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[bitman]

Good x10 folks.

My setup has developed a bug.
I have an ms12a with the dusk dawn sensor disabled that has been turning on a ceiling light in the downstairs entry way when you come home or are leaving.

For some time now it has come on each night every night at around 9:00pm. I turn it off with my remote and it stays off. If it is triggered by motion it comes on and goes out as it should. All times it is well behaved for the purpose it have been deployed for.

It acts like there is a timer on it, but Activehome Pro does not have either the WS467 in it nor the ms12a. They just do their thing in independently.

I read about killing the power at the breaker to a ws467 to make it forget what it has been taught. today I did that. I had it off for 30 seconds but tonight the light came back on again. Each time it happens, the cat and dog are crashed in the living room with me.

 

[hawk1]

Hey Bitman.  Have you tried looking in the activity monitor to see what activity was happening right before the light came on? 

[bitman]

Oh yea.

And it's not all too clear. The cat box is in the laundry room off of the downstairs entry. I go up and down the stairs. My wife came home about 8:00pm and so there is just a long string of A7 A7 ON A7 A7 OFF all night as it should be.

All I know is every night at about 9:00 I remember to look and darned if the glow on the stairwell. I look to see where the cat is and she is asleep on the back of the couch, my wife is watching chick stuff on the bedroom tv and the dog who doesn't go down stairs unless I grab my keys is asleep at my feet.

Then I wait long enough for the timeout and nada. so I shut it off.
More than once I have had to do downstairs for something after the incident and it comes on and shuts off as it should. The cat is up and down during the night and it behaves as it should.

Strange. As x10 can be sometimes.

[hawk1]

Not to get personal or anything but does your wife use a hair dryer about that time?  The reason I ask is the other day i brought my miter saw on the porch to cut some wood for a shed.  Everytime I started the saw my back porch light came on.  I don't know why but it did. 

Maybe your wife is using a electrical device like a hair dryer and that is turning on your light.  I don't know... just throwing some things out there.   

[bitman]

No but, you know what?

My wife told me this morning that my next door neighbor who is a sweet elderly lady has had a front entry light that seems to come on automatically at night and I should say also that it seems to be ever since she married that man George.

Who has a LAPTOP!   

You don't suppose.....

So tonight we're going to spy her house if we remember to, and see if both lights come on simultaneously.
I told my wife that house code A is a dangerous house code to use. And she said "Yea like linksys and dlink ssids".

I love that woman.

 

[Brian H]

  Well you could always send out some on off codes on House Code A and see it her light go on and off. 
Yes the default of House Code A catches many. Though motion sensors and remotes default to A; so dead batteries don't mean a happy time of resetting the House Code.

[HA Dave]

......... a front entry light that seems to come on automatically at night and I should say also that it seems to be ever since

• she married that man George.
• Who has a LAPTOP!  

So tonight we're going to spy her house

That sounds like a plan to me! And... if you forget to be looking right at 9 (or dusk) you could try using a remote and/or plug-in controller later... to control their lights. Or better.... just approach the elderly man and accuse him of controlling your basement light from his laptop. Be sure to wear a tinfoil cap when doing that... just so he'll know your on to him.

That's what I'd do.  

Please Note: A recent study presented Statistical evidence that suggests the use of helmets may in fact enhance the government's invasive abilities. We speculate that the government may in fact have started the helmet craze for this reason. See the M.I.T. YouTube Video

I have way too much free time.

Of course all joking aside... I would never actually wear a foilcap [in public] myself. However I did find this picture of a group of friends of mine... and their hats do look shiny.

[bitman]

Alright.

It's not the wall switch.
I put changed a living room lamp controller to the address in question A7 so I would know exactly when this occurred without sitting on the stairs all night.

At 8:45 on the dot (according to the clock on the microwave) The entryway and the living room lamp came on.
We ran to the window to check my neighbor's light - it was not on.

So I ran around looking at homes and thier inside outside lights with icon in hand turning A7 on and off with no action.

Can a MS12a get a timer burned in it?
Know any good x10orcists?


 

[hawk1]

oooga, oooga,  lamba beeten, lintel!!!   This house is clean!   

[hawk1]

Sorry Bitman couldn't resist!  But on the serious side, did you take the batteries out of the motion sensor for one night and see what happens?  If it does come on then I would have to imagine that

1.  Someone else is using x10 in the house next to you.

2.  Something in your AHP and the CM15 is causing it. Clear the cm15 and reload

3.  You have another motion sensor that your not aware of.  In a box or something.

4.  Also check your deleted files.  I could have sworn that I deleted a module and until i deleted it completely it came on.  But i'm not for sure on that one though.

If it doesn't come on then try a different motion sensor.

hope this helps bitman!   



after that you do need an x10 exorcist.  Here is the number of one I use often and recommend.

1-800-HAMMER

[bitman]

oooga, oooga,  lamba beeten, lintel!!!   This house is clean!   

  
Shouldn't it be Intel AMD though?

[bitman]

Sorry Bitman couldn't resist!  But on the serious side, did you take the batteries out of the motion sensor for one night and see what happens?  If it does come on then I would have to imagine that

1.  Someone else is using x10 in the house next to you.

2.  Something in your AHP and the CM15 is causing it. Clear the cm15 and reload

3.  You have another motion sensor that your not aware of.  In a box or something.

4.  Also check your deleted files.  I could have sworn that I deleted a module and until i deleted it completely it came on.  But i'm not for sure on that one though.

If it doesn't come on then try a different motion sensor.

hope this helps bitman!   



after that you do need an x10 exorcist.  Here is the number of one I use often and recommend.

1-800-HAMMER

What? And turn the light on by........I can't say it.

That's a good idea.
I'll try that after a couple of nights of 8:45 on, just to make sure I have a true baseline.

 

[Boiler]

Hello Bitman,

Just in case Hawk1's chant doesn't work (it should - he's said all the correct words)...

1) I have seen X10 transmissions "morph" in the presence of line loading/noise.  I had a situation where my sons bedroom was on B7 while a motion sensor/light combo was on B5 elsewhere in the house.  After a time, the bedroom WS467 began responding to the B5 on code (even though it was programmed as B7).  This was intermittent and was corrected by adding a repeater at the main panel.

Have a look at your activity monitor for anything happening around the 8:15 time frame.  It's possible that the command is morphing and the WS467 believes it's being turned on.  Note - I tend to discount this since you now have two modules activating in different areas (circuits).  This doesn't sound like noise (widespread)

2) Expanding on Hawk1's CM15a theory - depending on the module interface that you are using, and the AHP version, you may not see the on command in the activity monitor.  The LM14a interface (which you should be using for softstart WS467's) uses extended codes.  Older versions of AHP could not display the extended code transmission in activity monitor.  I am not advocating that you upgrade AHP (too many problems with the newer versions).  Simply pointing out that AHP could be sending extended code "ON" commands and not logging them.

I have also seen AHP develop a brain hemorrhage and decide to recompile macro's using different modules.  I had a macro that would send extended code direct dim commands to a leviton switch to activate it.  Everything was good.  After a spring storm the CM15a had locked (rare) and I reset/downloaded to the device.  The CM15a was now sending bright commands to the unit to turn it on (these don't work with WS467's or Leviton switches).  For some reason AHP had recompiled the macro and used a standard switch protocol.  The macro was correct, but the AHPeeprom file (downloaded to the CM15a) was wrong.  Forcing a recompile of the macro (manually editing and saving) corrected the situation.

3) Possibility that your neighbor is transmitting RF?  This would be unlikely unless you have a VT572 (very good receiver).  A RF receipt should show up in activity monitor.

Boiler

[JeffVolp]

With this problem being very repeatable, there is some controller out there somewhere issuing the commands.

Instead of developing a flat forehead, why not just switch to a different housecode?

Jeff

[steven r]

...Also check your deleted files.  I could have sworn that I deleted a module and until i deleted it completely it came on.  But i'm not for sure on that one though....

I too in the past have had "deleted" macros come back to haunt me. In addition to backing up my ahx file every time before I make changes, I now make sure all deleted stuff really is completely deleted. If you really want to make sure it's gone, clear your CM15A before re downloading also