X-10 Broadcast Storm Detector (was Re: XTB-II Enhanced Repeater)

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Jeff Volp" <JeffVolp@xxxxxxx> wrote in message news:AlBdi.98630

<stuff snipped>

> What would be easy to do would be to send a X10 coded command out the
> TW523 digital port.  So an automation controller could log that event,
possibly
> with a time stamp.

Since this isn't really a repeater issue anymore, I changed the subject
heading since I'd like to come to some real-world solution the broadcast
storm issue.  I have just put another 10 Palmpads into play as video source
controllers for the HACS AVS-8 switcher and despite precautions, they tend
cause a lot of problems when someone (usually me!) places something on them
accidentally.

This should be a really simple device to build - all it needs to do is
detect a suspiciously long series of X-10 commands.  Thirty seconds should
be enough.  I could probably modify an ESM1 and monitor the signal
LEDs with a timer circuit and latching relay that beeped a buzzer if the
diodes
were lit > 30 seconds.

For reliability reasons I'd really like this to be a stand-alone piece of
equipment.  The next-to-the last broadcast storm occurred at a very, very
bad moment.  We were getting ready to leave for an emergency event and
suddenly nothing X-10 worked.  It was a day of *very* low SAF.  Had I heard
a beep when I moved the stuff on shelves near the dogs, I would have known
right then and there that I screwed up and what device was the likely cause.

Since the Maxicontroller that failed seems to have died of "inherent vice"
that tells me that some of its brothers will soon experience similar
failures.  Some component has probably reached the end of its predicted
life.  Since these sorts of failures tend to cluster, I can reasonably
expect more.  That means a detector is an imperative.  Maybe the ADI/Ocelot
folks have already worked something like that out.  It seems something
well-suited for an already X-10 "smart" micro-controller.

That reminds me that the "even cheaper than the ESM1" Controlinc Maxi has a
status LED that displays any line activity.  Anything that lights a diode in
response to X-10 traffic could be easily modified into a "storm detector"
that could start a timer when traffic starts and reset the timer when the
traffic stops.  If the timer reaches the end of its cycle without resetting,
sound an alarm.  A long, long time ago I used to build simple timer circuits
using 555 IC's so it's something I can likely handle, although I'll bet
there are much cleaner ways to build an X-10 broadcast storm detector than
hacking a diode monitoring circuit onto a MaxiLinc.

I still like the idea of the XTBII as the sensor for the broadcast storm
buzzer since the repeater is the ideal place to locate such a device.
Broadcast
storms are really "show stopper" events, especially when the bum signal is
getting a whopping big double XTB boost!

Doesn't the XTBII light up its LED in response to valid X-10 commands?  (I
confess I haven't yet installed mine!) I could couple that optically to a
phototransistor without any internal tap wires and use that as the broadcast
storm detector's input.

Of course, I thought this out before I read that you'll be able to modify
the XTBII's firmware to watch for, report on and act on broadcast storms.
Still, a little stand-alone plug in broadcast storm "beeper" might even have
some commercial potential.  I am sure anyone who's ever run around like a
headless chicken trying to find a stuck Palmpad or Maxicontroller button
would consider shelling out a few bucks for one.

--
Bobby G.