123
Senior Member
Hello all,
I am just getting started with Home Automation and found the Premise software. I'm giving it a try and also a couple other programs in their 30 day trial state. It appears that the only way to get Premise to do something, wait a while, and then do something else is to schedule 2 events or write a script.
If I schedule multiple events, where one is to dim a light that is already on, the light turns off first. Is there a way around this? If not, will the script leave the light on and only dim it? Another program does this, so I know it is not a limitation of the light module.
Regards,
Karl Sumwalt
======================
Welcome Karl!!!
The behavior you are seeing is because, for X10, Premise doesn't really know the current state of the device. The initial "turn-off" you are seeing is Premise's attempt to put the device in a "known-state" (off). I don't have Builder in front of me, but I believe there is a configuration setting that will tell the X10 driver to not turn the light off first. I'll check it out tonight and post a reply.
I still think you'll have issues with not knowing the current state of the X10 device. You can partially get around this by using two-way X10 devices. At least that way, when the device itself knows about a state change, it will broadcast it. Another thing you might check is the X10 device type setting. Premise will use the Extended X10 command set only if you tell it that the device supports it. Extended commands add other functionality to X10 including things like Preset Dim.
You might also consider using another Power Line technology. Since you say you are new to home automation, you may not have experienced the reliability issues with X10. It can be very difficult to make your X10 system 99.9% reliable. If you still want to use a power line technology, try Insteon. It's much more reliable than X10.
-John
======================
John,
Thank you for the reply. I will look at the configurations this weekend and see if I can figure it out.
I have heard people claim the x10 products to be less than 100% reliable. For now I have decided to use inexpensive items more to play with the concepts and decide on software and needs/wants. Once I am more serious, I plan on using other manufacturer's products. I am not stuck on the power line technology, but do like the concept of
the power line/RF combined concept.
Karl
======================
Karl,
I found the configuration I mentioned in my last post. Assuming you are using a CM11A controller, look under Devices>X10>CM11A>House_A>X10_A_01. In the properties window you'll see the Type property under "Object". If you are using the generic dimmers that are listed in the Builder with a Type of X10_DIMMER, there is a property called RefreshBeforeDim. It's default value is True. I believe that when set to true, the driver
attempts to set the device to a known state before actually dimming the device. To get around this, try setting the value of RefreshBeforeDim to false.
Thanks,
-John
======================
John,
That works well, and makes sense with what it is labeled. Apparently this turns off lamp modules, then back on to full brightness prior to dimming. By setting it to false, the lamp just dims if it is already on.
Karl
I am just getting started with Home Automation and found the Premise software. I'm giving it a try and also a couple other programs in their 30 day trial state. It appears that the only way to get Premise to do something, wait a while, and then do something else is to schedule 2 events or write a script.
If I schedule multiple events, where one is to dim a light that is already on, the light turns off first. Is there a way around this? If not, will the script leave the light on and only dim it? Another program does this, so I know it is not a limitation of the light module.
Regards,
Karl Sumwalt
======================
Welcome Karl!!!
The behavior you are seeing is because, for X10, Premise doesn't really know the current state of the device. The initial "turn-off" you are seeing is Premise's attempt to put the device in a "known-state" (off). I don't have Builder in front of me, but I believe there is a configuration setting that will tell the X10 driver to not turn the light off first. I'll check it out tonight and post a reply.
I still think you'll have issues with not knowing the current state of the X10 device. You can partially get around this by using two-way X10 devices. At least that way, when the device itself knows about a state change, it will broadcast it. Another thing you might check is the X10 device type setting. Premise will use the Extended X10 command set only if you tell it that the device supports it. Extended commands add other functionality to X10 including things like Preset Dim.
You might also consider using another Power Line technology. Since you say you are new to home automation, you may not have experienced the reliability issues with X10. It can be very difficult to make your X10 system 99.9% reliable. If you still want to use a power line technology, try Insteon. It's much more reliable than X10.
-John
======================
John,
Thank you for the reply. I will look at the configurations this weekend and see if I can figure it out.
I have heard people claim the x10 products to be less than 100% reliable. For now I have decided to use inexpensive items more to play with the concepts and decide on software and needs/wants. Once I am more serious, I plan on using other manufacturer's products. I am not stuck on the power line technology, but do like the concept of
the power line/RF combined concept.
Karl
======================
Karl,
I found the configuration I mentioned in my last post. Assuming you are using a CM11A controller, look under Devices>X10>CM11A>House_A>X10_A_01. In the properties window you'll see the Type property under "Object". If you are using the generic dimmers that are listed in the Builder with a Type of X10_DIMMER, there is a property called RefreshBeforeDim. It's default value is True. I believe that when set to true, the driver
attempts to set the device to a known state before actually dimming the device. To get around this, try setting the value of RefreshBeforeDim to false.
Thanks,
-John
======================
John,
That works well, and makes sense with what it is labeled. Apparently this turns off lamp modules, then back on to full brightness prior to dimming. By setting it to false, the lamp just dims if it is already on.
Karl
