M1G X10 Control

[Photon]

I finally have an M1 set up on my workbench, and I've enjoyed trying the various features. I connected a PSC05 and it lets me control my various dimmer switches, lamps and appliance modules both through rules and directly from a KP2 keypad. I have a couple questions about using the X10 interface, and the printed instructions are, well, less than thorough. I defined the lamp modules and wall switch as Standard format, Dimmer type.

1. When controlling from the M1-KP2, the display says "# to change Dim=0-9." The # will turn a lamp module on or off. However, I cannot get any dim action. 0 turns it off, and any number 1-9 turns it full on. Is the dimmer function supposed to work from the KP2?

2. A rule ending with "THEN DIM Gar Outside Lt (39(C7)) BY 2 STEPS" turns on the garage light full bright and then dims it half way. If I dim by six steps, the light goes on and dims to full off. Since there are 32 steps available when building a rule, shouldn't there be more than six steps available to control a dimmer from full bright to full dim?

I've had JP2 in both one-way and two-way positions since the only two way device I have is the PSC05, and it behaves the same in both positions. The M1G hardware version is 0.13, and firmware ver 5.1.4.

Any ideas?

Thanks. . . . John

 

[davefred99]

I finally have an M1 set up on my workbench, and I've enjoyed trying the various features. I connected a PSC05 and it lets me control my various dimmer switches, lamps and appliance modules both through rules and directly from a KP2 keypad. I have a couple questions about using the X10 interface, and the printed instructions are, well, less than thorough. I defined the lamp modules and wall switch as Standard format, Dimmer type.

1. When controlling from the M1-KP2, the display says "# to change Dim=0-9." The # will turn a lamp module on or off. However, I cannot get any dim action. 0 turns it off, and any number 1-9 turns it full on. Is the dimmer function supposed to work from the KP2?

2. A rule ending with "THEN DIM Gar Outside Lt (39(C7)) BY 2 STEPS" turns on the garage light full bright and then dims it half way. If I dim by six steps, the light goes on and dims to full off. Since there are 32 steps available when building a rule, shouldn't there be more than six steps available to control a dimmer from full bright to full dim?

I've had JP2 in both one-way and two-way positions since the only two way device I have is the PSC05, and it behaves the same in both positions. The M1G hardware version is 0.13, and firmware ver 5.1.4.

Any ideas?

Thanks. . . . John

I have a similar problem, I sent an email to ELK Support,

Here is my original email
-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Frederick [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Sunday, March 30, 2008 12:04 AM
To: Brad Weeks
Subject: Unable to dim x10 lights with ELK MI



I have set up several x10 devices using ELK-RP and can not get any devices to dim properly.

I have set them up as standard and set them to dimmer in devices.

If I try to set up a rule or task +rule I can see the light dimm all the way to 0 but can not get them to go to any set value like 50%, once I execute a rule with a dim function in it I must send an off command to the light/device before I can turn it back on.

All on or off commands work as they should.



I also tried hooking up Powerhome using the serial connection and setting it up to use the ELK as a serial controller. It also works fine for off/on but any dim functions simply cause the lamp/device to dim all the way to 0 and I can not dim to any set values.

All devices are standard x10.

It seems that the commands are being sent but not prperly executed by the ELK controller.

I would apreciate any assistance in getting thei properly set up. This is a critical prblem for me as i wish to set mood lighting via rules.

Thanks, Dave Frederick-D&L Satellite


Here is the response

Good morning Dave,



To dim a Standard X-10 Dimmer it requires an “X10 Dim command”. Each “Dim” command changes the level approximately 3.1%. If the Standard X-10 Dimmer is at 100 % ON then it will take about 16 Dim Commands to get the light level to 50%.



How many Dim commands are you sending in the rule? And at what light level is the Lamp before this rile is triggered?



Though you may be able to accomplish this with Standard X-10 Dimmer modules, for the more complex mood lighting it’s best to use X-10 devices that support “Pre-set Dim” commands or another type of lighting system.



Thank you,

Brad Weeks

Technical Support

Elk Products, Inc.

1-800-797-9355 Ext. 10011

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

Dim commands are troublesome with X-10. I know I had a heck of a time getting them to work with my Ocelot. The only way I could get my dim commands to work was to first turn off a light, then administer the dim command after that.

I know this doesn't help with the Elk but FYI I attached the CMax code for the Ocelot below.

 

[123]

Devices like Smarthome's Switchlincs (the X10 flavour) know how to use the X10 protocol's "PRESET DIM" command. Basically it works the way you'd expect: tell the dimmer to go to 75% brightness and it does so. Don't confuse the term "PRESET DIM" with the concept of a Switchlinc's preset dim level ... meaning the dim level it jumps to when you turn it on.

Original X10 devices used the X10 protocol's "DIM" command. Each invocation of "DIM" tells the device to change brightness to the next step (3.1% as Brad described). So if you tell it to "DIM" four times, it will change about 12%. A drawback of these original devices is that they must jump to full brightness before they can dim to a desired level.

"PRESET DIM" is great because you don't need to know the dimmer's current level ... issue the command to go to "25%" and the dimmer will comply. For "DIM", you'll need to keep track of how many DIM's you've sent to know the light's current brightness level.

 

[CollinR]

Send an OFF then send your DIM is the only way I have found to make dimming basic x10 devices predictable.

 

[Photon]

Thanks for the replies. I also contacted Brad at Elk, and we didn't get any farther than Dave with the dimming rules. For anyone who cares, he told me the keypads don't dim X10 devices in spite of what the LCD says. Also, I should have the JP2 Jumper in the two-way position since I have a two-way interface, the PSC05, even though I have no two-way switch modules.

Regards. . . . .John

 

[Photon]

Brad just sent the following update:

I had our Engineer responsible for integrating lighting into the ELK-M1 System review the operation of the ELK-M1 when transmitting X10 commands. He did discover it appears the ELK-M1 is sending additional Dim Commands during the transmission. He has corrected this issue and it will be available with the next Firmware Release for the ELK-M1 System.

I'm not used to working with a company that listens to its customers, replys quickly, and actually provides fixes. This is going to take a bit of adjustment, but I think I can handle it.

Thanks to all of you whose posts convinced me to reconsider my earlier idea to go with a different alarm and get the ELK instead.

Regards. . . . .John

 

[davefred99]

Thanks for the replies. I also contacted Brad at Elk, and we didn't get any farther than Dave with the dimming rules. For anyone who cares, he told me the keypads don't dim X10 devices in spite of what the LCD says. Also, I should have the JP2 Jumper in the two-way position since I have a two-way interface, the PSC05, even though I have no two-way switch modules.

Regards. . . . .John

Here is an Updated replay from Brad Weeks at ELK support
Good afternoon Dave,



I had our Engineer responsible for integrating lighting into the ELK-M1 System review the operation of the ELK-M1 when transmitting X10 commands. He did discover it appears the ELK-M1 is sending additional Dim Commands during the transmission. He has corrected this issue and it will be available with the next Firmware Release for the ELK-M1 System. At this time there isn’t an official release date but it will be posted on the ELK M1 Site www.m1dealer.elkproducts.com .



Thank you for bringing this to our attention.



Best regards,

Brad Weeks

Technical Support

Elk Products, Inc.

 

[miamicanes]

This might be a stupid question, but can the M1EZ8 send X10 commands to the powerline "out of the box" (using only the parts that come with the kit that includes the enclosure and keypad), or does it need additional hardware to actually send commands into the powerline? I kind of got the impression from reading the manual that it can, but it seems like every posting I've seen that had "M1" and "X10" in the same sentence seemed to involve additional hardware.

Or, is it a case that the M1G/M1EZ8 can SEND X10 commands without additional hardware, but requires additional hardware to RECEIVE X10 transmissions?

 

[Spanky]

Trying to Dim X10, Inc. lamp modules are not very eligant.

The M1 turn the lamp full on then issues dim commands. You have to play around with the numer of dims because it will vary according to the lamp.

The best way to dim is to use a preset dim lamp module where the percentage of dimming can be sent to the lamp module without issuing the troublesome dim commands.