| ECS-L Home Automation and Security Archives |
| Subject: From: Date: | FW: [ECS] Re: hv/dimming Ingo Dean (At Home) Sat, 26 Sep 1998 11:49:13 -0400 |
Mark, Craig said to me: > But in reality, some lamp modules need from 1 to 4 > extra steps to go completely off. To help get around > this problem, when you use HV to set a light to level 0, > we actually send a few extra dim commands to ensure its > off. Maybe Mark was counting signals and saw this. I can see why this is something you don't want to spend any more time on. I always thought all X-10 modules were consistent, but it seems they're not. I'd guess that the workaround here is simply to send a few extra DIM commands when we want to set a lamp to 0%, as Craig says he does when you use Homevision. You never answered my question about which Homevision command you where using. The ,Pxx07nn command, the ,Pxx09nn command (I thought at the time that this is the best one, since then you're not allowing HV to compare internal X-10 states to what you're sending), or the ,Pxx11nn command (which lets HV decide how many DIMS to send, which might be best, 'cause then HV can do the logic)? Well, thanks for the attempt. I really had my hopes up for a while, but it looks like you'd spend a lot of debugging on this, so thanks anyway. On another note, I just ordered a bunch of stuff from X-10, and am getting 7 free RF controllers, so that should keep me busy for a while! I also ordered the ReX-10, I've heard good things about it, though I'm not sure how it actually works yet - hope I don't have to hack an I/O port to the RF transmitter to better control it. After that, I'll probably start on the caller-id enabled answering machine, based on Garnet's code. Gotta say, though the learning curve is steep, I certainly don't regret moving to ECS from a straight Homevision system. I've looked at all the others, and ECS is the only one for me. --ingo -----Original Message----- From: Craig Chadwick [mailto:csi@csi3.com] Sent: Friday, September 25, 1998 6:07 PM To: Ingo Dean Subject: Re: [ECS] Re: hv/dimming Ingo, HV assumes there are 17 levels (0 to 16). 16 is full on. Each dim command drops the level 1/16th (6.25), so that 0 is off. I'm not sure where Mark got 18. One confusing thing is that different X-10 devices actually have different numbers of levels. If you put a light full on, then dim 16 times, it should be essentially off. But in reality, some lamp modules need from 1 to 4 extra steps to go completely off. To help get around this problem, when you use HV to set a light to level 0, we actually send a few extra dim commands to ensure its off. Maybe Mark was counting signals and saw this. Thanks, Craig Chadwick President Custom Solutions, Inc. mailto:csi@csi3.com http://www.csi3.com ----------------------------------------------------------- HomeVision: Home automation controller with two-way X-10, two-way IR, 24 I/O ports, over 50 video screens on your TV, and much more ... ----------------------------------------------------------- -----Original Message----- From: Ingo Dean <Ingo_Dean@mentorg.com> To: Craig Chadwick <csi@csi3.com> Date: Friday, September 25, 1998 10:16 am Subject: FW: [ECS] Re: hv/dimming >Craig, > >Can you shed any light on this for me? > >Thanks, >--ingo > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Mark Gilmore [mailto:markgilmore@cococo.net] >> Sent: Friday, September 25, 1998 11:11 AM >> To: ecs-list@vancouver.ml.org >> Subject: Re: [ECS] Re: hv/dimming >> >> >> Ingo, I know from testing that there are >> 18 dim physical states using the HV. >> I strongly doubt that there is a bug here. >> BTW, I convert to hex. >> >> Ingo Dean (At Home) wrote: >> > >> > Mark, >> > >> > I've noticed one thing relating to this. ECS seems to >> have an extra dim >> > level, or HV has one too few: >> > >> > ECS HV >> > === === >> > 0% 0 >> > 6% 1 >> > 12% 2 >> > 18% 3 >> > 24% 4 >> > 30% 5 >> > 36% 6 >> > 42% 7 >> > 48% 8 >> > 54% 9 >> > 60% 10 >> > 66% 11 >> > 72% 12 >> > 78% 13 >> > 84% 14 >> > 90% 15 >> > 96% 16 >> > ON No equivalent >> > >> > When running the regular ECS, if I have a light at level >> ON and set it to >> > level 96%, it sends out X-10 commands (I can't tell what >> they are). But >> > X-10 only has those 16 levels, right? So shouldn't ON be >> the same as 96%, >> > and therefore no X-10 command be necessary? >> > >> > Maybe I can help debug this. Are you sending the >> ,Pxx07nn command, the >> > ,Pxx09nn command (I imagine this is the best one, since >> then you're not >> > allowing HV to compare internal X-10 states to what >> you're sending), or are >> > you sending the ,Pxx11nn command (which lets HV decide >> how many DIMS to >> > send)? >> > >> > Also, for the nn in each command, are you sending in >> decimal, or converting >> > to Hex first? >> > >> > > -----Original Message----- >> > > From: Mark Gilmore [mailto:markgilmore@cococo.net] >> > > Sent: Thursday, September 24, 1998 12:29 PM >> > > To: Craig Chadwick; ecs-list >> > > Subject: [ECS] Re: hv/dimming >> > > >> > > >> > > Craig, It is just a normal light bulb and lamp module. >> > > It is "missing" 3-4 commands: It takes 3-4 more dim >> > > commands (sent manually) to take it to 0-brightness. >> > > Any other thoughts or suggestions ? >> > > I can kludge it if needed. Thanks >> > > -- >> > > Mark Gilmore >> > > Omnipotence >> > > http://members.a2zsol.com/omnipotence.html >> > > >> >> -- >> Mark Gilmore >> Omnipotence >> http://members.a2zsol.com/omnipotence.html >> >