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Author Topic: MY CM15A does not always work  (Read 6074 times)

martiloga

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MY CM15A does not always work
« on: April 02, 2006, 10:27:58 AM »

My simple setup which allows eight separate timers to go on and off sometimes stops working. Not all of them but some of the timers will either not go on or won't shut off. Some of my timers are using the dawn timer setting and some are using the dusk timer setting. Again a pretty simple timer setup I am using. It was one whole week with every thing working as programmed and then last night one timer didn't go on and this morning one timer for the outside pole light did not shut off. I deleted the one module in my setup and then reinstalled the same module with the same timer. it now works. WHY does this happen? Is X10 aware of these glitches? Again I was not touching anything with the CM15A and it is not connected to my computer. It was plugged in the wall all by itself.
 
  I love the concept of the CM15A and the ability to have the vast amount of options to make my home lighting work but can this system be trusted upon to do the job? It is getting to the point that I will be forced to go back to my Radio Shack mini timer and lose the fancy timer options. Should X10 have put this module on the market if it is so unreliable? I am getting very frustrated with X10 and I am hoping there is a fix in the near future or an explanation on something I might be doing wrong.

Thanks for the help in advance,
Martiloga
« Last Edit: April 02, 2006, 10:58:25 AM by martiloga »
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Mystyx

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Re: MY CM15A does not always work
« Reply #1 on: April 02, 2006, 02:37:26 PM »

I also had a failure yesterday, all my Interface stopped responding / triggering. I sent an email about it, 5 days after the download to v3.203.

I just redownloaded to interface and everything worked again.

AHP was working even though the Interface was not ;)
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arf1410

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Re: MY CM15A does not always work
« Reply #2 on: April 03, 2006, 06:50:31 PM »

The problem you point out has been widely reported since the day the system was released in Sep 2004(?).  ( Of course I am assuming that what you report truely is the CM15A issue, rather than signal absorbtion, or other issue that you can't specifically fault the CM15A for, rather represents a limitation of the X10 protocol.)   X10 will not officially acknowledge, explain, or come up with a fix other than unplug, remove batteries, wait 30 seconds, reinstall batteries, and re-download timers.  To me, this is a work around, not a fix.  Others, with a much stronger electrical backgound than myself, have tried sodering capacitors to certain places on the circuit board, and they have explained the hows and why that fix appears to solve many of the reliability problems.  X10 has never formally commented (that I have seen) on that physical modification to fix the problem
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roger1818

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Re: MY CM15A does not always work
« Reply #3 on: April 05, 2006, 02:41:49 PM »

Martiloga,

Some people have complained about issues with their CM15a, but I don't think that that is the problem you are having (the problem Mystyx and Arf are talking about cause all timers to stop working until you reset the CM15a).  More likely you have either a signal strength issue or a powerline noise issue.  My first question is if you have a phase coupler?  Adding one will solve 90% of all of these problems.  I wrote a tutorial on Phase Coupling.  If this is your problem, a mini timer won't fix anything.
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Frustrated2

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Re: MY CM15A does not always work
« Reply #4 on: April 25, 2006, 08:33:41 PM »

I have been using the earlier version of the CM15A the CM11A for about two years with very little trouble, unfortunately I can not say the same for the CM15A.
Are there some defective CM15A modules out there or are they all unreliable?
So far I have not as of yet been able to get 24 hours of reliable operation out of my module, I keep putting the CM11A back in operation and hiding
the CM15A so that I do not have to look at .
I am giving it one last try this week after which I will asking X10 to kindly replace the module or refund my money!
Are there any other products out there that will control my X10 modules when my CM11A dies ?
I can not believe that people have actually started to modify the hardware of this item to try and make it work, it sure would be nice if the people at X10 would admit they have sold a some or all of us defective products and replace them.
« Last Edit: April 25, 2006, 08:48:16 PM by Frustrated2 »
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roger1818

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Re: MY CM15A does not always work
« Reply #5 on: April 26, 2006, 10:26:09 AM »

Are there some defective CM15A modules out there or are they all unreliable?
So far I have not as of yet been able to get 24 hours of reliable operation out of my module, I keep putting the CM11A back in operation and hiding
the CM15A so that I do not have to look at .

Some CM15As are more reliable than others.  If you are having problems with yours, ask to have it replaced.

Quote
I can not believe that people have actually started to modify the hardware of this item to try and make it work, it sure would be nice if the people at X10 would admit they have sold a some or all of us defective products and replace them.

It is pretty well known what many of the problems are with the CM15A and how to fix/work around them, but X10 so far has been hesitant to admit fault.  My guess is that they are afraid that if they announce that there is a new revision that fixes certain problems, all users will want their unit to be replaced even if they aren't having those problems.  If you are having problems, they are pretty good at replacing the unit for you though.
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Dan Lawrence

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Re: MY CM15A does not always work
« Reply #6 on: April 26, 2006, 11:26:57 AM »

I have been using the earlier version of the CM15A the CM11A for about two years with very little trouble, unfortunately I can not say the same for the CM15A.
Are there some defective CM15A modules out there or are they all unreliable?
So far I have not as of yet been able to get 24 hours of reliable operation out of my module, I keep putting the CM11A back in operation and hiding
the CM15A so that I do not have to look at .
I am giving it one last try this week after which I will asking X10 to kindly replace the module or refund my money!
Are there any other products out there that will control my X10 modules when my CM11A dies ?
I can not believe that people have actually started to modify the hardware of this item to try and make it work, it sure would be nice if the people at X10 would admit they have sold a some or all of us defective products and replace them.

The later (post early 2005) CM15A has very few problems. I got mine in July of 2005 and it's been very reliable. The Active Home Pro software is pretty good, although there are some little problems with the base AHP that are slowly being corrected, and some more problems for some users with the various add-on sofware packages. Some people have no thouble, others are not so lucky, but slowly the bugs are being exterminated.
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