Will Pluto listen to X10 commands?

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I came across the Pluto site yesterday. I have been using X10 stuff (controlled by a Homeseer-running PC) for about 5 years now. Asterisk has been in production for about 6 months.
I can't wait to free-up a machine to test drive Plutohome!

I have a bunch of these:
http://www.smarthome.com/12063W.html
along with a number of X10 RF remotes/occupancy sensors/RF receivers.
They are used to directly control X10 modules but also to start lighting scenarios -controlled by the Homeseer software- based on keypresses or room occupancy.

One question on the X10 part though:
Pluto can control X10 modules through a CM11a (On/Off/Dim) but does it also *listen* to X10 commands issued by X10 keypads/controllers?
I have seen a thread mentioning the development. Did it work out?

Regards,
Erwin

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Hi Erwin,

I asked the guy who maintains the cm11a, and he said he didn't get to it yet.  Also he's leaving on vacation for 2 weeks starting Monday, so he won't be able to get to it till he gets back.  Sorry.

It's a trivial deal once he gets to it, he's just pretty busy since he also maintains other lighting control modules too.

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Thanks!
It's vacation time over here also.

Good to hear it's in the pipeline!

Regards,
Erwin

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Hi,

I'm also interested in this feature (having Pluto listen to X-10 signals).  I was just about to program my own home automation system (using heyu2 or wish to communicate with the CM11A) when I came across Pluto.  I may now wait and see if Pluto will provide this support.

Here are my needs for the listening to X-10 signals:

1) I plan to install magnetic switches on my garage doors.  These magnetic switches will be connected to an X-10 Powerflash unit (http://www.smarthome.com/4060.html), which will then turn on garage and house lights when the garage door is opened (if it's dark outside).

2) I would like to replace my fan switches in my bathrooms (for the showers) with 2-way sending switches so that I could turn on the exhaust fans at the switch when I take a shower and have them automatically turned off (by the CM11A) after a preset time (maybe an hour).  This would make sure the humidity in the bathroom is exhausted without requiring me to remember to go back and turn off the fan.

These functions would require X-10 listening and also "if-then" functionality so X-10 signals could be transmitted as appropriate.

Thanks!

[archived]

I assigned a mantis to our cm11a guy which you can track here: http://plutohome.com/support/mantis/view.php?id=980

He'll be back from vacation next week and is a bit backed up with several other requests for new GSD devices.

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Probably beating a dead horse here, but X-10 support in Pluto needs to be significantly enhanced to compete with HomeSeer and the like.

Specifically, we need to be able to send ALL X-10 commands, including extended codes (this way we can use, for example, SwitchLinc specific codes for dimming).  We also need, obviously, the ability to see 2-way devices and status-only devices so that we can include them in our events.

Since I'm no Richie Rich, I have an all-X10 installation which is now pretty stable.

It has my vote for high priority enhancement of the month :-)

Once I get Visual Studio 2005 Beta 2 installed on my box, I'll try to aid this and other efforts.

Dan

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another Vote in for X10 listening. I have a wireless alarm system that is X10 compatable that would be great to interface with Pluto

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and another vote again ! everything is X10 at home ... I need it too  

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This task is on my list.
I need some time to finish my current tasks (1-2 days) and then I will need more information about your X10 devices, especially those that are sending commands back to computer like  alarm system.

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This task is on my list.
I need some time to finish my current tasks (1-2 days) and then I will need more information about your X10 devices, especially those that are sending commands back to computer like  alarm system.

There are basically three types of X10 device.

1) Receive-only (1-way) devices like el-cheapo switches.

2) Send/Receive (2-way) devices like newer switches.  They both receive an X10 command (e.g., ON) and send their status out when queried.  Some, like the SmartHome SwitchLinc actually echo their commands when manually hit (e.g. they send an ON when physically pressed).

3) Send-only (1-way) devices like dusk/dawn and motion detectors, which only provide status reports when some event happens.

My entire home is outfitted with #2 and #3 type devices.  I have no receive-only devices -- which is why X10 listening is so important.

To be useful, your efforts should support the extended X10 command set.

I presume there will be events in the event system for responding to incoming X10 messages.


Thanks,
Dan

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I know the type of the devices, but us far as I know you can set on their back which device to trigger.
I only have recieving devices here. So i'm not qiute sure what will happend in this situation :

Motion detector detects motion and sends ON to A1, A2 and so on.

Is anything sent to computer? (it doesn't have a code assigned to it, so I only hope that I will be informed via X10 protocol)

Can you search your CM11 logs (in /var/log/pluto/) for string "CM11A wants to notify us of Something"

[archived]

I know the type of the devices, but us far as I know you can set on their back which device to trigger.
I only have recieving devices here. So i'm not qiute sure what will happend in this situation :

Motion detector detects motion and sends ON to A1, A2 and so on.

Is anything sent to computer? (it doesn't have a code assigned to it, so I only hope that I will be informed via X10 protocol)

Can you search your CM11 logs (in /var/log/pluto/) for string "CM11A wants to notify us of Something"

You're thinking about it wrong.  X10 can certainly be set up that way, but that is NOT the way it's done when there's a computer involved.

I have a motion detector, M1, near the mudroom door on my porch.  I have exterior lights, interior lights, etc., all with their own housecode/unitcode.

When M1 goes off, it wirelessly sends M1 ON to my W800RF, which goes into the computer.  If this were a wired device, it would send it to the CM11A.

The point is, you don't set the motion detector to "turn on a device" -- it IS the device.  When it says ON, the computer decides what to do based on user-controlled "programming".

For example, here's a typical rule:

WHEN M1 changes from OFF to ON
   AND M1 has not been triggered previously in the last 30 seconds
   AND homeowner is AWAY

THEN turn E10, E11, and E12
   AND trigger the Speak Package Instructions script using FRONT PORCH SPEAKER.


I see "CM11A wants to notify us of Something" in my logs all over the place.

P.S. In accordance with the laws of nature, my server died this weekend.  I have to rebuild it over the next week or two

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Ok then, good news is that pluto is notified.

I wasn't sure because a few months ago we got a reguest for bidirectional X10, but the person reported that he never saw that string in his logs, so I didn't know if motion detector sends anything to computer and how it really works.

Bad news is that in the code which receives messages from CM11 doesn't trigger events.
I don't know too much about all X10 devices (there are to many of them) so please post your suggestions here about what device could trigger what.

For example if motion detector is triggered than we should send an alert to security plugin.

If some other device then we must notify this and this. and so on.

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Bad news is that in the code which receives messages from CM11 doesn't trigger events.
I don't know too much about all X10 devices (there are to many of them) so please post your suggestions here about what device could trigger what.

For example if motion detector is triggered than we should send an alert to security plugin.

If some other device then we must notify this and this. and so on.

I suggest that you do NOT try to do that at first.  I would simply adhere to generic X10 devices rather than specific.  I would create events that look like this:

- When an X10 device changes from OFF to ON
- When an X10 device changes from ON to OFF
- When an X10 device changes state
- When an X10 device is ON for x seconds
- When an X10 device is OFF for x seconds
- When an X10 device is set to value (=,<,>,<=,>=,!=) x
etc.

Don't try to understand what the X10 device really is -- it's too high level and most X10 devices can be treated as black boxes with an address and a command set they support.

We'll also need the extended command set for both sending and receiving X10 commands.

And lastly, I think the person you were talking to was probably complaining that his motion detector wasn't being recognized by Pluto because it wasn't!  The motion detectors are typically wireless and frequently go through something like a W800RF rather than a CM11A.  The W800RF receives all 256 codes and sends them directly to the computer.  HomeSeer has a driver for this device.

Dan

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I have to disagree with you...

If a motion detector is triggered, I want pluto to know this, because beside of X10 devices there are a lot of other devices which integrates with pluto for example survailance cameras.

Right now you have a posibility to be called on your mobile phone if there is a security event in your home (motion detected by survailance camera or, in near future, by X10 motion detector) so you probably won't care what kind of device detected the motion, you want to be notified. If you also want to light some X10 lights it's ok, but you probably will want the behavoir to be consistent no matter what kind of device was triggered.

Another example: the "follow me" command right now based on bluetooth devices, which detects in which room are you (actually your mobile phone). The same behavior probably can be done with motion detectors.
Follow me doesn't only work with lights, but also with media (like playing music or video) which follows you in each room.

So we should start thinking right now what we really want to do when a X10 event arrives, not just send back X10 commands and postpone solving the real thing.

This probably will take some time to implement so if you desperately need X10 reaction right here, right now, you can try to communicate with your devices via Generic_Serial_Device. Which permits you to send/receive commands to/from device by writing small chunks of Ruby code.
To find out more read http://plutohome.com/support/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?p=1243