X10-2 Problem

[itanic]

I installed the plugin and Rain8 X10-2 module last night. I set it up for a test this morning beginning at 6:00am with each zone set for 5 minutes and a seasonal percentage of 50. These are the entries in the log.

10/13/2005 6:00:31 AM~!~Info~!~Exec command: Rain8 Front Beds on dim: 0 extra: 0
10/13/2005 6:00:34 AM~!~X10 Received~!~G1 (Rain8 Front Beds) G Status On
10/13/2005 6:02:31 AM~!~Info~!~Exec command: Rain8 Front Beds off dim: 0 extra: 0
10/13/2005 6:02:34 AM~!~Info~!~Exec command: Rain8 Front Lawn on dim: 0 extra: 0
10/13/2005 6:04:32 AM~!~Info~!~Exec command: Rain8 Front Lawn off dim: 0 extra: 0
10/13/2005 6:04:35 AM~!~Info~!~Exec command: Rain8 Side Lawn on dim: 0 extra: 0
10/13/2005 6:06:33 AM~!~Info~!~Exec command: Rain8 Side Lawn off dim: 0 extra: 0
10/13/2005 6:06:36 AM~!~Info~!~Exec command: Rain8 Back Beds on dim: 0 extra: 0
10/13/2005 6:06:36 AM~!~X10 Received~!~G4 (Rain8 Side Lawn) G Status Off
10/13/2005 6:06:39 AM~!~X10 Received~!~G2 (Rain8 Back Beds) G Status On
10/13/2005 6:08:34 AM~!~Info~!~Exec command: Rain8 Back Beds off dim: 0 extra: 0
10/13/2005 6:08:37 AM~!~X10 Received~!~G2 (Rain8 Back Beds) G Status Off

At about 6:30am I noticed that the front beds (zone 1) was still on. The log indicates that that an acknowlegement for off was not received on this zone and that other zones also did not receive an acknowlegement. I was under the impression that with the 2-way module, the commands would repoll if not acknowleged. Am I missing something?

The manual I have shows options in the Rain8 EPROM and Timers for X10-2 Status Response, but this does not show up in my web page. The manual is for version 2.4 and I'm using version 2.3.79.

[Michael McSharry]

There are variances in behavior based upon the vesion of Rain8-2 firmware, HS 1 vs 2, and mcsSprinklers version with respect to operation of the Rain8-2. The Rain8-2 can be configured to deliver an immediate ack on command or only deliver it when polled. In the Standalone version of mcsSprinklers or when mcsSprinklers has direct control of the X10 interface then it handles the immediate ack well. When HS has control of the X10 then it is best to configure the Rain8-2 to be poll only and use a recent mcsSprinklers update from the message board which will expect this configuration of the Rain8-2. If you continue to have problems after this then enable the lowest level logging of X10 traffic on the X10 plugin that you are using and capture the data to observe the actual X10 traffic.

[itanic]

Thanks Michael,

I downloaded the update (now at 2.3.120) and now see the Status Response options. The default is "Ack on Poll Only" which, I understand, I should leave checked as I'm using homeseer 1.7.

Will I need to connect the Rain8 module to the serial port and Read/Write to the EPROM again or is this default already set in the module?

Thanks for the help.

[Michael McSharry]

I think the default is cmd-ack. If you look at the low level X10 you can see what it is sending now. I believe there were early Rain8-2 that did only cmd-ack so even if you program it to poll-only then it will still do cmd-ack. I do not know what version of the Rain8-2 firmware started doing poll-only.

When operating in cmd-ack mcsSprinklers will update the device status only after receipt of ack. When operating in poll-only then it will update status on command and issue a status request about 30 seconds later and update status if necessary based upon the response. The control decision is made 60 seconds later so if the first command did not get there it will send it again.

mcsSprinlers also has a 3 second delay between each command issued so the Rain8-2 has a window on the powerline where it can return its status. HS tends to issue X10 commands in bursts rather than in evenly spaced 3 second intervals. This wrecks havoc with collisions, HS-retries etc.

When using a Rain8-2 or Rain8-Net the safety retry on command should not be used. The houly safety probably is ok.

[geislerk]

Rain8-2 Problem

I also have the problem with the Rain8-2 not turning the zone off. I am using HS2 v1997 with mcsSprinkers v2.4.11 and HomeSeer controllering the Rain8.

The first zone in my area starts and then it never stops. I have setup mcsSprinkers to use Ack on Poll only and configed the Rain8-2 to use poll also. However, I think I have an early version of the Rain8-2.

If I change the mcsSprinkers setup to use X10 and not X10-2, then the zone off command seems to work.

What are the differences in choosing X10 vx X10-2?

[Michael McSharry]

It is simply a matter of sceduling a X10 Status_Request 30 seconds after the command and updating the HS/mcsSprinklers valve status based upon the returned result.

The debug procedure to understand what is really happening is to capture the low level X10 debug log from your Homeseer X10 interface. Also capture the normal HS log where the ON/OFF commands are echoed to the log.

What I have seen to date has been contention problems. You also should not use the Other Page safety retrys when doing the -2 since it only adds traffic and increases probability of collision.

[geislerk]

Rain8-2

I reinstalled mcsSprinklers and started with a fresh .ini and database, but I am still having the following problems.

In the Setup page, I am using via Homeseer X10 Interface and using a Comma-separated list of Homeseer devices (I9,I10,I11,I12,I13,I14,I15) and not using any config on the grid.

My problem is that I can turn on/off a zone using the Homeseer device (ON/OFF) on the homeseer page, but not thru mcsSprinklers. When using the mcsSprinkers General Status page, and clicking on the device at the bottom, nothing happens, and there is no entry in the log either.

Also, even though mcsSprinkers thinks it has turned the zones, it never does. I have it set to turn on Area 1 at Absolute Time of 5:00.

What am I doing wrong? Should I have it setup to to use the device grid on the setup page of I, Bank 9 to 16 of type X10-2 instead of using the Comma-separated list of Homeseer devices (I9,I10,I11,I12,I13,I14,I15)?

Now, I am using HS2 v2003 with mcsSprinkers v2.4.11.

I also see this in the GeneralDebug Log:

11/10/2005 5:00:06 AM | mcsSprinklers Debug | Sprinkler Value I10 turned on with moisture at Calc=0.8898169/Meas=0.9 and ZonesPending=0.1.0.0.1.1.1
11/10/2005 5:00:06 AM | mcsSprinklers Debug | CommonExecX10, Rain8Net HouseCode=, Device=I10, X10CollectionCount=0, iType=0

[Michael McSharry]

When you click on the General Status or the Zone status pages to control a zone then you are asking mcsSprinklers to schedule the action at the next available time which will depend upon any other valves that may be on and may incur a scheduling delay. I'll look later this evening to confirm the behavior.

When you itemize HS devices then HS controls how they are managed. It means that they are treated as 1-way devices. If you want to take advantage of the status response then don't put them in the HS list, but put them in the matrix under X10-2 and indicate that the interface to be used is HS.

The plugin believes 4 zones are scheduled (past due maybe) for watering. ZonesPending=0.1.0.0.1.1.1. It just turned on the zone corresponding to I10 which is likely your second zone.

[Michael McSharry]

I did a clean start with a new ini file and selected the powerline interface to be Homeseer and selected M 1-8 as X10-2. I then defined the wiring and zones for M1 and M2. I viewed the General Status page and clicked On, then a few seconds later Off. I saw the Icon change on the general status page. I say the Homeseer log with Exec X10 messages for ON and OFF. My HS X10 interface is mcsXap and the message log through it shows 3 messages.

The first at 10:03:49 for ON
The second at 10:03:55 for OFF
The third at 10:04:19 for Status_Request

The response time was instantaneous from when the button was clicked and the corresponding log and message entries. were observed.