X10 CM15Pro not working properly

[bkenobi]

Gene,

I connected my backup CM15A to my old HA system that still had AHP installed.  I first checked the settings and, as you can see, there is a way to tell the CM15A which HC to transceive.  In my setup, I tell it to work with all HC.  I believe this means that RF signals on A-P will be seen and sent out as PLC.

The second thing I checked was how AHP shows the RF button presses.  You are correct that it doesn't display anything about button position.  But, I then checked what the SDK sees and it does show a code in the commands that must be for button position.

Code: [Select]

2015/01/16 22:15:41 RecvAction: recvrf, a1, On, 0, 1/17/2015 6:15:42 AM,
2015/01/16 22:15:42 RecvAction: recvrf, a1, On, -1, 1/17/2015 6:15:42 AM,
2015/01/16 22:15:42 RecvAction: recvrf, a1, On, 0, 1/17/2015 6:15:42 AM,
2015/01/16 22:15:42 RecvAction: recvrf, a1, On, -1, 1/17/2015 6:15:42 AM, I don't know how open the SDK code is, but maybe having this output will help a little.

[Gene]

Hi bkenobi,

if I remember well, I made XTenLib use the "Auto" setting, because it was the only way to make it receive security codes as well (dunno why it was like this). Btw I will check it out again soon. Can you tell if setting transceive to Auto does still perform rf command over plc? If so, then there must be something wrong in my current setup, perhaps the SC9000 security console that I moved in another location (further) and might be the origin of some kind of interference or data loss (eg. rf command being actually executed by the SC9000, but not seen by CM15).
The button state (0, -1) could be contained in the RF message only (not visible on plc message). So can you provide RF debug output? Perhaps we can understand where this flag is hiding.

g.

[bkenobi]

For one more test, I considered what the difference between having transceiving turned on or off for HC A.

All HC's disabled shows 2 items in the activity monitor that represent button presses.  I pushed the button and immediately released it, but it appears that AHP thinks there were 2 commands.  This is what the SDK shows:

Code: [Select]

2015/01/16 22:32:30 RecvAction: recvrf, a1, On, 0, 1/17/2015 6:32:30 AM,
2015/01/16 22:32:30 RecvAction: recvrf, a1, On, -1, 1/17/2015 6:32:31 AM,
2015/01/16 22:32:30 RecvAction: recvrf, a1, On, 0, 1/17/2015 6:32:31 AM,
2015/01/16 22:32:30 RecvAction: recvrf, a1, On, -1, 1/17/2015 6:32:31 AM,
Next, I turned all HC's on.  This time when I pressed the button, AHP only saw one press.  Either way, you can see from the Activity Monitor that there was an RF command and then 2 PLC commands.  If you look at the SDK output, it makes sense why:

Code: [Select]

2015/01/16 22:35:46 RecvAction: recvrf, a1, On, 0, 1/17/2015 6:35:47 AM,
2015/01/16 22:35:46 RecvAction: recvrf, a1, On, -1, 1/17/2015 6:35:47 AM,
2015/01/16 22:35:47 RecvAction: RecvPlc, a1, On, , ,
2015/01/16 22:35:48 RecvAction: RecvPlc, a1, On, , ,
AHP saw the button down and button up and transceived both into A1 ON commands.  I don't know if HG is working correctly (maybe it is based on AHP's output).  I just wanted to make sure it was consistent at least.

[bkenobi]

When I set AHP to auto, I do not get the PLC output but I still see the double RF commands for button down/up:

Code: [Select]

2015/01/16 22:54:46 RecvAction: recvrf, a1, On, 0, 1/17/2015 6:54:47 AM,
2015/01/16 22:54:46 RecvAction: recvrf, a1, On, -1, 1/17/2015 6:54:47 AM,
2015/01/16 22:54:46 RecvAction: recvrf, a1, On, 0, 1/17/2015 6:54:47 AM,
2015/01/16 22:54:47 RecvAction: recvrf, a1, On, -1, 1/17/2015 6:54:47 AM,
EDIT:  I remember capturing some USB communication from the CM15A at one point but I don't remember how.  If you give me a reminder, I can capture the communication when it's sending the sequence of RF commands.

[pim555]

Thanks for the link.

I struggle to understand how the repeater can work if it only amplifies the second command in the burst of 2. For the repeater to be functional, I assume that an X10 receiver can already accept a command if it only receives the second in the burst of 2.

Otherwise, if you would have a device that is far away from the transmitter, the repeater would only amplify the second transmission (as it reacts to the first one so cannot amplify that anymore). This means that the first transmission is not amplified but the second is. If the receiving device is in a location that does not carry unamplified signals, the device would only capture the second part of the transmission...

ANyway, I will try to experiment with the settings of the phase coupler but am a bit reluctant as apparantly it can only be programmed thru powerline commands and not with the physical button on the coupler (pls correct me if wrong). Commands needed are 2xABright/2xADim, etc. Can I generate those with HG?

[bkenobi]

i isimplified the reason for 2x the command and got it slightly wrong.  either way, the command is repeated and the repeater will always amplify only the second one since it then knows the command to repeat.  I don't think you can send just the command in HG without the unit portion.    Gene can correct me if I'm wrong.  unless it's ok to send a unit code first, then it is.

you can send the following and it might work for your

Code: [Select]

A1 Bright
A1 Bright
A1 Dim
A1 Dim
This should

Code: [Select]

A1
A Bright
A Bright
A Dim
A DimThe repeater should ignore the A1 since it sees 4 commands it needs.

[codedmind]

install hg today in a clean raspbian card and cm15A not working too :/

[17:24:16.049349] X10 < 04 11
[17:24:16.108769] X10 < 06 12
2015-01-18T17:24:16.1739720+00:00   HomeAutomation.X10   E5   -   Status.Level   1

However the shutter don't move..

[pim555]

I have tried to program the FKX40 using mochad, which support commands like a dim ("pl a dim") but cannot get it to work. Any help in programming this phase coupler is appreciated.

[codedmind]

i still can't it work... dmesg identify the cm15 but don't attach it to any port... and gh doesn't work... what i'm missing?

[    3.256836] usb 1-1.2: new low-speed USB device number 4 using dwc_otg
[    3.394208] usb 1-1.2: New USB device found, idVendor=0bc7, idProduct=0001
[    3.402757] usb 1-1.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[    3.411644] usb 1-1.2: Product: USB ActiveHome Interface
[    3.418486] usb 1-1.2: Manufacturer: X10 Wireless Technology Inc

[bkenobi]

CM15A has always worked out of the box for me on Raspi.  I don't know enough about linux to help you if it doesn't setup in HG, sorry.

[pim555]

One further update in my quest to get my X10 set-up working properly.

I realized that in my logs most commands triggered by RF sensors or my Powermax Pro alarm system (with XM10 X10 interface module), generate 3 commands. For example, if I switch on lamp A8, I see 3x A8 ON in my logs.

In the mean time I have set-up my Powermax Pro system such that it generates an X10 command whenever a motion sensor in the alarm system is triggered. That way, I will be able to use these sensors within HG as well. The commands generated by these sensors also appear 3 times in my log.

I realized that in the Powermax Pro system there is a configuration option to set the number of phases and 50 or 60Hz. This was set to 3 phase (as I have 3 phases in my house). Obviously this is an incorrect setting as I also have an active phase coupler. When I set this setting to single phase, the commands from the Powermax sensor reduce from 3 to 1 occurance and are now as expected.

This leads me to believe that maybe there is a setting in the CM15Pro that allows to do a similar thing?

[bkenobi]

This leads me to believe that maybe there is a setting in the CM15Pro that allows to do a similar thing?

In a word, no.  The CM15 does not know about your power setup.  It transmits and recieves on the power line it is plugged into.  If you have multiple phases with X10 on more than one, you will need to add a phase coupler (and it sounds like you already did).  The CM15 only transmits what it's asked to send and transcodes what it hears over RF.

[pim555]

Hi Bkenobi,

Get your point and I did think along the same way but apparantly the XM10 (the controller attached to my alarm system) can be controlled differently for 1 or 3 phase systems as my alarm system is doing.

http://www.haibrain.com/xm10-ttlcmos-interface-u-stekker-p-682.html?language=en

Furthermore, this difference does result in different output behavior on the power line. Therefore, I was hoping that the CM15 can also be configured in similar ways.

[Gene]

Hi bkenobi,

I've been doing some tests today about how CM15 behaves when setting transceive on/off.

My configuration is CM15Pro + SC9000

Active Home Pro + CM15 with trasceive set to NONE
- send RF A2 ON
- CM15 receives both the RF command and the PLC one

Active Home Pro + CM15 with trasceive set to A, B
- send RF A2 OFF
- CM15 receives RF but no PLC message

Active Home Pro + CM15 with trasceive set to Auto
- send RF A2 ON
- CM15 receives RF but no PLC message

So I think that since HG sets transceive to Auto on CM15, I should re-enable RF messages decoding.

My guess is that when trasceive is active, since it's the CM15 itself sending the command, there's no reason to see a PLC message after the RF command is received. Just the same as when you perform a PLC command directly, there's no reason to see it echoed back.

So also wondering why you see the message twice and if it's something about differences of CM15A and CM15Pro?

Cheers,
g.

[bkenobi]

I agree that seeing PLC commands is odd conside ring the CM15 is generating the PLC.  The only thing that might be different in my setup is that I have a XTB-IIR coupler repeater installed.  The repeater only boosts the second half of the command and does not echo after the first is sent, so it shouldn't be related.  I'll try turning it off and repeat your test to see if it makes any difference.