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Subject Topic: Need Help with PowerHome 1.03.4.4 Post ReplyPost New Topic
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ageen
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Posted: April 13 2005 at 13:58 | IP Logged Quote ageen

Hi,

I downloaded the beta PowerHome 1.03.4.4 and installed it on my machine. Also I have RedRat3 unit connected to my machine. I had a few questions and hope someone can help me. Here they are:

1- When I launch PH 1.03.4.4, in the Control Center window there is no Tab, is it normal?

2- To use this application with RedRat3 do I need anything else to install?

3- I went to setup and selected RedRat3 as the output device but for the output port the only option I have is "None", shouldn't it be USB?

4- When I try to record an IR command and I select Record nothing happens, or even if I select auto record (or I guess auto learn) right away it comes back with a message and saying everything is recorded successfully without letting me to use the IR remote control.

5- When I select to Add Tab, the OK botton is grayed out and I can't add any Tab. Am I doing anything wrong?

Any comments is appreciated.

Farid

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dhoward
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Posted: April 13 2005 at 14:46 | IP Logged Quote dhoward

Farid,

Welcome to PowerHome.

Question 1: When first launching PowerHome, the database does not intially contain any tab data for the Control Center. You would need to open the PowerHome Explorer and go the Control Center screen. Once in this screen, you can create some tabs. Be sure that the tab order is changed from 0 or it wont be visible. After adding tabs, do a Reinit (Under File menu) and you should see your tabs. To have buttons on your tab, you'll need to first define some X-10 devices, IR, macros, and formulas and then place them on the tab.

Question 2: This is a cut and paste from a previous message detailing whats needed to get the RR3 working with PowerHome.

1. Verify that the Microsoft dotnet framework installed. This should be included with your RedRat3 CD or can be downloaded from Microsoft.

2. Verify that the RedRat3 drivers included on the RR3 CD are properly installed. You should be able to verify RR3 operation using the test application on the CD.

2. Download and install the RedRat3 SDK version 1.11. You can get it from here: http://www.redrat.co.uk/SDK/RedRat_SDK_1.11.zip

3. Verify that VB6 runtime is installed. You can download it from here: http://download.microsoft.com/download/vb60pro/install/6/Win 98Me/EN-US/VBRun60.exe

4. Locate the phrr3.ocx file. This should be default located in the PowerHome directory at C:\Program Files\PowerHome. Once located, go to Start->run and type regsvr32 "c:\whatever_the_path_to_the_file_is\phrr3.ocx" This should have been done for you by the PowerHome install but it doesnt hurt to make sure.

Question 3: The proper port for the RedRat3 is "None". It will search for the RR3 and find it on the USB port. When adding / changing controllers, be sure and reinit when done so PowerHome will recognize the changes and try to connect to the controller.

Question 4: See questions 2 and 3 for proper RR3 setup. Before using autolearn, try to learn just a single code. See if the data is properly populated. Be sure that you are not near any flourescent lighting or direct sunlight as this can cause the RR3 to learn false signals.

Question 5: Not sure what screen you are on here. To add a tab just open the PowerHome Explorer and click on "Control Center" on the left hand pane. The right hand pane should then bring up a blank row for the first tab. All changes made in the Explorer are saved automatically when the Explorer is either closed, a different screen is selected, the save button is pressed, or a reinit is performed. Not sure what screen you were on to have had an "OK" button.

Let me know how it goes and if you have any more questions dont hesitate to ask.

Dave.
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ageen
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Posted: April 14 2005 at 12:31 | IP Logged Quote ageen

Dave,

Thanks so much. It worked. The only two things that I had not done before was registering the DLL and installing the VB runtime env. One of those two (or probably both) did the magic. BTW, I have one other question, if I want to install the program on another computer and in order to have all the settings, configurations and IR strings to be moved to the other system what would be the right procedure? I hope I don't have to teach the application all the IR codes again. Thanks

Farid
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dhoward
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Posted: April 14 2005 at 15:12 | IP Logged Quote dhoward

Farid,

Glad to hear it's working. The RR3 is one of the trickier controllers to setup but I havent heard of anyone having a problem once they follow the above steps. It's an awesome little IR controller to boot. You may also want to reference this thread: http://power-home.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=279&KW=redra t3. Towards the end is info concerning the RR3's settings in the pwrhome.ini file.

To move your setup from one computer to another, all you would need to do is copy two files: pwrhome.db and pwrhome.ini. The pwrhome.db file is the Adaptive Server Anywhere database that contains your Control Center tabs, IR codes, macros, formulas, etc. The pwrhome.ini file contains mostly information found under the PowerHome Explorer->Setup item such as what your controllers are, webserver configuration, userids, passwords, toolbar info, window size and location, etc.

Hope this helps,

Dave.
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ageen
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Posted: April 15 2005 at 02:33 | IP Logged Quote ageen

Dave,

Thanks again for your fast reply and help. It is the best support I have ever got :).

I ran into another minor issue tonight. I have 5 different remotes and PH was able to learn 4 of them without any problem. The fifth one belongs to one of those audio/video switch boxes (from Emerson), nothing fancy a very simple switch box with a simple remote which has 4 keys on it (to select input 1 through 4). PH (or probably RR3) is not able to read the IR data off this remote. Although I can see PH reacts to the remote signal because when I ask PH to Recorde the signal and I press any one of the keys on the remote the "#" in "Outgoing Code" field disappears but nothing is being recorded, i.e. both "incoming" and "outgoing code" fields remain blank. This is the only remote that acts this way. Do you have any idea or is there anything I can do in this situation to help PH to learn the signal?

Thanks

Farid
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dhoward
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Posted: April 15 2005 at 13:45 | IP Logged Quote dhoward

Farid,

Appreciate the comments

Most likely, the RR3 is unable to learn the remote. One thing you may be able to try is to open the pwrhome.ini file and change the "SaveSignalType" parameter under section [RedRat3] from 0 to 1. This will cause the signal to be saved in Pronto format. It may be possible that the XML format (default) is too large to be saved in PowerHome and the Pronto format may be smaller.

The other thing I would try is see if any of the software that comes with the RedRat3 is able to learn the code. This will help isolate whether it's PowerHome or the RR3.

The last thing to try would be fiddling with the other RR3 values in the pwrhome.ini file listed below:

LengthMeasurementDelta=200
ModFreqPeriodsToMeasure=2
EndOfSignalTimeout=150

The defaults above are different from what the RR3 was shipped with and seemed to work best in my situation. Look through the documentation that came in the RR3 SDK for an explanation of the above three parameters to determine how best to change them. The above parameter are really only used during the learning phase so once you get the Emerson codes learned, you should be able to change them back. The default for ModFreqPeriodsToMeasure was originally 8. It seemed that some of my remotes had very short initial pulses so the RR3 was unable to determine the frequency. By having a lower value, the chance of learning the signal is greater, but the learned frequency may not be as accurate if the value is higher. The default for LengthMeasurementDelta was originally 112. This is the "fuzz" factor for individual lengths. I would try reducing this value from 200 possible back down to the 112. This will cause you to have a greater "alphabet" of IR lengths and may help with this remote. The EndOfSignalTimeout of 150 is the RedRat3 default. This value is in milliseconds and controls when the RR3 thinks it's seen the end of the signal. If the Emerson has a very long gap, then you may need to increase this value. I would start by increasing this value by 50 all the way up to 500 to see if it makes a difference. If it doesnt help, then try reducing it by 50.

Keep in mind if you change any of the values in pwrhome.ini to save the file and then reinitialize PowerHome so that it will recognize the changes.

The last thing you may try is going to http://www.remotecentral.com and seeing if they have the signals for the Emerson in Pronto format. You could then just copy and paste them into the Data field of PowerHome.

Let me know how it goes, I would be interested in hearing how it all finally comes out.

Dave.
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ageen
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Posted: April 15 2005 at 14:22 | IP Logged Quote ageen

Dave,

Thanks for taking the time and explaining all the options that i have. As
soon as i get back home i will try them out one by one. In the
meantime i went to remotecentral.com and I found three diiffernt files
for that remote. Tow of them were in ccf format and one was in txt.
Here is the txt file;

0000 0072 0006 0000 0002 0071 0002 00a6 0002 00a6 0002 00a6
0002 0071 0002 0071

0000 0072 0006 0000 0002 0071 0002 00a6 0002 00a6 0002 0071
0002 00a6 0002 0071

0000 0071 0006 0000 0002 0072 0002 00a7 0002 0072 0002 00a7
0002 0072 0002 0072

0000 0071 0000 0006 0002 0072 0002 00a7 0002 0072 0002 0072
0002 00a7 0002 0169

is this what i need, if yes then, you mentioned to copy and paste it in
the data field of PH, this data field is the same as outgoing code field or
it is something else. Thanks again.

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dhoward
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Posted: April 15 2005 at 14:35 | IP Logged Quote dhoward

Heh, you're right...it's Outgoing Code field . Earlier versions of PowerHome just labeled it as Data.

That text file should be just fine. I can see why the RR3 would have such a problem. Each of the four codes are very short as far as IR codes go and theres not a lot of pulses for it to decode. It's possible that no matter how you change the settings, it might never learn the code.

If you look on remotecenter, you'll also find freeware tools that can work with CCF files. I prefer the text files myself (just open them and go), but sometimes some of the codes you need are only available as a CCF. The CCF utilities will allow you to get the underlying Pronto code.

It looks like you are probably good to go.

Let me know how it goes and if you have any problems.

Dave.
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ageen
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Posted: April 23 2005 at 17:25 | IP Logged Quote ageen

Dave,

I only downloaded the text file from remotecentral and it worked. I didn't try other options. Also I would like to say thanks for the great app. and the amazing support. Everything is working smoothley now. Thanks again,

Farid
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