Re: Suggestions for X10/Automation Widgets

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

Dan Lanciani and Robert Green wrote:

> | RF Dude's request is very similar to something I would love to see (and
that
> | I believe can even be implemented using an Ocelot controller).  It would
be
> | great to have even a simple TM751-like device that could parse a 3
"frame"
> | RF command string so that [6] [ENTER] + [12] [ENTER] + [ON] entered
together
> | gets output to the powerline as F12 ON.
>
> I did something like this with the IR input code of my replacement
> RR501/TM751 firmware:
>
> http://groups.google.com/group/comp.home.automation/msg/12c9497651a00b87

"The code accepts X10's standard IR format as used in their remotes and IR
bases.  In order to support multiple house codes without requiring custom IR
codes I have introduced an escape mechanism.  The escape code is
all-units-off.  The first unit code received after an all-units-off command
sets the new default house code (1=A, 2=B, etc.).  The initial default house
code is the house code of the base's programmed unit id.  To send a real
all-units-off command, follow it with a DIM."

The escape code mechanism is certainly slick.  What are the issues with
doing something similar with RF codes, or would I be best off trying to do
all this with an Ocelot controller?  I assume if I go that route I will lose
RF functionality and will have to operate the system using the UR24 in IR
rather than RF mode, which is pretty sucky.

In any event, I want the ability to send an occasional non-default housecode
but to leave the housecode where it is set.  Otherwise the "reprogram the
housecode on the fly" feature of the UR24 8-in-1 remote provides just about
the same results as an escape sequence that changes the default housecode.

It would be very workable if they only took out the damn delay on the SET
button so that you could reprogram with a quick, uninterrupted series of
button presses.

[X10] [SETUP] [Newhousecode] [Enter] isn't really that hard a sequence but
it has two problems:  It changes the default and you can press four or five
keys in the time that it takes for the LED to come up when you hold [SETUP]
down to change the code.  Not very convenient.

I could have sworn I saw a UR24 mode that put an extra pushbutton on the
case that you pressed to enter a temporary housecode, but I'll be damned if
I can find it now!

> Note that X10 IR codes carry no house code information while RF codes do,
> so I assume you are talking about using a remote that is not generating
> standard X10 RF.

Nope, I was talking about the UR24 8-in-1 remote that "talks" directly to
the TM751.

> A quick hack might be to get the remote to send IR
> format X10 as RF.  Then you could tweak my IR input code
> to handle the RF as well.

:-)  Sure I could, after a brain and hand transplant!!!!!!  I can wire
telephones, assemble PC's and maybe replace a blown capacitor on a
motherboard, but that's where my technical abilities stop.  I was hoping to
entice Jeff into adding this feature to his Widget design.

--
Bobby G.