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[rbolan]

I've been reading lots of complaints about the CM15A being erratic, and most of the stories related to installations that are significantly more sophisticated than mine.  I am only using lamp modules of various flavors, wall switch modules for outside lights, and controlled receptacles for my landscaping.  I have only 2 macros:  1 which runs at dusk (turn on some inside lights, wait a 1/2 hour, and turn on outside lights); and 1 which simply turns everything back off at dawn.

I use very little RF(only an X10 remote), and do that with the 751 because the RF on the CM15A is useless.  I also have totally given up on asking the CM15A to do anything more to a lamp than just turn it on or off... attempting to set lamps to less than 100% brightness simply doesn't work and never has.  I've read and tried all sorts of suggestions on how to set up your macros to make dimming work, and most of the time it has simply caused more problems.

The unpredictable and most aggravating part is that this module will, for no apparent reason, simply forget to execute a part of a macro every now and then.  It is NOT a signal issue, because I have one-way switch and lamp modules which I assign the same address to.  When the issue occurs, all devices with that code do not come on.  My Signalinc repeater is working fine also.  I have outside lights, for instance, which are on the same address and on different phases.  Either they all come on, or none of them.  Sometimes it will forget to turn on the outside lights, sometimes the landscaping lights, sometimes a group of curio cabinet lights.  The next day everything will work fine without any intervention.  I sometimes do an erase and reload on the module if it happens more than once in a week, and it will work fine for a while, and then act up again at some point.  Use of the rf remote to turn these devices on, immediately after the CM15A forgets them, works without issue every time.

My CM15A is out of warranty, of course, having been purchased in Dec of 2005.  I would consider ordering a replacement unit, but the horror stories I've been reading in this forum make me wonder if I should just leave well enough alone.

Anyone have any words of wisdom out there on what I should do?  Not quite ready to jump to Insteon, but this really does get aggravating at time.

[HA Dave]

Anyone have any words of wisdom out there on what I should do?  Not quite ready to jump to Insteon, but this really does get aggravating at time.

Sorry, no "words of wisdom" here.... but maybe some things to think about.

Could you have some sort of power interuption? Are the batteries in your CM15A up to par? Could you have a mobile noise source (laptop, cell phone charger, etc) that could randomly appear on ether phase?

Have you tried a total reboot of you CM15A, clearing it's memory and removing the batteries, USB, and unplugging it for some time?

[Boiler]

The unpredictable and most aggravating part is that this module will, for no apparent reason, simply forget to execute a part of a macro every now and then.  It is NOT a signal issue...

Check your activity monitor to see if the CM15a is executing the timed events.  If your history window is too small, get into tools/preferences/ - event history length and kick to value up to something large (1000). 

If you can't see the CM15a attempting to turn on your devices in activity monitor, your unit may in fact be defective.  If you do see the timer activity, then the signal is being drowned (or absorbed) by devices running at that time.  In this case you'll need to track down the offending circuit and devices.  Start by asking yourself what devices you have on while your "dusk" commands are being activated.

I use very little RF(only an X10 remote), and do that with the 751 because the RF on the CM15A is useless.  ... attempting to set lamps to less than 100% brightness simply doesn't work and never has. 

...Use of the rf remote to turn these devices on, immediately after the CM15A forgets them, works without issue every time.

Your TM751 is probably plugged into a different outlet than the CM15a (correct me if I'm wrong).  If you have a noise (or absorption) source between the CM15a and your breaker panel it could kill this signal while allowing the TM751 to operate fine.  Try moving your CM15a onto the same circuit.

Past that, I can only say that I now have 3 CM15a's (04, 06, and 07 unit).  Each revision seems to be improved from the last.  Like yours, my '04 unit was totally unable to handle RF - It receives fine, just gets confused.  I gave up on trying to use dim commands in '04.  I've only recently tried using them again with the '07 unit (with some success). 

This is by no means an endorsement to go out and buy a new CM15a.  On the flip side, I also have Insteon switches and a controller.  The switches are nice (although there have been reliability complaints) but I am totally unimpressed with the PLC.  In terms of capability, it is no where near the CM15a.

[rbolan]

I'll go in and take a close look a the event logs the next time it hiccups.

You are correct.... the 751 and the 15A are on different outlets.  Actually, the CM15A is connected to a receptacle that is mounted right on my breaker panel, and which is on its own dedicated 15-amp circuit.  The 751 is on an outlet in the central part of my rather large house.  That's why this problem seems so odd.  My outside lights, for example, are all set to the same code (A6).  Prior to replacing the phase coupler with the signalinc repeater, I would occasionally see some of these outside lights come on and some fail.  That never occurs now.  It's an "all or nothing" problem now.  The macro in question activates all my landscape lights (switched receptacles all set to A8), then immediately activates the outside lights (A6).  When it happens, it's typically A6 that it misses.

Specific steps in this macro:

Turn on A1, A3, A5, and A16.... wait 30 minutes...  turn on A8 and A6.  Usually when this problem occcurs (but not always), it will miss either A16 or A6.  I have had instances where it misses others, but I usually have to clear and reload the interface if it gets that bad, and then it behaves itself for a while.

I've placed filters on the receptacles where most of the typical offenders are (electronics, transformers, etc.), but it's hard to get them all, of course....

[Walt2]

My Signalinc repeater is working fine also. 

Are you really sure about that?

Mine, like many others, would get itself into a repeat loop, where it would start to constantly re-repeat the same commands.  That would block any and all further X10 powerline commands, until it stopped.

I ended up returning my SignaLinc repeater.  In my 20+ years with X10, this is the only time I have ever had to return an X10 product because it was designed so very bad, that it was  basically useless (no work-around, no limping, no limited usage, nothing).

[HA Dave]

 The macro in question activates all my landscape lights (switched receptacles all set to A8), then immediately activates the outside lights (A6).  When it happens, it's typically A6 that it misses.

I put a little two second delay between actions in my macro's (A8 ON, 2 sec delay, A6 ON). AND... you might want to be sure the RF is turned off on this macro. BOTH would help avoid signal collisions (which could be the reason A6 isn't working).

[Boiler]

Actually, the CM15A is connected to a receptacle that is mounted right on my breaker panel, and which is on its own dedicated 15-amp circuit.  The 751 is on an outlet in the central part of my rather large house.  That's why this problem seems so odd.  My outside lights, for example, are all set to the same code (A6).  Prior to replacing the phase coupler with the signalinc repeater, I would occasionally see some of these outside lights come on and some fail.  That never occurs now.  It's an "all or nothing" problem now.  The macro in question activates all my landscape lights (switched receptacles all set to A8), then immediately activates the outside lights (A6).  When it happens, it's typically A6 that it misses.

It sounds like the placement of your CM15a is about optimal.  It also sounds as if things may have taken a turn for the worse with the installation of the Signalinc repeater. 

Try Dave_x10_L's suggestion of inserting delays between your on commands.  The reason for this is two fold. Without a delay AHP will execute the commands as follows:

Send A1,
Send A3
Send A5
Send a16
Send A ON

In this chain, if a noise pulse or TM751 command comes though you will loose your command. 
The same command chain with delays will be output as:

Send A1,
Send A ON
Send A3
Send A ON
Send A5
Send A ON
Send a16
Send A ON

With the above, an interruption or noise burst will only affect one on command.

The second reason for the delay is to make things easier for your Signalinc to repeat.  Repeating X10 commands is not exactly an easy task (JeffVolp has a post on the forum regarding repeating with the XTB-II).  Your X10 command chain may be confusing the Signalinc (as Walt2 has implied).

[HA Dave]

Try Dave_x10_L's suggestion of inserting delays between your on commands.  The reason for this is two fold. ..............

Your explanation for using delays sounds so much better then the "magic pixel dust" one I usually give.

[Boiler]

Your explanation for using delays sounds so much better then the "magic pixel dust" one I usually give.

Careful giving me too much credit...when I get backed into a corner at work (ME's and HydroMechanical Engineers) I still revert to the "Magic Blue Smoke" explanation.

[rbolan]

I checked the event log, and you are correct in the way the on commands are showing up in the logs.  Very interesting.  I also notice that the off commands that happen in the morning are showing up 3 times.  Also kinda spooky.  Not sure if that's a repeater problem or something I have set incorrectly.

I will insert the pauses as you suggest.  Makes sense.

Thanks Guys.

[HA Dave]

Let us know how this works out for you.

[rbolan]

So far, so good with the delays inserted.  Time will tell.

In viewing the activity logs, however, I'm noticing something else odd...

I have two macros in place that I use for holiday lights.  One turns on, the other turns off.  I have the macros scheduled to run only between December 1st and January 9th, and I have the "store in interface" box UNCHECKED.  I always clear the interface first, then download macros.  Much to my surprise, I find that the Xmas macros are actually still executing every day.  I do not leave AHP running all the time.  I make my changes, clear and download, then terminate AHP.

Have I stumbled on a bug, or am I missing something?

[Boiler]

rbolan,
I haven't tried macro's that exist in both the interface and AHP.  I download everything to the CM15a.

If you're curious what is being sent to the CM15a, have a look at the file:

\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Active Home Professional\ahpeeprom_w.txt

This contains a list of the Macro's and Timers that exist in the CM15a.

[rbolan]

I checked that file, and it is indeed sending those macros down to the CM15A.  I typically check the "Store in Interface" box for these during the holiday when I want these macros to execute.  I have them unchecked now because I didn't want to take up space for a macro that wasn't supposed to execute anyway.

So not only does it not pay attention to whether or not that box is checked, the date range feature in the timer setting appears to also be ignored.

[HA Dave]

If you're curious what is being sent to the CM15a, have a look at the file:

\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Active Home Professional\ahpeeprom_w.txt

This contains a list of the Macro's and Timers that exist in the CM15a.

Thats a helpful bit of information Boiler!