This page contains answers to common questions handled by our
support staff, along with some tips and tricks that we have found useful and presented
here as questions.
The top dozen Questions
- What is a Visual Program, why do I need it, and what
can I do with it?
- How do I tell HCA what powerline interface I'm using?
- How do I make my home look "lived in" when I'm away?
- How do I use logging? What's it good for?
- What is the different between a program and a schedule?
- I'm new to HCA. What are some of the terminology
I need to know?
- Why would I create more than one schedule?
- Why does HCA need to know where I live?
- Why don't lights go on and off reliably?
- How do I make changes to a device, program, schedule,
etc. after I created it?
- What is the difference between a controller and a
device?
- What sort of hardware does HCA
support?
Hardware Questions
- Do I need to leave my computer on all the time with HCA
running? Can I also use the computer for other tasks?
- I've seen articles in magazines about home automation
systems that can control heating, air conditioning, security and other wiz-bang
things. Can HCA control these sorts of things?
- I have an old computer that was good a few years back but now is
a bit outdated. I tossed it in a closet and bought a new one. Can I use the
old one to run my home? What is the minimum computer I need to run HCA?
- What automation hardware does HCA support?
General HCA Questions
- I want to move my design to another computer. What files do
I need to copy?
- The HCA properties dialog contains a tab for setting my preferred
time format. Where do I set my preferred date format?
- The HCA properties clock tab contains lists of modems and dialing
locations. Where do these lists come from? How can I modify existing ones and
add new ones?
- How do I add HCA to the Windows startup group?
Time Questions
- On my system the times HCA computes for sunrise and sunset are way
off. What could be wrong?
- Daylight saving time has started (or ended) and my computer's
clock didn't change. Can't the time be automatically changed for me?
Device Questions
- I changed the settings for a device in HCA and now the device no
longer goes on or off. What's wrong?
- I have a device that has some schedule entries for it. HCA
is active but the device is not going on or off at the scheduled times. What could
be wrong?
Drawing Questions
- I use the HCA properties dialog color tab to select different
colors for walls, doors, and furniture, but everything draws in the same color. Why?
- I made some new icons using the Windows Paint program and added
them to my design with the Icon Gallery. The problem is that they don't blend into
the background when in the off state. Why?
- I have a DXF file that is linked to my design. How can I
change it to be imported?
Schedule Questions
- The order of the time bars in the Visual Scheduler appears to be
random. Is there an ordering?
- The Visual Scheduler seems to create only Every Day schedule
entries. Can I use it to create entries for other date types? Can it also add
a Vary to entries I create?
- I'm using the Visual Scheduler and want to create an entry that
is sometime after sunset. But as I drag the time marker up the bar I see After
Sunset, Before Sunset, and Before Sunrise times. What do I need to do to get a After
Sunrise time?
- I create a schedule entry whose date choice is On this day of the
month. What happens in November which doesn't have a 31st day?
Visual Programmer Questions
- I have a program with a Test element. It's testing to see
if a light is on or off. I'm looking at the light and I can see that it is off, but
the test element says it's on. Why?
- I created a program and gave it a housecode and unitcode.
When I press that button on a control panel the program starts - but only when I
press it in the on direction. Nothing happens when I press it in the off
direction. Why? Can I make it start in either case? Can I make it do
different things when started by an ON and started by an OFF?
A Visual Program is the method in HCA used to perform a
series of actions. In other automation programs this is sometimes called a
script or a macro. In HCA, you create your series of actions
using a visual model. Each time you want to do is represented by a block.
To tell HCA in what order these blocks are executed, you simply draw lines with
arrows between them. You may have heard the programming term flow chart -
HCA Visual Programs are a lot these Flow Charts.
Why use a program? Programs are used when you want to respond to some event
that is not tied to the clock. For example, if someone walks in front of a
motion sensor and you want to turn on some lights. If you want to do
things at a specific time each day, it is better to use a schedule.
To create a program, select from the menu, New then
Program. Follow the Wizard to completion, then open the program's
properties and select the Visual Programmer tab.
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Select from the menu, HCA, then Hardware, then Setup.
This open the HCA properties dialog and shows you the Hardware tab. Make
your selections and use the Test button to make sure that your hardware is
connected and responding.
If you have a USB device, just select it and the
Communications Port dropdown changes automatically to USB.
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HCA provides what we call the Occupancy Wizard to help you
create a schedule for this. The Occupancy wizard asks you questions about
your home living patterns and then builds a schedule that make it look like you
are home: staying in some rooms more than others, moving about every so often,
and going to bed and getting up in the morning.
Since your HCA design can contain more than one schedule,
you can create an "Away" schedule and tell HCA to make this active when you
leave the home. This is simple as there is a Visual Programmer element to
change the current schedule. You could have a keypad near your door and
press a button when you leave and another when you return. HCA programs
that start when those buttons are pressed can set your home into an Away mode
and when you are back into an At Home mode by changing the current schedule.
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The log is the one place in HCA that shows you what
powerline commands were sent, what ones were received, and what your programs
did. The log shows all this and the time each action happened. You
can sort the log on any of the columns to help you find what you are looking
for.
There are two log viewers in HCA. One of them is on
the Troubleshooter Log on the Log Viewer tab. The other is opened by
selecting from the menu, Troubleshooter then Open Log Viewer. This viewer has the
nice property that you can leave it on the screen while you do other things and
it updates as new entries are made in the log.
So what's the log good for? Simply put, finding out
what is working correctly and what is working incorrectly. If you have a
questions like, Why did my program not do what I want?, or, Why didn't my light
go on?, then the place to start is the Log. See what elements your program
executed and see what commands were sent or received.
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A schedule is a list of actions to be performed at a given
time. This time can be simple: at 5pm, or complex: 10 minutes
before sunset every Tuesday within 10 minutes. But each one is based
in some manner on the time of day.
A program, by contrast, happens in response to some event.
For example, you walk in from of a motion sensor, press a button on a keypad,
the temperature goes over 75 degrees, etc. The time of day is not
involved.
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A device is something that receives powerline
signals. Things like switches and modules.
A controller is something that transmits powerline
signals. Things like keypads and motion sensors.
A program, or Visual Program, is what some
automation programs call a macro or a script. A program is a set of
actions that happen in response to some event. A program can perform
conditional tests and based upon the outcome of that test it can execute a
different sets of actions. Programs are constructed from elements.
A schedule is a collection of schedule entries.
A HCA design can have more than one schedule.
A schedule entry specifies the time that a command
is set to a device or when a program is started. A schedule contains one
or more (usually many) schedule entries.
The current schedule is the schedule that HCA
watches and acts upon as time passes. Unless one schedule is chosen as the
current schedule, no schedule entries are done.
When HCA is active, HCA keeps watching the current
schedule. When inactive, even if there is a current schedule, HCA
ignores it.
The design pane is the name for the left hand part
of the HCA window where the outline of all your objects are shown
The display pane is the right hand window.
A trigger is what starts a program. A trigger
could be the receipt of a powerline signal - in which case the trigger would be
the house and unit code and the command. Other trigger types are when a
flag changes its value, or a weather condition becomes true, or a Magic Module
event happens.
A flag is a piece of persistent state in HCA.
In more traditional programming languages, HCA flags would be called variables.
Flags can take on yes/no value, number values, date-time values, and text
values.
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Having multiple schedules is a very nice feature of HCA.
You can have one schedule for when you are away from home in which interior lights
are turned on and off to make it look like you are home. You can have
another schedule for when you are home in which only exterior lights and some
few interior lights are controlled.
You can choose the current schedule using the HCA UI or
from a program where there is an element that can change the current schedule.
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HCA computes the current sunrise and sunset time based
upon your latitude and longitude and from the day of the year. Unless you
set the correct location in your home design properties, and your Time Zone
is correct (from the Windows Control Panel), the Sunrise and Sunset times will be
incorrect.
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This is a very hard question to answer. We suggest
you review this troubleshooting write-up
which is the result of many different support issues from our users.
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Almost everything in HCA has properties. This is
where you make changes. To show the properties for a device, program,
group, etc, select it's name in the design pane, right-click and select
properties. Or if you have an icon in the display pane, right-click on the
icon and select Properties.
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A controller generates powerline signals. Examples
of this are keypads and motion sensors.
A device is something that receives powerline signals.
Examples of these are modules and switches.
Some things both generate and receive powerline signals.
Examples of these are the X10 floodlight and the KeypadLinc keypad.
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Aside from the usual list of X10 switches and modules, HCA
also supports a lot of more complex gear. These is all described in the
HCA World pages.
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Well it depends. Once you create your automation solution you can either leave
HCA running on your computer or you can use HCA to program all or pieces of it into
available stand-alone processors. HCA can download into the SmartHome HouseLinc, Elk
Products Magic Module, the CM11 and program scenes into PCS and SwitchLinc switches.
If you automation solution is complex or you are using features beyond the
capability of those downloadable processors, then yes, your computer must remain on.
HCA consumes very little of the computer's resources and you can do other tasks with your
computer while HCA is running.
Your computer must be capable of running a modern Windows OS (95, 98, Me, NT, 2000,
XP, or Vista). Since HCA is not a resource hog, an older model computer would probably make a
good "house computer".
If you have such a computer, we recommend that you first install HCA on your
"good" computer and develop your home design on it. Connect the automation
interfaces to it and let it run your home for a few weeks. Once you find you are not
changing your home design very often, then get out that old computer, connect your
automation interfaces and copy your home design file to it. That computer can now
run your home.
One final point: some of the HCA dialog boxes don't display correctly on a standard 640
x 480 display. While the minimum video requirements are listed for HCA as SVGA
(800 x 600), HCA will run on a VGA system - just some dialogs will not fit on the
screen. If your old computer has only a VGA video system it can still be used to run
your home, but you will need a SVGA system to develop the design.
This may be due to one of two problems. The location you selected when you
created your home design was incorrect. You can check this by using Home->Properties
and the location tab in that dialog. Either enter the latitude and longitude of your
home or chose a nearby city. The other problem may be the time zone is not correct
for your location. This can be checked from the Windows Control Panel Date/Time
applet. The time zone you select must be compatible with the location selected for
your home design.
In the Windows Control Panel, Date/Time applet on the Time Zone tab is a checkbox to
enable Windows to make Daylight Saving Time clock changes. If this is enabled, HCA
will respond to the clock change when Windows makes the change at the start and end of
daylight saving time.
You need to make the change both in your HCA design and on the physical module.
If the housecode and unitcode for a device in your design does not match the actual
settings on the module, HCA can't control it.
HCA supports the following interfaces:
The CM11A is the same X10 interface supplied in the X10-USA ActiveHome and IBM Home
director products (IBM labels it as the HD11A).
In addition to these, HCA can translate and download into the Lightolier Compose PLC
Firewall communications card.
More information on all these interfaces can be found on
the HCA World pages.
You need to copy the design file - the one with the .HCA file extension. If you
have any linked floor plan files they also need to be moved. If you have any icons
added using the icon gallery or sound files referenced in programs (the Play element) they
also need to be moved. The DXF files, bitmap files, and sound files all need to be
placed on the destination computer in the same locations (folders) as they were on the
computer they came from. If you don't do this they will not be located by HCA. After
moving your files, if any DXF or bitmaps files are missing or misplaced when you load your
design, HCA will issue warnings. The design inspector also checks for missing files.
The problem is that for HCA to draw a wall in the wall color, and a door in the door
color, it must be told which lines on your floor plans are for walls and which are for
doors. This is done in the DXF file by a concept called layers. Unfortunately,
some drawing programs use layers and others do not. If the drawing program does not
save the file using layers to denote what are walls, doors, and furniture, HCA has
no way to tell walls from doors and walls from windows. For more information see the
technical note on drawing programs.
The problem is that each HCA icon was created with a specific 256 color palette.
If your video system is setup for 256 color, and your icons were not drawn with the exact
same palette as HCA is using, then colors you select may not show as you intended.
See the note in the technical note on creating your own icons.
Bring up the properties for the floor and select the storage tab. If the file is
currently linked, that option will be selected. To change it to be imported all you
need do is to select the other option and save the file. When you reload your design
file it will contain your floor plans without re-reading the DXF file. Once you have
changed from linked to imported you can't go back. If you subsequently change the
DXF file you will need to delete the floor from your design and create a new floor with
the new DXF file.
If you have a device, program, or group that has more than one schedule entry in the
schedule being operated upon by the Visual Scheduler, and those entries all do not have
the same date type, that device, program or group is not shown in the Visual
Scheduler. For example, if in a schedule you have an entry for "Mon-Fri at
4pm" and another entry for the same device as "Sat and Sun at 6pm", the
Visual Scheduler would have a hard time showing time markers for both of these entries on
the same time bar - It would be confusing as to what's what. You would look at
the time bar and think that you have a 4pm and 6pm schedule entry - which you do, but they
apply to different days. The Visual Scheduler does not show devices, programs, or
groups that have multiple schedule entries whose date types differ.
Yes. The time bars are ordered by housecode and unitcode. This was done for
a reason. Normally as you lay out devices in your home, devices that are physically
near each other, in the same room for example, typically are given the same housecode and
sequential unitcodes. By ordering the time bars in the same way you can compare and
contrast how devices near each other are scheduled.
Yes and Yes. Right click on the Visual Scheduler background and select Properties
from the context menu. From this dialog you can control the type of schedule entries
that the Visual Scheduler displays and creates. The other tab in this dialog allows
you to select a vary amount added to each new schedule entry you create.
The middle section of the time bar is ambiguous. It could be thought of as after
sunrise but could also be thought of as before sunset just as correctly. Try this
experiment:
Drag an ON marker from the left side of a time bar upwards and watch the status bar to
see what the schedule entry is. When the time mark is over the bottom part of the
bar, you are creating an After Sunset entry. At the border between the lower gray
section and the middle yellow, you are creating an At Sunset entry. Drag into the
yellow selection and HCA shows a Before Sunset entry. Keep going and at the upper
gray and yellow boundary you have an At Sunrise entry. Drag further up and you get a
Before Sunrise entry. Don't drop the time marker yet! Drag it back down into
the yellow section of the time bar. Now you are creating a After Sunrise time.
The Visual Scheduler notes the crossings from one section of the time bar to another as
you drag. Drag from After Sunset into the yellow part of the time bar and you create
a Before Sunset entry. Drag from Before Sunrise into the yellow part of the time bar
and you create an After Sunrise entry.
This becomes more obvious by trying it a few times.
Nothing. The schedule entry does not happen. You should take care in
creating schedule entries like this.
There could be five reasons for this.
First, make sure that the schedule that contains the entries for this device is the
current schedule.
Second, the device could be suspended. You can check this with the Troubleshooter
as it notes all suspended devices. To resume a device that is suspended, select it
in the design pane, or its icon on a floor. Right click the mouse to get the context
menu and pick suspend.
Third, the time on the computer is not correct, so schedule entries won't happen when
you expect.
Fourth, the X10 settings for the device, as stored in your HCA design, don't match the
settings on the module. For example, your HCA settings say this module is B6, but
the module is set for B8.
Fifth, you may have an X10 communication problem in your home. See the troubleshooting section on intermittent X10 control.
Unless the device responds to status requests, the Test element when testing for On,
Off, or Dim bases its decision on the internal HCA device state. For example, if you
use HCA or a control panel to turn a light on, HCA records that device as ON. If you
turn it off using a wall switch, that switch didn't transmit its action - it just turns
the lamp off. At this point HCA thinks the light is ON but it's not. In this
case the test element will take the success path from the element - you tested for on, and
HCA's state for that device shows it as on.
If you provide a housecode and unitcode for a program, it starts running when that
housecode and unitcode is received by HCA. As you noticed, control panels have
buttons that can be pressed in the ON or OFF position. When you first create a
program, the wizard has set up the program to only start when an ON command for its
housecode and unitcode is received.
You can select the program and bring up its properties to change this. In the
Advanced tab of a program's properties is an option to start the program when an ON
command is received, and another option to start the program when an OFF command is
received. You can check one or both of these options.
To create a program that performs different actions based upon an ON or OFF, you can
use the Test element. This is one of the conditions it can test for.
It's important to remember that sending an ON command starts a program. Sending
an OFF command, depending upon the program's properties, either does nothing or also
starts the program. Sending an OFF doesn't stop an already running program.
HCA always uses the date formats you select using the Windows Control Panel Regional
Settings applet. You can make changes using that tool. Regardless of your
selection of a date format with a 2 or 4 digit year, HCA is fully year 2000 compliant.
Modems and dialing locations are set up using the Windows Control Panel Modems applet.
You can add new modems and dialing locations using that tool.
Use Windows Help (reachable from the Start button), in the Find tab search for
"StartUp". Select the topic "Starting a program each time Windows
starts" and follow the directions. The program you want to start is HCA.EXE and can
usually be found in c:\program files\home control assistant\program\hca.exe.
If you are doing this to make power failure recovery automatic, please read the power failure technical note. It contains all the information
you need.
Yes and No. HCA can control anything that can receive X10 signals. HCA can
receive from anything that generates X10 signals. Don't be fooled when you read
articles about home automation in to thinking that with the correct software (HCA or
anything from anyone else) you can live in a Bill Gates like mansion. There are X10
devices that you can add to your home that are very capable - but without the proper
hardware, HCA (or software from anyone else) can't control even a lamp.
For more information on what HCA can control, see the HCA World.
If you are using the older Marrick interfaces, as described in the Hardware Connection
Guide you need two cables. A serial cable with DB9 connectors at each end to connect
the LynX interface to the computer. The other is a 4 wire telephone-like cable with
RJ11 connectors at each end to connect the TW523 to the LynX interface.
The newer Marrick LynX-10PLC uses only one cable - the serial cable with the DB9
connectors at both ends.
These cables can probably be purchased at a local electronics store (like Radio Shack)
or via mail order. One mail order company is JDR
Microdevices. They stock the serial cable with part number CBL-MNT-9 and the
telephone-like cable with part number PH-4C-7
Yes. HCA fully supports these type of devices. If you are using an interface that
connects to the powerline using the TW523 / PSC05, you will be unable to use the advanced
dimming and status reporting capabilities of these devices. This is due to a
hardware limitation of the TW523 used by these interfaces. The LynX-10PLC does not
use the TW523 so it does not have this limitation.
