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[jharris2]

JHarris,

Congratulations - your first day on the Job and you've already found a bug.

I can confirm that the AM466 interface is seriously whacked when using a timer (haven't tried a macro yet).

Please try the AM486 (2 PIN appliance) interface - should work a bit better for you.

BTW - that rates a helpful.  Had you not been so methodical in your testing, this might have gone uncovered for some time.  You've already helped several forum members by doing this.

Boiler

Thanks -- hoped that this would be plug and play like the old software was.   I've changed the definitions from AM466 to AM486 to see if it makes a difference.

And thanks for the comments about being helpful !

[jharris2]

Last update for the evening.

Two of the lamp modules were supposed to have turned on a few minutes ago.  As you have already guessed, they didn't.  So changing the Appliance Modules to AM486 didn't affect the behavior of the CM15A.

The Activity Monitor doesn't show any commands having been sent.  I'm betting the Christmas lights won't go off at midnight, either.   

We'll try again tomorrow.

[steven r]

Sort of to satisfy my curiosity, try building a macro and tell it to run from the computer. Leave the computer on with AHP running and the CM15A attached. I want to see if macros will even work at all.

While I've never known anyone to have this problem, could the memory in his CM15A be defective? Could defective memory cause his kind of problem?

[jharris2]

Sort of to satisfy my curiosity, try building a macro and tell it to run from the computer. Leave the computer on with AHP running and the CM15A attached. I want to see if macros will even work at all.

While I've never known anyone to have this problem, could the memory in his CM15A be defective? Could defective memory cause his kind of problem?

Haven't built the macro yet, but thought I should respond to the question of the memory.  I'm beginning to think that the CM15A is defective -- either a bad part or a manufacturing problem that got past Quality Assurance (it happens).  A bad memory chip is definitely a possibility.  The processor inside the CM15A could also be defective, or the chip that contains its programming may be failing.

It just seems very odd that the unit talks to AHP, but running the "Clear Interface Memory" command does not result in the CM15A reporting a change in what's in the memory.

It will be later today that I will have time to try the macro.  The macro written in the Intro Wizard works.

[Boiler]

Last update for the evening.

Two of the lamp modules were supposed to have turned on a few minutes ago.  As you have already guessed, they didn't.  So changing the Appliance Modules to AM486 didn't affect the behavior of the CM15A.

The Activity Monitor doesn't show any commands having been sent.  I'm betting the Christmas lights won't go off at midnight, either.   

We'll try again tomorrow.

Very strange. 

Over the past month I've gone through a series up updates:
3.204 (start)
3.228
3.236 (Driver update)
3.236 (Full update)

Since the 3.236 Full update things have been a bit strange (including the AM466 problem noted above).

This morning I "Downgraded" to V3.204 - Things appear to be correct again.  What's more, after re-applying the 3.236 update the AM466 timer is working again.

If I had to guess, I'd say that AHP is not building the program file properly for the CM15a.  The file name is ahpEEprom.txt and it is typically located in the following directory : \Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Active Home Professional.

We may need to see this file to figure out what is going on.

As an alternative, you could try the old V3.204 to see if it fixes things.  You can download from here ahp_updt_204.exe. [quote

It just seems very odd that the unit talks to AHP, but running the "Clear Interface Memory" command does not result in the CM15A reporting a change in what's in the memory.

I see the same thing on my system.  I believe this is a software calculation for convenience rather than an active measurement of what is contained in the CM15a.

[Dan Lawrence]

Clicking the little clock is exactly how I create all my timers.  It's the easiest way.

[jharris2]

Update:

1.  Talked to Brett in technical support -- he thinks it's a line noise issue because of the compression used to create the timers  (note -- he stated that the timer used in the Intro Wizard is *not* compressed, but there is no option to store uncompressed timers in the CM15A).  He e-mailed with instructions to build a couple of test macros to be able to isolate the line noise.  See #2.

2.  Built a macro to turn on all units when "A1 on" was issued.  Stored in timer; it worked perfectly.  Built a second macro to turn units off when "A1 off" was issued.  Also worked perfectly.  Clearly it's not a line noise issue.

2a.  I've responded to Brett's e-mail with the results of the macro.  Also told him how the Activity Monitor shows no activity for a timer, but shows all activity for the macros and RF commands issued.

3. I can't upload the ahpEEprom.txt because it's too large for the limits of this site (128KB max, file is 237KB).  If there's a portion you'd like to see then I can upload that.

4.  I've found a way to get a serial port on the new laptop so there is a way backwards if I decide to abandon this effort.

At this point, going back to 3.204 sounds like the most reasonable approach.

[jharris2]

I applied the 3.204 file with no change in symptoms. (where's the "bang head" emoticon when you need it??  )

Perhaps a fresh install of 3.204 would make a difference?  If so, then where might the file be?  Or does ahp_updt_204.exe install fresh if there is no base install?

[jharris2]

I applied the 3.204 file with no change in symptoms. (where's the "bang head" emoticon when you need it??  )

Perhaps a fresh install of 3.204 would make a difference?  If so, then where might the file be?  Or does ahp_updt_204.exe install fresh if there is no base install?

Yippee!!  Suddenly I have been able to get 3.204 to work to control a single lamp via timers.  And the CM15A does show the activity on the Activity Monitor.

Next step is to re-load the 3.236 update to see if it corrupts the behavior again.

Boiler, you're a genius!

[jharris2]

Bug In 3.236 Found!

OK, I updated from 3.204 to 3.236.  Stored timer worked fine, but then I created a new one that failed.  Upon investigation, it appears that the Advanced Timer Layout in 3.236 is the source of the problems.

I have some timers that run on specific days of the week -- for example, the water pump starts earlier on Monday than on other days of the week so that the shower is ready for an early-morning flight.  Once you click on a day other than "daily", then 3.236 inserts start and stop dates into the timer.  Unfortunately, it inserts "January 1" to "January 1" and the timer ignores changes to the date fields.  Net is, you end up with a timer that seems to work on one day of the year only.

I've backed off to 3.204, will modify the timers I want to use, then load them into the CM15A.  If I get it done in an hour, then we'll have a definitive answer.  Once I know that the timers are working, then I will post again.

Thanks for the pointers and for being so helpful, Boiler -- you put us on the right track!

[-Bill- (of wgjohns.com)]

Bug In 3.236 Found!

OK, I updated from 3.204 to 3.236.  Stored timer worked fine, but then I created a new one that failed.  Upon investigation, it appears that the Advanced Timer Layout in 3.236 is the source of the problems.

I have some timers that run on specific days of the week -- for example, the water pump starts earlier on Monday than on other days of the week so that the shower is ready for an early-morning flight.  Once you click on a day other than "daily", then 3.236 inserts start and stop dates into the timer.  Unfortunately, it inserts "January 1" to "January 1" and the timer ignores changes to the date fields.  Net is, you end up with a timer that seems to work on one day of the year only.

I've backed off to 3.204, will modify the timers I want to use, then load them into the CM15A.  If I get it done in an hour, then we'll have a definitive answer.  Once I know that the timers are working, then I will post again.

Thanks for the pointers and for being so helpful, Boiler -- you put us on the right track!

Thank you for taking the time to test so thoroughly and report back to the rest of us users with the results!

 

[jharris2]

Thank you for taking the time to test so thoroughly and report back to the rest of us users with the results!

You're welcome.  More importantly, thanks to everyone for the pointers that led to the answer.   

The timers are working -- the water pump has turned on and off as scheduled this morning, the Christmas lights turned off.  Life is good!   

To let X10 know about the software bug, I have e-mailed Brett with the information and pointed him to this thread.  Is there something else I should do to get this in front of X10?  Let's hope that it gets fixed soon.

[Tuicemen]

I usually have a thread for bugs found in the current AHP version Posted in the software problems and bugs section!
This doesn't mean X10 programmers will look there But at least If they do they can get a quick list for their TO DO List

[jharris2]

I usually have a thread for bugs found in the current AHP version Posted in the software problems and bugs section!
This doesn't mean X10 programmers will look there But at least If they do they can get a quick list for their TO DO List

Found it and posted to it.  Let's hope the X10 developers see it.