Received the Ocelot and hooked up. When I tried to install the software, it did not finish. The last message was that it was creating icons and then it did nothing for several minutes.

I checked my hard drive and found the ADI folder and CPUXA icon. I can run the program.

I am now reading the pdf file but could use first hand help.

Well the first thing you have to do is setup the comms. Open CMax, click on the comms menu and go to comms setup. The only things you really need to worry about is the com port used and the time settings. Then I would go to the 'Attach to CPUXA' on the comms menu (after you have attached the ocelot) From there you can try doing things manually - ie sending x10, learning IR commands, sending IR commands.

When you've done this for a while, go back to the main screen and play round with writing the program. Its all pretty simple, and the pdf file does give pretty good instructions on how to do this. Good luck!

Cheers, Cam

I am still unable to get the Ocelot working with my X10 setup.

I have followed the OCelot manual and have set lat/longitude. The time is right but the sunrise/sunset is incorrect.

I tried sending commands to a few lights but no repsonse.

What do I do next.

Update. I can do an all on or all off. However if I set E16, then off, the House Code E remains but when I press the off button, the unit # 16 is cleared and nothing happens. This happens with all units.

I can monitor all my X10 units. If I use other controllers to turn units on or off, the monitor shows the active units.

I am really at a loss. Please help.

Lou,

Does the E16 you send then appear in the events window?
I don’t have my ocelot anymore but I recall that it would. Also I would write a small program and download it to the ocelot. Something along the lines of if receive B2 then send E16. Then send a B2 and see what happens. If E16 doesn’t do anything then check the events log to see if the ocelot thought it did.

Bill
www.homeautomationnet.com

I am not sure what you mean by this line

"You need something else to send a signal mini controller maxi controller remote something for testing."

I have the X10 PSC05 connected. Isn't that supposed to send and receive the signals? Why can I turn all units on a House code off but not any specific one.

How do I write a program when I can't get something to work directly. Remember I am a complete novice at the Ocelot and have no real idea what is going on here.

I really don't need any thing complex. I just want to be able to turn on and off several lights and fans at specific times. The Ocelot was recommended as the next upgrade from the At Home system.

While I am a novice with this system, I have been working with tech stuff for a long time. I am probably missing something simple here but it is frustrating.

Again, if I can turn everything on or off in a unit code, why not specific ones. Then the next question is how to set automatic on/off times?

Mogur2 - The way that x10 protocol works takes a bit of understanding, it took me ages to find this out myself. When you turn on a certain module (say an appliance module set to C1) you actually have to send 2 commands.

1/ A C1 command (this makes the C1 module 'listen')

2/ A C On command (this makes all modules that are 'listening' on the C housecode turn on)

For instance, you could send a C1 command, then a C3 command, then a C5 command, then as soon as you sent the C On command all of these modules would switch on at the same time. The same applies for off commands.

I hope this helps!

Cheers, Cam

Lou you need to sit down and learn to write a program. This is done on the opening screen of the CMax software. This will control all your devices.

The Ocelot is able to respond to events, for example receiving the X10 signal A1. What I was suggesting is to write a simple program that says when you get a A1 send a E16 then connect to the Ocelot and download it. What you could do with another controller like a mini controller ($7) is send the ocelot that A1 to see if responds. This is the quick way to test it out.

The other thing you can do is just program it to do the things you want and download this program. Then sit back and wait to see what it does. The event window should show it doing the things you program it to do. At least it can tell you it thinks it doing these things. The Ocelot is not complicated but you must sit down and program it. Why it's not doing the one simple command I don't know but you need to see what it will do and get beyond this one thing. Once you do this you will have a better handle on how this unit is behaving.

Bill
www.homeautomationnet.com

Mogur2,

When you open the page to send X-10 commands, you can select the housecode and the unit code OR the command. That is, you select housecode "E", unitcode "16", then click on the send button. Next, select the command that you wish to send, such as "on" and click the send button again. There are commands, as you've discovered, that do not require a unit code, like "all lights on". That, you can execute with one click of the send button.

John Galvin

Thanks for the suggestions. I have now realized tha the comms light of the Ocelot does not light up at all. I originally had the unit connected to a USB/serial port. I have now changed to the Serial 1 port.

I created 2 short programs and have the same problem. I set the house code to E, the the unit code to 2. The moment I press any command, either for direct command or to program, the unit code disappears.

Neither program worked.

Since the comms light does not glow, I wonder if I am making a connection, yet the montioring function does work. Is it possible I have a defective unit.

Should the comms light do something.

One more thing the I/R light glows and changes color but I have no I/R items connected.

Mogur2,

Are you listening? I explained why the unit code disappears already. You can send a housecode/unitcode OR a housecode/command, but not both. When you set the unitcode to 16, YOU HAVE TO SEND THAT, before you can send the housecode/command. If you'll just do it exactly the way I described, it will work.

1. Click on housecode "E".

2. Click on unitcode "16".

3. Click on send.

4. Click on "ON".

5. Click on send.

That's it. Whenever you click on a command, the unit code disappears, because as I said before, you can send a unitcode OR a command, but not both at the same time. The way X-10 works is that you "address" a module by sending it's housecode/unitcode first. Then it dutifully waits for ANY command sent to it's housecode. In the example above, you send the "E16" housecode/unitcode combination and that module is now addressed. The next thing to do is to send "EON". That's housecode "E" and "ON". Any modules on housecode "E" that are in the adressed state (such as E16) will respond by turning on. As others have explained here, you could send E16 E12 E9 EON and all three modules would respond because they were all in the addressed state. Furthermore they will stay in the addressed state until they see a different unitcode being addressed. Example: E16 E12 E9 EON, will turn on all those lights. If we now send E16 EOFF, E16 will go off but E12 and E9 will not, because they got de-addressed by seeing the E16 unitcode. On the other hand, if you send E16 E12 E9 EON, followed by EOFF, all three lights will go off, since they are still in the addressed state and if we send an EON, they all come back on. If you're writing a program there is a shortcut to sending the housecode/unitcode followed by the housecode/command. Just use the "X10 Quick ON" or "X10 Quick OFF" command and the Ocelot will take care of sending the housecode/unitcode followed by the housecode/command.

Since you were able to make "all lights on" work, we can conclude that your computer is communicating with the Ocelot. The IR light should be green when nothing is being received. It will turn red briefly, anytime that IR or X-10 is being received. There are numerous sources of IR that can fool the Ocelot into thinking that it is receiving IR commands. My daughter has a Barbie Magic Genie Bottle, that has an IR proximity sensor, that was driving my Ocelot nuts, until I figured out what was happening. Some compact fluorescent lights have been known to emit strong 40Khz pulsing IR, due to their electronic ballast design and that will interfere with the Ocelot too. Until you get things going, it might be a good idea to cover up the IR sensor with a piece of black tape, just to remove that variable from the picture.

Also, there shouldn't be any problem using the Ocelot with a USB serial port. I do that all the time and it works fine.

John Galvin

I spoke with Lou yesterday. When he sends X10 transmissions from the Ocelot, the X10 light flashes on the Ocelot but the light on his PSC05 does not flash at all. So either the Ocelot is not sending the command, the command is not getting from the Ocelot to the PSC05 or the PSC05 simply does not know it's receiving a command from the Ocelot. Looks like either a bad transmit coming out of the Ocelot, bad line on the modular cable or a bad PSC05. He said he was going to try to pick up another PSC05 or TW523 and see if that fixes the problem.

Kevin Barrett
ADI Tech Support

Kevin,

Do you suppose that he's not using the supplied cable between the Ocelot and the PSC05. I know you guys use a non-standard cable. If he's using an ordinary telephone cable, it won't work, since those crossover.

John Galvin

I asked him that. He said it was our cable.

Kevin Barrett
ADI Tech Support

Kevin,

Something must have gone bad, since at one time, he claimed to be able to send "all lights on" and it worked.

I one time spent a couple of hours trying to figure out why my RCS thermostat wouldn't communicate with the TW523. Then it hit me, wrong cable. At that point, I thought for sure that the cable that came with the RCS was the wrong type (crossover Vs straight), but the problem was simpler than that. The cable only had two wires in it!

John Galvin