Re: X10 Code Translator

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Dan Lanciani" <ddl@danlan.*com> wrote in message
news:1331928@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> In article <ptGdnWOOdsDbvl_ZnZ2dnUVZ_rydnZ2d@xxxxxxx>,
ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx (Robert Green) writes:
>
> | There has to be some way of exiting the escape mode.  I believe Dan's
design
> | used a timer to revert to the normal operation mode within a very short
> | time.
>
> No, I leave it in escape mode until you send the escaped function...

Oops.  I seem to make a habit of misquoting you.  Sorry.  I knew you had
some way out - that should get partial credit!  I'm pretty sure someone
who's also done something very much like this has a timer loop.

That much sticks in my mind because I recall how I thought that a timer was
a very good idea.  I can see myself leaving a remote in the
escaped/temporary house code mode easily.  Just as easily as I end up
turning out all the lights inadvertently when I think I am muting the sound
using the 8-in-1's mute/all lights off key without switching the device mode
from X-10 to TV first.

The 8-in-1's shift key, now that I think about it, is an escape function
already built-into the remote.  IIRC, it's completely disconnected from any
X-10 RF functionality.  :-(  That's a shame because the sequence:

[Shift] + [06] + [10] + [ON/OFF] would be perfect for turning
other-than-base housecode devices (in this case F10) ON and OFF.  The remote
would then allow you to enter more "shifted" commands until it timed out or
until you toggled the shift key.

I'm assuming from your first paragraph you mean you after you send the
ON/OFF function, the unit reverts to the base housecode.  Or by "escaped
function" do you mean until you send another code your interpreter sees as
the escape code the unit stays shifted?  Does that mean you can't send
stacked escape commands?

When using the X-10 remote, I'd love to be able to stack commands for
individual units, just like the Maxicontrollers do.  Do you think that would
be possible with the 8-in-1 remote and controller like the CM15A and Smart
macros?  Or is the remote's HW/FW such that it can't be done?

If my admittedly faulty recall is correct, you're the guy that burst my
bubble about doing that easily with an Ocelot by pointing out that the RF
remote doesn't send a unit code UNTIL after you press a function button.  I
had blithely (and wrongly) assumed that like the Maxi's, if you press a unit
number button on the remote, you get an output right then.

I've always wondered how the remote parses the unit code since there can be
either one or two button presses before a function is pressed.  Does it just
store the last two unit key presses in a buffer and evaluate them when a
function key is pressed?

> | Even if the CM15A can't do what I want, interestingly enough the
ControlLinc
> | Maxi's (why does that sound like a feminine hygiene product?) multiple
> | housecode "ALL OFF" macro buttons have reduced a lot my the need for an
"All
> | Housecode Remote" to go along with X-10's All Housecode receiver.
>
> In my unix mapping implementation I look for three All Units Off in a
short
> time (or the equivalent held key) on my main house code and tack on All
Units
> Off for the other house codes.  I also expand a single All Lights On in
> a similar way.

I'm not sure I understand that despite having read it numerous times.  What
happens after you send three AUF's?  Is that how you enter the escape mode?
Or are we discussing how you've implemented AUF's for different housecodes?
I'll go check out your site to get some more background.

{time passes}  Nope, searching through PIC code comments didn't help me!
I'll have to Google some old posts.  I know you've explained most of this to
me before.  It's just that my wetware memory is beginning to develop more
parity errors than usual.

I've been reading through the embedded program comments at your site and
have a question:  Are "sychronized collisions" and "tailgating" the same
thing?  Do they mean the a collision where the second copy of an X-10
command is replaced with data from a different transmission?

I ask because since using the XTB with the Decora AHT, I don't experience
the same collision problems I did with multiple TM751's deployed throughout
the house (even though the are still deployed).  My sense is that the XTB
equipped transmitter always prevails in a collision, which was not always
the case with equally powered devices.

--
Bobby G.