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Author Topic: Silly question  (Read 2944 times)

bkenobi

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Silly question
« on: January 23, 2013, 10:41:59 PM »

I have a couple lights out back that sometimes turn on at ~10%.  I only really want them on at 100%, but since these are controlled by WS467 switches locally, these sometimes get set lower with a double tap.  What I want to do is to have my AHP macro that turns on all lights in the back yard turn on at 100%.  For some reason, I can't remember how to accomplish this.  I'd appreciate if someone could refresh my memory!

Noam

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Re: Silly question
« Reply #1 on: January 24, 2013, 02:03:59 AM »

If they can be dimmed at the switch, then they are newer, SoftStart ones.
Make sure they are defined that way (and you are using a new enough version of AHP that can do Extended Dim Codes), and set the brightness to 100% (absolute) in the macro.
That should do it.
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bkenobi

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Re: Silly question
« Reply #2 on: January 24, 2013, 02:33:21 AM »

Yes, soft start switches.  I'm using AHP 3.318 and everything works fine.  But, when I try to add the module to a macro, I can only set the brightness to 1-99%.  If I move the slider to 100%, the command switches to ON.  Same with 0% becoming OFF

Brian H

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Re: Silly question
« Reply #3 on: January 24, 2013, 06:30:32 AM »

I am not an expert on AHP but in the Preferences Tab. Macro choice. There is a selection to issue a On in place of a Bright 100%.
That maybe why you are getting an On with your slider at 100%.
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Noam

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Re: Silly question
« Reply #4 on: January 24, 2013, 10:47:16 AM »

I am not an expert on AHP but in the Preferences Tab. Macro choice. There is a selection to issue a On in place of a Bright 100%.
That maybe why you are getting an On with your slider at 100%.
That's a good thought, Brian. I wonder if that is related to the following bug:

  • * Turning on a SoftStart module that was dimmed before being turned off results in an Extended Dim command to the previous dim state, instead of the full 100%. In AHP, the slider momentarily goes to the previous dim state, but then goes to 100%.
       (v3.310 added 4/14/2011 by Noam, confirmed still present in v3.318)

It never occurred to me to check (and/or change) that setting after I switched my older lamp modules to SoftStart ones. (I still do have a few Smarthome modules that might be defined as old ones - I'll have to check it when I get home.) It makes sense that an "On" sent to a SoftStart module would go to the last dim level, while a "Bright 100%" would go to the full brightness setting (with an Extended code). Can you test if that's what happens (that it indeed sends the correct Extended Code, instead of a "Percent Dim" command)?


Is the Activity Monitor showing an "Extended Code", or a "Percent Dim" when that light is turned on by the macro?
« Last Edit: January 24, 2013, 11:02:00 AM by Noam »
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bkenobi

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Re: Silly question
« Reply #5 on: January 24, 2013, 12:40:23 PM »

I'll have to check, but I don't recall seeing any extended commands in the monitor.  I thought I had the setting switched to send 100% bright though.  I'm fairly confident these are all set up as SS WS467 modules.

bkenobi

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Re: Silly question
« Reply #6 on: January 24, 2013, 10:03:03 PM »

The macro I have set up is supposed to turn the lights on to the "ON" position.  I tried dropping the %on to ~50% and then back up.  The lights still turn on virtually off.  I then checked the activity monitor and it DOES display extended codes to turn the lights on to 0%.  I tried fiddling with the macro preferences to switch it to either "send on instead of 100% bright" or the other way.  Both resulted in the same operation.  I restarted the HA PC just in case, but that did not resolve the issue.

The thing I don't get is why this has just started happening.  I didn't change anything and now the same commands are performing differently on multiple switches.


SOOOO.....


After a bunch more fiddling, I think it's working.  I'm not sure what the last straw that fixed it was, but it is now sending bright 100% commands to my WS467 SS modules.  Funny that the inline fixture dimmer module doesn't do the same since it's a soft start, but that's X10 for you I guess.

bkenobi

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Re: Silly question
« Reply #7 on: January 25, 2013, 10:09:31 PM »

And....it broke again.   B:(

Tonight I ran the same macro to turn on back yard lights and once again the lights are turning on dimmed.  The Activity Monitor is showing:

452  1/25/2013 6:41:34 PM  Macro  A2 Extended Code Bright/Dim 0% (BBQ Light)
453  1/25/2013 6:41:35 PM  Macro  A3 Extended Code Bright/Dim 0% (NW Spot Light)
454  1/25/2013 6:41:36 PM  Macro  A4 (Kennel Light)
455  1/25/2013 6:41:36 PM  Macro  A On (Kennel Light)
456  1/25/2013 6:41:36 PM  Macro  A5 (Shop Light)
457  1/25/2013 6:41:36 PM  Macro  A On (Shop Light)

In the preferences I currently have not checked the box for "Issue 'On' in place of 'Bright 100%'".  My installation has WS467 on A2, A3, and A5.  A2 and A3 are soft start.  A5 is old school.  A4 is an inline dimmable fixture module.

Is there a way to just send the extended code for 100% bright manually?  That's what I want anyway, so that would presumably fix the issue.

bkenobi

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Re: Silly question
« Reply #8 on: January 25, 2013, 11:04:07 PM »

My next attempt is to just send extended codes for turning on the SS lights.  It appears to work ok so far (but I said that yesterday too).

A2 0x31 0x3F
A3 0x31 0x3F

This seems to successfully turn on those 2 modules immediately to 100% on.  In fact, I'm going to try using that with the inline module on A4 while I'm at it.  I'll crawl back if this fails.   rofl

bkenobi

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Re: Silly question
« Reply #9 on: January 25, 2013, 11:20:57 PM »

 B:(

Strange things.  If I click on the macro icon to run the code from AHP, the activity monitor shows the code correctly executing.  HOWEVER, if I run the code via the text2x10 script, the lights turn on to 0% bright.

This is what my AutoHotKey script is recording:

text2x10 sent on macro
2013/01/25 20:09:31   RecvAction: RecvPlc, m4, On, , ,

AHP macro on M4:
2013/01/25 20:09:32   RecvAction: RecvPlc, a2, ExtCode, 49, 1,
2013/01/25 20:09:33   RecvAction: RecvPlc, a3, ExtCode, 49, 1,
2013/01/25 20:09:34   RecvAction: RecvPlc, a4, On, , ,
2013/01/25 20:09:35   RecvAction: RecvPlc, a5, On, , ,

manually click the off macro (M4):
2013/01/25 20:11:54   RecvAction: RecvPlc, a2, Off, , ,
2013/01/25 20:11:55   RecvAction: RecvPlc, a3, Off, , ,
2013/01/25 20:11:56   RecvAction: RecvPlc, a4, Off, , ,
2013/01/25 20:11:57   RecvAction: RecvPlc, a5, Off, , ,

manually click the on macro (M4):
2013/01/25 20:12:00   RecvAction: RecvPlc, a2, ExtCode, 49, 63,
2013/01/25 20:12:01   RecvAction: RecvPlc, a3, ExtCode, 49, 63,
2013/01/25 20:12:02   RecvAction: RecvPlc, a4, ExtCode, 49, 63,


I notice that for some reason running M4 on locally sends 63 data bit while running from the macro remotely sends 1 data bit.  WHY?!

bkenobi

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Re: Silly question
« Reply #10 on: January 25, 2013, 11:53:48 PM »

Ok, I'm dumb  ;D

I forgot to upload the new macro to the CM15A.  As a result, the old code was running on the controller and the new code was running on the HA PC.  Now that I've uploaded the code it looks to work fine.

HA Dave

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Re: Silly question
« Reply #11 on: January 26, 2013, 04:28:23 PM »

Ok, I'm dumb  ;D
I forgot to upload the new macro to the CM15A.  As a result, the old code was running on the controller and the new code was running on the HA PC.  Now that I've uploaded the code it looks to work fine.

A common error. I've done the same myself.
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