MR26A not showing up in dropdown

[PRIME]

Hello, GREAT JOB on the HouseBot by the way. It is excellent.



I have installed the MR26A plugin. I have the following Hardware Interfaces created:



- CM11A Interface

- CM17A FireCracker

- MR26A Reciever



Now, when I go to create a device (either X10 Transmitter, X10 Module, or X10 Controller) the problem is, under the "Hardware Interface" dropdown list, only the CM11A and the CM17A show up. The MR26A does not show up in the drop-down list. The device is enabled.

What am I doing wrong?



Thanks in advance,

- John

[ScottBot]

John,



Good question. Select the interface that you want the HouseBot X10xxx Device to use to *send* the X10 commands on the power line (either the CM11A or Firecracker).



The reason that the MR26A does not appear as a selection in the list is because it is a "receive only" interface. You can not send any commands to the interface, it simply monitors for X10 RF signals. When it receives an X10 RF signal, it will send the X10 action (e.g. C1 On, B4 Dim, etc.) to all HouseBot X10xxx Devices that are interested. For example if you have a HouseBot X10 Device configured for "C1", when the MR26A receives a "C1 On" via RF, it will send the information to the HouseBot "C1" Device. The Device will then change its Power State Property to "On". You don't need to do any extra configuration for this, it just happens.



Scott

[PRIME]

Hi Scott,

Thanks for the reply. It makes sense.

What I was trying to is use motion sensors that send out RF ON commands when set off (and then send an OFF command after a configured time delay).

Please correct me if I'm wrong:

For example, say motion sensor M4 gets triggered and sends out "M4 On". Then the MR26A sees this RF signal in the air and grabs it. What I want to do is set off a chain of commands when "M4 On" is seen.



What I have done is the following :



1) Created first, an "X10 Transmitter" device called "Front Motion Sensor", and selected the CM11A from the drop down interface list.

2) Set transmitter properties to House=M and Unit=4.

3) Created a task with conditions that if device "Front Yard Motion" house code is "M" *AND* "Front Yard Motion" unit code is "4", *THEN* turn on front outside lights and turn on front yard camera; Wait 60 seconds; then turn lights and camera off. (or I guess I could create an "M4 Off" task, instead of the delay, to turn lights and camera off).



So if I understand you correctly, as long as I have the MR26A connected to a COM port and enabled, the above will happen automatically?



Thanks again in advance,

- John

[ScottBot]

John,



You're on the right track. Here are a couple of comments.

• In your Task, you don't need to test for the House Code and Unit Code of the Motion detector. Just have a condition on the Power State (for Off and/or On). The House Code and Unit Code won't change for that Device.
• For the 60 second wait, don't use a Task Delay command. Tasks can't execute again while running, so if someone passes by the motion detector again, the timer is still on the first 60 second count and may turn off the light prematurely.
• Check out the "Sleep Timer" Device. That's what I use for this exact scenario. You will need two Tasks. Have the first Task monitor the motion detector Power State Property and set the "Running" Property of the Sleep Timer when the Power State goes "On". Have the second Task monitor the "Running" Property of the Sleep Timer for "No" and have it turn off the lights.

Hopefully you get the picture. The configuration is a bit messy, but it should get you what you want. If the motion detector is tripped repeatedly within the 60 second timeout, the first Task will reset the Sleep timer back to 60 seconds (setting the "Running" Property to "Yes" will reset the timer.... make sure you check the Allow Same Value Changes checkbox for the Running Property.).



Scott

[PRIME]

Hi Scott,

Thanks for the comments. I see what you mean. I did exactly that and I see the logic behind it. I will test it when I get home (I have a test PC that I play around on here at work when I have a minute here-and-there but no interfaces though so I can't test fully here).



I basically created a task "Front Yard Motion On" with Motion Sensor 4 power state condition of on, which then turns front lights on and front camera on.

Then I created a "Front Yard Motion Stop" task, with condition that if sleep timer is no longer running (state no), then turn off front lights and front camera.



Thanks so much for all your help. By the way, your help files are great too.



Thanks,

- John