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jeffw_00
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Joined: June 30 2007
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Posts: 929
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| Posted: November 18 2007 at 14:09 | IP Logged
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Ok - today I'm taking the plunge to convert from Houselinc Desktop to Powerhome for my 20+ module, mixed X-10/INSTEON setup at home.
My paradigm is that ALL commands go through Powerhome. I.e., all controllers send signals that trigger events that send signals to responders. There is no direct linking of INSTEON devices. The way I'm doing my setup is
a) enter all devices
b) enter all macros
c) enter all triggers
d) enter all timers.
Questions:
1) My biggest problem seems to be that, starting a few minutes after I start it up, Powerhome starts almost continually 'talking' to the PLC, to the extent that it misses event triggers. The log on the timerapp is being added to with lots of Insteon stuff every few seconds (see bottom of this Email) As a result, I can't really test my installation so far. (followup - as suggested, - clearing the "Status Scan" checkbox in the Insteon Explorer window seems to help, but it wasn't sticky the first few times I restarted the program). Do I fix this by unchecking the background functions in the PLC controller settings as well?
2a) When inputting devices...does X-10 device type really matter? Some of my devices (motion sensor spotlight for example) aren't listed, and I really don't remember which are 2-prong, 3-prong, etc...
2b) For Insteon device type: Some have "(control)" after the description - what does that mean? For example, there's "KPL" and "KPL (Control)". same for switchlinc...
3) I found in my old setup that my X10 worked better if I put a 2-second delay before a triggered command (so that the incoming X-10 echoing, or whatever, could die down before the outgoing command was sent). Is there any way to specify a 2-second delay on ALL triggered events?
4) How do I safely backup my database? (I want to snapshot periodically in case I screw something up). How do I restore?
5) What's the difference between "X-10" and "X-10 Raw" when creating an macro?
6) How do I have the menu buttons come up with TEXT enabled by default? (Actually, this started working, wasn't sticky the first couple of times).
7) What happens if I schedule several Timed Events at the same time? Is there sufficient (or programmable) delay between them?
8) is "Immediate" the recommended selection for nested macros?
9) Once I've created and used a macro, is it bad to change its ID? What about the ID for a Device? (I don't like some of the names i originally chose)
10) What do I do when it complains about missing fields but I can't see any visible problem? Currently I switch to a different window, switch back, and redo what's not there anymore. a bit painful.
11a) What KPL trigger values correspond to single-press and double-press? Are these Insteon Group-in commands or something else? (I think, off and fast-off?)
11b) Also - does PH support handshaked receipt of commands from a KPL i.e., if I press a KPL button to send a command to the PLC &(PH) - is the command acked/retried like normal Insteon commands, or is it just a single 1-way fire-and-forget transmission?
12a) All triggers are detected by Powerhome, and all modules are controlled by Powerhome. That being said, is there anything related to linking that i need to worry about? (given there are no direct controller/responder links)? I'm referring specifically to using a KPL (or even a ControlLinc) as a controller.
12b) as you'll note from my other post, I'm actually running powerhome now because i couldn't switch back to Houselinc Desktop. As it turns out, it's actually running well enough for now. Question: I have not downloaded the TImerApp as specified by your quickstart (I'm currently running 1.01.88.235). In fact, I haven't done ANY PH-specified Insteon-specific setup (as my original plan was to just 'play' with it at first). However, as I noted, I have NO direct links between controllers/responders (everything goes through the PLC), so I don't know if things are working because the links to the PLC were there from the old setup, or whether with PH I don't need any, and I don't know whether I should do your specified PLC setup or leave well-enough alone. Your thoughts?
13) When I first started the program and it asked for a name I put in a nonsense-string. Will I regret this? Can I change it? (I'm cool editing the registry if needed).
Feature suggestions: (or "how do I do this?" if the feature is implemented)
1a) I'm really surprised there is no Disable on individual Timed Events. (Even HD has this) 8-}
1b) Would be nice to have the ability to sort Timed Events into groups (or, I guess, the ability to group Triggers, etc as well).
#1a and #1b are because I have a different set of timed events when I'm on vacation as opposed to when I'm home, so it would be nice to segregate them (and enable the vacation commands only when I'm away).
1c) Right-click DUPLICATE option for Timed Events would be very helpful
1d) Better Auto-completion in the Frequency column of the Timed Events window. I get that you can enter a number, but one-shot isn't my first choice and when doing bulk entry it's hard to select a different option quickly.
1e) more flexible day-of-week selection for Timed Events. For example, I need 2 entries for M,T,W,Th,Fr,Sa, and (sigh) 5 entries for Sun,M,Th,W,Th (which would be less painful if I could DUPLICATE Timed Events 8-}. Needs some thought here, but it's worth it.
1e) I happened to enter my Timed Events around 6pm. Thus, the default reference time was 18:xx:xx. To change this to 20:xx:xx, I had to change the hour twice, first to something like 10, and then to 20, as it wouldn't allow 28, even in transition. Would be nice to remove this restriction
[actually, compared to the other windows, bulk data entyr in the Timed Events window was is much more painful in general).
2) How about putting the X-10 device description in the log? (so when it says it sent E9 off, it tells me which device is associated with that E9 code)
3) In Macros - allow WAIT time to be specified in HH:MM:SS (here's a place that could be more intuitive - WAIT is in seconds, but other delays are in minutes, use consistent H:M:S throughout?)
4) It would be nice to be able to sort every spreadsheet-like screen by any field (for example, sort Timed Events by StartTime)
5) It would be nice if the Event Log would update on-the-fly.
Thanks very much! I look forward to becoming a PH groupie! (and, hopefully, writing about it again, ;-})
/j
(log for question 1) )
PLC:receiveinsteonraw=04 09 33 D7 05 12 2D 21 2B 00
11/18/07 3:52:28 PM:ackmsg=09 33 D7 05 12 2D 21 2B 00
PLC:p31:SRIR=04,09 33 D7 05 12 2D 21 2B 00
ui:srq:srir=00 00 00 0A F4 BA 0F 19 00
uifinished:srq:srir=00 00 00 0A F4 BA 0F 19 00
si:05 12 2D 0A F4 BA 0F 19 00
PLC:eventraw=03
PLC:eventraw=03
PLC:eventraw=03
PLC:eventraw=04
PLC:receiveinsteonraw=04 0A F4 BA 05 12 2D 2F 00 00
11/18/07 3:52:40 PM:ackmsg=0A F4 BA 05 12 2D 2F 00 00
PLC:srq:SRIR=04,0A F4 BA 05 12 2D 2F 00 00
PLC:eventraw=03
ui:sendinsteonraw=00 00 00 0A F4 BA 05 28 00
uifinished:sendinsteonraw=00 00 00 0A F4 BA 05 28 00
si:00 00 00 0A F4 BA 05 28 00
PLC:sendinsteonraw=True
PLC:eventraw=03
PLC:eventraw=04
PLC:receiveinsteonraw=04 0A F4 BA 05 12 2D 25 28 00
11/18/07 3:52:41 PM:ackmsg=0A F4 BA 05 12 2D 25 28 00
PLC:eventraw=03
ui:p22:srir=00 00 00 0A F4 BA 05 2B 22
uifinished:p22:srir=00 00 00 0A F4 BA 05 2B 22
si:05 12 2D 0A F4 BA 05 2B 22
PLC:eventraw=03
PLC:eventraw=04
PLC:receiveinsteonraw=04 0A F4 BA 05 12 2D 25 2B 80
11/18/07 3:52:41 PM:ackmsg=0A F4 BA 05 12 2D 25 2B 80
PLC:p22:SRIR=04,0A F4 BA 05 12 2D 25 2B 80
PLC:eventraw=03
ui:p32:srir=00 00 00 0A F4 BA 05 2B 32
uifinished:p32:srir=00 00 00 0A F4 BA 05 2B 32
si:05 12 2D 0A F4 BA 05 2B 32
PLC:eventraw=03
PLC:eventraw=04
PLC:receiveinsteonraw=04 0A F4 BA 05 12 2D 25 2B FE
11/18/07 3:52:42 PM:ackmsg=0A F4 BA 05 12 2D 25 2B FE
PLC:eventraw=03
PLC:p32:SRIR=04,0A F4 BA 05 12 2D 25 2B FE
ui:p21:srir=00 00 00 0A F4 BA 05 2B 21
uifinished:p21:srir=00 00 00 0A F4 BA 05 2B 21
si:05 12 2D 0A F4 BA 05 2B 21
PLC:eventraw=03
PLC:eventraw=04
PLC:receiveinsteonraw=04 0A F4 BA 05 12 2D 25 2B 1F
11/18/07 3:52:43 PM:ackmsg=0A F4 BA 05 12 2D 25 2B 1F
PLC:p21:SRIR=04,0A F4 BA 05 12 2D 25 2B 1F
PLC:eventraw=03
ui:p30:srir=00 00 00 0A F4 BA 05 2B 30
uifinished:p30:srir=00 00 00 0A F4 BA 05 2B 30
si:05 12 2D 0A F4 BA 05 2B 30
PLC:eventraw=03
PLC:eventraw=04
PLC:receiveinsteonraw=04 0A F4 BA 05 12 2D 25 2B 20
11/18/07 3:52:44 PM:ackmsg=0A F4 BA 05 12 2D 25 2B 20
PLC:p30:SRIR=04,0A F4 BA 05 12 2D 25 2B 20
PLC:eventraw=03
ui:p31:srir=00 00 00 0A F4 BA 05 2B 31
uifinished:p31:srir=00 00 00 0A F4 BA 05 2B 31
si:05 12 2D 0A F4 BA 05 2B 31
PLC:eventraw=03
PLC:eventraw=04
PLC:receiveinsteonraw=04 0A F4 BA 05 12 2D 25 2B 00
11/18/07 3:52:45 PM:ackmsg=0A F4 BA 05 12 2D 25 2B 00
PLC:p31:SRIR=04,0A F4 BA 05 12 2D 25 2B 00
PLC:eventraw=03
Edited by jeffw_00 - November 19 2007 at 14:18
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BeachBum
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Joined: April 11 2007
Location: United States
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Posts: 1880
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| Posted: November 18 2007 at 19:30 | IP Logged
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I'm not an expert but try going to Insteon Explorer and checking SCAN off.
__________________
Pete - X10 Oldie
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dhoward
Admin Group
Joined: June 29 2001
Location: United States
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Posts: 4447
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| Posted: November 19 2007 at 14:54 | IP Logged
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Jeff,
Welcome to PowerHome!
Your setup methodology looks sound, so I'll try to answer your questions as best I can.
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| 0) My biggest problem seems to be that, starting a few minutes after I start it up, Powerhome starts almost continually 'talking' to the PLC, to the extent that it misses event triggers. The log on the timerapp is being added to with lots of Insteon stuff every few seconds (see bottom of this Email) As a result, I can't really test my installation so far. (as suggested, - clearing the "Status Scan" checkbox in the Insteon Explorer window seems to help, but it wasn't sticky the first few times I restarted the program). Do I fix this by unchecking the background functions in the PLC controller settings as well? |
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Yes, PowerHome will start background polling of all Insteon devices with a query once every 10 seconds by default. You can change the "Poll Interval" to 0 to stop this, but it will also stop link creation and other "background processes". This background "status scan" accomplishes two things...the first being to query the current level/status of devices to update PowerHome just on the off chance that some Insteon messages were missed, the second being to query the database change flag to monitor if any changes were manually made to any of the Insteon devices (tap/tap or software changes made by systems other than PowerHome) so that PowerHome can re-scan their database and have an accurate list of device links. You can turn this scanning off by unchecking the "Status Scan" option at the top of the Insteon Explorer. This change will not be saved permanent (as well as all settings at the top of the screen) until you click the "Save PLC Settings" also at the top of the Insteon Explorer.
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| 1) Does X-10 device type really matter? Some of my devices (motion sensor spotlight for example) aren't listed, and I really don't remember which are 2-prong, 3-prong, etc... |
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X10 device type is only important from the aspect of the command checkboxes on the X10 types screen. These checkboxes control how PowerHome will update the X10 device status based upon X10 commands sent and received. The actual description is irrelevant other than to help the user in identifying the type of device. The X10 status screen also determines any graphics, status colors, and status text to be displayed in the Device status screen.
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| 2) For Insteon device type: Some have "(control)" after the description - what does that mean? For example, there's "KPL" and "KPL (Control)". same for switchlinc... |
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The "(Control)" terminology of the Insteon Type Description just signifies whether the "Control Only" option is checked in the Insteon Types screen. Devices flagged as "Control Only" will not appear in the Device Status screen. The primary purpose for this is in the setup of multi-way switch installations. In a multi-way switch setup, the switch that actually controls the load would have an Insteon Device type that does NOT have the (Control) designation. This device will then show up on the Device Status screen. Any *slave* switches in the multi-way setup would typically have a device type with (Control) so as to keep redundant information from appearing in the Device status screen. Of course, if the user prefers the status of slave switches to be visible, they need only choose a device type without the "Control Only".
Quote:
| 3) I found when using Houselinc Desktop that my X10 worked better if I put a 2-second delay before a triggered command (so that the incoming X-10 echoing, or whatever, could die down before the outgoing command was sent). Is there any way to specify a 2-second delay on ALL triggered events? |
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There is no *default* way to delay a trigger from executing after it's been fired. However, it's very easy to handle this using a macro. You could *hardcode* a 2 second delay into every macro that is called, but I would do it another way. It sounds as if all of your trigger actions are macros, so what I would do is create a special delay macro. This delay macro would look like this:
Code:
10 Wait [LOCAL2]
20 SubMacro &n bsp; "[LOCAL1]"
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I would call this macro "DELAY". To make use of it, change all of your trigger actions (where you want a delay) from macro to "Raw Formula". Then set the action to:
ph_macroparm("DELAY","MACRO_ID_OF_TRIGGER_ACTION",2,0,0,0)
What happens with this is that the "DELAY" macro is called which immediately waits 2 (the parm2 parameter in the formula above) seconds (a "Wait" will not hold up the execution queue). After the two second delay, the macro that you wish to execute (parm1 parameter) will then be executed.
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| 4) How do I safely backup my database? (I want to snapshot periodically in case I screw something up). How do I restore? |
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You can shutdown PowerHome and copy the pwrhome.db file in the database directory or you can do it programmatically while PowerHome is running using the ph_backupdb function. You could wrap this up in a macro and then assign it a menu hotkey so that you can execute it with a keystroke combination.
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| 5) What's the difference between "X-10" and "X-10 Raw" when creating an macro? |
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X-10 requires that an X10 device be declared in the X10 section of the PowerHome Explorer and uses the ID that you assign to the device. X10 Raw requires no definitions and works with just house and unit codes.
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| 6) How do I have the menu buttons come up with TEXT enabled by default? (Actually, this started working, wasn't sticky the first couple of times). |
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Not quite sure what you were asking here, but it may have required a restart or reinit. Certain changes within PowerHome (such as *any* changes in the Setup section of the PowerHome Explorer) require a reinitialize or restart before they take effect.
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| 7) What happens if I schedule several Timed Events at the same time? |
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If they are *exactly* at the same time, then they will be executed in the order that they are stored within the database. This order is not predictable.
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| 8) is "Immediate" the recommended selection for nested macros? |
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It depends upon the desired result. "Immediate" will cause execution control to transfer immediately to the called macro (temporarily suspending the parent macro). When the called macro ends, then control will return to the parent macro. If the macro is "Posted", then the called macro will be added to the end of the execution queue (which is processed first in, first out). The execution queue will not be processed until the parent macro finishes execution (everything in PowerHome happens one at a time, in order). Another possible control item is the "SubMacro" command. This is very similar to "Immediate" except that the called macro is treated like an extension of the parent macro instead of a separate entity. This becomes important with "Wait" commands. If a parent macro calls another macro with "Immediate", the parent macro is suspended and the child macro is executed. If the child macro has a "Wait" command, the child macro effectively terminates when it goes into wait mode. This means that control is then transferred back to the parent macro. When the child macro's wait time has expired, it will be reloaded back into the execution queue with the commands following the "Wait" command being executed. This, of course, may not be the desired effect as the user may not want control to return to the parent macro until the child macro has completed in it's entirety. In this case, the SubMacro command will give the desired effect since the child macro is treated as if it were the parent macro.
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| 9) Once I've created and used a macro, is it bad to change its ID? What about a Device? (I don't like some of the names i chose) |
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No, it's not bad. The only problem will be if you've used the previous ID in any other macro's or formulas (which in that case, I guess it would be bad). Since an ID can be used in multiple contexts in multiple places, it's difficult to have PowerHome automatically update the database whenever an ID is changed. The "Database Where Used" report (under the Reports menu) was created to help the user identify where ID's are used. Just launch this report and type: %ID_YOURE_SEARCHING_FOR% in the selection critera box to get a report listing all occurrences of the ID you're searching for.
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| 10) What do I do when it complains about missing fields but I can't see any visible problem? Currently I switch to a different window, switch back, and redo what's not there anymore. a bit painful. |
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Hit the "Cancel" button so that the work you've done is not lost. Then look for any blank fields in the current screen. *Every* screen that has columns of ID and DESCRIPTION are required fields (just about every screen). Other screens have additional required fields. The required fields will *usually* be the first few fields starting from the left.
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| 11a) What KPL trigger values correspond to single-press and double-press? Are these Insteon Group-in commands or something else? (I think, off and fast-off?) |
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A single press on an Insteon device generates either an ON or OFF command. A double press on an Insteon device generates FAST ON and FAST OFF. Pressing and holding will generate a "Start Manual Change". Releasing a button after pressing and holding generates a "Stop Manual Change".
Quote:
| 11b) Also - does PH support handshaked receipt of commands frok KPL (i.e., if I press a KPL button - is the command acked/retried like normal Insteon commands, or is it just a single 1-way fire-and-forget transmission?) |
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PowerHome supports the standard Insteon ack/retry transmission built into the protocol. When an Insteon command is sent, the PLC will send the command a single time. This command is repeated up to the retry count by other devices on the line until it is ACKED or NAKED. If the command is generated by PowerHome in an effort to read/write a device's database, then PowerHome will retry the command (up to the "Max Failures") until it is ACKED. If the command is just a direct on/off or group command, then PowerHome uses the fire and forget approach which should be sufficient assuming adequate communications.
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| 12a) All triggers are detected by Powerhome, and all modules are controlled by Powerhome. That being said, is there anything related to linking that i need to worry about? (given there are no direct controller/responder links)? I'm referring specifically to using a KPL as a controller. |
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Other than making sure that the PLC is a responder to every device including every button on KPL's and ControLincs, you should be good to go.
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| 12b) as you'll note from my other post, I'm actually running powerhome now because i couldn't switch back to Houselinc Desktop. As it turns out, it's actually running well enough for now. Question: I have not downloaded the TImerApp as specified by your quickstart (I'm currently running 1.01.88.235). In fact, I haven't done ANY Insteon-specific setup. However, as I noted, I have NO direct links between controllers/responders (everything goes through the PLC), so I don't know if things are working because the PLC links were there from the old setup, or whether with PH I don't need any, and I don't know whether I should do your specified PLC setup or leave well-enough alone. Your thoughts? |
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The TimerCoreApp that came with HouseLinc is *probably* the same that PowerHome uses (PowerHome uses the standard, publicly available TimerCoreApp12 on SmartHome's website). You should be OK in that respect. I would first check the "Links" tab in the Insteon Explorer and look specifically at the PLC as the currently selected device. Verify that the Controller links are exactly what you want and the Responder links are what you want (assuming you've let PowerHome do the Status Scan and Link scan and has discovered all of your device links). If it looks good, then I would at least do a "Clear PLC Database" followed by an "Add ID's to PLC (Min)". The PLC seems to get flaky occasionally concerning it's links and this exercise will ensure that everything is up to par. Anytime it appears that the PLC is not *hearing* other devices, repeat this process.
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| 13) When I first started the program and it asked for a name I put in a nonsense-string. Will I regret this? Can I change it? (I'm cool editing the registry if needed). |
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It depends. This name is what appears in the Help|About dialog and will be needed everytime you reinstall PowerHome (along with the matching unlock key if you register). Unfortunately, it cannot be changed (encrypted within the database). The only way to change this would be to send the database file to me so that I can change it through the backend.
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| 1a) I'm really surprised there is no Disable on Timed Events. (Even HD has this) 8-} |
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It has been requested. It should be available in the next version.
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| 1b) Ability to sort Timed Events into groups (or, I guess, Triggers, etc as well). |
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This has also been requested. Im looking into the best way to accomplish this. No timeframe has be determined though.
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| 1c) DUPLICATE option for Timed Events |
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I'll look into this. It doesnt currently exist since you can't have two (or more) of exactly the same timed event. Most likely what I would do is duplicate with everything except the time/date being identical (unless something else should be changed instead).
Quote:
| 1d) Auto-completion in the Frequency column of the Timed Events window. [actually, compared to the other windows, bulk data enty in this one is much more painful in general). |
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I'll look into why it doesnt currently auto-complete.
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| 1e) I happened to enter my Timed Events around 6pm. Thus, the default reference time was 18:xx:xx. To change this to 20:xx:xx, I had to change the hour twice, first to something like 11, and then to 21, as it wouldn't allow 28, even in transition. Would be nice to remove this restriction |
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I just tested this and see what you mean. Im not sure why this happens, but it's controlled by the programming environment and Im unable to change it. I could probably make changes so that it auto-selects portions of the date/time (the problem is not exhibited if you first *select* the hours, etc.)
Quote:
1f) more flexible day-of-week selection for Timed Events. For example, I now need 2 entries for M,T,W,Th,Fr,Sa, and
(sigh) 5 events for Sun,M,Th,W,Th (which would be less painful if I could DUPLICATE Timed Events 8-}) |
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You should be able to accomplish this using the "Timed Event Formulas" screen. Let me know exactly what days you'd like to have and appropriate Text and Descriptions and I'll post the formulas for you.
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| 2) How about putting the X-10 device description in the log? (so when it says it sent E9 off, it tells me which device is associated with that E9 code) |
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I'll look into this.
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| 3) allow WAIT time to be specified in HH:MM:SS (here's a place that could be more intuitive - WAIT is in seconds, but other delays are in minutes) |
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I'll look at this as well. Im not sure what delays are in minutes though. Most every other delay should be in milliseconds (Macro "Delay" command and ph_delay function).
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| 4) It would be nice to sort every spreadsheet-like screen by any field (for example, sort Timed Events by StartTime) |
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This is in the works.
Quote:
| 5) It would be nice if the Event Log would update on-the-fly. |
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Look at the PowerHome Status screen. It has an eventlog that is updated on the fly. It currently defaults to the last 10 events, but you can change this by editing the pwrhome.ini file and changing the "eventlogrows" parameter under the [PowerHome Status] section, saving, and reinitializing.
Appreciate the comments and hope Ive provided some useful answers. Definately post again with any other comments or questions.
Dave.
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jeffw_00
Super User
Joined: June 30 2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 929
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| Posted: November 19 2007 at 15:32 | IP Logged
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Hi Dave - Thanks for the thorough response. I have to apologize though, I looked at what I posted earlier and realized some of my questions were imprecise - I edited my post, but (sigh) after you started answering it 8-} So some of my responses are really clarifications....
QNS:
1) I don't want a lot of background INSTEON traffic in my system because it seems to prevent other traffic (like X-10 commands) from reaching the controller. I'm ok if PH doesn't correctly display current on/off status of devices, and I never make direct links outside of PH. Given that, do you see any harm in my disabling the status/level/ramp/x10 scans? Need I run the scans ever? is once a day sufficient?
2) What I really wanted to ask is: How much delay (and is it programmable) does PH put between Timed Events with exactly the same time? (again, I'm more worried about sufficient spacing of X-10 events.)
3)
Quote:
12a) All triggers are detected by Powerhome, and all modules are controlled by Powerhome. That being said, is there anything related to linking that i need to worry about? (given there are no direct controller/responder links)? I'm referring specifically to using a KPL as a controller.
Other than making sure that the PLC is a responder to every device including every button on KPL's and ControLincs, you should be good to go. |
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So, even though I'm converted to PH, I'm scared enough of screwing up the PLC and links that I can't decide whether to leave well enough alone, or download the app, clear the PLC database, add the Min IDs, and try to re-setup my links (the only ones I have are from one KPL to the PLC - but although I've made it through the on-line help I'm still not sure how to do this, and make sure the links get pushed out to the network).
COMMENTS... (no reply needed)
a) an FYI - when I get the complaint about missing fields, I USUALLY can't see anything is wrong, even after looking closely. I will use your suggestion, though.
b) RE: Delay before all triggers - I get that I can put the delay into every macro explicitly. Just looking for a global. (everything in my home seems to work better with a few seconds between commands, might be an artifact of my active bridge). Put it down as a low-priority feature request. 8-}
c) Please take a fresh look at section 1 of the "Feature suggestions" in my edited posting at the top of this thread (edited at 14:18 Monday) I think I did a better job organizing my comments about the Timed Events window, so you may want to look at that. I won't be judgmental because I don't know the constraints you're working in. 8-}
d) Although I totally get the power of the programming interface (which I plan to dig into at some time), and am not afraid of it (as I do code for my day job - mostly Verilog and Perl) I'm proud to say I think I set everything up the way I wanted without having to go there (although in some places (like Timed Events) it's just a tiny bit ugly). I'm not dissing this very powerful feature, just complimenting you that I was able to get quite far without getting into it. Coming as far as I have was a lot more intuitive than I expected - barely had to crack the manual.
e) Glad you're considering the other feature requests, I look forward to them.
-disable to timed events - I now use ph_macro and make the events I want to be conditional, conditional on a global variable, so this feat. req. isn't a priority for me anymore! 8-}
-X-10 module name in the log entry is easy, I hope.
-I got thrown because Wait time in MACROS is in seconds, and offset in TIMED EVENTS is in minutes (I didn't even get to Delay, which is in ms (sigh)). In a perfect world all times would have a common format (HH:MM:SS:ms?). Glad to hear it sort of is in the works.
-I wasn't using the event log in the status screen because it was too short. I will look into changing the size - thanks
f) You said: "You should be able to accomplish this using the "Timed Event Formulas" screen. Let me know exactly what days you'd like to have and appropriate Text and Descriptions and I'll post the formulas for you." My reply: I only had one ugly one (sun-Thu) and I'm ok with how I worked around it. I'll look into the formulas at a later time, though if you want to send an example I wouldn't complain 8-}
Powerhome is like Perl - "there's more than one way to do it" 8-}
Again - thanks!
/j
Edited by jeffw_00 - November 23 2007 at 18:35
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jeffw_00
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| Posted: November 22 2007 at 13:08 | IP Logged
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_bunp_
(hoping Dave will write a response next time he's in-forum)
happy thanksgiving all
/j
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dhoward
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| Posted: November 23 2007 at 22:35 | IP Logged
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Jeff,
1) You're safe in never running the status/level/ramp/X10 scans. As long as you've done this at least once and you *only* change these settings from within PowerHome, you don't have to run them. You may want to *occasionally* let it run (say once a month) so that PowerHome can catch any inconsistencies. It seems that occasionally Insteon devices can have their links corrupted and an occasional scan can catch these situations. An alternative would be to just do it once so PowerHome has knowledge of everything in the network and then just do spot scans if you notice problems. You can spot scan a particular link by bringing up the Insteon Explorer, navigating to the "Links" tab, highlighting the links in question, and dragging and dropping (or just clicking) the "Refresh" button and then clicking the "Save" text. You can spot scan an entire device by going to the "Devices" tab and placing a check in the "Scan DB" column of the device in question and pressing the "Save/Refresh" button.
2) Timed events and exactly when they fire can be a little in depth, but I'll do my best to clarify. Timed Events will be added to the PowerHome execution queue at minimum 1 second intervals. But that doesnt necessary mean that they will execute 1 second apart. They may actually execute back to back. If you've got two timed events scheduled to execute at exactly the same time (say 10:40:30), then the first one will be added to the execution queue at 10:40:31. The timer to add the other timed event to the execution queue is set for 10:40:32. The execution queue is processed and the first timed event is executed. If this timed event action is a macro that contains a DELAY command of 2000 (2 seconds), then the first timed event ends at 10:40:33. The second timed event was added to the queue at 10:40:32. As soon as the first timed event is finished at 10:40:33, then the second timed event (already in the queue) will immediately begin to execute. If the first timed event had executed almost immediately instead of in 2 seconds, then there would have been about a 1 second delay between TE execution. Sooo, long story short, you can't depend upon the any specific time delay between timed events.
3) Absolutely. There should be no problem with working through the PLC setup steps in the Setup tab including downloading the core app and adding the min ID's. Also, don't worry about messing up your links. If you've done at least one complete scan and everything looks good, then you shouldnt have to worry about your links. If you want to make sure that everything is exactly the way you like, just get the "Links" tab with all your links the way you want them to be and let PowerHome do its stuff. Links will be created/deleted/updated as long as the "Poll Interval" is greater than 0 the individual devices are not flagged as comm failed.
Concerning your other comments...
b) You wouldnt have to put the delay into every macro...just a single macro. Check my post above and you'll quickly be able to efficiently add a variable delay to whichever triggers you like without having to have it specifically within every macro. If it doesnt make sense, let me know and I'll clarify.
c) Planned enhancements for Timed Events in the next beta are both a Boolean field and a Disabled field. I'll also look at the duplicate function and making it easier for the reference time to be changed. Im not completely sure of the special frequencies you've specified, but if I interpret it correct, the first one is a Daily frequency for all days except Sunday. If so, then you can easily create this frequency in the Timed Events formula screen. Just insert a new line in this screen and use an appropriate Frequency Text and Description (I used "Not Sundays") and use the following formula:
Code:
| datetime(relativedate(date([REFTIME]),[INCREMENT] + case(daynumber(relativedate(date([REFTIME]),[INCREMENT])) when 1 then 1 else 0)),time([REFTIME])) |
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Your second special frequency looks to be daily except for Fridays and Saturdays. If this is correct, this is also easily obtained with the following formula:
Code:
| datetime(relativedate(date([REFTIME]),[INCREMENT] + case(daynumber(relativedate(date([REFTIME]),[INCREMENT])) when 6 then 2 when 7 then 1 else 0)),time([REFTIME])) |
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Hope this helps,
Dave.
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jeffw_00
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| Posted: November 23 2007 at 23:40 | IP Logged
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Helps a lot, Dave, Thanks. Followup...
I see that the delay doesn't go into every macro, it goes into each timed event...
But my problem is this - when -ever- I have X-10 commands go out back-to-back i lose some reliability, I think it is due to my whole-house repeater.
So, although I've since learned that most of my other feature requests aren't necessary, one medium-priority request would be the ability to add a default delay to the execution queue, so that no X-10 events occur closer than a programmable interval of, say, 1-3 seconds.
For now, I'll space all my timed events at least a minute apart and hope for the best 8-]
thanks!
/j
(of course, putting the X-10 module name in the event log would still be nice, and - here's a real little one..
how about comment field for global variables? 8-}
/j)
Edited by jeffw_00 - November 24 2007 at 01:31
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Topic: Questions about Powerhome Setup
