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

["Jeff Volp" <JeffVolp@xxxxxxx>]

With as many remotes as you have, I can understand the problem of command
storms.  I don't think we have had one ourselves since the CM11A beta test
ended.

I would suggest trying to mod an existing X10 module to be a storm monitor.
Candidates would be the X10 chime and universal modules.  It might be
possible to replace the custom IC in one of these modules with a PIC
programmed to act as a storm monitor.

The XTB-II LED monitors 120KHz gate drive to the power stage, and only
flashes when the transmitter is active.  It doesn't light in response to
powerline activity unless the repeater is enabled.

The fact that the XTB-IIR drives with so much power is the reason why I want
to inhibit its output in response to a command storm.  That is something
that can also be ported over to the existing XTB-II with a PIC firmware
update.

Jeff

"Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:0oqdnUzi5OyvFyzbnZ2dnUVZ_s3inZ2d@xxxxxxxxxx
> "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.