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ibscas
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| Posted: October 19 2008 at 11:19 | IP Logged
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I'm not sure what the issue is, but perhaps it is because PH2 is a Beta - but I can't seem to get macro's to run on a very frequent basis. It seems like sometimes it feels like a nut and sometimes it don't :).
I noticed that none of my timed macros fired this morning, so I tried to fire them by hand - no dice. I restarted the PLC and tried again - no dice. Restarted the computer - no dice! I went into devices and turned on/off the items selectively and it works great.
I'm using a 2818 USB PLC and was trying to fire Insteon devices if that helps at all.
Thanks!
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ibscas
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| Posted: October 19 2008 at 11:20 | IP Logged
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Oh, the macro I was running was one single line that says to turn on a light (my test macro).
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grif091
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| Posted: October 19 2008 at 12:41 | IP Logged
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No real suggestion about your macro query except if there are several macros triggered at the same time, try spacing the action apart by a few seconds using the Wait macro function. If it happens again, unplug the PLC for 10-15 seconds and see if that restores device access. Give the PLC a little time to reboot and reinitialize after plugging in.
The PH "Beta" designation does not have the same meaning one would expect of Beta software. I believe there is an Insteon certification process that would be required to remove the Beta designation. Time consuming, probably expensive and unnecessary IMO for a product like PowerHome. A Smarthome software product, HouseLinc Desktop, does not have a Beta designation and I would put the function, quality and support of PH against HL any day.
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Lee G
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TonyNo
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| Posted: October 19 2008 at 12:46 | IP Logged
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There are at least two of us seeing problems with timed events, but I have not been able to catch it yet in the logs.
Quote:
| I tried to fire them by hand |
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How?
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BeachBum
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| Posted: October 19 2008 at 12:59 | IP Logged
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Maybe you could screen shot the Timed Event window and the Macro it is firing.
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Pete - X10 Oldie
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grif091
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| Posted: October 19 2008 at 13:43 | IP Logged
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I have only one Timed Event which runs a Macro that turns off my X10 floods in the morning. Went back to the Event Log (the sort function was a nice help) and found the Timed Event has trigger correctly for the last 10 days. That is about as long as the Timed Event has been active. Confirmed with Event Log entries that the All-Lights-Off X10 message issued by the Macro was executed. I know this is a negative regarding the Timed Event question but sometimes knowing what works will lead to the answer of what does not.
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Lee G
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BeachBum
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| Posted: October 19 2008 at 20:50 | IP Logged
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Lee, I have 31 Timed Events which fire and work flawlessly… Some are X10 and some are Insteon and some are just plain formulas.
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Pete - X10 Oldie
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grif091
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| Posted: October 19 2008 at 21:12 | IP Logged
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Hi Pete, Thanks for that feedback. It is strange that some folks are having problems and others are working just fine. Your configuration is complex enough to suggest that Timed Events themselves are working. ibscas has a PLC which makes it different from yours but I still use a PLC which seems to be working fine, albeit my Timed Events are not much of a test in reality . I think TonyNo is using a PLM so there is no consistency there either. Must be some variant that has not been identified yet.
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Lee G
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BeachBum
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| Posted: October 19 2008 at 21:16 | IP Logged
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Maybe the variable is the PLM vs the PLC but that’s a long shot. Keep up the good post…
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TonyNo
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| Posted: October 20 2008 at 07:09 | IP Logged
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I must say that since trying to nail this down by logging Insteon traffic, it has not happened even once. It's been about three weeks.
My issue is that the Timed Events do fire, but the commands in the called macro do not all seem to execute.
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BeachBum
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| Posted: October 20 2008 at 07:58 | IP Logged
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I went back and checked the logs and could not find one that didn’t work. It might be a configuration or plug-in quirk but I suspect it isn’t an I/O problem. My guess would be something strange is happening in the Boolean and that’s not even an educated guess.
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Pete - X10 Oldie
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ibscas
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| Posted: October 21 2008 at 10:51 | IP Logged
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I'm about to completely give up on PH. I really wanted a software program to do 'advanced' stuff for me, but it seems I've taken the automation OUT of home automation! Even though I got OCCASIONAL failures while using the SH's timer stuff for the PLC, it was pretty much set it and forget it, with PH I have to run commands by hand CONSTANTLY.
I really want this to work, so I'm giving it another shot. I actually downloaded HomeSeer but that thing won't even SEE my Insteon, let alone fail at using it!
So, here is my setup and situation (screen shots attached):
1. Turn off porch lights every morning. This works just about 100%, but it is a timed event controlling a single Insteon switch - no macros or fancy stuff.
2. Open drapes in the morning, close them in the evening. I have YET to get this one to work at all. The logs always say that it ran and every morning and evening but I have to run the macro by hand to actually get them to open or close. This tells me that the PLC isn't hung up or anything, but that PH didn't get the commands out the door.
3. Turn ON the porch lights every day. Again, works perfectly as a single device controlled by an event.
4. Turn on lights at night. About 50% of the time this works. Again, the logs say YES but the house isn't lit up until I run the macros by hand.
5. Shut down the house at midnight. Same old story, except last night (for instance) the event didn't even show on the log, so it didn't run at all.
So, in a word: ARGGGGGGGG! Any help is appreciated, I'm just really at my wits end and can't justify spending hours upon hours reprogramming something (nor $100 on a product with no documentation that isn't doing what I hoped it would). I'm a programmer and as techno-geeky as the next guy, but this is really frustrating.
Thanks 
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ibscas
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| Posted: October 21 2008 at 10:58 | IP Logged
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As a side note...
The drapes macro, I've tried it a bunch of different ways:
1. Just ONE X10 command, then nothing else
2. Having end macro and not having end macro at the end (what does this do anyway?)
3. Having a wait and no wait
Pretty much started from getting one device to control to where it is now and it never worked anywhere along the line.
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ibscas
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| Posted: October 21 2008 at 11:11 | IP Logged
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Here the exclamation to the issue. As I was putting the previous post together, I was also waiting to see if the drapes would open (and, subsequently snap the logs for you all) and low and behold...nothing 
Here is the snap of the log and it will show that I fired the drapes command by hand since they didn't do it on their own...
You'll see 'Execute Timed Event' but no commands went this time. Then you see 'Macro' and that's me doing it manually - and when I did there was almost no delay and it worked perfectly. It's something with the timed event and macros I think.
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grif091
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| Posted: October 21 2008 at 12:39 | IP Logged
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Really sorry you are having so much difficulty. Although only one, I use a similar Timed Event. It uses the Raw Formula and invokes a Macro using the ph_macro function, the Macro issuing 2 X10 messages to turn off my outside floods. I know this will not make you feel any better but mine works fine every morning. I would paste the log entries from the last 10 days but I don't know how to copy the Event Log display. It did not run this morning because I forgot to restart PH after doing some early morning XP maintenance. The only obvious difference is that I do not have spaces in my Macro ID. It is a straw for sure but try taking the spaces out of the Macro ID.
EDIT:
There is actually one more difference I just noticed. I use the actual X10 House Code in the macro.
Edited by grif091 - October 21 2008 at 12:44
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Lee G
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BeachBum
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| Posted: October 21 2008 at 12:48 | IP Logged
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May I suggest something. I run my timed events using Type = Macro rather than Raw. I don’t know if it will alter the situation but you might want to give it a try.
I also stop using Fast On as I found it to be unreliable for me.
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ibscas
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| Posted: October 21 2008 at 12:51 | IP Logged
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BeachBum wrote:
May I suggest something. I run my timed events using Type = Macro rather than Raw. I don’t know if it will alter the situation but you might want to give it a try.
I also stop using Fast On as I found it to be unreliable for me.
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BB,
Thanks for the suggestion :). I've tried fast on versus anything else and the results are the same. Also, I use the RAW because I had posted problems using the MACRO and apparently my issue was common and the suggestion was to try using the RAW method instead.
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grif091
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| Posted: October 21 2008 at 12:57 | IP Logged
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After reading Pete's note I realized there are two differences in the Macro definition itself. I use X10 Raw and specify the actual House code.
Pete, you have not gone to PH2 yet? The Macro option in Timed Events has a problem. Using Raw Formula with ph_macro() was Dave's suggestion as a workaround.
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Lee G
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BeachBum
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| Posted: October 21 2008 at 13:06 | IP Logged
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I am on V2 with no problems. And I do know that is a work around but a lot of us are not experiencing the Timed Event problem. I am also using the 2 different PH Create Timed Events in formulas with out a hitch and the kill still works. My Timed Event work both with X10 and Insteon but are all driven by macros themselves not PH_MACRO.
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grif091
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| Posted: October 21 2008 at 13:24 | IP Logged
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Did you create the Timed Event using Macro under PH2 or was it already in the database migrated from PH1. I use the ph_macro workaround with no problem. As noted before, I have only one Timed Event, but it fires every morning at 07:45, driving a macro using the ph_macro function. If you created the Timed Events specifying Macro under PH2, what did you use? I get a PH error any time I specify Macro. Reported the error, Dave said he has fixed it in the yet to be released "fix" release and offered the ph_macro approach as an alternative.
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Lee G
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Topic: Macro Problems?
