What do you think of PLCBUS?

[davidp]

Hello there doesn't seem to be much traffic about PLCBUS here.

I am quite interested in trying it out but I am concerned about reliability, speed of response and noise resistance.

I am not worried about the plugin as I have found previous stipus plugins to be robust and functional.

Can anyone tell me of their experiences with PCLBUS in general?

I see that there have been a few problems with the USB driver for the computer interface. I would prefer to use USB as I don't have any spare serial ports. What experiences (good and bad) have people had with USB? My HS server is still running with XP so comments about use on XP would be most useful.

I am particularly interested in the newer DIN modules, ie 2264HX - Two-load H-Duty Dimmer and 2268HX2 4-load Appliance Module.
Also the 4-scene Micro Module 2269I.

Are these modules reliable?
Has anyone had a module that failed?
Is the appliance module noisy?

I may use a few of the plugin modules. What has been the experience with them (same questions as above)?

I cannot see any filter modules for PLCBUS. Does this mean that there has not been a requirement for them? I have heard that there is some filtering in the modules perhaps that is why?
Has anyone had problems with noise on the line?
It seems that a few people have replaced X10 with PLCBUS. How does PLCBUS compare in terms of noise resistance, speed and reliability? I saw the X10 comparison posted by stipus that indicated just a doubling of speed. Is this what I should expect? How do the two compare when looking at just one set of commands from action to response?

Has anyone given up with PLCBUS after a decent trial? If yes, why did you give up?

What has been the experience with polling/status response? What strategies have you used to ensure that the status is accurate? What problems have you encountered?

I can see only two suppliers of PLCBUS x10-hk.com and www.elekhomica.nl are there any others? I would be looking for UK modules where applicable. What is the experience of availability of stock from the suppliers?

I would really appreciate any feedback on PLCBUS that you have.

Many thanks
David

[stipus]

In my experience:

- The serial interface works fine. Many plugin customers had problems with the USB driver.

- The module quality is not the best (same as most X10 modules). However I had a few modules that failed at the beginning, and since then (a few years) I didn't have any other bad modules.

- I don't recommend using PLCBUS with a 3-phase power system. Most plugin users using 3-phase had problems.

- In my house (quite large) I have no problem with interference or noise (I had a lot of noise problem with X10 before). However, some plugin users said they had some noise problem with PLCBUS. Most of the time, it's a bad module causing noise on the whole system.

- Collision detection is not very good ... sometime a Plcbus command can be lost because there has been a collision.

- I do use Plcbus fast polling to sync HomeSeer status. It works most of the time. I still don't understand why modules cannot send their new status when they are activated locally.

[davidp]

Thank you very much for your thoughts.

The problems with the USB interface do worry me. Perhaps my best option is to get the serial interface and then connect via a serial to usb converter.

I noticed that the modules seemed to have the same casings as X10(2). It wouldn't surprise me to see a few failures and your experience doesn't seem too bad.

I don't have 3 phases but I do have two supplies into the house. X10 was able to cover most of the house just connected to a fairly clean radial circuit on one supply although it did struggle at the extremes of the other supply. It sounds like you found PLCBUS to be a bit better than X10?

The problem with lack of collision detection sounds a bit annoying. How often has this been a problem?

Have you had any experience with the DIN modules?

With the scene controllers and DIN modules I shouldn't have a problem with status as I probably won't use local control.

Do you have any comments on availability and suppliers?

Many thanks

[stipus]

The USB interface is a serial interface with an integrated serial to usb converter. The problem is the driver for this converter is not stable enough.

You can get collisions if you send a lot of Plcbus commands simultaneously from the PC interface, and if you try to send a command from a Scene module simultaneously.

I bought all my modules from x10-hk, as this was the only supplier when I started to order Plcbus modules.

[davidp]

stipus thanks again for your answers.

So it does indeed sound like I should use the serial interface and get a separate stable usb to serial converter.

Has anyone had any experience with the DIN modules?

[stipus]

So it does indeed sound like I should use the serial interface and get a separate stable usb to serial converter.

That's the way to go if you want USB and no driver problem IMHO...

Has anyone had any experience with the DIN modules?

I have no experience with these modules. The only word I got is that they are very big. (They are not the same size as standard DIN modules such as circuit breakers).

[davidp]

Thank you again stipus.

Can anyone help with the remaining questions.

Any information about the DIN modules?
Other suppliers?
Noise from appliance modules?
Speed comparison with X10 from action to response of a single set of commands?


Finally, any comments about specific problems or particular good points?

[stipus]

Thank you again stipus.

Can anyone help with the remaining questions.

Any information about the DIN modules?
Other suppliers?
Noise from appliance modules?

Same clic noise as most X10 modules (relay). Very similar to an AWM2 X10 module.

Speed comparison with X10 from action to response of a single set of commands?

twice faster for standard commands. A lot faster for polling (one command = status for a whole house code).

Finally, any comments about specific problems or particular good points?

[davidp]

Many thanks again stipus. I wasn't trying to give you more work as you have already been very helpful! I was hoping others may have something to say. I am particularly keen to find out if there have been any experiences with the DIN modules as I would like to use them.

Same clic noise as most X10 modules (relay). Very similar to an AWM2 X10 module.

That sounds reasonable and perhaps expected.

twice faster for standard commands. A lot faster for polling (one command = status for a whole house code).

Yes I noticed your speed test. I was a bit surprised that it was only twice as fast given the document on the x10-hk.com site that states "20 to 40 times the speed of X10 in terms of data transmitted. This is equivalent to over ten full commands per second. The average latency of command to action is less than 0.1 second." I was hoping that a single set of commands would be actioned more quickly.


Were you planning to add a comment re the last point?

[stipus]

The PlcBus document is right: Data transmission is much faster than X10.
However, each Plcbus command uses more bytes than a X10 command.

The result I gave (twice faster) is a real life result from a HomeSeer script that I wrote with something like ten X10 commands, and ten PlcBus commands. You can expect similar results.

It's possible Plcbus is faster between a Scene module and a Light module (because there is no computer, script interpreter and complex interface involved...). However, it's hard to clock such things, as it's really fast.