Hi Mark.

I hope you won't mind me writing to you directly. If you would rather I didn
't please let me know. I'd be happy to post this to list server.

I bought ECS about two weeks ago. Since then, I've installed it with a JDS
Time Commander Plus (TC). My TC configuration includes the base I/O unit and
two additional I/O units.

I have extensive zoning in my house (every room). I bought three
microprocessor controlled furnaces and the TC to control the zones (as well
as other things, lighting, security, etc.). Each room has a motion detector
(to determine of someone is there) and a temperature sensor (analog 0-5v). I
've hooked the motion detectors into the digital ports of the TC. The
temperature sensors are attached to the analog ports.

Because motion detectors by themselves are not very useful to determine if
someone is in a room, I use the motion detectors to set flags when someone's
in the room. During the day, a motion detector has to be tripped every 10
minutes in order to keep the flag true. At night, in bedrooms, it is set at
1 ? hours.

I originally programmed the TC with various temperature control scenarios. I
've tried to do the same with ECS. Anyway, I've had fits with the TC. It
keeps freezing. When it's running, I can save about 50% on the heating and
air conditioning bills, not an insignificant amount given the size of my
house. Sometimes, the TC will run for weeks without problems and them it
hangs. I've looked at everything from power spikes (on the high and low
power sides) to repeatable patterns.

As you might imagine, I have been talking to JDS Technologies until I'm blue
in the face. They say that the unit freezes because my program is too
elaborate. They say their device was never designed to support as many
devices as I have hooked to it and that no one has ever tried to do what I'
ve tried to do. Admittedly, my original programs used nested if, then, else
statements that were fairly compact but chewed up a lot of processing time.
Now, however, it consists of a lot of very small if, then, else statements,
and chews up about 50% of the memory of the TC.

Anyway, I bought ECS with the hope that it would interface with the TC and
provide me with the control I was looking for. I have noted that the TC will
run forever without freezing with very simple programs. When I wrote the ECS
events/items, I tried to keep things simple, but wasn't completely satisfied
with the result. I had hoped that ECS would offer me the ability to write
one control routine for HVAC and then supply it with the variables for each
of the rooms. Maybe it does, but I couldn't understand how to do it. I ended
up writing two events for every room, which depend on a couple of other
events. Note that the furnace (heat), air conditioning and dampers are
controlled through relays:

;----------------------------------------------------------------
; Sets a high level flag to True or False based upon Wake up
; Time and Sleep Time. Used in regulation of HVAC and lights
;----------------------------------------------------------------
If         Time                 Is GE      Wake Up Time
And        Time                 Is LE      Sleep Time
Then       Awake Time           Set        True
Else       Awake Time           Set        False

;----------------------------------------------------------------
; Turns on the basement furnace if heat is required, and
; the AC if AC is required
; Used in regulation of HVAC.
;----------------------------------------------------------------
If         Guest HVAC           Is         Closed
Or         Candace HVAC         Is         Closed
Or         Brandon HVAC         Is         Closed
Or         Exercise HVAC        Is         Closed
Or         Basement HVAC        Is         Closed
And        Heating Season       Is         True
Then       Furnace #1           Set        Closed
Else       Furnace #1           Set        Open

If         Guest HVAC           Is         Closed
Or         Candace HVAC         Is         Closed
Or         Brandon HVAC         Is         Closed
Or         Exercise HVAC        Is         Closed
Or         Basement HVAC        Is         Closed
And        AC Season            Is         True
Then       AC #1                Set        Closed
Else       AC #1                Set        Open

;----------------------------------------------------------------
; Uses motion detector to determine if someone is in the room
; based upon whether it is daytime or nightime.
; Used in regulation of HVAC and room lights
;----------------------------------------------------------------
If         Awake Time           Is         True
And        Guest MD             Is         High
Then       Guest There Flag     Set        True
Then       Guest There Timer    Set        10
Else If    Awake Time           Is         False
And        Guest MD             Is         High
Then       Guest There Flag     Set        True
Then       Guest There Timer    Set        90

If         Guest There Timer    Is         0
Then       Guest There Flag     Set        False

;----------------------------------------------------------------
; Uses various flags and temps to set Heating or AC
; Used in regulation of HVAC.
;----------------------------------------------------------------
; Daytime, Present, Heating Season
; So set at the Global Desired Temp
If         Awake Time           Is         True
And        Guest There Flag     Is         True
And        Heating Season       Is         True
Then       Guest Desired Temp   Set        Global Desired Temp

; Nightime, present, heating season
; So decrease Global Desired Temp by Global Night Offset
If         Awake Time           Is         False
And        Guest There Flag     Is         True
And        Heating Season       Is         True
Then       Guest Desired Temp   Set        Global Desired Temp
Then       Guest Desired Temp   Subtract   Global Night Offset

; Daytime, Absent, heating season
; So decrease Global Desired Temp by Global Absnc Offset
If         Awake Time           Is         True
And        Heating Season       Is         True
And        Guest There Flag     Is         False
Then       Guest Desired Temp   Set        Global Desired Temp
Then       Guest Desired Temp   Subtract   Global Absnc Offset

; Nightime, absent, heating season
; So decrease Global Desired Temp by Global Night Offset and
; Global Absnc Offset
If         Awake Time           Is         False
And        Guest There Flag     Is         False
And        Heating Season       Is         True
Then       Guest Desired Temp   Set        Global Desired Temp
Then       Guest Desired Temp   Subtract   Global Night Offset
Then       Guest Desired Temp   Subtract   Global Absnc Offset

; Daytime, Present, AC Season
; So set Guest Desired Temp at Global Desired Temp
If         Awake Time           Is         True
And        AC Season            Is         True
And        Guest There Flag     Is         True
Then       Guest Desired Temp   Set        Global Desired Temp
Then       Guest Desired Temp   Add        AC Temp Upshift

; Daytime, Absent, AC Season
If         Awake Time           Is         True
If         Guest There Flag     Is         False
If         AC Season            Is         True
Then       Guest Desired Temp   Set        Global Desired Temp
Then       Guest Desired Temp   Add        AC Temp Upshift
Then       Guest Desired Temp   Add        Global Absnc Offset

; Nightime, Present, AC Season
If         Awake Time           Is         False
And        Guest There Flag     Is         True
And        AC Season            Is         True
Then       Guest Desired Temp   Set        Global Desired Temp
Then       Guest Desired Temp   Add        Global Night Offset

; Nightime, Absent, AC Season
If         Awake Time           Is         False
And        Guest There Flag     Is         False
And        AC Season            Is         True
Then       Guest Desired Temp   Set        Global Desired Temp
Then       Guest Desired Temp   Add        AC Temp Upshift
Then       Guest Desired Temp   Add        Global Night Offset
Then       Guest Desired Temp   Add        Global Absnc Offset

; Open HVAC Damper if desired temp different than actual temp
If         Heating Season       Is         True
And        Guest TS             Is LT      Guest Desired Temp
Then       Guest HVAC           Set        Closed

; Open HVAC Damper if desired temp different than actual temp
If         AC Season            Is         True
And        Guest TS             Is GT      Guest Desired Temp
Then       Guest HVAC           Set        Closed

; Close HVAC Damper if desired temp comes back up
If         Heating Season       Is         True
And        Guest TS             Is GT      Guest Desired Temp
Then       Guest HVAC           Set        Open

; Close HVAC Damper if desired temp comes back up
If         AC Season            Is         True
And        Guest TS             Is LT      Guest Desired Temp
Then       Guest HVAC           Set        Open

When I finished writing routines for all the rooms, I ended up with an ECS
configuration that is big. I ran it and it ran fine, although ECS quickly
got behind by about 1400 seconds. And, the TC would only run it for about 30
minutes before freezing. Do you have any suggestions? I've been considering
throwing the TC away and starting over but can't really afford to do that
right now.

Regards,
Rob Hicks