Schedule Editor 2.0.16

[kevin]

Was there a change in version 2.0.16 that does a cleanup after each show, and after the startup sequences to force all x10s off?

The reason I ask is in years prior I could turn on lights via x10 in the background or in the startup tabs and they would stay on until I issued an off command. They would even stay on after the show had ended. This is how I kept static displays and indoor items on for the duration of my pre-show and my main show, and than turned on securaty lights after the show.

Now with 2.0.16 it seams that after the startup is finished it does an all lights off, and after the show is over it does an all lights off. This causes an off, on of my lights inbetween shows, and forces my security lights to flash after the show, but than stay off.

I have even loaded up my 2007 shows that worked fine last year and notice the same thing with them. They turn off in between shows and at the end of the show they turn off, than turn back on for the 1 min duration of the sequence and than shut off.

[bob]

Not sure if this was a change (but I believe you), but yes, when LOR II reaches the end of a sequence, it will issue a "lights off" for the channels used by that sequence.

There are a couple things to note here:

First, you could put your X10 commands in the "Background" section of the show instead of the "Startup". That should prevent them from turning off at the end of the sequence (it will loop back to its beginning instead). But X10 is a really slow protocol, so make sure that the sequence is long enough so that you're not constantly sending commands.

Second, the next release will have an option where you can keep lights on at the end of a sequence.

Neither of these things will help with your wish to keep the X10 lights on after the end of the show, though. There might be a workaround, though, depending upon how you want your show to behave:

If you have a list of songs that you run through in order, rather than playing them randomly, you could move anything that's in your "shutdown" section to the end of your "musical" section, and then schedule your show to run for a long, long time (like a whole day, or all the way to your next show, or whatever). But, here's the trick:

At the very end of your "musical" section, schedule an animation sequence that doesn't control any lights, and make it long enough that it will keep playing until the start time of the next show.

If your X10 stuff is in the "background" section, that will just keep playing until the end of schedule, even though all other sequences (other than the "long blank" sequence) have finished.

You'll have to be a bit careful with figuring out how long to make the "long blank" sequence, because:

(1) If the "long blank" sequence ever does reach its end of play (before the show's scheduled end), the first sequence in your musical section will start playing again;

(2) The next scheduled show will not start until the "long blank" ends.

[bob]

And there's probably an easier way if you use some X10 scheduling program in conjunction with LOR, but I'm not really familiar with such programs.

[Steven]

You can put timer events in the CM11A. That's what I did last year to turn our motion-sensor lights on after the show. This year, I wanted to turn the lights on immediately after the show ends, so I found a solution. Of course, I already had a CM11A to allow LOR to control X-10, but I bought a CM15A, because I hear LOR will support it in the future, and it's the upgraded version.

I set a macro in the CM15A that turns on my security lights (channel F-9). This macro is triggered by an off command on channel F-12, which I'm not using for anything else.

Then, in my show's background sequence, I turn F-12 on for the entire show.

When the show ends, LOR will send an off command to channel F-12. This will be received by the CM15A, which will then send an on command to F-9.

[kevin]

Bob,

Does the LOR software issue an "All Lights Off" after each portion of the show. I.E. Start up, all lights off, show, all lights off, Shutdown, all lights off?

My x10s are still doing the shut down, and back on after my show is over. and than turning off again. Since my Shutdown sequence is 1 min long, the same as my x10 background sequence, I'm not for sure if its the background sequence issue or a shutdown issue. It does this weather I have a sequence in shutdown or not. so I'm not sure where the 'all lights off' command is coming from.

I am wondering if it has something to do with a "lights off" after the show prior to the shutdown sequence playing.


My thought for a future enhancement is to allow the background sequence play until a off command is sent from s sequence in the shut down sequence.

That way you could have x10s run through out your entire show and even overlap to other shows.

Thanks

[Steven]

kevin wrote:

Does the LOR software issue an "All Lights Off" after each portion of the show. I.E. Start up, all lights off, show, all lights off, Shutdown, all lights off?

If I understand Bob and others correctly, LOR does not issue an "All Lights Off" after each portion of the show, but instead turns off all channels in a sequence at the end of that sequence.

That is, if you have an X10 channel in a musical sequence, then when that song ends, LOR will send an X10 off command to that channel.

This is true for sequences in the background tab, but sequences in the background tab don't end until the show is over - they just loop.

I could be wrong, but I believe the sequences in the background tab start at the beginning of the show and end at the end of the show. That is, the background sequences and the startup sequence(s) run at the same time at the start of the show, and the background sequences and the shutdown sequences run at the same time at the end of the show. Thus, confusing things will happen if you have the same channel in a background sequence and a shutdown sequence.

[bob]

Steven's exactly right.

For the next release, there will be a couple caveats, though:

First, you will be able to set each section of a show so that "lights off" does not happen for any sequence in that section.

Second, the background and startup sections will not necessarily start at the same time - you will be able to "separate" them via an input trigger. For example, you could have the background section start immediately at the scheduled start time of the show, but the startup section (and the rest of the show) won't start until somebody hits a big red "PUSH ME" button that you have set up.

[bob]

Will you be able to also select whether or not an individual sequence issues the off command?

Not in the next release, although this may be available in a future release.

[kevin]

Steven wrote:

kevin wrote:

Does the LOR software issue an "All Lights Off" after each portion of the show. I.E. Start up, all lights off, show, all lights off, Shutdown, all lights off?

This is true for sequences in the background tab, but sequences in the background tab don't end until the show is over - they just loop.

Here is the big details. same set up as last year My background is only for x10s that control lights in the house and the projector, and a few static lights outside.

Preshow runs from 4:30 till 5:45
Preshow cosist of a Background sequence x10s only in an annimation sequence 1 min long.
6 songs playing video via musical sequence (NO LOR Channels on for preshow)

Main Show runs from 5:45 till 10:00
Main show has the same background sequence as preshow
About 12 musical sequences with LOR channels controlling lights
Shut Down Sequence of 1 musical sequence and a X10 off sequence

Last year the X10s turned on at 4:30 and didn't shut off till 10:00 or after main show ended. The X10s would stay on and carry over to the main show since I did not put an off command in the pre-show shutdown area.

This year the X10s click on at 4:30, shut off at 5:45, On at 5:45, of at end of show, back on for about a min, than off.

I have removed my X10 off from the shutdown sequence, but that didn't make any differance.


I'm just trying to figure out what changed and how to make it work like it did last year.
Also last year if I didn't put an X10 off in the shut down the X10s would stay on all night long. (this was great for security lights)