TomD Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 Tim,I tried a short show yesterday with two X-10 channels in the background and a couple of on events with X-10 in a sequence. I didn't notice any pauses or delays. Everything seemed to work in order. I'm going to test a longer show this weekend and see if there are any other problems. I hope that gives you some confidence. It sure did boost mine last night when those X-10 channels turned on right on cue! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted November 20, 2008 Author Share Posted November 20, 2008 TomD wrote:Tim,I tried a short show yesterday with two X-10 channels in the background and a couple of on events with X-10 in a sequence. I didn't notice any pauses or delays. Everything seemed to work in order. I'm going to test a longer show this weekend and see if there are any other problems. I hope that gives you some confidence. It sure did boost mine last night when those X-10 channels turned on right on cue!Thanks. I did notice last year that it's having multiple X-10 channels that causes the delay. We have our static displays split up into groups with different X-10 addresses.... Normally I want them all on and off at once, but I like to split them so I can turn on just specific segments when debugging or working on the lights... I think I have 8 different codes that get sent out in the background sequence, and it was pausing for about 10-20 seconds trying to send all these.I won't know if it's happening again until I get things fully wired, hopefully this weekend. But hopefully your results show promise for me!-Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmaness Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 I'm gonna hijack Tim's thread long enough to bump it back up. I'm hoping as someone gets their display operational (who uses X10) taht they will be able to answer this question.I'm kinda torn as to if I should use ActiveHome to run my X10 devices, or if I can safely use LOR to run 'em.Mike Maness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted November 22, 2008 Author Share Posted November 22, 2008 I'm very close to being able to test it, but not sure I'll get it done before the holiday. It's pretty easy to switch over to Activehome if necessary though...Otherwise just make sure all your background X-10 stuffs on the same house and unit code -- people have reported LOR definitely has no issues with sending out a single code or two in a background sequence...The thing that was most surprising to me when I first reported this last year is that LOR, all the way back to the first versions that had the background sequence, worked just great for me with the same X-10 setup. Something evidently changed for the worse in S2 (but there's enough great things about S2 to make it worth the hassle, not that I wouldn't like to see this fixed if it isn't already )-Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Berck Posted November 28, 2008 Share Posted November 28, 2008 I gotta chime in on this --I'm using 2.0.16, with a new dedicated laptop running Vista "OS", and I'm NOT running any X10 stuff, just conventional incandescents on channels on 9 controllers. It has run nicely for the sequence editor for three weeks, and successfully ran test runs of the show multiple times. Then Thanksgiving evening, the night before lights-on, it started in doing this sort of thing on the longest and most detailed of the sequences, then on a couple of the longer ones following that one.The music stops, but the sequence continues for a time, then the animation stops and the music catches up. When they meet up, it plays in sync for a few seconds, then pauses one or the other again, etc.This turns a 21-minute show into a choppy and unpleasant 35-minute embarassment. Good thing opening night was just a couple dozen close friends.I migrated all the sequences back to the PC I used last year, and the show successfully ran start to finish three times.One thing I did more recently on the laptop that hasn't worked the way I expected was to use Task Scheduler to launch a WMP playlist for Christmas music during the day. It's supposed to start at 4:59 AM and play for 12 hours, then stop that, and the LOR show would start at 5:00 PM. The playlist has never start on schedule like that, but if I set it for some other time during the day (when I'm awake) to play for an hour or 30 minutes it will start and stop just fine. Then it will launch the LOR show on schedule. Then it will behave as I described above.I have purposely loaded nothing on that laptop just to keep it clean for LOR, but there is a "screen saver" that seems to demo every feature it has including the built-in webcam. I've tried letting it turn the display off after 15 minutes as well as making it stay on all the time, but the result is the same.I'm not precisely sure where to go with this next, but I thought it might be helpful to know that your problem may not be directly related to X10 control. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted November 29, 2008 Author Share Posted November 29, 2008 Hi Jeff,I'm away from my LOR machine now so I can't check the software -- what's the "HLD" setting? I'm open to any and all ideas to make this work and will definitely check it out...We're going live on Monday -- maybe will run a trial show tomorrow if I have time...-Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iresq Posted November 29, 2008 Share Posted November 29, 2008 In the control panel, look for Holiday Lights Designer. Make sure it's turned off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin Posted November 29, 2008 Share Posted November 29, 2008 I'm running 5 x10s in my background sequence. I'm not noticing a lag in the show. I do have the x10s turning on at different times though through what I call 2 preshows and than the main show. However I have noticed that 2.0.16 uses more memory and processor than earlier versions. I need to load back up a previous version to see if the memory was released better than it is in 2.0.16.I'm running the x10 sequence and scheduler the same way I ran it last year with no delay issues. However this year the X10s are shutting off in between shows and than turning back on. And at the end of the entire schedule they turn off and than kick back on.I remember having this problem a few years ago, but don't remember what the fix was.Tim, Do you put your x10s in the background or in the startup section of the scheduler? My understanding is if you have an x10 sequence of 1 min long and divide it into a 10th second timing. And make all the cells on for the duration of the sequence, that an "on" command is sent every 10th of a second to the x10 module. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted November 30, 2008 Author Share Posted November 30, 2008 Thanks I'll check that out-- I'll be finalizing the show stuff tonight anyway, and hopefully running a test show...Was the HLD option there in last year's S2 release (since I saw the problem last year...)?-Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted November 30, 2008 Author Share Posted November 30, 2008 Houston, we (still) have a problem Running a "soft opening" test show tonight (we "start" on Dec 1, tomorrow...) Show is full of crappy-looking pauses, just like last year.Bummer. I'm going to have to find a workaround. But to Dan, Bob, anyone from LOR... can you please explore why this might have changed from when things worked peachy-perfect in LOR I? Thanks -TimP.S. Everything else is going great so far, other than the usual "these strings of lights I just tested last week after putting them up are now half out" sort of issues... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmaness Posted November 30, 2008 Share Posted November 30, 2008 Tim,Does it still appear to be related to X10 - as in having to S***-can the LOR X10 and using Activehome to run static lights? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted November 30, 2008 Author Share Posted November 30, 2008 mmaness wrote: Tim,Does it still appear to be related to X10 - as in having to S***-can the LOR X10 and using Activehome to run static lights?I ran tests last year (noted back earlier in this thread) that isolated it to X-10. I even isolated it to having too many X-10 channels (1-2 isn't noticable, but the 8 I need is).I haven't re-tested it this year, but since nobody from LOR has suggested anything changed in the software, I have no reason to believe that it's anything but X-10 I'll certainly re-run my tests (they take a bit of effort) if Dan/Bob/whoever want me to...The reason I use so many different X-10 background 'channels' is that I like to be able to flip on only part of the display for maintenance, outside of show hours. Also many of these outlets are used year-around for landscape lighting, fountains, etc. with different times, and I hate to have to dink with the settings just for Christmas... If this hadn't worked before (in LOR I) I wouldn't be quite as freaked about it...I'm going to try a few other things before punting and going back to ActiveHome... I really hope I don't have to, but the pauses in the show look terrible... For example, tonight during one of the pauses (5-10 seconds), the 'Y' in my Merry Christmas sign was "stuck". Lots of other things were 'stuck' too, but they aren't as noticable as 1/14 of a Merry Christmas 'stuck'...Thanks!-TimP.S. I forgot to note this above, but I did check the HLD setting and it's off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Mitchell Posted November 30, 2008 Share Posted November 30, 2008 Tim,I also have noticed that some random lights come on and stick for a second or two right at the time the X 10 channel is cycling. I'm only using one x10 . I thought it might have been something in my regular background sequence but it matches what you are seeing but just for a short duration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted November 30, 2008 Author Share Posted November 30, 2008 Brian,How long is a "short duration"?-Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomD Posted December 1, 2008 Share Posted December 1, 2008 Tim,I am using LOR II and X-10. I am currently running 64 channels of LOR and 7 channels of X-10. I have three X-10 channels running in a background and the other 4 actually run as part of each sequence. They stay on mostly, but in one sequence they all turn off, and then turn on one at a time throughout the sequence. Then they stay on again until that sequence appears again as part of the show. I ran my show Friday night and Saturday night (rain put me out Sunday night) and I didn't notice any hesitations in my show at all. I watched the show a number of times throughout the weekend and didn't see anything like what you had described. Is there something different about your setup that is causing this problem? Are your X-10 channels turning on static portions of your display or are you using them in a more active way like I am? Maybe you can give us a little more detail to see if we can help you figure it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted December 1, 2008 Author Share Posted December 1, 2008 TomD wrote:Tim,I am using LOR II and X-10. I am currently running 64 channels of LOR and 7 channels of X-10. I have three X-10 channels running in a background and the other 4 actually run as part of each sequence. They stay on mostly, but in one sequence they all turn off, and then turn on one at a time throughout the sequence. Then they stay on again until that sequence appears again as part of the show. I ran my show Friday night and Saturday night (rain put me out Sunday night) and I didn't notice any hesitations in my show at all. I watched the show a number of times throughout the weekend and didn't see anything like what you had described. Is there something different about your setup that is causing this problem? Are your X-10 channels turning on static portions of your display or are you using them in a more active way like I am? Maybe you can give us a little more detail to see if we can help you figure it out.Thanks for the info. I'm using 7 or 8 (I tried it both ways) X-10 channels in a background sequence. I don't use any additional X-10 in my 'normal' sequences...My show computer is pretty old -- is it possible that S2 is more CPU-hungry with X-10 than LOR I and I'm just seeing a CPU issue? My computer is a 733mhz oldie running Win98SE-Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomD Posted December 1, 2008 Share Posted December 1, 2008 Tim,I'm running a 2004 Dell Pentium 4 w/ a 2.4 Gig processor and 2 MB of RAM using Windows 2000. And it's not running anything but my display. So it's a pretty fast system. There's a great story behind this pc. I found it in a trash pile along the road in my neighborhood. The hard drive was gone and the floppy didn't work. Put in an old hard drive and bingo, it worked. Funny thing, it was still under an extended warranty at the time! A free pc for my Christmas display. Anyway, it's possible that the pc isn't keeping up. Maybe someone can chime in on this who's using an older pc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted December 1, 2008 Author Share Posted December 1, 2008 TomD wrote: Tim,I'm running a 2004 Dell Pentium 4 w/ a 2.4 Gig processor and 2 MB of RAM using Windows 2000. And it's not running anything but my display. So it's a pretty fast system. There's a great story behind this pc. I found it in a trash pile along the road in my neighborhood. The hard drive was gone and the floppy didn't work. Put in an old hard drive and bingo, it worked. Funny thing, it was still under an extended warranty at the time! A free pc for my Christmas display. Anyway, it's possible that the pc isn't keeping up. Maybe someone can chime in on this who's using an older pc.Thanks for the info (and nice score!). I've used this machine ever since my first LOR display in 2003, and it's always worked without a hitch, until this issue with S2 surfaced last year...Next year I'll probably have a new machine -- it's time to upgrade my main desktop and the current one can be handed-down to LOR!-Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aksnowman Posted December 2, 2008 Share Posted December 2, 2008 Tim,I picked up an E-Machine and took all the extra mess off of it and use it as a dedicated show computer. Not a bad lil computer and was all of $299.Good luck.Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Mitchell Posted December 2, 2008 Share Posted December 2, 2008 The glitches last for about a second or less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts