1. Home
  2. General Home Automation
  3. Mister House Firecracker Issue

Mister House Firecracker Issue

Hello I am currently undertaking a huge project that requires the program Mister House to control lights for an art exhibit. I have been really frustrated with the program because I cannot get it to control a single light with a firecracker (CM17). I have read through the provided FAQ and documentation severaltimes. I have combed through message boards, fourms and gropus for a solution but I cannot find anything. So I turned to this group.

I have attempted to run Mister House in both Linux and Windowds enviroments. I would prefer linux but I was having many problems with Tk and GD installing correctly so I thought what the hell I whould try it on windoze. To make sure that I can actually control the lights with the firecracker I downladed a simple utility called "firecracker" off the X10 site. It is a very simple interface that mimicks the remote that comes with the X10 starter kit. I pushed the button 1 with it set on A and it successfully turned off my light. So that eliminates any problems with the com port or the firecracker itself.

I have configured the mh.ini in a way that it will know where my firecracer is (COM1) in linux its something like /dev/ttyS0 and in windows it is COM1. Neither worked however. I could not control that light in either windows or linux. I checked if there were anyother config files that I needed to setup inorder for Mister House to detect the firecracker but according to the documentation I should be all set. Does anyone have the slightest idea as to what I should do? I have a dead line that is in a little over a week so time is important. Thanks very much.

- Clint M Chilcott

Reply to
elemenoh
Loading thread data ...

Do you get any error messages about the CM17 when MH starts up? You should see something like this if it works:

- creating cm17 object on port /dev/ttyS0

Did you remember to enter your X10 devices in .../code/items.mht ?

Are you sure the user MH is running as has permission to write to /dev/ttyS0?

By the way, I personally run MH with the "-tk 0" option, so it doesn't use a GUI. If you do this, it won't matter if Tk and GD are missing.

Reply to
Dan Wilga

Any particular reason why you have to control the firecracker using MH? I know of two command line applications that will operate the firecracker, and these just use a batch file. Do you need computer control of the firecracker?

Reply to
Si Ballenger

I tried using a CM11 unit from a friend and I was able to control a light. I am no quite sure how... but it worked so I can't complain. I really dont understand MH. It is confusing to me how you set up you lights and appliances. I don't like that they have a preconfigured "house".

I guess I don't need to use MH. So you understand my application of the X10 technology I will explain my situation. I am going to New York to instal an art exhibit called "One Minute Rave". In this there is a button that you press which triggers a video file on a projector, an audio file, a lazer, strobe, & black light. Once a minute is up they all stop.

I was planning on using M Player to play an AVI file in full screen through the VGA port to a projector. There are 9 songs that I want the program to cycle through. The lights and everything I will control by X10. As far as the button is concerned the only things I could think of were to buy a weeder board or hack up a keyboard and select a key and then solder 2 wires to the connection points and then attach them to a button.

If you feel that MH is not the right application and that a simple command line app would work better let me know. I have been working on this for several weeks and have been having problems the entire time. Thanks much for your quick responses. :D

Reply to
elemenoh

A little over half way down my page below are links to two command line applications to operate the firecracker (you need to use a "real" hardware serial port to operate the firedracker). Use this in a batch file to send the x10 commands. You can put multiple command lines in a single batch file to have it operate several things at a time. You can also use the apache web server cgi function to be able to do this via a web page. I'm assuming you are wanting computer control of your project and the x10 devices.

formatting link

Reply to
Si Ballenger

Cabling-Design.com Forums website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.