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Author Topic: New adopter of old technology with a basic question.  (Read 1976 times)

Pele

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New adopter of old technology with a basic question.
« on: May 18, 2020, 08:06:27 PM »

I'm of the mindset that if I can't pick it up and carry it around; If it doesn't run on battery power, then it does NOT need to have WiFi or Z-Wave or BlueTooth or any other form of radio transmitter. I'm a ham radio operator; I get bathed in RF spectrum on a regular basis enough.

So far I've installed a few dimmers and a few 3 way switches in my house.

My goal is simple. I want to roll up to the house and use the HomeLink buttons on my car's overhead visor/rear view mirror to turn on all the lights. I want to turn them off again from the car when I leave.

I have bought an ActiveHome Pro CM15A to receive the HomeLink signals. I have the required ActiveHome Pro software.
I also have an HR12A remote.

How do I assign one of the buttons on the HR12A to do a macro?
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SkipWX10

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Re: New adopter of old technology with a basic question.
« Reply #1 on: May 18, 2020, 08:52:44 PM »

There are guys and gals here that are far more advanced than me as users, but here's my version:

In AHP you design one macro to do all the light on functions and one macro do take care of lights off.
When creating the macro, you assign the macro it's trigger command (i.e.: A5 ON or B6 OFF, etc)

You don't assign a button ON, the PalmPad, you assign the address or command that you SEND with the PalmPad Remote. And, if you are going to set up buttons on your HomeLink visor, you don't even need the PalmPad in your vehicle, as long as the CM15a is located where it can receive the HomeLink signal, if not another receiver could be installed nearby that will repeat the command on the powerline.

I hope that makes sense...you design the macro to turn on the lights with trigger A1 ON
When you drive in (you have already assigned the Homelink button the address A1 ON) you push that button...HomeLink sends A1 ON to the receiver (CM15a) and the macro is executed.

If you want to do the same with another HomeLink button with the address A1 OFF, then you would trigger your lights off macro.

IF you push either the A1 ON or A1 OFF buttons on the PalmPad, it would accomplish the same thing.
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Pele

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Re: New adopter of old technology with a basic question.
« Reply #2 on: May 19, 2020, 10:02:44 AM »

Can I have a different house code for the trigger?

Let's say my house code is C.
I've used C1-C16 on all the devices throughout my house and there are no more IDs available.
Can I use the remote on house code A to trigger the macro turning things on and off in house code C?
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dave w

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Re: New adopter of old technology with a basic question.
« Reply #3 on: May 19, 2020, 12:49:20 PM »

Can I have a different house code for the trigger?

Let's say my house code is C.
I've used C1-C16 on all the devices throughout my house and there are no more IDs available.
Can I use the remote on house code A to trigger the macro turning things on and off in house code C?
Not the way you have described it. Homelink could memorize a "house code ON, or house code OFF", but it needs the RF code to memorize, and I don't know of a currently available X10 RF remote that will transmit "house code C ON" . The RF remotes are designed to control at the unit code level. (The actual transmitted protocol is: "unit code C1" "house code C ON" and that burst is transmitted several times from the HR12, to turn on unit C1.

Using Active Home Pro and the CM15A you would set up set up two macros to light up the home. For example: D1 ON  = Turn on house code C. D1 OFF = turn off house code C. (or you could use "D2ON" to trigger the OFF macro). Then use your HR12 to program Homelink the D1 ON and OFF codes.
BTW my own experience is the receiver in the CM15A is not that great. People have gone as far as adding an F connector or BNC ad a tuned external antenna.  There is a lot of info on the forum about the poor CM15A reception. don't know if the current CM15A is improved or not.
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Pele

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Re: New adopter of old technology with a basic question.
« Reply #4 on: May 19, 2020, 01:49:00 PM »

Not the way you have described it. Homelink could memorize a "house code ON, or house code OFF", but it needs the RF code to memorize, and I don't know of a currently available X10 RF remote that will transmit "house code C ON" . The RF remotes are designed to control at the unit code level. (The actual transmitted protocol is: "unit code C1" "house code C ON" and that burst is transmitted several times from the HR12, to turn on unit C1.

Using Active Home Pro and the CM15A you would set up set up two macros to light up the home. For example: D1 ON  = Turn on house code C. D1 OFF = turn off house code C. (or you could use "D2ON" to trigger the OFF macro). Then use your HR12 to program Homelink the D1 ON and OFF codes.

That's kinda what I was getting at; I can mix and match house codes.

A1 on is the trigger for House Code C all on.
A1 off is the trigger for House Code C all off.

So as I understand it, I have 256 (16x16) codes to dole out split between individual units and macros. However All-On/All-off controls will only work within a house code of 16 devices.

BTW my own experience is the receiver in the CM15A is not that great. People have gone as far as adding an F connector or BNC ad a tuned external antenna.  There is a lot of info on the forum about the poor CM15A reception. don't know if the current CM15A is improved or not.

Thanks for the tip; I'm an RF guy. I'll improve the antenna.  ;)
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Brian H

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Re: New adopter of old technology with a basic question.
« Reply #5 on: May 19, 2020, 06:44:05 PM »

What version of Active Home Pro did you get? 3.318 is the latest.

If it is the unregistered version. You can use AHPLifeJacket to get it a registered version and the added things like Smart Macros and On Alert
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Pele

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Re: New adopter of old technology with a basic question.
« Reply #6 on: May 20, 2020, 11:11:51 AM »

It's the latest available version, downloaded from here:
https://www.x10.com/x10-home-automation/controllers/transceivers/activehome.html

I'll try and use the LifeJacket program to register it.
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dave w

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Re: New adopter of old technology with a basic question.
« Reply #7 on: May 20, 2020, 06:27:51 PM »

Thanks for the tip; I'm an RF guy. I'll improve the antenna.  ;)
Me too. Motorola 28 years. But today, I would be hard pressed to figure wave length from frequency without going to Google for a calculator.  :'(
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