Re: X10 -> UPB?

[Marc F Hult <MFHult@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 15 Jul 2005 12:40:28 GMT, nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Dave Houston) wrote
in message  <42d9a35b.8275128@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>:


>The Magic Module can only "hear" a single housecode so multiple Magic
>Modules, each with its own PLC interface, are needed for monitoring
multiple
>housecodes.

This is demonstrably flat-out wrong for the setup that I described.

(Gentle long-time comp.home.automation participants will recall that Dave
has been writing misleading and(or) derogatory comments about the Elk Magic
Modules for half a decade despite the fact that he's apparently never so
much as seen a real one. Perhaps what Dave writes is based on documentation
he finds on the web that relates to code compiled by the arcane SIMPLE
language that comes with the ELK  -- the equivalent of the arcane CMAX
language for the Ocelot --  that is not needed at all when used with Savoy's
CyberHouse. Another example of where the software is more important than the
hardware -- IMO. )

To test this, I set up a MM443S using Savoy's CyberHouse HA software (the
configuration that I was writing about) that does exactly what Dave Houston
says it can't do, namely "hear" and respond to two different house codes.

I used CyberHouse's point-and-click rule builder from within the main
CyberHouse client application to write a rule for a MM443S to listen for
two different house codes + unit code combinations (I11 and J8) and to have
two relays that are built into the MM44S to follow the two X-10 inputs. A
couple more clicks from within the CyberHouse client and the rule was saved,
compiled, downloaded to the PIC in the MM443S. I then disconnected the
MM443S from the RS-485 bus and the RS-485 bus from the RS-232 converter  so
that the MM443S is connected to the world only through its TW-523 X-10
powerline interface.  Sending ON to the I11 and J8 housecodes through a
CM11a on the PC -- also under control of the CyberHouse client -- causes the
relays on the isolated MM443s to click on and off. A peek at the .txt file
of the automatically created and plain-english-commented machine code for
the PIC created by CyberHouse shows that Savoy's compiled code uses two hex
values whenever it refers to an X-10 address. First value is the house code;
second is unit code.

... Marc
Marc_F_Hult