Re: X10 Status Holy Grail with Netiom xAP

["rb_ziggy" <richard.boreham@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Tim

I guess the relay would probably work with the AD units as the
leakage must be pretty small compared with the load of 240v / 13 (or
so) Amps.  Just seems a bit 'back to front' as it would be the high
voltage / current side switching the low voltage one!

It would also be good to have a general purpose device that would
work on ither AD or LD units.  But if its much costlier to do so, it
may not be sensible.

I think the Netiom is 5V rated on the input (from the reviews I've
seen).  I'll have a look for these transducers - 'not particularly
cheap' Hmm!

I seem to recall Frank's device monitored the on/off led on the
front of the module.

Regards

Richard

--- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx, "Hawes,Timothy Edward \(GEG\)"
<haweste@a...> wrote:
>
> Richard,
>
> In theory the AD modules would be easy enough, a conventional coil
relay
> or solid state relay wired across the AD output which then closes a
> contact when the 240V output is ON. The same contacts are wired to
> NetIOM inputs. The only caveat is that the AD modules leak a small
> current across the output even when OFF to detect when something is
> plugged in. You'd have to choose your relays carefully to ensure
they
> didn't falsely close when the AD was actually off.
>
> For the LDs you might be better off with a current transducer - a
device
> that measures the amount of current flowing through a circuit.
These are
> available with 4-20mA and 0-10V outputs as they're used frequently
in
> industry. They're not particularly cheap though. What type of
analogue
> input does the NetIOM accept?
>
> I thought Frank developed some sort of CT-device for use with his
zone
> probes, but that may have just detected on/off, rather than "dim
level".
>
> HTH,
>
> Tim.
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: rb_ziggy
> >
> > OK, this could all be horribly wrong but I had a thought when
> > thinking about that knotty problem of knowing the status of
> > X10 (mainly AD & LD) units that are controlled both across th
> > powerline but also with momentary switches...
> >
> > Can the power output side of the AD/LD unit be used and then
> > interfaced with, say, an xAP enabled device (such as a NETIOM)?
> >
> > For example. The NETIOM has 16 (5v) inputs for a very
> > reasonable price.  Is there such a thing as a cheap solid
> > state device that can be wired in parallel with the live &
> > neutral output on the AD/LD to 'measure' the power output and
> > translate this to a 'value' (0/5V) that the NETIOM could
interpret?
> >
> > You may gather that my electronics experience is a bit
> > limited, to the extent that I don't know what cheap power
> > measurement device is available or would work with the triac
> > 'chopped' output from a LD unit (I'm guessing it might be
> > easier for the AD units).
> >
> > Also, for LD it would be useful to get some sort of 'level'
> > of power but how to do this on digital inputs to the NETIOM,
> > I have no idea (clearly would be possible for the analogue
> > inputs but there are 'only' 4 on the NETIOM). But as a
> > minimum it would be good to know an LD unit is on (at any
> > level) or off.
> >
> > Also, I guess a bit of isolation might be in order to stop
> > the possibility of 240V being passed through to the low
> > voltage device!
> >
> > I'd welcome thoughts.  Any milage in this or am I barking?
> >
> > Anyone fancy a go?
> >
> > Cheers
> >
> > Richard
>