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[SPSACH]

I want AHP to send me an email notification upon power failure? I can keep my PC on for some time after powerfailure using a battery backup.

Can we write a smart macro that is trigerred by power failure?

Any ideas?

Thanks

[HA Dave]

I recently read a post about modifying a smoke alarm using X10. The relay opens contacts on the door/window sensor which triggers the DS7000 (or OnAlert).

You could use the same idea, only use a power failure flashlight instead of a smoke alarm light. You could use this through your DS7000.... OR through OnAlert and receive an email or IM (X10 Dispatcher).

So.... I guess the answer is SURE... why not. Of course, that IS a bit more than a samrt macro. Maybe someone else will have a simpler idea.

[Brian H]

If you also have the CM15A AHP Interface on the battery backup. X10 powerline signals will most likely not get through the backup unit. Though if the power is off there is no powerline signals.  Guess it would have to be an RF signal.

[HA Dave]

................................................. Though if the power is off there is no powerline signals.  Guess it would have to be an RF signal.

I would think a "proper voltage" power failure light and a palmpad (or other) remote with a button fixed down could get a similar effect too. But I like the door/window sensor idea. From what I've read..... works with water sensors too.

[-Bill- (of wgjohns.com)]

I want AHP to send me an email notification upon power failure? I can keep my PC on for some time after powerfailure using a battery backup.

Can we write a smart macro that is trigerred by power failure?

Any ideas?

Thanks

Not to short-circuit (pardon the pun) the whole X10 thing... but many UPS manufacturers have software available to interface the UPS with the protected PC and do things like email you! 

[Puck]

I just did a couple tests to see what would & would not work when the CM15A is unplugged (as in a power failure) but the PC is still powered. I did these tests on 2 separate CM15As & PCs and seen the same results.

The CM15A still receives RF signals from the DS10A & a palmpad... no problem.

The DS10A was able to trigger an OnAlert security macro and send an email to my phone. (Good helpful idea Dave).

However, the palmpad did not send the email. You can see it triggering the macro on AHP, but it didn't execute as expected. An observation I seen a while back (Re: Macros quit after two months) about triggering a macro from an RF remote is this:

1) If the macro is stored in the interface, you DO NOT need to transceive the house code of the RF source to trigger & execute the macro.

2) If the macro is run from the PC, you DO need to transceive the house code of the RF source to trigger & execute the macro.

With an email being a must run from PC macro, that is why it didn't execute. There is obviously something different about the security macro to make it work (the house code the DS10A appeared on was NOT transceived).

If someone does a similar test and sees different results, I'd like to here about them.

[Puck edit: added reference post link.]

[Noam]

X10Dispatch will already notify you of a power outage / power restoration, based on the UPS notifying Windows.
However, I have a solution for myself that triggers a macro when power comes back on, that will work even if the PC has already shut down.

I took a PowerFlash unit, and connected a small wire between the two contacts. I set it to whichever mode only sends a single command, not a continuous one, when it is activated.

When power is restored, the PowerFlash sends that code down the line, and activates the macro in the CM15A.
The only limitation is that power needs to be out for more than about 5 seconds, for the capacitors in the Powerflash to reset, and send the code when it comes back on.
I never did find a better solution for this.
However, since X10Dispatch can run a program when power is restored, all you need to do is write a batch file that uses the AHCMD program in the SDK to send the command to run your macro. That should work.

[Tuicemen]

SPSACH:
If you do an advanced search for "Power Failure" you will find many post from deep in the forums discussing this with many possible ways of doing what you want!
I remember discussing this before the Smart Macros Plug-in was released!
As Noam stated X10dispatcher can do this,in fact it was one of the early adds I requested of Dave! It can notify you via phone(text message,or AlertDialer{voice message}), e-mail or MSN
You Could also use a little utility called AutoHotKey as discussed here: Topic: Expand your macros functionality  (Read 1158 times)

[Walt2]

When the 2-way modules wake up, they send out a special reverse status request.  Basically, "tell me what my status is suppose to be".

Possibly, one could use that as an indication that power has just be restored?

[Brian H]

Yup. That status request is what my old Smarthome repeater could not handle and caused a firestorm of never ending X10 garbage on the powerlines.

[Charles Sullivan]

When ActiveHome Pro first starts up, it transmits a "P16 On" to the powerline.  So if the power is off long enough for your PC to shut down, you could possibly use this to execute a macro when it starts up again.  Note: I haven't tried this myself.

The old CM11A sends a special signal to the PC when it has experienced a power interruption.  If the CM15A does the same thing (I think it does), a useful enhancement to ActiveHome Pro would be the ability to execute a special macro when it receives this signal.

[Puck]

When ActiveHome Pro first starts up, it transmits a "P16 On" to the powerline.  So if the power is off long enough for your PC to shut down, you could possibly use this to execute a macro when it starts up again.  Note: I haven't tried this myself.

Charles: I use this myself and it works very well. However I use it with a 2-CM15A/PC setup to trigger a macro on the other PC. I have not tried to trigger a macro within itself (a single CM15A/PC.)

The only downfall with this is that it let's you know when power was restored as opposed to letting you know the PC is about to go down.

[Noam]

I was never successful at using the P16 to trigger a macro (although I have to admit I never tried it on another PC - only on the same one).
Instead, I use the PowerFlash, which works as long as power is out for at least a few seconds or so. Any less, and the capacitors don't discharge fast enough for it to send the code when it comes back on.

My PC gets the signal from the UPS, and stays on until the UPS is almost out of power, then it shuts down. I get a notification from X10Dispatch when the power goes out and comes back on (my router is also on the UPS, so the Internet connection stays up).
My PC is set to power back on when power is restored. I have a batch file that sends me an e-mail when the PC boots up, so I know power was restored.

[Walt2]

Yup. That status request is what my old Smarthome repeater could not handle and caused a firestorm of never ending X10 garbage on the powerlines.

Mine could not handle even a regular status return command, without going into the p-housecode firestorm.

[orca]

Hi y'all;

Thanks for all the answers. Now my only question is where do I get a Power Flash and how do I put it into the system?

Best regards,
Orca