? and what's the receive option  When I had all of the options checked initially it really looked confusing, actually just want to display whats necessary to trouble shoot this problem. Thanks really appreciate your help!

Tom j

[tom j]

Say Don one thing can I just use the "macro and transmit" under view? and what's the receive option  When I had all of the options checked initially it really looked confusing, actually just want to display whats necessary to trouble shoot this problem. Thanks really appreciate your help!

Tom j

Humm.. maybe I figured this one out is the received the incoming signal to CM15a? still would like to know if I can just use the macro and transmit or if you have think I need more then these two to properly diagnose the problems just tell me which one I should have checked.

Tom j

[Walt2]

I would just give absolute dim levels a try.   I mean, "set lamp to 100%" followed later by "set lamp to 65%".    See if that always gives you 65%, or do you still get 0% occasionally.

If you still get 0%, then something is repeating dim commands.   Ramping up, any extra brighten commands can't get past 100%.  However, in ramping down, any extra dim commands will cause you to go past the target level, and continue until you hit 0%.

[tom j]

Hi Walt, well I ran that activity monitor and apparently I'm getting the dim levels repeated take a look below and tell me if this isn't the case. I have two things checked on the activity monitor the transmit and macros so correct me if I'm wrong isn't the CM15a sending two dim commands opposed to something repeating the dim commands. Just a little confused. Thanks all.

Tom j

Activity Monitor:
C16 Porch Lights
C Bright 35% (porch Lights)
C16 Porch Lights
C Dim 35% (Porch Lights)
C16 Porch Lights
C Dim 35% (Porch Lights)

[tom j]

Say because the activity monitor is just monitoring the transmit and recieve doesn't the activity monitor log indicate that the CM15a is in fact transmitting  two successive dim commands 


Tom j

[Don N]

Yes, you are getting repeated Dim Commands.  Are you using two Macros now or did you go back to just the one Macro?  Did you try Walt2's suggestion?  Sorry about all the questions ... but I need to understand your setup now.  It should work if you set lamp to 100% and set lamp to 65%.   

[tom j]

Yes, you are getting repeated Dim Commands.  Are you using two Macros now or did you go back to just the one Macro?  Did you try Walt2's suggestion?  Sorry about all the questions ... but I need to understand your setup now.  It should work if you set lamp to 100% and set lamp to 65%.   

Hi Don thanks for getting back!!! No I'm still using the macro you suggested and as a matter of fact I even incorporated a flag in it to make sure it would not cycle until the timer had elapsed. Thought it might be causing an error if you repeatably sent the D4 command to brighten before the macro was actually completed, like I sometimes might walk back on the porch a couple of times before the macro had run it course, but it would still sometimes dimmed to darkness the last time I was actually standing in front of the house and I saw it dim to the correct level then a few seconds latter I saw it dim a second time to complete darkness. Can't think you enough for the suggestion of using the activity monitor this actually worked better in the since that I can actually see what signals the CM15a is actually transmitting.

Tom j

[Don N]

I'm still using the macro you suggested and as a matter of fact I even incorporated a flag in it to make sure it would not cycle until the timer had elapsed.

I'm puzzled by your last statement, above.  If you are incorporating a timer in your Macro (to dim the light) as well as utilizing the Off Command from the motion sensor (as I suggested, to dim the light), then that may well be why you are getting multiple Dim Commands.  So, are you still using a timer in your Macro as well as using the Off Command from the motion sensor?  How does your setup compare to what I suggest below?

Motion Sensor (set to M1)

Macro M1 On
M1 On and Flag 1 Staus Off
Brighten Lamp (L1) by 99%
Set Flag 1

Macro M1 Off
M1 Off
Dim Lamp (L1) by 35%
Clear Flag 1

[tom j]

I'm still using the macro you suggested and as a matter of fact I even incorporated a flag in it to make sure it would not cycle until the timer had elapsed.

I'm puzzled by your last statement, above.  If you are incorporating a timer in your Macro (to dim the light) as well as utilizing the Off Command from the motion sensor (as I suggested, to dim the light), then that may well be why you are getting multiple Dim Commands.  So, are you still using a timer in your Macro as well as using the Off Command from the motion sensor?  How does your setup compare to what I suggest below?

Motion Sensor (set to M1)

Macro M1 On
M1 On and Flag 1 Staus Off
Brighten Lamp (L1) by 99%
Set Flag 1

Macro M1 Off
M1 Off
Dim Lamp (L1) by 35%
Clear Flag 1

Humm I'll have to check hope I didn't do something that stupid will get back shortly not at home currently, had to stop in at work to complete a project. Thanks

Tom j