UK X10 lack of status report problems...

[firmware]

Hi All,

When I wired my house up from scratch, I never dreamt that the cabinet full of X10 LD11 and AD10 units would not support some form of status enquiry.

This means I now have a house that is, at least in my mind severely crippled.

Almost all the modules also have a connection to a wall mounted momentary switch ( in brushed stainless steel, but that is another story ) I couldn't allow a situation where a crash in the homeseer PC would leave SWMBO stuck in a dark house while I was away on work!

So now the manual controls can seriously upset the validity of the homeseer data.

I am not too worried about the lights and dim values in most cases, but I do have at least one situation where I would dearly love to know what is going on.

I have heated mirror panels in the bathroom that are on a seperate spur to the main bathroom light but are presently commoned at my control cabinet.

I am using in this case an AD10, but would prefer to have an LD11 for the lights and an AD10 for the mirror heaters.

Anyway these mirror heaters are on whenever the light is on, but this is really too much, I want them to turn off after half an hour, but as homeseer is unaware that the lights/heaters have been turned on, I can't trigger a timer event.

What options are there to get round this, bearing in mind I have no movement detector in my bathroom and no wiring to support it either.

I have to make homeseer aware of activity triggered by the manual switches, which must remain hardwired to the control modules, as stated due to possible PC crashes.

Then I could do just about anything I want.

The magic pill would be to get some firmware upgrade to make these units repond to status requests, but accpeting that is not going to happen or is impossible, what possible compromises are out there?

[Phill]

BRF

What I have done for my Attic is to provide some feedback.

I have a 240V relay connected in parallel with the load. On the low voltage side I have the relay connected directly to the PC com port using the com port plugin. Now when the load is turned on, the relay is activated toggling the contacts which registers in homeseer via the plugin.

This setup works so well that I've adopted for another use in the garage. Having Status would be ideal but this hack definately works.

Phill

[TrOjAn]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Phill:
BRF

What I have done for my Attic is to provide some feedback.

I have a 240V relay connected in parallel with the load. On the low voltage side I have the relay connected directly to the PC com port using the com port plugin. Now when the load is turned on, the relay is activated toggling the contacts which registers in homeseer via the plugin.

This setup works so well that I've adopted for another use in the garage. Having Status would be ideal but this hack definately works.

Phill <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Phil, Id be interested to see a photo of this relay and its port connection? possible? perhaps even a UK supplier.

TrOjAn

[firmware]

I have no idea why I did not think of a 240V relay, I feel dumb, too much solid state I suppose.

Does this work fine will LD11 dimmers though for on off status, have you tried it?

What are you using as a physical input device to the PC?

Thanks for the feedback!

[jon00]

BRF,

Another but a bit more expensive way is to just buy a Marmitek LWM1 Micromodule dimmer instead of your intended LD11. http://www.letsautomate.com/11025.cfm?

This has X10 status and momentary switch operation. Use this to inform HS to turn on your AD10. This assumes your bathroom lighting does not exceed 250W.

[Phill]

I purchased the relays from Maplin. I put them in their own ABS boxes becuase of the obvious dangers.

For the connection to the PC I ran some Cat5. Again using a Maplin usb / parallel cable and the Joystick plugin gets the condition directly into Homeseer.

As to whether it would work with a dimmer I've not tested. I think this is one of those inductive loads on a resistive controller type questions. I'm sure one of the more knowledgeable Guy's will jump in at this point and answer this for you.

Phill

[firmware]

Hi all,

I can't justify the LWM1, just too much cost for something I thought I already had sorted :-(

I will probably add relays for where I need to control more than just the light, such as the bathroom described.

Still very annoying though.

Does anyone know, is the hardware on board the LD11's for transmit and just not used, or is it not there at all?

[danwhiley]

BRF - I know that you said that your brushed stainless steel momentary switches would be another story, but I think I'm going through the same situation as you. The "where on earth do you get something which will not result in Unhappy Other Halves".

Would you be incredibly kind and share some of your sources with us?

Thanks,
Dan.

[jon00]

Dan,

Take a look at http://www.forbesandlomax.co.uk/

I believe that Letsautomate sell a small range of these switches.

[timwarner]

I have the same trouble, lack of status when the units (LD11s and AD10's) are operated by the hardwired switches.

The idea I had was to install some micro modules. The Marmitek TMD4 Micromodule for the dimmers and Marmitek TMA4 Micromodule for the appliance modules. I was going to install these in the cupboard in a enclosure next to the exsisting enclosures and have the incoming wires from the switches that currently go to din modules feed into these instead. I am hoping this will be almost as reliable as the hardwired switches are now. It means that the PC will be kept up to date with any human input. The micromodules have a 4 circuit capability and cost around £65 so little over £15 per circuit. I hope this makes sense and I would love to hear from anyone that has tried this already.

http://www.letsautomate.com/10854.cf...TOKEN=15666001
http://www.letsautomate.com/10853.cf...TOKEN=15666001

[MichaelD]

I'm trying a different route, which is to go with direct connection to the LW11s, which is fairly conventional, but to see that as a back-up.

Most switching will be done through a separate set of pushbuttons that connect to a hacked mini-timer (1 timer gives 8 inputs)which will put out an X10 signal that HS can use to set lighting scenes.

Alternatives on the same theme would be to connect the push-buttons to Ocelot inputs, then use the Ocelot to control the scenes. This gives the advantage that the Ocelot seems to be 100% reliable, and HS would see the X10 signals that the Ocelot sends out, so could update status, but Ocelot inputs are more expensive.

Or, thinking with my fingers here, one of those cheap stick-a-switches would do the same thing, but they look and feel a bit cheap

Maybe the most economical is to connect push buttons to the COM port or game port, and work from that.

Once there is a backup in place, many more options open up

[Phill]

Just my thoughts:

Something that will drive your solution will be 1) the look and feel (WAF acceptability)
2) the wiring infrastructure
3) the amount of effort you wish to put into it.

Gognitive science is a pet love of mine, you know walking into a door which intuatively should be pushed but for some reason is a pull

Certainly my approach has always been to try and use everyday products as far as possible. Everyone knows what a light switch looks like, how to use it and provided the builder thought about it the switch should be in the correct location. However as soon as you start replacing these with non standard switches these operations no longer become seemless.

The Marmitek Units look very good and are small, however quite expensive. If you have room in the light switch boxes they are a very neat solution.

Hacking a mini timer and using pushbuttons. I assume this will mean running low voltage cables between the switches and the ocelot or gameport.

Cheep stick a switch. Agreed, they look cheap, and you never know which button to press.

The reason I took the relay approach was that I could get access to install a 240v relay out of sight so nowbody is aware it's there. Also being able to then run low voltage to the gameport meant I could install it completely and still use the real light switch.

Anyway, just my thoughts.

Phill

Phill

[MichaelD]

I think the great thing about this is that there is a range of options, and if one of them isn't suitable in a particular case, then there is always another way to do it.

Maybe its a cognitive science thing, but I've had a door that opens the 'wrong' way, and its been irritating me for years. If I swap the hinges, I have to rewire the switches to put them in reach, and that has held me back. My solution here is to leave the switches 'behind' the door, and run new low-voltage ones to the new location.

In another room I'm putting in a 4 x 2 (8 switch) grid panel, four mains switches to LD11s, and four low-voltage switches for the HS-controlled lighting scenes, with separate boxes behind the switch for safety. The mains switches are only really there in case of a problem with the scene switches

We don't have the range of switches that is available in the US, so its great to have other ways to do things.