Re: Re: Very newbie Homeseer question

[Kevin Hawkins <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

tnichols2594 wrote:

>Thanks Kevin,
>
>It seems that a computer at the barn running HS would be able to more
>accurately track status of those devices located at the barn.
>
Your preferred choice is X10 I believe which inherently carries with it
a certain degree of uncertainty mainly because it relies on messages
superimposed on the mains wiring cf a direct wired link. Depending on
the particular types of X10 devices you can minimise this with status
double checking etc.  HS also does some very clever things to
guesstimate the current status of devices that don't support status
requests. It watches all the X10 activity and tracks where the device
should be assuming (and here's the problem) that both it and the remote
device have seen exactly the same X10 messages.  Over time this can get
out of step, particularly where relative dims are concerned.  xAP via
BSC also supports dims to single percentage levels eg 31% and this has
to be mapped to X10's dim capabilities which is much coarser so rounding
errors can creep in here. If your devices are all appliances then
tracking status is much less of a concern and should be reliable either
way.

Some reasons why you may not be getting the correct status responses
back via the Ethernet to serial to X10 route could be...  that the
serial RS232 module doesn't support extended X10 / status commands,  the
X10 device itself doesn't , the time lag introduced by the Ethernet
linking is causing issues , the handshaking, or just poor X10 reliability.

If you are prepared to hardwire your loads teh using a xAP netiom with
16 inputs and 16 outputs directly connected to Ethernet is a very
reliable and low cost alternative.

>  If the
>second computer was linked via xAP to the house computer, then the
>main house computer could be updated as to the status of the barn
>devices periodicly.
>
It will actually happen almost instantly - so your two systems should be
in synch at all times

> It sounds like I wasted my time on the serial
>server even though it works (less status).  How reliable would this
>system be? Could I rely on it to control the HVAC in the barn office?
>or the sprinkler system located in that area?
>
Well mostly.  ;-)    If you use X10 then nothing is ever certain I'm
afraid due to the inherent practicalities of X10.  xAP is Ethernet based
using UDP so does not confirm that every listener heard every message -
however in practice on an intranet it is highly unlikley that a packet
is ever missed.    To add a further layer of confirmation is possible in
software as every BSC device can be queried for its state at any time -
and indeed when any device is asked to change state it sends a message
confirming it has done so. This can apply to any directly attached
HomeSeer devices too eg X10. So within HS for example you can check that
a device did change state as expected in a script and indeed have other
periodic checks to whatever level of assurance you might wish.  In that
scenario you are about as assured as you can get.  If X10 is in the loop
though at any point you reduce that confidence appropriately.  There are
other lighting and device control systems eg Z-Wave and C-Bus that would
work well here.  Z-Wave which is a nice low cost radio based system
supports reliable status checking I believe and operates via radio
although I haven't used it myself.

> I am also going to add
>cameras at the barn but those could be networked to the main house
>easily.
>
>
nice... - in fact xAP Desktop and xAP Floorplan can display some camera
feeds directly on your PC as well as having buttons and icons / displays
of all your xAP or HomeSeer devices.  How comfortable are you with the
software side ??

>Thanks for your help.
>
>TNichols
>
>
K