X10 -> UPB?

Does a Stargate support more than one X-10 transceiver simultaneously?

If not, how is what you state accomplished? (I dunno but am curious. In the CyberHouse environment I use, one can have (n + 1) X-10 transceivers where n is the number of Elk MM443 Magic Modules in the system, and the rule-making tools are very complete, but I still don't think I can do what you describe.)

.... Marc Marc_F_Hult

The Stargate supports one X10 TW523 Transceiver. I'm not sure I understand your question though. Only one TW523 is required for the SG to send and receive X10 signals. Using more would likely cause signal problems so a repeater would be the way to provide broader coverage. As for sending UPB signals, an additional X10 TW523 won't help. However, a UPB transceiver connected to one of Stargate's serial ports would enable SG to send and receive ASCII to the UPB trnasceiver. So if I press A1-ON on an X10 controller, SG can hear it through its TW523 and respond by sending an ASCII string out COM3 to the UPB device which will send the appropriate UPB signals to turn on the desired UPB module. As I said in the OP, it's kludgy but can do the job.

From: snipped-for-privacy@nothydrologistnot.com snipped-for-privacy@nothydrologistnot.com

I wasn't necessarily recommending the Omni Pro II. By the way the ocelot is another great example, a nice hardware based controller for under $200. However that illustrates my point, it is hardware but my understanding is it only support X-10.

Of course X-10 has been out for decades, and beside Radio Ra, everything else is still under 10 years old, most just a few years old.

Well in this situation you could be more lenient. Use X-10 where it works, and replace them with UPB where it does not.

If you shop carefully, you can get *new* X-10 modules for $5 per load. Even when the cost of filters and analysis tools are factored in it's still a hard price point to beat.

-- Bobby G.

Thanks for the correction, I wondered if X-10 developed the extended code as X-10 was still manufacturing Levitons switches at the time.

What about Levitons AGC circuitry, is that Leviton or X-10?

Interestingly X-10 Pro started teaching how to make your own firewall for around $200. Add a sub-panel, a filter, and a coupler.

First, I agree with using the UPB I/O module for this application, eliminating X-10.

The Magic Module can only "hear" a single housecode so multiple Magic Modules, each with its own PLC interface, are needed for monitoring multiple housecodes.

The Ocelot can store 128 ASCII strings (32 chars max) and provides a method for entering control and other non-printable keys (required for most UPB commands). However, I would not recommend it as an X-10 -> UPB translator since this would use its only serial port. ADI has a Bobcat RS232 module for their RS485 network but I haven't kept up with ADI's newer products and don't know whether it can be used to send these ASCII strings - its send only but I'm not sure how it is controlled/programmed. If it can send the strings stored in the Ocelot or there is a way to store strings in its memory, it would be one (relatively inexpensive) way to do this. My guess is that it can.

For any>The Stargate supports one X10 TW523 Transceiver. I'm not sure I

I found the manual for the "Bobcat RS232". It has the same ASCII string capacity as the Ocelot so it would be a way to use X-10 or IR to send UPB codes assuming the UPB interface doesn't require any handshaking.

My direct knowledge doesn't go back as far as some others who post here but, from sources like Circuit Cellar articles from 15+ years back, the X-10 protocol initially only defined 7 functions. Others were added as new products with new features were introduced. Some were modified after the initial definition. For example, Marrick used the original version of extended codes for their LynX-Port.

I don't know the answer but it may actually have been ACT who, I believe, started as a division of Leviton.

Which, with the bubbly prices of today's real estate, is even cheaper than dirt. ;)

This is demonstrably flat-out wrong for the setup that I described.

(Gentle long-time comp.home.automation participants will recall that Dave has been writing misleading and(or) derogatory comments about the Elk Magic Modules for half a decade despite the fact that he's apparently never so much as seen a real one. Perhaps what Dave writes is based on documentation he finds on the web that relates to code compiled by the arcane SIMPLE language that comes with the ELK -- the equivalent of the arcane CMAX language for the Ocelot -- that is not needed at all when used with Savoy's CyberHouse. Another example of where the software is more important than the hardware -- IMO. )

To test this, I set up a MM443S using Savoy's CyberHouse HA software (the configuration that I was writing about) that does exactly what Dave Houston says it can't do, namely "hear" and respond to two different house codes.

I used CyberHouse's point-and-click rule builder from within the main CyberHouse client application to write a rule for a MM443S to listen for two different house codes + unit code combinations (I11 and J8) and to have two relays that are built into the MM44S to follow the two X-10 inputs. A couple more clicks from within the CyberHouse client and the rule was saved, compiled, downloaded to the PIC in the MM443S. I then disconnected the MM443S from the RS-485 bus and the RS-485 bus from the RS-232 converter so that the MM443S is connected to the world only through its TW-523 X-10 powerline interface. Sending ON to the I11 and J8 housecodes through a CM11a on the PC -- also under control of the CyberHouse client -- causes the relays on the isolated MM443s to click on and off. A peek at the .txt file of the automatically created and plain-english-commented machine code for the PIC created by CyberHouse shows that Savoy's compiled code uses two hex values whenever it refers to an X-10 address. First value is the house code; second is unit code.

.... Marc Marc_F_Hult

Right ;-) I went back and re-read the original post and it is clear that the signal is to originate from _outside_ the converter/controller so my question does not pertain.

I was perseverating on a different issue, specifically, on how to control a non-X10 lighting protocol with HA software that supports X-10 but not the lighting protocol of interest.

Marc Marc_F_Hult

I'd really like to see a UPB controller like this.

....Bob