Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[medic5678]

can these two together do essentially anything that a cm15a can do ...  except store macros?    can they both receive and send on all device house codes and unit codes? 

i bought a cm15a on ebay, but it's not sending powerline commands.  it's obviously been taken apart before - no burned components.  the rf aspect works perfectly.  i paid 50 bucks for it with a few other pieces, so i'm not gonna sweat it.  i had also bought a new cm11a, which requires a serial port.   my motherboard has a connector for a serial port, but they don't give you a cable connector (grrr).  i bought one, and it's coming. 

since i'm running a security/automation computer system 24/7, am i good to go?

[Noam]

No.
The CM19A cannot receive on the powerline.
The combination of the CM19A and TM751 can only send to the powerline on one HouseCode. You'll need an additional TM751
(or RR501 if you can find one) for each additional HouseCode.

[medic5678]

yes, but can't the cm11a receive and send on the powerline?

and if i had a cm11a, why would i need a tm751?

[Brian H]

CM11A can send and receive power line signals.

It can not send or receive X10 RF signals. A TM751 could receive X10 RF signals on one House Code and place them on the power line for the CM11A to receive. If you didn't try using the CM19A with it.

Also has a very small amount of memory to store things.

AHP has some quirks with a CM11A.

Trying to run  both a CM19A for RF and a CM11A maybe a problem. As AHP can be set {in an options menu} to enable a CM11A. With the CM11A disabled. Then the CM15A or CM19A will be enabled and work.

I don't think anyone has tried a combination of a CM11A with a CM19A in AHP.

[Brian H]

I did some tests with a CM11A and CM19A. Using AHP 3.318.

If the CM19A and CM11A where both connected and AHP was set to CM11A Serial Port Disabled. Then it was enabled. AHP continued to use the CM19A even if closed and reopened. The only way the CM11A was use. Was if it was enabled with the CM19A disconnected and AHP was started. Then you could close AHP. Connect the CM19A and restart AHP. Then the CM11A was used for power line transmissions and receiving.
The CM19A would receive X10 RF commands but would NOT send an X10 RF transmission.

You may want to try varied ways of connecting, enabling and starting sequences.
To be honest I am surprised it even worked at all.
I don't think AHP was designed to have both a CM11A and CM19A in use at the sametime.
So you may find some odd operation with both a CM19A and CM11A in use at the sametime.

[medic5678]

hey i appreciate the effort there brian.  it would be fine with me if the cm19a only recieved rf commands  because i'd only be using the cm11a for powerline comands.  based on your test, i think it's worth a shot to see if i can create a stable system.

obviously, i'm buying a cm15a when they come out... it's just that i'm not really expecting x10 to deliver anytime soon and i'd like to get the show on the road in the meantime.

[Brian H]

I am glad it helped.

If the Red LED flashes on the CM19A. AHP is trying to use it to send commands to the power lines through a transceiver. The LED does not flash on RF reception. If memory serves me.

Did one more test. The CM19A will receive X10 RF commands as I had found earlier and trigger macros through the CM11A. It does not look like it tranceived the RF command back on the power lines through the CM11A.

[medic5678]

i plugged the cm11a into the serial port, and got the same non-response i had the the cm15a.  reboot, play with the software, reinstall the software, etc... nothing helped.  just dead as a doornail.

and then i'm not sure what happened but the cm11a started working just fine with powerline commands.  i plugged in the cm15a, and now it's working...

this is all very puzzling but difficult to diagnose because i can't repeat it.  

but assuming the cm15a is going to work, i need to get a really good antenna for it.. something that rivals the very good reception of my cm19a, which works incredibly well.  if i can't get the cm15a to have a good antenna range, i'll just juse the cm19 and the cm11a - to heck with the cm15a .


i found this guide to installing an external antenna to the cm15a.   http://www.shed.com/tutor/CM15mods/CM15%20mods-Pages/Image0.html

i'll have this fixed up before the day is done .

[dhouston]

Antenna: http://davehouston.org/eggbeater.pdf

I'll have kits (both amplified and unamplified) available shortly.

Additional details here: http://davehouston.org/ImproveCM15A.htm
and: http://davehouston.org/RX310SH-WB.htm
and: http://davehouston.org/CM15A.pdf
For a GND, look at the hole marked Vss - lower left, between RF receiver & USB connector.  See pictures in above CM15A link.

[Brian H]

The CM11A has no real time clock in it.
At power up it continues to send a command to the software to set it. Until the software sets the clock nothing will work.
You did set the Serial Port in the Tools CM11 Configuration area?

[medic5678]

yes of course i activated the serial port for the cm11a.  that's the first thing i did.

it's all working exactly as it's supposed to at the moment, at least in my house with the limited parts i'm testing.   who knows? could have been a windows issue that was solved when i rebooted.   i did too many things at once to isolate whatever the issue was.. cleared interface memory, you name it.  the bottom line is it works, and that's all that really matters .

both cm15a and cm11a are issuing power line commands as directed by the macros.  the question is whether i'm going with the cm15a or the cm11a and the cm19a, and it's going to be a matter or testing/tweaking to
figure this out.

since i'm running a 24/7 computer, i don't need to download anything to the interface, right?   

[medic5678]

dave, i wish these had been available before i built my antennas.  i have an embarrassing amount of time i could have sold for a whole lot more in these antennas.    it's definitely worth it to buy a solution that's ready to go vs driving around and fumbling for parts.

[Brian H]

Computer running 24/7. No downloads needed and some macros only run from the computer.

[dhouston]

dave, i wish these had been available before i built my antennas.  i have an embarrassing amount of time i could have sold for a whole lot more in these antennas.    it's definitely worth it to buy a solution that's ready to go vs driving around and fumbling for parts.

Actually, they were available but not ready for distribution. Had you asked here about a CM15A antenna, I would have offered you a free kit in exchange for range testing. I'm disabled and no longer able to do all the walking needed. I've sent several modified transceivers (see links below) and antenna kits to a denizen of the forum and am just waiting for the range test results to build them in quantity and work out some distribution. But, as I recall, your first post detailed the ground plane antenna that you built for the CM19A after finding plans elsewhere. I've had one (unamplified)  mounted atop an MR26A for many years. It has more than 300' range.

My tests from a few years back indicates these outperform the ground plane antenna (but those tests were with different receivers). Plus, they have a much higher SAF.

Isolated Tranceivers:

• http://davehouston.org/ImproveTM751.htm
• http://davehouston.org/ImproveRR501.htm

[medic5678]

that's an impressive range dave, considering that you've got a $15 motion detector for a transmitter.  i did find that i needed a passive repeater mounted on the side of the motion detector to get the 225 ft i tested.  i didn't test any farther though, since that's where my gate is.  i did pick up an amplifier on amazon, and i'm going to try to get that hooked up.  i've just got so many construction projects going on here simultaneously that this is basically kicking my butt .

one question i have regarding the cm15a is why it has a transmitter antenna?  what would it transmit to?  it looks to me like the cm15a would receive rf from, say, motion detectors and then send powerline commands.  it wouldn't make any sense for it to send rf commands to a tm751, which is just going to issue powerline commands anyway.  so i'm stumped as to why it has the grey wire transmitter antenna......