Posted: November 25 2003 at 22:35 | IP Logged

It looks like "X-10 In" triggers work with the W800RF.  Is this correct? When the W800RF sees an RF comm, the log just says "Incoming X-10". I remember in a previous post, you said to use "X-10 RF In" with serial RF devices.

Also, does this snippet of the Event Log make sense?

21:33:58  Incoming X-10 received on controller 2. Housecode: C Unit: 9 Command: On

21:34:00  Incoming X-10 received on controller 1. Byte Values: 03 02 27 22  Decode:  C9 C{On}

Further, unless I'm off base here, if you move to a serial RF device and use Palm Pads or RF keychains, you'll need to add triggers for all the buttons that control actual modules to end up with the same functionality.

PS: The line noise I mentioned in a previous post that was wreaking havoc on my 2nd floor is now gone! Must have been a bum RR501.

Posted: November 26 2003 at 00:33 | IP Logged

I had sporadic success using X--10 In's. I switched them all to X-10 RF In's; boy, I had a lot of triggers to change!

I must say, "holy crap"! Performance with this thing is outstanding!

I am getting double hits about one second apart with my motion detectors, though. Any clue? May be related to the C9 thing above.

I also sent a note to WGL because my one and only RF keychain remote does not work. I have the internal switch set to 5 and 6, but, the W800RF only sees 1 and 2.

Posted: November 26 2003 at 11:45 | IP Logged

With the WGL800 devices and the MR26A, you must use the "X-10 RF In" trigger.  If you had sporadic success using "X-10 In" then that tells me you didnt go around and unplug all your TM751's .  Most likely, that is the result of your "double" hits and the explanation of your eventlog.  I should probably make a change to the eventlog so that incoming RF is flagged that way. 

To get around having to create triggers to echo the RF to the powerline, you can edit the pwrhome.ini file settings and turn echo on.  There are three settings under the [W800RF32] section that may make your life easier.  They are echo, echocontroller, and updatestatus.  I would set updatestatus to yes if it isnt already.  What this will do is allow the RF command to update the X-10 status of any devices that are defined in the X-10 types as "status only" such as your motion sensors.  If you think about it, there is no reason to echo motion sensors to the powerline unless you are having them automatically turn lights on that are set to the same house/unit code.  Any incoming RF that you want echoed to the powerline, you can use the echo and echocontroller settings.  Echocontroller should be the number of your powerline X-10 device that you want to use to echo commands on.  Based on your eventlog settings posted above, you have a CM11A as controller 1.  The echo setting should be a string of uppercase housecodes that you want to echo.  If you were only interested in echoing housecodes D, H, and O, you would just set the echo to DHO.

This may result in powerline clutter however if you are echoing commands that are unnecessary.  In this case, you could create triggers for the exact control that you want.  In my situation, I create 4 triggers for any housecode that I want to react on: 1 for each of on, off, dim, and bright for "any address".  I then pass the info to a macro and depending upon the command and address decide whether I want to echo or not.

Glad to hear you eliminated the noise problem .

Not sure why your keychain remote would not work with the W800RF.  It obviously is able to see C9 and it shouldnt make a difference if the switch is on 5/6 or 1/2.  Do you have any problems with your palmpads?

I must say, "holy crap"! Performance with this thing is outstanding!

hehe...Its pretty fast isnt it?  Well good luck and dont forget to to unplug those useless TM751's and RR501's.  Let me know if you have any problems setting up your triggers and keep me posted how everything works.

Dave.

Posted: November 26 2003 at 13:00 | IP Logged

Thanks, Dave.

All of my RR501's are unplugged! Maybe the W800RF defaults to echo? I'll look deeper into it tonight.

Tony

Posted: November 26 2003 at 13:32 | IP Logged

Hmmm...thats strange.  Something has to be plugged in somewhere otherwise you wouldnt get incoming X-10 on the CM11A.  I guess it could even possibly be a neighbor.  The default settings on the W800 should be echo off and even if it were on then the CM11A event would be "Outgoing X-10".

Let me know what you find out.

Dave.

Posted: November 26 2003 at 19:26 | IP Logged

All my PalmPads work fine.

My log now shows two On's from controller 2, but, the W800 test program only shows one. If I check "report errors and detail", it shows me this...

6:22:32 PM - 00 FF 2E D1     X10 Cmd: B 9 On
6:22:32 PM - 00 FF 2E D1     Debounce
6:22:32 PM - 00 FF 2E D1     Debounce
6:22:33 PM - 00 FF 2E D1     Debounce
6:22:33 PM - 00 FF 2E D1     Debounce

Maybe a W800RF problem? I'll send Warren another note.

Tony

Posted: November 27 2003 at 12:12 | IP Logged

Just to chime in....I ordered my W800RF32 yesterday :)  I can't WAIT to deepsix my TM751's and my one and only RR501.

Incidently, I'm currently "load-testing" my Christmas display....had to actually whip out an Excel spreadsheet this time and compute amp load.  I have a total of about 54amps worth of lights!  Probably not much to some folks, but definitely more than average to others.  I may have to call an electrician to add a couple more 15 amp circuits.  Sheesh....can u say "Chevy Chase"?

It sure is fun to see the stares of people walking buy when I stand there with my palm pad testing turning them on off from the outside.....:)

Posted: November 29 2003 at 13:40 | IP Logged

When I get my Christmas stuff up tonight, I'll go down the block and check the range of my new toy!

Also, I got a response from Warren at WGL about the MS13A...

What you are describing is something I see also with my MS13A units, so I guess this is what they do normally.

Maybe Dave can come up with a workaround?

Posted: November 29 2003 at 16:58 | IP Logged

My W800RF32 came today (Sat) and just in time to play :)

I too have a CM11a on COM1 and put the W800 on COM4 on a USB serial extention.  All I can say so far is...wow.  The difference with the motion detectors alone is NIGHT and DAY.  Most of mine were useless until today, and I had forgotten I had some pretty annoying triggers active that didn't work...wife went into the family room to let the dogs out and the lights would go on, she'd turn them off, they'd go back on...it was hilarious.....so I have some trigger work to do :)

I have only one TM751 on the far (garage side) of the house on house code (C) (for christmas, get it?), and I can with my palm pad turn on/off the display no problem.

Neat stuff......

Posted: November 29 2003 at 19:57 | IP Logged

When I noticed RF response was so good, I replaced my doorbell "system" with a RS wireless door/window sensor.

My old system was the doorbell switch wired into to a table-top, plug-in X-10 controller. When the doorbell was pressed, the associated WAV file would play three seconds later. I thought the delay was irrelevant, since you could not hear the doorbell from outside, and, if you were inside, you wouldn't know the doorbell was going to be pressed.  Of course, the first time I tell anyone about it, they open the door, reach over to the doorbell, hit it, and say, "Well?". Three seconds later, the WAV plays, and the effect sneaks out the opened door!

RS has the wireless door/window sensors on sale for $9.99, and they use the extended RF codes, which the W800RF decodes. Wiring this in and adding a trigger results in quite nice doorbell response!

It seems, though, that PH can only tell that an extended code has been received; I can't find a way to discriminate units, or, data. I'm sure there is, or, will be. Right Dave?

Posted: December 01 2003 at 00:55 | IP Logged

Everyone,

Im currently on vacation and on the road.  These message are coming to you via a bluetooth enabled cellphone so if Im a little slow to respond, I apologize .  I'll be home a week from Monday.

Tony,

What you're seeing with the WGL and the "debounce" is the extra signals.  When a palmpad or motion sensor sends X-10 RF, the signal is repeated a variable number of times but typically around 5 repeats.  The WGL or MR26A will send every signal it sees to the serial port.  So software that supports these devices have to come up with a way to differentiate between the repeats that are part of a normal signal and an actual repeated signal.  This is commonly done with a time delay.  Essentially, store the last signal.  If the next received signal is the same and within a certain timeframe, its considered a repeat signal and does not trigger as a second signal.  Once the time delay is up, the same signal coming in will be reported as a second signal.  Of course if the next signal is different from the previous signal, then that is the start of a new signal and the time delay is reset.  This time delay can be set in the pwrhome.ini file under the W800 section and is the "timeout" parameter.  The default is 500 milliseconds, but may need to be fine tuned beyond this to get rid of the double signals.  I would try increasing this value by 50 until your multiple motion sensor signals go way.

I guess you find out about the [TEMP3] and [TEMP4] variables already ;)

Pete,

Glad to hear your W800 came so fast.  It really is an amazing toy.

Dave.

Posted: December 01 2003 at 08:38 | IP Logged

Thanks, Dave!

I also found out that using the door/window sensor as a doorbell transmitter, you need to look for specific data to eliminate false signals. With my sensor, I need to qualify the extended data as 132 and not 4 (I was getting doorbell rings about every hour or two).

Tony

Posted: December 03 2003 at 21:35 | IP Logged

I found that changing the W800RF timeout to 700 in the ini file eliminated my motion detector double-hits.

Tony

Posted: December 08 2003 at 11:22 | IP Logged

Tony,

Well...Im back!!!

Thats great to hear on the INI setting.  Depending upon the sensor, I guess they all transmit the code a different length of time.

Could you elaborate a little more on the extended data in your previous post?

Dave.

Posted: December 08 2003 at 19:12 | IP Logged

WB, Dave!

When the door/window sensor fires, I get two sets of unit/data codes, U:209 D:132 and U:209 D:4. I'm taking that as 209 for door/window sensor, 132 for make, and, 4 for break. In my system, if I trigger the doorbell macro on 209/4, I get lots of false hits. I've found that looking for 209/132 works better.

Tony