Short summary of my setup...
Using an ACT TI103 RS232 to X10 interface (Advanced Control Technologies)
X10 does not directly support http access...
What I have is a Linux system running Apache server...
The TI103 is plugged into a serial port on the server.
I have a cgi-bin perl script that converts the http get request to the
proper ASCII sequence for the TI103. http://192.168.0.111:44444/cgi-bin/control.pl?B;1;on
(For this post I changed the IP /port #/ and perl script name- no need to share my
actual values This would Turn House code B, Module 1 On...
I have set up my HE with a dashboard of virtual switches that can
switch any of my current X10 devices...
Attached is what my current dashboard looks like...(simple but functional)
Summary:basically I'm using linux to bridge the HE to my X10 devices...
I just bought my first z-wave switch... haven't installed/setup yet...
...it's a start...
RayB...
Very interesting.... I will digest these last couple posts shortly. Thanks for all the great info.
One other question... since I am just starting out I sort of have the choice of ZWave or Zigbee (or yes... both but I thought I'd try to go with one).
I initially chose ZWAVE bc I like the lower frequency band in general for a couple reasons... but... it seems that ZigBee devices might be quite a bit cheaper in general... for example the plugs and sensors that @SmartHomePrimer mentioned are way cheaper than any ZWAVE device I could find.
Is my observation on cost consistent with what you guys have seen?
The licensing is one reason that yes, you will generally pay a lot more for Z-Wave devices vs Zigbee. I'll put in my two bits on the subject, but there will never be a definitive answers, just a bunch of opinions
I like Zigbee for these reasons:
Inexpensive
No inclusion/Exclusion/Repair stuff to deal with
No ghost device issues
Generally good battery life with inexpensive batteries
Repeaters for Zigbee are important when you have a lot of devices and/or they're not close to the hub, but their not expensive. IKEA Trådfri outlet is a new example of a very inexpensive, yet effective repeater if you have enough of them.
Having said this, Z-Wave definitely has its strengths and place in Home Automation. I have only two Z-Wave devices myself, but both are reliable. One, a door lock I really like. Good security on Z-Wave devices. Not that I feel a threat from my use of Zigbee devices, but it's a bullet point I guess. I looked at what locks and radio types people here and on other platforms were have the best success with and that helped inform my decision.
My other Z-Wave device is a Home Energy Meter that @ogiewon told me about when he ported @mike.maxwell laundry monitoring driver. That's what I'm using it for and it works great. I have it powered, not running on battery. It's and older device and not a Z-Wave Plus device like my door lock, but it hasn't been trouble to date.
I think the general consensus for Z-Wave is get the Z-Wave Plus devices if you can. They're a lot less trouble.
MANY THANKS! And people don't generally have an issue with Zigbee interfering with WiFi? That is one other thing I was worried about. I still have a lot of 2GHz band WiFi going on around here
I've got a couple Peanut's coming to test out Zigbee
There's legitimate concern over sideband channels if the two are in close proximity, but you can just change the channel of either to avoid interference. I've never had an issue and I've never seen anyone say "man, this Zigbee/WiFi interference is just insurmountable". It's not an issue that doesn't have a simple solution, in other words.
Keep in mind that Peanut plugs need a Zigbee channel below 20. That's just a requirement to get those plugs to work properly. Oh, and I think I recall reading that they are not good at repeating Zigbee signals.
Would you mind providing a few more details on your setup? did you buy the kit SmartHomePrimer suggested? any other equipment you needed to source? i have a bunch of modules from when i had my x10 setup i would love to use. Will probably need to buy a new antenna device since the one i had broke years ago.
OK - for X10 you absolutely must have the XTB http://jvde.us/xtb-iir.htm but you probably already know that.
As far as interfacing to Hubitat I have a Raspberry Pi that runs HomeGenie software on it. The Pi connects to a CM15A which acts as the power line modem
I am finally moving away from X10 though... I can no longer stomach the reliability issues.
If you want to go this route... I believe I would recommend getting a Pi Zero and then looking on the X10 Home Genie forum for an SD Card image all ready to go for the Pi Zero.
no never heard of them and hopefully i can skip buying one. the idea of this is to implement a number of automations on the cheap and replace later with zigbee and zwave devices. The only problem i ever had with x10 was "ghost signals" turning on the light in my bedroom at 3 in the morning. never had problems receiving signals. The room i will have all the back-end equipment in is right above the power panel so hopefully that will help and i wont need it. I think i still have the com port version of that somewhere.... but probably better to buy the usb version.
I fried my CM15A trying to do that - It was an expensive lesson, bad soldering, I wanted to embed ESP inside the box, never quite worked. Was going to use your ST_Anyting for it.
Any way thinking of porting my ST node red based solution for X-10, its pretty solid other than dimming, which is another story.
The whole reason for node red in the ST solution is because you cant do a long running tcp session, hoping to eliminate that and talk directly from HE to mochad or heyu running on a PI. On that note - wondering if I can have a long running socket based session that I can interact with? i.e. open a socket and either send commands to it or listen to it asynchronously ?
Hubitat now supports webSockets, which would achieve the same goal. Check out my Logitech Harmony Hub driver for an example of how to implement webSockets in Hubitat. Your RPi would need to run webSockets as well, of course.
I haven't followed the entire conversation with regards to node-red and etc... but if you are trying to control X10 including dimming etc from Hubitat... have you considered the solution that I mentioned?
It seems VERY reliable.
I run homegenie on a Pi... this gets you URL access to all your X10 stuff with a pretty rich set of commands.
Then I have a simple custom driver in HE to send out the URL requests from Hubitat... basically all my X10 stuff looks like a Hubitat device(s) etc... AND you can do ALL ON and ALL OFF commands easily this way too.
It's pretty easy to get set up and while I got real sick of trying to use HomeGenie as a general purpose hub- it works great as a bridge in this manner.
1- can you share a link for setting up HG for X-10 there is a mention of an image. I briefly looked at this PI beginer guide to Installing HomeGenie for X10 - seems quite intimidating - is there a how to?
2- how do you receive incoming messages from Sensors and security devices, that is my primary use case, I have all my switches/lights (well except for 2 that are in the ceiling) on Zwave or Zigbee but use X-10 for motion sensors and like, cant beat the price?
3- Have you shared your driver code anywhere? Would appreciate a link.
thanks
2 first... great question... no I don't know how to do that. I dumped all my X10 sensors as I got sick of them. I understand your point... and I guess I don't know of a good way to get sensor data into Hubitat... so that may be a show stopper then for you.
1- If that beginners guide is too intimidating and you are not big on linux commands... then yeah.. .also this might not be a good choice
3- I'd be very happy to share that driver... have not posted it... but can do that later tongiht... if I forget and you still want it... pls bug me again.
Read it again - seemed too simple, I missed the interface modules part, so I tthought there is another layer I am missing - didn't want to go hunting. Not intimdated by linux - done X-10 drivers for Wink, ST, Openhab and Pimatic
Where did you dump them - I am willing to do some dumpster diving seriously depending on what you are looking for, wouldn't mind taking them off your hands.
Would appreciate if you can share, would love to see how you are mapping between the two.
BTW found an Alexa TTS example on the forum which would make a good basis for talking directly to mochad and heyu. Both are widely supported for 2-way comms
I looked at the X-10 .Net Core code they have, this is pretty cool, could be a game changer. Since people have been stuck with really old C based implementations, which are really hard to follow, and also have wierd licensing issues. The driver has a pretty full implementation. thanks for sharing.
I know you don't want to hear it... but it might be time to let go of your X-10 sensors...
You can grab these v2 Lowes Iris Motion sensors for cheap money while they last. These are amazingly fast, reliable Zigbee sensors that work great with Hubitat (no custom drivers needed.)
@enishoca Wow, if I didn’t already have all the motion sensors I need, I would definitely jump on the deal. $6.60 per sensor beats even Xiaomi, and these Centralite made sensors I’ve found will cling to the Zigbee network. They are fantastic.
This would Turn House code B, Module 1 On...
seriously depending on what you are looking for, wouldn't mind taking them off your hands.
