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Dean
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| Posted: November 13 2004 at 23:31 | IP Logged
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Hi Dave,
Got your e-mail, thanks for the quick reply. Even though I haven't done too much with PowerHome to date, I have been keeping up with the new releases.
Even though I have been using X10 for several years (even prior to purchasing PowerHome), I have really never done more than get my feet wet. Whether it be lack of time or imagination, my X10 use has been very simple: use PowerHome for a few simple timed events and use my Palm Pad (HR12A) and Transceiver Module (RR501) to turn on and off lights as needed. I'd like to dabble a bit more with PowerHome and all this home automation stuff, which leads me to a few questions.
I have the following:
PowerHome (obviously), CM11A, W800RF32 (recently purchased), RR501 Transceiver module, a bunch of lamp and appliance modules, X10 Dual Floodlight, some motion detection modules, keychains, etc.
My first question is regarding the W800RF32 and the RR501. I'm not sure, but I have a feeling that I have a conflict since I have two RF receiving modules. Do I need to tell the CM11A module not to listen to any commands received and just use it to transmit and have the W800RF32 do all the listening? But this may cause problems if non-RF commands are sent on the powerline the CM11A will ignore them? I'm not sure if I am explaining my question clearly or not, I guess my concern is that I may end up with commands/macros executing two times since I have two devices listening to RF commands. I notice in the PowerHome event log that when I press a button on my Palm Pad both the CM11A and the W800RF32 recognize it. This may be a moot question after you read my third question. I'm hoping you can tell me I can totally retire the RR501 and that I won't have any conflicts.
Can you point me to an example macro/code that will allow me to dim a light to half-brightness that is plugged into a light module? I have a timed event that turns on a light at dusk and I would like to dim this to half brightness at a certain time before I go to bed. I then have a macro that turns off the light at dawn. I guess I would also need the macro that executes at dusk to turn the light on at full brightness.
This question isn't really a PowerHome question, more of an X10 question. I have noticed problems with my RR501 module when I use my Palm Pad to Dim or Brighten a lamp module. Sometime the RR501 "locks up" and I need to unplug it and then plug it back in to get any RF commands to work. Have you experienced this problem before? I had this same problem with a previous RR501 so it does not appear to be a problem with the particular RR501 I have now. Is there something better to replace the RR501 with? I was hoping the W800RF32 could totally replace it, but the W800RF32 does not appear to retransmit the commands it "hears" to the powerline. It appears that I may be able to get this to work with changing a powerhome.ini setting. I'm not sure what should be on the echo= line if I want to echo Housecodes A, B and C.
Lastly, any good sites you can point me to that have X10/Home Automation ideas? I Googled around, but I thought I would ask if you had any favorite sites.
Well, I guess that is all for now. Thanks a lot.
-Dean
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TonyNo
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| Posted: November 14 2004 at 10:29 | IP Logged
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If I may...
I would suggest dumping the RR501 and only using the W800. It does a better job, but, as you discovered, PH does not echo commands out to the powerline by default.
From the docs...
When an RF command is received, it is not automatically echoed onto the powerline. You must either do this manually from a trigger or by changing the echo and echocontroller settings in the pwrhome.ini file.
I use triggers, but, I think that is just because the older version did not support echo settings. If it did, I guess I thought there would be more control with triggers.
Also, there are numerous reports of dim/bright problems when using the RR501 and the TM751.
As for good sites, www.cocoontech.com and forums.homeseer.com are two. Scan the forums for some good ideas. Of course, there is at least one thread here on ideas. 
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dhoward
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| Posted: November 15 2004 at 10:57 | IP Logged
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Dean,
I second Tony's idea. I would definately scrap the RR501 and any TM751's. The problem with dimming with the RR501's and TM751's is a documented problem. I used to have a lot of problems with certain RR501/TM751 and not so many with others. You can read about this as well as quite a few other X-10 articles on Ido's site (it's on the links page).
You are correct that the W800RF32 does not echo any commands to the powerline. It is merely an X-10 RF receiver interfaced with the serial port (it couldnt echo if it wanted to without plugging into the wall with something other than the power supply).
You can setup the W800RF32 to replace your RF transceivers by changing a few settings in the pwrhome.ini file. Open up this file and find the [W800RF32] section. Change the UPDATESTATUS parameter to YES. Set the ECHO parameter to ABC. This parameter should include every housecode that you wish to have echoed to the powerline. Set the ECHOCONTROLLER parameter to 1 (assuming that your CM11A is configured to be the 1st X-10 controller). This parameter will be a value from 1 to 5 and corresponds to what controller you wish to have commands echoed to.
You may be able to improve efficiency by setting up your housecodes differently. Certain devices like X-10 motion sensors are typically "Status Only". When an X-10 motion sensor transmits a motion detected signal or motion timeout (on and off), it does not physically change an actual device (unless you have a light set to the same housecode/unitcode as the motion sensor and rely upon an RF transceiver to convert the RF into a powerline signal). Depending upon your setup, if you've got some motion sensors that are not set the same as physical lights/appliances, you don't need to "echo" these commands to the powerline. This is just cluttering the powerline and wasting CPU. Set these motion sensors to a housecode that you are not intending to echo. The "updatestatus" parameter being set to "yes" will cause PowerHome to reflect the appropriate status without having to write any code. Other motion sensors directly interfaced with a light/appliance or palm pads, etc that you use to directly control lights,etc. should be set to one of the "echo" housecodes. When PowerHome receives RF from these devices, it will echo the commands to the powerline. This way you reduce the chance of collisions and X-10 clutter on the powerline to just what is necessary. Also, as Tony indicated, you could setup triggers instead of the automatic handling to gain even finer control.
If you were interested in using both the RR501 and W800RF32, then you may be able to do make it work by setting the commands that the CM11A responds to in the Setup-Controllers->X-10 section of the PowerHome Explorer. You could tell the CM11A to ignore on,off,dim, and bright by unchecking the appropriate boxes. The CM11A would then ignore these commands. I don't think this would be a good approach but wanted to let you know that PowerHome has the flexibility to allow you to test this if you're interested.
As far as a macro to set your light to 50%. You could do this a number of different ways. You could create a macro or simply a formula to do this. Depending upon the device you're controlling, the actual command may vary. If you're using just normal X-10 devices without a memory, then everytime the light is turned on, it is at full brightness. In this case you could just dim 50%. You could this in a macro using two lines. These lines would look like:
10 X-10 1 A 1
20 X-10 1 A Dim 50
This would dim a light at A1 by 50%. You could also just use the formula: ph_x10btn("A",1,100,50). This function will do absolute dimming and will bring the light to 50% even if it is at a level different from full brightness. You could use this formula function directly within a timed event without having to have a macro.
Let me know if you need more info,
Dave.
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Dean
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| Posted: November 16 2004 at 21:51 | IP Logged
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Thanks for all the info Tony and Dave.
I have removed RR501 and I am going with the W800RF32 only. I guess my only concern is that any RF stuff I do relies on my computer (and PowerHome) staying up. I have a UPS and have PowerHome running on Windows 2000, so I hope that will be stable enough. Any intentions of making PowerHome run as a service? So far the W800RF32 is working great with the changes made to the powerhome.ini file.
For the light dimming, I am going with the formula (thought I would try something new). Does this absolute dimming work the same regardless of what lamp module (e.g. LM14A vs.LM465) is being used?
My CM11A I believe is flaky. Is there any advantage to getting the SmartHome PowerLinc II RS-232 vs. another CM11A? Will one offer me more features/control?
Thanks again.
-Dean
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dhoward
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| Posted: November 17 2004 at 10:34 | IP Logged
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Steve,
Good decision. I don't think you'll have to worry to much about the system being stable. As far as making PowerHome a service...it's definately on the to-do list. It's just down the list a little ways. Will definately work on it though.
With the ph_x10btn function and absolute dimming, it does work differently depending upon the lamp module. If the module supports extended dimming commands (LM14A) determined by the settings in the X10Types screen, then then an extended absolute dim command is generated. If the module does not support extended dimming (LM465), then PowerHome looks up what it believes is the current value, determines the difference between that and the desired value and then sends the appropriate dim or bright command to achieve the desired level.
Concerning the CM11A and the PowerLinc. I personally like the CM11A slightly more than the PowerLinc. I believe the CM11A handles extended commands a little better. I also feel that the dimming/brightening in the CM11A is better. When the CM11A receives dim/bright commands from the powerline, the total percentage is passed to the computer. With the powerlinc, individual dim and bright commands are passed one at a time and just doesnt seem as efficient. Also, when sending dim or bright commands with the powerlinc, you must send an individual dim/bright command repeatedly until the light is at the desired level. This gives the effect of dimming and brightening in steps rather than a smooth transition that is available with the CM11A. The powerlinc is quicker to send and receive powerline commands however as the CM11A has a slight delay.
That being said, the powerlinc is a fine X-10 controller that I have no doubt you will be happy with. I believe the CM11A has been discontinued or will be shortly in favor of X-10's new CM15A (I will be attempting to add support for this controller, but am probably a couple of months away). I am also working on adding support for the PowerLinc USB. As of last night, I can connect to the PowerLinc USB and can reset it. Still working on the protocol to send and receive. It's a tough controller to write for so it may still be 2 to 4 weeks before Im done.
HTH,
Dave.
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Dean
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| Posted: November 20 2004 at 09:12 | IP Logged
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Well, my CM11A is holding up OK for the moment and my W800RF32 is working good. I did run across a problem with my X10 RW694 wireless wall switch. It appears this does not work with the W800RF32. I can't use it to turn on lights, etc. If I plug in my RR501 the wall switch works fine.
Any ideas on this one?
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TonyNo
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| Posted: November 20 2004 at 19:15 | IP Logged
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It looks like there may be issues with this older switch...
Excerpt from Mister house doc...
h=0 (UNIT MODE)
d : bit-1 of UNIT
e : bit-0 of UNIT
f : 0=ON, 1=OFF
g : bit-2 of UNIT (see bit 't') - for newer RF devices
appears to be 0 when 't' is set
s : bit 3 of UNIT
qr : unknown (always 00?)
t : bit-2 of UNIT (see bit 'g') - for older RF devices
: appears to be 0 when 'g is set
sgde : UNIT code for 'newer' devices (such as HR12A, KR19A, SS13A)
stde : UNIT code for 'older' devices (such as RW694, RW724, DR10A, KC674)
The 'g' and 't' bits are better handled. Now both "new" and "old" RF devices are handled correctly.
This has been tested on:
'newer' RF devices: HR12A, KR19A, SS13A
'older' RF devices: RW694, RW724, DR10A, KC674
Maybe Dave can confirm/deny?
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dhoward
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| Posted: November 21 2004 at 15:31 | IP Logged
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Dean,
With the PowerHome status screen up, do you get any indication of X-10 RF received when you trigger your RW694 switch? If the W800RF32A is not sending a signal to PowerHome, then nothing can be done. If you get something from the W800RF32A (even if it's not the proper something), then you should be able to make a trigger off of that to manually control the light.
Worst case scenario, I would move the switch to a housecode that you would never use except for this switch and then plug in the RR501. If the W800RF32A does not recognize the RF then you should have no conflicts with having them both plugged in (especially if the RR501 is set to the housecode for just this switch).
Dave.
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Dean
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| Posted: November 23 2004 at 07:06 | IP Logged
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I'll have to do more testing on this. PowerHome definitely sees the incoming request, according to the Event log. The keypad is a four button keypad, with a switch to allow the values to be Housecode/Unitcode 1-4, Housecode/Unitcode 5-8, Housecode/Unitcode 9-12, and Housecode/Unitcode 13-16. It appears that perhaps the W80032RF controller may not be interpreting the value of the switch correctly. Meaning, when I have the switch in say Housecode/Unitcode 9-12, that PowerHome shows Housecode/Unitcode 1-4 in the eventlog. I'm not sure if TonyNo's "Excerpt from Mister house doc..." posting in this topic indicates what I am seeing.
I have to test some more with the RR501 to see what the event log shows. As soon as I get a chance to do this I will let you know what I find.
Thanks.
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TonyNo
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| Posted: November 23 2004 at 17:00 | IP Logged
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You may just need to see what the W800 is sending and trigger off of that.
I just found that one of my wireless door/window sensors changed the values that it sends for Door Open, so, I just changed the macro to also trigger on that value. Easier than hunting down the explanation (I did hunt anyway, but, did not find much).
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Topic: RF Controllers & Other Questions
