Re: One more Garage Door / X10 Question

[Charles Sullivan <cwsulliv@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The simplest way is to use a Powerflash module to send an X10
signal to a two-way appliance module like the X-10 AM14A or
RR501 (restricted to unit 1 or 9 for the latter).
The latching relays in the appliance modules maintain their
open/closed state in the event of a power interruption.

Smarthome sells (or used to sell) their "iolinc", which is
two-way and has 4 inputs. But you need plug-in sensors even
for contact closure, and the cost of the unit + sensors is
fairly high. I think it may no longer be in production.

Regards,
Charles Sullivan


On Mon, 26 Feb 2007 21:53:40 +0000, Richard S. Smith wrote:

> Hi Everyone,
>
> I'm pretty much aware of the basic options for monitoring the
> open/closed status of a garage door in an X10 HA system.  You can
> chose beetween a sensor that normally open (NO) or normally
> closed (NC) and hook it up to a powerflash module.  If I use a
> universal module to trigger the dry-contact switch I can detect
> that event and maintain the open/closed state of the door using
> whatever software I am using.
>
> But what I'm wondering is if there's a way to get what amounts to
> a powerflash module that's bi-directional (in the X10 sense of
> that term) and can be queried for it's state information.  I'm
> trying to avoid having to rely on software to maintain the
> open/closed state information, since this can add a point of
> failure to the system, for example:
>
> - There might be a power failure, or my computer might reboot and
>   lose the state table.
>
> - If the Garage Opener has it's own RF opener, and this opener is
>   used to open the door, and I use an NC sensor, this event won't
>   be detected.
>
> - Same as above, someone closes the door but the sensor is NO, no
>   "close" is sent to the powerflash, no X10 event is logged.
>
> It seems logical that someone else has tried to solve this problem
> before, so I just wanted to post and see if anyone has found a
> solution to this.
>
> Thanks, as always.
>
>
> --
>  Richard S. Smith / Email: rss@xxxxxxxxx / Web: http://www.rssnet.org/