Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Anyone working on supporting RF on the CM15A?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Anyone working on supporting RF on the CM15A?

    Used to use Homeseer way back in the day... all serial devices... pre iPad days.

    While pulling together all the pieces I need to get an updated HS working on an Rpi3, I decided to upgrade my x10 interfaces with USB equivalents. I found the CM15A was like a CM11A & CM19A rolled into the same device but with USB. Sounded perfect to me, so I got it. So far, I can only get the powerline side of it working (after tweaking some mochad scripts so it doesn't quit all the time!). No one seems to have matching support for the RF side of it.
    update:
    I was able to get the RF reception of certain house codes/units working. Created another post below that addresses what I found by playing around with the current CM15A plugin.

    I looked around the forum and found that people were using the RFXCom devices for US X10 RF reception (310MHz), but I thought I'd see if anyone is at least working on supporting the RF side of the CM15A before I spend more $$$.

    Anyone?

    Bueller?

    -=Randy
    Last edited by RandyInLA; August 19, 2016, 10:04 PM.

    #2
    Originally posted by RandyInLA View Post
    I looked around the forum and found that people were using the RFXCom devices for US X10 RF reception (310MHz), but I thought I'd see if anyone is at least working on supporting the RF side of the CM15A before I spend more $$$.
    I doubt it. Just getting the PLC on CM11A and TI 103 part to work reliably is still in question. Given that there are three working alternatives for the RF side that are inherently superior to the way the CM15A works, the incentive to do it again for the CM15A (which will just clog up the power line with the signals), seems pretty low.

    You could ask your question on the X10 forum and see how Mark Fisher responds, but I think I can guess what his position will be.
    Mike____________________________________________________________ __________________
    HS3 Pro Edition 3.0.0.548, NUC i3

    HW: Stargate | NX8e | CAV6.6 | Squeezebox | PCS | WGL 800RF | RFXCOM | Vantage Pro | Green-Eye | Edgeport/8 | Way2Call | Ecobee3 | EtherRain | Ubiquiti

    Comment


      #3
      CM15A plugin DOES repeat RF onto the PL interface, but...

      To be clear, I understand the current CM15A plugin "sort of" handles RF, but not really. And what it does support is extremely unreliable. Though, some of my frustration around reliability could be distance/range limitations on the RF portion of the CM15A and not driver issues.



      RF COMMANDS REPEATING ON PL INTERFACE:
      It seems that even though there is no GUI for setting preferences for the CM15A, the plugin tells it to repeat received RF commands onto the PL interface, but that's not how I (most people?) want to use it. I want to be able to send any RF command on any house/unit code and simply have HS receive it. I can then create events for turning on/off lights based on the reception of those RF commands. As an example of what I mean, I will have many motion detectors setup for motion & door/window access via magnetic reed switch attached to the dusk circuit. I want them to change variables or trigger events, not directly control lights.

      While reading through the mochad SourceForge page (scroll way down under the files list), I found a few useful command line codes to tweak the CM15A. Aside from just turning something on/off or dimming, you can tell the CM15A which house codes that are received via the RF interface to repeat onto the PL interface:
      Code:
      # This command turns off the "RF repeat to PL" feature on all house codes.  I can verify by pressing the "L2 on" button on a remote and a light with matching L2 code does not turn on.
      $ echo "rftopl 0" | nc localhost 1099
      
      This command turns on the "RF repeat to PL" feature for only house code 'L' .  I am able to control the light via the remote L2 on/off/dim buttons.
      $ echo "rftopl L" | nc localhost 1099
      If I leave the CM15A in the "no repeat any" state and then start HS, the repeat feature is turned back on. ie.I can press "L2 on" on my remote and the light comes on. When HS is running, it is aware of this and changes the light's state to on. Shutting HS down does not turn the repeat feature back off again. It's not that I will have a remote set to L2, I won't... I'm just using that to verify quickly if a received RF command is repeated onto the PL interface.

      To avoid flooding the PL interface with repeatedly received commands via the RF interface, I can manually enter the command above for turning off rf repeat after I startup hs, but I have to remember to do that every time I start up HS! I am looking through the forum for ways of adding a bash command to the Startup.vb script to do this for me, but it'd be so much nicer to have that command in a CM15A config page for every house code.



      ONLY RF UNIT CODES 1 - 9 ARE RECOGNIZED?
      I was able to successfully configure motion & dusk statuses using D1/D2 - D7/D8... and D9, but not D10 or above. I can assign events to fire when either is triggered on or off. However, If I change my MS13A's base house/unit code to D9 and close the switch for the dusk sensor, sending D10, my HS status set to D1 fires but not the HS status for D10. In fact, ANY RF unit code on house code D from 10-16 triggers my D1 status in HS. It's like it's truncating the code to a single digit or the first digit, which would be #1. I haven't tried the other house codes, but it's probably the same. I know some of the X10 remotes (like the clock) have a switch to change button codes from 1-4 to 5-8. Is there such a thing for the motion sensors? ie.do all motion sensors only transmit unit codes 1-9? I googled for a while and didn't find one reference to unit #10 and above being transmitted or received as #1. So I don't know if that is an X10 limitation or an HS bug. I'll have to tail the mochad log outside of HS and see what it receives.



      NOT RECOGNIZING DIM/BRIGHT COMMANDS OVER RF:
      If I have the CM15A set to repeat RF commands to the PL interface, I am able to use the dim/bright buttons on my SS13A Remote Wall Switches and any matching lamp modules respond. However, regardless if the repeat feature is on or off, the HS log displays an error for dim/bright button presses:
      Code:
      07:13:06:2525:[CM15A]->error in dvchanged: Argument is out of range.
      Parameter name: startIndex

      SUGGESTIONS:
      Aside from changing the existing CM15A plugin to handle the above limitations, no other plugin that is geared towards RF currently supports the CM15A's RF. BLRF, BLRadar, ACRF, RFXCOM... none of them have an option for selecting the CM19A that is part of the CM15A interface. Here is what I am hoping can be addressed, at least in the CM15A plugin:
      • Create a settings page and an option for CM15A under the PLUG-INS drop down
      • Allow turning on/off the reception of RF commands per house code
      • Allow turning on/off the repeating of received RF commands to the PL interface per house code
      • Properly receive RF unit codes above #9
      • Properly receive RF dim/bright button presses
      • Properly receive all valid X10 RF commands (appliance, dimmable, extended, security, camera etc.) Because even if we can't have HS react to some of the commands, at least we can see what commands are coming over RF.
      • Either allow logging, with different log levels, to a separate log file or straight to the HS log so we can see activity in realtime... or both
      • Display incoming RF commands & PL commands independently in the log to make troubleshooting easier. Currently, even with dev logging turned on, I don't see the incoming command. I only see the result of the command either being re-transmitted from RF to PL or the result of a device changing state or triggered event.


      I know I had all of the functionality mentioned above years ago with HS1 and much more. I guess I am just frustrated to come back to HS all these years later and find more limitations surrounding X10 instead of dead simple plug-n-play-ability.

      -=Randy
      Last edited by RandyInLA; August 19, 2016, 10:32 PM.

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by Uncle Michael View Post
        ... the incentive to do it again for the CM15A (which will just clog up the power line with the signals), seems pretty low.
        Thanks for the response, Mike. Currently, the way the CM15A plugin is working, it already forces all received RF commands to repeat onto the PL interface. There is no way to turn it off, short of running something on the command line. I just posted a rather long list of things that could be improved with the plugin. The ability to work with the CM15A's RF reception is already there in the plugin, it could just use a little buff and polish

        -=Randy

        Comment


          #5
          I understand, but if you purchase a WGL 800RF receiver you will be able to use an existing plug-in that already does most, if not all, of what you want. Plus, for the RFXCOM plug-in at least, you could also add a plethora of other wireless capabilities.

          Of course, it would be great if you could use the interface you already have, but even if you are extremely patient - and not afraid of being ultimately disappointed - campaigning for the CM15A plug-in to be modified to fit your desires seems terribly Quixotic.
          Mike____________________________________________________________ __________________
          HS3 Pro Edition 3.0.0.548, NUC i3

          HW: Stargate | NX8e | CAV6.6 | Squeezebox | PCS | WGL 800RF | RFXCOM | Vantage Pro | Green-Eye | Edgeport/8 | Way2Call | Ecobee3 | EtherRain | Ubiquiti

          Comment


            #6
            I went ahead and ordered a W800USB Now I'll have to disable the RF in the CM15A, which sucks. I will still be using it for X10 PL commands. Wish I knew the plugin wasn't up to par before buying the interface. Expensive enough to get into HS (waited a long time for discounts to upgrade from the old, old HS), let alone pay for the overpriced plugins AND the hardware. Hardware you realize after the fact won't work with the software.

            I have read so many threads of people having trouble with the CM15A. There are fixes but you have to really look hard to find them. Connecting it to X10's ActiveHome to clear out built in settings & tweaking the mochad service on my Rpi3 were the biggest hurdles. I have had it running stable for about 5 days now. Used to lockup every few hours before.

            I hear you re:waiting on changes to the CM15A plugin to provide more features, but it should definitely respond to unit numbers higher than #9. Probably a 20 minute fix.

            Comment


              #7
              WGL W800USB installed and working...

              I installed the WGL W800USB RF receiver, disabled the RF in my CM15A (post with pics coming soon) and installed both the BLRF & BLRadar plugins. I'm having an issue with range, but when the W800 can see my MS13A signals it works fine. Thanks again for the suggestion to upgrade

              Comment

              Working...
              X