| ECS-L Home Automation and Security Archives |
| Subject: From: Date: | RE: [ECS] hv dimming Ingo Dean (At Home) Sun, 4 Oct 1998 18:13:32 -0400 |
I don't use any wall switches, I only use the regular X-10 Lamp Modules (and
some Radio Shack Plug&Power Lamp Modules). And the lights do dim to 0%
properly when using Homevision's commands only, or using an X-10 controller.
Before ECS, Homevision never had this problem. I've been dimming my lights
to 0% for years.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dan Carrington [mailto:dc_grafx@microworks.net]
> Sent: Sunday, October 04, 1998 5:09 PM
> To: ecs-list@vancouver.ml.org
> Subject: Re: [ECS] hv dimming
>
>
> Something to consider. It could be the X10 dimming units themselves. I
> have some Newtone decora wall switches that are standard X10 dimming.
> If I send an on command from a remote and then hold down the dim button
> on the remote, the light will come on then dim down to off. If I
> actually look closely at the lightbulb filliment and listen carefully, I
> can see the filliment glow slightly and hum at 60hz. The actual x10
> dimmer unit will not go fully off. I can hold down the dim button till
> the cows come home and it will not go off further. ECS will show that
> light at 0% as it should. If I then hit the off button for that light,
> the light goes fully out and the humming stops. This problem, mine at
> least, has nothing to do with ECS, just the way my wall switch works.
> Try that yourself and see what is the problem.
>
> Dan Carrington
>
>
>
>
> Ingo Dean (At Home) wrote:
> >
> > Mark,
> >
> > > From: Mark Gilmore [mailto:markgilmore@cococo.net]
> > > Sent: Tuesday, September 29, 1998 10:33 PM
> > ...
> > > Ingo, If you have used "SET ECS_PLC_IFC_2J_DIM=2", the fast
> > > HV/dimming should work (with 4 extra dims for 0%).
> > > If not, try the new one. If still not, is it dimming FAST ?
> >
> > I just downloaded and installed the "10/03/98 03:58PM 1,281,274 ECS.ZIP"
> > beta version.
> >
> > I again "SET ECS_PLC_IFC_2J_DIM=2" to have ECS use smooth Homevision
> > dimming.
> >
> > It does do fast dimming, but setting my lights to 0% still leaves them
> > glowing, just like before.
> >
> > Using Homevision's built-in TV screens, I verified that it (HV) also
> > believes the (still glowing) light to be at 0%, just like ECS.
> >
> > If you are sending the four extra DIMs, perhaps Homevision is
> ignoring them:
> > the regular "Dim ## Times" command (P{uc}07{fnc}) would be ignored by
> > Homevision once it "believes" the light is fully dimmed. You should be
> > using the "Force Dim ## Times" command (P{uc}09{fnc}) so that
> HV's internal
> > view doesn't override your commands. (Actually, you should be using the
> > Force versions wherever they exist to make sure Homevision never ignores
> > you.)
> >
> > Note also that I have this problem even without using the new fast-dim
> > option (to a lesser extent, though). Many times, I have to "reset" my
> > lights because when I set them to 0% at night, they continue to
> glow. But I
> > believe this to be a seperate issue:
> >
> > For more data, I had ECS dim a light and brighten it back one step at a
> > time, comparing the ECS and HV (screen) values after each step.
> You can see
> > ECS and HV go out of sync both when dimming (at 6%) and brightening (at
> > 96%):
> >
> > Dimming Brightening
> > ECS HV ECS HV
> > ========= ===========
> > ON 100 0 0
> > 96 93 6 6
> > 90 87 12 12
> > 84 81 18 18
> > 78 75 24 25
> > 72 68 30 31
> > 66 62 36 37
> > 60 56 42 43
> > 54 50 48 50
> > 48 43 54 56
> > 42 37 60 62
> > 36 31 66 68
> > 30 25 72 75
> > 24 18 78 81
> > 18 12 78 81
> > 12 6 84 87
> > 6 0<-LIGHT WENT OFF 90 93
> > 0 0 96 100
> > ON 100
>