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[Brian H]

After looking at the schemetic and doing
further tests with my test cm15a that is
modified for external antenna and not in
warantee. I have found that the batteries
are basically powering most of the whole
interface. Anything on the 5 volt line
including the RF Receiver and RF
Transmitter; controller; memory is powered.
Also some of the battery voltage is going
back through a zenner diode to the Line
Transmitter circuits that looks like it may
have about 5.2 volts on it. Only dead for
sure area was the small power supply feeding
the isolated Zero Crossing circuit. So I
would say on batteries 40 hours maybe
normal. With mine on AC; the battery current
was 0.1ma and at that low a range it may
have been less. ARF1410; Have you measured
the batteries that have gone dead on AC or
just used the AHP Tools to say they are
dead? When mine crashes it frequently said
the batteries where dead, but they measured
>6 volts with a meter. The crashed cm15a
reported dead batteries but they where not.

[roger1818]

Arf:  The reason X10 designed in such a way
that it will drain so much power was to
save money.  As has been said before, a
better approach would have been to use a
real time clock chip.  This would run for
10 years with a lithium battery.  Instead
they decided to run the clock in the
microcontroller.  This required that the
microprocessor remain powered during a
power failure to keep the time.  This isn’t
any different than the CM11, but I guess
the microcontroller in the CM11 draws much
less current.

I did some math and if the CM15A draws 16mA
when running on battery and if the
batteries have a 1300mAh capacity (high for
a AAA) you won’t get much more than 80
hours from them.  I figure the 40 hours is
based on the assumption that the CM15A
draws 25mA and the batteries have a
capacity of 1000mAh.

[Brian H]

Plus the diode [low drop type] and the low
drop out +5 volt regulator also drops some
of the voltage and I don't remember what the
controllers minimum voltage is. Mine had
4.85 V on the +5 with a battery of 6.0
Volts. Then again I think the regulator was
on the low side of tollerance anyway, even
on AC

[roger1818]

Brian:  To get a full 5V you need 5.6V on
the input.  The output then drops linearly
below that.  The minimum Operating Voltage
for the CY7C63723 is 4.35V so 4.85V you
measured sounds reasonable and is within
tolerance.

[Brian H]

Thanks for the data. I have the controller
and regulator data sheets but had not looked
at them yet.

[X10 Pro]

Looks like you guys have this covered. I will
mention that timer, macro, and dusk/dawn data
is stored in the EEPROM on the CM15A, and
persists even if the CM15A has no power at all.

[arf1410]

huh?  Then why do I need batteries at all?
What else in there to back up?

[arf1410]

Oh...I think I figured it out...batteries
run the clock, but dont maintain the memory?

[Brian H]

How about keep the time and date kind of
correct?

[me too]

So even if my batteries go dead there is a
chance that the timers are working just at
some incorrect time.  I will take that at
this point, just hoping that some lights
are on at night to make the home lived in.
When I do get back to New Oreans I will let
you know whats what

[roger1818]

Hurricane refugee:  Unfortunately no.  When
the CM15A resets the clock stops and all
timers and time delays in macros stop
working.

[me too]

Well, for anyone who is interested.  I made
it home four weeks after the hurricane
smashed my city.  Fortunately I live on the
west side of the Mississipi river and did
not have major damage to my home just
shingles and lots of trees down and now am
back at work providing pumps and equipemnt
to the oilfield industry in the New Orleans
area.  No, the CMA15 was not firing times or
macros when I got home but did respond to
remotes.  I just had to replace the
batteries and reprogram.  

[Brian H]

Thank you for the update. What happend to
your area of the country was very bad. I am
gald that your part of town was not too
badly damaged.
Batteries and reprogram. Kind of what we
expected.