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[Tuicemen]

Duck69 & Brian H Problem seems to be: the folder is user based
Suggestion:
Go through your older posts and decide which pics are of no use and remove them this should clear some room for newer pics.
Or create a web page at one of the many free hosting sites (store your pics there) and just post a link to that!

[Brian H]

Thank you for the added information on the full folder.

[Musicman50]

I was about to send my CM15A and all my DS10 units back, because I could not get them to work more than 20 feet from the CM15A.
Then I read this post here about adding some length to its existing antenna.

What I tried even simpler seems to work for me.
I simply taped a 9.5 inch piece of 14 gauge bare wire on to the side of the existing small antenna on the CM15A.
I did not cut or remove the original antenna (In fact I did nothing to it), because I did want to hurt my warranty in the event I actually want to return it.
Anyway this simple mod actually works, and I can now get the DS10's to trigger events in the Active home software.

Maybe someone can jump in a tell me why just putting a 9.5 inch of 14 gauge wire next to the existing cm15a antenna gives it much more distance?

Anyway my simple modification allows the CM15A to pick up all 8 DS10's from all over my home now, 100 feet or more through two walls even..

Hey whats wrong with these people at X10 anyway ??

It looks like a no brainier that the CM15A just needs a longer antenna..

And this unit has been around a few year now.. Go Figure??

Anyway the CM15A will not work with my HomeSeer software, as there are so many better interfaces around,
but I still can program macros with the quirky and problematic ActiveHome Pro software and download it to the CM15A for running
my lights and some nice macros without a computer.

Eventually I will use the DS10's in part of my existing Caddx Alarm system.

Phil

[Puck]

Maybe someone can jump in a tell me why just putting a 9.5 inch of 14 gauge wire next to the existing cm15a antenna gives it much more distance?

You added a passive reflector.... E.G. Yagi 

Because it's small and very close to the existing antenna, it shouldn't have much effect on changing the omni antenna to a directional one.

Such a simple manufacturing fix... maybe someday... dream dream dream...

[Musicman50]

Puck, I must agree it should not have much effect on its out put, but indeed it does.
In my case it extends reception from my DS10's from about only 20 feet to at least 100 feet.
After I am done testing this I will actually solder the longer antenna to the existing antenna.
From what I read hear some say 9.5 inches in length is suitable, while another says the CM15 has about 4 inches folded up in the unit,
so maybe 5.5 added length will work better.

I have also read in another post that simply putting a 9.5 inch 14 gauge wire taped directly to the side of the DS10 will also greatly increase its distance.

Again I wonder why X10 did not put a longer more stable antenna on the CM15A ??

Seems to have been proven by several posts that it works better if extended.

Any comments welcome

Phil

[Tuicemen]

Tuicemen,
If the folder is user based then, either it doesn't get emptied when you delete a post that has a photo OR someone else is using my account to post photos.      
You may notice that my post count is only 192.
I go through my posts every so often and delete those that I'm able to that are no longer revelent.
Of course there are those that, even though I wish to, I can't delete. But none of those has any photos.
The only photo I have on the forum is my avatar. Does the avatar count ? It's only 12k anyway.
In the past I have posted photos such as my control page on Google and not on this forum.
So, since I'm not using the space allocated to me; Why can't I up-load even a 44k photo ?

Looks as if it is more complex then I first though. I too suffer from this error And left messages for X10 in the community organizer section about this!
I had knoticed some users posting pics after me initially getting this error. I have since deleted some useful pics without any improvement Maybe it is a daily limit or X10 needs to do some house cleaning! Looks like a PM is in order to X10Javlier!

[Puck]

Puck, I must agree it should not have much effect on its out put, but indeed it does.

Actually Musicman50 I was confirming why what you did helped. 
It was the characteristic of the antenna (omni / directional) that shouldn't have much effect.... that's a good thing. 

After I am done testing this I will actually solder the longer antenna to the existing antenna.
From what I read hear some say 9.5 inches in length is suitable, while another says the CM15 has about 4 inches folded up in the unit,
so maybe 5.5 added length will work better.

If you're getting good range now (I.E. every RF module in your set up is reaching the CM15A) then adding length probably won't help, but it can make things worse.

I have also read in another post that simply putting a 9.5 inch 14 gauge wire taped directly to the side of the DS10 will also greatly increase its distance.

This is a passive radiator... very similar to passive reflector you added to your CM15A's antenna.


Tuicemen / Duck69: I too got hit with the same upload problem in December. That's when & why I activated and started using Geocities (thanks for that suggestion TTA).

[tom j]

Quote From Jbacal:
The ideal thing would be to find a supplier that actually carries a telescoping antenna that would be an exact replacement (at the base) for the one in the unit. Well I'm a happy camper, I hope this version can help some of you as well.



Anybody know where you can find an exact replacement   That really would be idea, and personally won't mind going into the case seems like a pretty simple mod. Thanks Jbacal you definitely get a brownie point from me!!

Tom j

[Brian H]

I have seen someone. Glue a new piece of plastic tubing onto the rotating base and unroll the added wire inside the case. To extend it fully.
Got the plastic tubing at a hobby shop. Used for model construction. If you got a telescoping one the wire will have to be soldered to the new ones connection terminal.

[HA Dave]

I just completed a (not so pretty) fast cheap mod to the antenna. I am sure I read about someone else doing this 1st. It's not an original idea. But I took pictures and have them on-line in case someone would like to see the mod.

All I did was carefully clip off the the end of the plastic antenna tube. Bared a little of the wire inside the plastic antenna tube, and soldered on a 9 and 1/2 inch wire.

The wire was a piece of CAT5 that I striped the insulation off of. I then taped it to the plastic antenna tube and soldered it to the wire I had bared inside the antenna tube.

I know this isn't the way to do a real antenna modification! But it only took a few minutes, and it works.

I haven't taken the time to test distance or range by device. Before it couldn't transmitt across my office (13'5" at the very longest part). Now it works from upstairs, and at least 30 feet, and has solved many if not all the problems I was having.

[Brian H]

Dave; Thanks for the method you used and the helpful photos.
Was your original  internal antenna wire solid as the photo looks like?
My older one if memory serves me is stranded; inside the plastic tube.
I saw a similar mod in another thread; but in that case they glued a piece of model airplane tubing on the end to make it more rigid.

[HA Dave]

Was your original  internal antenna wire solid as the photo looks like?

I saw a similar mod in another thread; but in that case they glued a piece of model airplane tubing on the end to make it more rigid.

The wire inside the plastic antenna tube was a very fine gauge stranded wire with a white insulating cover. To be honest... my GUESS is ....soldering on the extra wire may have been overkill. I think just [exposing some of the bare wire would have likely had the same effect.

I have read of at least one person breaking the plastic tube, and remaining wire hanging out improved performance.

[Brian H]

My old CM15As have the extra wire randomly knotted inside the cases. Later ones have it hot glued to the case in a loop fashion.

[Sham]

Thanks for the pics and idea dave! (even if it wasn't yours originally!)

That looks a lot easier than opening the unit up and doing a proper modded antenna.  I'll likely try this way first, and if I'm still not happy, then i'll open away!  At least this way will not prevent me from doing it right in the future if need be!   

Sham

[poursha]

I haven't read this complete thread...  Because I already have the antenna mod...

But, I wanted to chime in and say that I've been using my CM15A with antenna mod for over a year now.  And, I would never even think about using it stock.  The antenna mod makes it "usable" with RF.  Without, it is a joke.

Rob