RE: Advanced xPLHal usage?

["John B" <home-automation@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Cmon John What are you doing with xPL ;-))

OK, here's some info on my xPL stuff:

Comfort:

My house is equipped with a Comfort Pro security system, and is
interfaced to xPL using the Ethernet UCM,
and the xPL Comfort service.

This means that xPLHal is able to monitor every device that is connected
to Comfort, including movement sensors, door/window contacts, panic
buttons and so on.

It also means that xPLHal can control the house based on the state of
the security alarm.
For example, when we leave the house and arm Comfort, xPLHal
automatically knows
the house is empty, and can act accordingly.

Likewise, when we enter the house and disarm Comfort, xPLHal detects the
state of the alarm system
and can take whatever actions are required.

If the security alarm is activated whilst we are away from the house,
xPLHal sends me an email at work,
and I am able to log in via the web interface to see exactly what series
of events have lead to the alarm=20
activation.

Smart Lighting

All the lights in my house are controlled using Clipsal's C-Bus. This is
a hard-wired lighting control system
which offers amazing flexibility, 100% reliability and complete
responsiveness - all things which I felt
were lacking in my previous X10 installation.

C-Bus interfaces with xPL using C-Gate and the xPL C-Gate connector.
xPLHal knows which lights are on, and the exact brightness level that
they are currently set to.

When I leave the house and arm my Comfort security system,
xPLHal automatically switches off all the lights, and simulates a
lived-in look while we are away.

When I come home at night, the porch and hall lights are automatically
switched on by xPLHal when I enter the house.

If the alarm is activated while we're asleep, all the lights inside and
outside the house are switched on.

We have various outdoor lighting controlled by PIR movement detectors
during the hours
of darkness - any activation of the outdoor PIRs during the night will
cause xPLHal
to alert us by broadcasting a text-to-speech announcement.

We also have automated lighting in a number of rooms within the house.
Using xPLHal scripting allows me to set up some pretty complex
logic to control the automated lighting, which really makes a big
difference to how useful it can be.
For example, if someone switched the lights on using the light switch,
the automated lighting system won't try and switch them off after a
period
of inactivity.

The other great thing about C-Bus is that you know exactly which light
switch was responsible for switching on a light, so you
can perform basic occupancy detection by tracking which light switches
have been operated.

As well as controlling lighting, C-Bus also controls my extractor and
sweap fans, and I have
some logic within xPLHal to control their timings.

Detection of the ambient outdoor light level is achieved using a C-Bus
outdoor PIR.
This unit sends a C-Bus message at dusk, and another at dawn, which
signals xPLHal to update it's Period flag accordingly.

As a backup to the light sensor, I use the xPL DawnDusk service, which
calculates sunset and sunrise times for my location,
based on the latitude and longitude of my house. The disadvantage of
this is that
it does not take into account the local weather conditions, so the light
sensor
usually provides a more accurate indication of dawn/dusk.

At dusk, all downstairs curtains are automatically closed by xPLHal, and
15 minutes after dusk, all upstairs curtains are also closed.
The AutoGlide curtain rails are controlled using outputs on the Comfort
panel,
so operating the curtains is simply a case of sending a control message
to Comfort to
pulse the appropriate output.

In addition to closing the curtains, the outdoor low-energy driveway
lighting is switched on, and
remains on until 10:30PM.
The automatic lighting within the house becomes active, and any movement
in
the driveway or garden will result in all outside lights being switched
on.

If xPLHal detects that the TV is being operated (by
detecting infra-red codes from the TV remote control), the lighting
in the lounge will automatically be configured to a "watching TV"
scene.

When the alarm is set to night mode, automatic lighting operates
at a much reduced level - this has the advantage of providing low levels
of illumination
for anyone who gets up in the middle of the night.

At dawn, all curtains (apart from the ones in the bedrooms) are
automatically opened.  We open the bedroom curtains manually, either by
using the manual push buttons by the side of the windows, by pressing a
button on the C-Bus bedroom light switches,
or by using some unused buttons on the TV remote control.

On dark mornings, the bedroom lights are configured to come on gradually
about half an hour before my alarm goes off - this is a great help
during the  Winter, and is very easy to achieve using the C-Bus ramp
command, as C-Bus is able to ramp lights to
a specific level over very long periods of time.

My alarm clock is actually a SliMP3 controlled by xPLRioNet.
This plays a series of TTS announcements and can either play a
pre-defined playlist, an Internet radio stream, or any local DAB radio
station (by using a Psion Wavefinder).

Temperature Monitoring

I currently have 3 1-wire temperature sensors monitoring temperatures
within the house, and a further one to
measure outside temperature.
These are integrated into xPLHal using Steve Cooper's 1-wire xPL
Interface.
The temperature values are logged to a database, and are available for
monitoring via the web.=20

Caller ID

I use a Meteor to provide caller ID information to xPLHal using the xPL
Meteor connector.
When a call comes in, the details are stored in global variables within
xPLHal,
and an entry is written to the incoming calls database.

xPLHal does a lookup against my contacts database
and will announce the caller's name (if known).

If the number is not in my contacts database, xPLHal attempts
to determine the geographical area of the country where the call
originated by looking up the area code against a database of
all regional codes.

xPLHal also logs all outgoing calls to a database by detecting the DTMF
digits received from the Meteor.


Infra-Red Control

I use Frank's FirM Jr in combination with a USB UIRT (and the USB UIRT
xPL connector) to integrate
infra-red transmission and reception into xPLHal.
This means that xPLHal is aware of every single infra-red signal that is
sent,
and can control any infra-red device in the house that is linked to
FirM.

Control via the Web

Most aspects of my xPL installation can be controlled and monitored via
the web, using
a set of ASP.NET pages that I wrote myself.
There is a DLL available with xPLHal Web Access that lets you easily
build your own=20
dynamic web pages that can display information from your xPLHal server
and easily send out xPL messages to control devices.

When I'm working from home, my xPL installation is linked to our
corporate HelpDesk so that
I can be alerted using text-to-speech announcements if a new call comes
in that requires
my attention - great for when I'm not at my desk! I can even customise
the response based on
certain parameters within the call, e.g. the priority of the call, the
person who logged the call and so on. For example, high priority calls
could cause all  lights in the house to flash - and
this can all be done simply by editing a determinator within xPLHal
Manager.

I think that's about everything that I currently use xPL for, though I'm
sure I'll have missed something!

Regards,

John