Re: X-10 Active Home?

["John J. Bengii" <nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I use the timers inside the wireless remotes as a backup timer. The computer
smarts then decides how long the lamps are needed on and shut them off
sooner based on time of day.

On workdays and long weekends are always filtered out, save Good Friday (no
formulae can be determined) I have a 300w halogen that acts as a dawn box. A
self recursing  routine brightens the lamp by 5% every 3 minutes to wake us
up.

About a dozen wireless units operate various lights and tell the system
somebody is home. This determines how often the furnace fan cycles the air.

Right now my grass growing algorithym is taking place for new seed. Every
hour during daylight hours the seed gets 3 minutes of water on a sunny day
and only 2 minute every two hours on a dull day.

My security alarm flashes lots of light in the house, and all outside lamps
as well as the usual 30W siren.

Motion on a porch or deck flashes the deck light and rings a close inside
X10 ding dong to alert me on the deck for visitors being exposed to my naked
suntanning body.

Select times during the night and day if no motion has detected motion
(house empty) for some time every unit inside and outside is turned off in
case of random on codes or lazy humans.

I need the conditionals...LOL


"David White" <whitedavidp@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:K-mdneC2rNFC-bbVnZ2dnUVZ_srinZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>I agree that they are pretty limited and that the lack of conditionals is
>less than optimal. As a programmer, I expect these sorts of things. Perhaps
>my needs are not that complex. But I have managed.
>
> John J. Bengii wrote:
>> CM-11 macros suck! There are no conditionals. It takes an active computer
>> to make it perform worth not getting up and manually turning on the
>> lights. This means not setting anything into the CM-11 but using it as a
>> constant peripheral.
>>
>>
>>
>> "David White" <whitedavidp@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>> news:s5KdnfWm-byp07bVnZ2dnUVZ_hOdnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>> Perhaps if you made it clear what controller/transmitter you were using
>>> that would make things more clear. At the minimum, you really only use
>>> the USB interface to connect to the computer for downloading macros.
>>> Then you can plug it in anywhere.
>>>
>>> John J. Bengii wrote:
>>>> USB?  yuk!
>>>>
>>>> My transmitter/receiver is at my electrical panel in the garage and my
>>>> computer is 100 feet away (by wire length)
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> "David White" <whitedavidp@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>>>> news:Uo6dnWhaTehwprbVnZ2dnUVZ_orinZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>> Hello JJ.
>>>>>
>>>>> When you talk about resources being used up, that may really be more a
>>>>> function of the controller's on-board memory rather than the software
>>>>> which downloads the macros. I have a CM11A and I too had to set my
>>>>> resolution lower than I wanted to get things to fit. I believe that
>>>>> the
>>>>> newer units (which are USB instead of RS-232) have more memory so that
>>>>> may help me out - perhaps you too?
>>>>>
>>>>> I also don't quite understand what you are saying about macros not
>>>>> working for multiple modules. I have single macros which operate on
>>>>> multiple receiver modules (with different codes) turning on some and
>>>>> turning off others. These macros are downloaded into the CM11A and
>>>>> seem to work just fine.
>>>>>
>>>>> For the record, I have been using Active Home 1.32 and only recently
>>>>> moved to version 1.42. It seems that 1.42 is a little better on XP in
>>>>> terms of its RS-232 communications. But other than that, they seem
>>>>> nearly identical. I doubt these versions of Active Home will work with
>>>>> the new USB controller and I am not sure if the new version of Active
>>>>> Home that does will work with USB supports the CM11A.
>>>>>
>>>>> JJ wrote:
>>>>>> Hi all,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I'm using Active Home for my X-10 interface and can't stand it.  Is
>>>>>> there better software for controlling my modules?  My biggest
>>>>>> complaints are that using 10 modules and the sunrise/sunset commands
>>>>>> suck up all the resources and my resolution is such that I can only
>>>>>> adjust the timings every 20 days. The other complaint is that macros
>>>>>> won't work for multiple modules, just for a simple on command.
>>>>>> I used to use X-10 powerhouse but that never interfaced with XP or
>>>>>> some other problem which I can't quite recall, its been about 6 years
>>>>>> since that worked.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Thanks,
>>