Change The Sensor Timeout
Question
My VCR Commander starts recording, but in a minute or so the camera turns off and the VCR records nothing. What causes this?
Answer
The VCR Commander is programmed to have your VCR record until five (5) minutes after the last motion is detected. This cannot be changed.
X10's motion sensors are quite flexible devices. They were initially designed for lighting control- to turn lights on when there was motion and off when there was no activity. Of course, we needed to provide a mechanism to adjust the time before the lights turn off. By default, X10 motion sensors have a thirty second or a one minute timeout. To use the motion sensors for VCR recording, you need to increase those timeout values to more than five minutes, since the VCR Commander always records for five minutes at a time. If you have the MS16A ActiveEye sensor or the FloodCam, rotate the timeout dial as far as it will go clockwise to set a sixty minute timeout. This dial is under the waterproof cover (atop the MS16A; on the underside of the FloodCam.) Refer to this article if you have MS13A or MS14A sensors.
Please note that no timeout adjustments of any sensor (MS13A, MS14A, or MS16A) can extend the VCR Commander time record time beyond its preset five (5) minute limit.