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[stephen]

How come when I enter Hardware Configuation
my battery is either at zero or if I reset
it 48:00:00. Also i6's always red. What does
all this mean? I've changed the batteries
numerous time, but nothing changes.

Thanks

[SteveRF]

Stephen,
I bet it is another "glitch" that is not
worked out yet.
I have had the same set of batteries in my
CM15A since Mar 7th.  I have removed the unit
from power to program or check at least 2
times each week and have noticed the same
problem with the battery time but have
ignored it.  It is still working well.
SteveRF

[billy]

The battey time changes when the CM15A is
unpluged from the AC. If you unplug it for
10 min. then the battery will show 47:50. I
guess the estimated battery life is 48 hours
of backup time.

[X10 Pro]

Billy is right. If you reset the battery life
to 48 hours, then remove the interface from
AC power for a few minutes, you'll see the
change in Hardware Configuration.

[Henri T]

It's not right  !

Sometime (for no reason), the battery
indicator is turning to red and counter is
showing 00:00:00. I never unplug the unit.

If I check the batteries with a battery
checker, all of them are OK ?

If I reinstalle them in the unit, the
indicator is green and the time remaining
is 48:00:00 ?

But my AHP is working very well ...

[Tigger]

 
Just a side note on the batteries -

My batteries seemed a little loose in
the holder, so I carefully stretched out
the spring-contacts for the POSITIVE side
of the batteries.

They're just flat coiled springs, and at
least one of them is recessed completely
behind plastic, leaving just a narrow
opening for tip of the battery.

Solid metal contacts would have been nicer.


T

[stephen]

I find the whole battery backup thing very
unreliable. I unplug the unit, leave it
unplugged for a while and things (timers and
macros) get messed up and I have to download
again.

Yesterday the power went off for a couple of
hours. I knew this because when I got home
all my clocks were blinking and my outside
garage light was on. They are controlled by
an electic eye, tied to a macro programmed
to fire only at night.

Once again I had to download things all over
again.

This is unacceptable. I plan to travel in
June and I am concerned that things are
going to get screwed up while I'm gone.

This NEVER happened with the unit (I forget
its designation) that proceded the cm15a/

[Tigger]

 
I'm not into circuit design on this scale,
but looking at the schematics, it looks like
the battery backup is powering the USB
controller (which does the processing), the
transceiver section, and the power-line
interface.

I don't see any need to power the
transceiver board or the power line
interface, UNLESS the CM15A is smart
enough to keep track of commands received
during that time.

The batteries are fed through a low-loss
diode, and THEN into a 5-volt regulator.

I don't know enough about the regulator used;
If I remember correctly, SOME regulators
would cut out if you didn't feed it enough
power ( Output + .5 volts )

If this regulator drops out below 5.5 on the
input, then this could be the source of the
battery problem.  Anything less than a set
of fresh batteries might brown out the
whole module.  But this is just speculation.

Honestly, I'm not sure why they chose to
route the batteries through the regulator.
A 1N4001 has about a .6 - .7 voltage drop;
they could have fed the batteries through
one or two IN4001's (unregulated) to the
OUTPUT side of the regulator.   The USB
controller and the other chips on-board
will take up to 5.5 volts on the input. . .

I might have to try that . . . .


T

[Brian H]

Yes the regulator is a low dropout type. 0.3
to 0.6 volts typical for the one X10 used.
I have seen the cm15a if it crashes default
to 0 hours left even with batteries that
measure the same as the day I installed them.

[billy]

Tigger,
Let me know if you try that, and how it
worked out for you.