Re: Product Idea: X10 to UPB/Zigbee/Insteon translator

[nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Dave Houston)]

"BruceR" <br@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>Your assumption is correct in that I hate to scrap the $1000+ investment
>in my JDS stuff; however I'd be willing to do so if I could find another
>stand alone device that's as capable. I spoke to SmartHome about how
>Insteon works with X10. My understanding is that if a device is set up
>to receive X10 then the Insteon benefit is lost. IOW, there is no
>ability to repeat an X10 signal as an Insteon signal.  He also told me
>that they did not have a translation bridge on the drawing board but
>thought it was a good idea.

I meant to respond to this one point earlier but got side tracked.

The Insteon computer interfaces (USB & RS232) can send both Insteon and X-10
commands. While it doesn't address your need for a plug'n'play interface
compatible with your JDS controller it does address the need of those who
want to gradually move from X-10 to Insteon or use some of each. Of course
X-10 modules do not repeat the signals like Insteon modules do. And, since
Insteon modules attenuate the signal, the more Insteon devices the worse
will be X-10 performance.

I don't see any advantage to configuring an Insteon module as an X-10 module
except for those whose budgets limit what they can do in one step. They
could use Insteon modules with an X-10 controller until they can afford an
Insteon controller (and software).

I think PCS made a mistake when they did not include the ability to
send/receive X-10 commands in their UPB computer interfaces.

For those who want to write their own software, the USB version of the
Insteon computer interface complies with the MS Human Interface Device class
and there is ample documentation for that.

     http://www.lvr.com/usb.htm
     http://www.lvr.com/hidpage.htm

For those who would like to reverse engineer the protocol...

A USB sniffer can be used to see what the USB interface reports when
commands are sent with the table top controller included in the starter kit.

The RF protocol appears to repeat the PLC protocol on a 1:1 basis. Mouser
sells a Radiotronix transceiver ($19) that can be programmed for the
frequencies used by Insteon. It could eavesdrop on the RF from the Insteon
starter kit to tease out the details.