Re: XTB - the Future of X10 has arrived!

[Larry Moss <moss@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In regard to my query about delay in a motion sensor controlled lght
turning on, Dave Houston <nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> You need to provide a little more information.

The motion sensor is an rms18.  There are actually two.  I don't think it's
ever possible for both to see me at the same time.  The transceiver is an
rr501.  The computer is connected to a cm11a.

I haven't figured out a good way to accurately time the delay when I walk
in the room.  Right now, just looking at a watch as I enter the room, I'm
seeing about 4 seconds after I pass the first sensor before I see light.
In the MH log, I'm seeing the computer recognizing the MS and turning on
the light either the same second or the following second.  The timer
resolution shown in the log is only a second.  Not sure if I can get it to
show finer resolution than that, but I'm not sure that's necessary anyway.
It clearly takes less than a second between the time the computer sees the
signal on the power line and responds.  Hmm, I just added something else to
the log.  It was printing to the log that it was turning the light on and
then sending the command to the cm11a.  So I added a print statement after
the ON command in case the delay was in executing that.  What I'm generally
seeing now is MisterHouse sees the signal from the MS, reports that it's
going to turn on the light and then that it has turned on the light all
within the same second.

So, the computer/software shouldn't be the delay.  Unless there's some
oddity in the cm11a driver MH is using.  I suppose it's possible that the
main MH program hands the command off to a driver that then sits on it.
I'm not familiar at all with MH internals, so I don't know how it's
handling that.  I'll have to post some of this to the MH mailing list if no
one here has a good answer for me.

> How does Mr. House learn of the motion. It sounds like it's by PLC from the
> transceiver

This is correct.

> so you have another 1/2 second or more delay for it to respond
> (the PLC code is sent twice) and send another PLC code. 1-1/2 to 2 seconds
> would not surprise me. If it's via RF or if it takes more than 2 secs, you
> have a problem that needs diagnosing.

How can I do this without a transceiver?  It sounds like your modified
MR26A will do this, but I'm confused.  (And it sounds like that isn't
available at the moment anyway.)

> This is a case where a $50 ESM1 meter will tell you whether there is lengthy
> PLC traffic.

I have an ESM1.  I'll have to play with it later and see if I can find any
more clues.  I've only used it so far to see if signlas were reaching their
destinations.  I haven't tried watching it along with the laptop to time
stuff.

Thanks for the ideas.  any more suggestions will be great.  I'll play more
later.

--
Larry Moss, http://www.airigami.com
PO Box 23523, Rochester, NY 14692, (585) 359-8695
Airigami: The art of folding air in specially prepared latex containers.