Older Active Home (v 1.3) / DST Question

Knowing that the dates for DST are changing in the US, I have been trying to figure out if I need to do anything (or can do anything) in my old Active Home setup.

I have a simple setup and only run macros from the CM11A module which is not connected to my PC. My macros only run in relation to Dawn/Dusk. I don't have any that are driven by specific times.

Do I need to change anything? It would seem that dawn/dusk does not care about DST and such. So I would guess not. However, I did have the DST checkbox checked when I downloaded macros into the CM11A. I have no idea how the CM11A works so maybe I do have to make some changes.

It seems that the UI of Active Home will permit me to manually enter dates for begin/end of DST. The values shown today do not correspond to those shown in my Windows setup (which has already been updated to reflect the change in DST) so I presume that Active Home does NOT get its info from Windows - or at least not directly. I'd rather not have to manually change this year in and out. So if any changes are needed, if this can be avoided, that would be great!

Thanks for you input/help.

Reply to
David White
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Reply to
BruceR

Reply to
David White

Reply to
BruceR

I thought it simply read the system date, and if your PC correctly resets its date then all will be fine.

Don (e-mail link at home page bottom).

Reply to
Don Wiss

According to the ActiveHome Help file - Geographic Location (Configuration Menu)...

"...if you live in the USA and in a State which observes Daylight Savings Time, you should check the Daylight Savings Time box. If you live in a state which does NOT observe D.S.T., you would not check this box. When you check D.S.T., ActiveHome will automatically advance its clock on the first Sunday in April and the last Sunday in October. When you select D.S.T., the previously grayed-out start and stop dates for D.S.T. become active. These boxes show the dates when you would normally put the clocks forward and back (in the USA). If you live in a country which observes D.S.T. but puts the clocks forward and back on a different date from the USA, you can simply type in the appropriate dates into the boxes provided."

You need to uncheck the box and manually adjust the dates each year.

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Reply to
Dave Houston

Ok, I've posted a similar article on comp.home.automation concerning the Smarthome 1132CU. I think the last advise, shut off DST and set the time zone one zone further to the east should work. However, if you do nothing in the springtime, and don't update the time in the module between March 11 and April 1, everything should just continue to work. With the module set to enable DST, it will switch to DST on April 1. Again, unless you change the module time, it should continue to work properly. In the Fall, the same should happen. Module time will not change until Nov. 4, so unless you update the time between Oct

28 and Nov. 3, it should still work ok. Am I right? Does the program automatically set the module time to the computer time when it is launched? If so, d> First of all, my advice was backwards. You'd need to change it from
Reply to
Art Todesco

Thanks to all who have considered and replied. But as I think about it more, because all my simple setup cares about is executing macros when dawn/dusk occurs, the output shown on a wall clock seems irrelevant. Indeed, our agreement to observe DST does not change the time when dawn/dusk really occurs (in a celestial sense). It only changes how we agree to map our clocks' readout in relation to dawn/dusk.

Looking carefully for the first time, this is shown in the data on the Statistics dialog. When DST is NOT checked, the times shown for dawn/dusk change for every list entry in a fairly smooth and regular progression/regression. However, when DST is checked, a large (1 hour) discontinuity in this pattern is introduced at the points where DST starts and ends. This just handles the difference between the DST state when the macros are downloaded and the DST state when the CM11A's interface clock is set.

If I lived in a state like Arizona (I live in Washington state) which does not observe DST, I would always be on "standard" time and dawn/dusk triggered macros would still run fine. So it seems to me that if I simply:

(a) uncheck the DST box, (b) download my marcos into the CM11A, (c) ensure that the time on the CM11A is set during a period when my computer is NOT on DST, and (d) disconnect the CM11A from my computer (which it is unless I am changing something)

I should be just f> Knowing that the dates for DST are changing in the US, I have been

Reply to
David White

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