RCS Thermostat X10 Communications Problems

[derek]

I have an RCS TXB16 Thermostat and cannot send / receive X10 commands to it.

The thermostat is operating correctly via the Control Pad.

I have the TXB16 plugged into a CM11A controller which is then plugged into my 240V AC power lines.

I have another CM11A plugged into COM3 on my HA controller running Housebot.

I would expect this would send the X10 signals from the RCS to Housebot via the two CM11A's.



Once I plug both CM11A's in I lose control of all X10 devices as if the second CM11A is nullifying the commands sent from the first CM11A.

Have I got the hardware installed correctly?

I believe the RCS uses 9600N81 for its RS232 comms.

Does the CM11A work at 9600N81?



I have tried the following solution. Does it sound possible?

1. Plug a correctly wired serial cable directly from the RCS TXB16 X10 port (RJ12) to a spare com port on my PC (COM3)

2. Create a Housebot Hardware Interface of type CM11A on COM3 and enable.

3. Create a Housebot device of type X10 Controller on the Hardware Interface created in step 2.

4. Make sure the RCS device is set to use the Device created in step 3.



My logic for this solution

Instead of sending RS232 to X10 and then back to RS232 again why not just send RS232 straight from the RCS thermostat direct to Housebot.



Instead of

RCS --> RS232 to CM11A --> Power lines --> Housebot CM11A --> RS232 on Housebot

Replace with

RCS --> RS232 --> RS232 on Housebot

Sounds good but doesn't seem to work.



Wondering if the CM11A always expects 4800 baud and the RCS always expects 9600 baud ??



Of course I could just have a faulty TXB16.



Any ideas anyone.



Thanks

[Circe640]

The X10 code in HouseBot, I believe with only work with the X10 devices CM11a,Firecracker,PowerLinc USB.

I do not believe that it will work with a direct RS232 connection.

I would agree with you that it sounds like the 2 CM11a's are fighting each other. Are you sure that neither of them are running internal downloaded programs? Those interfaces have the capability to run control programs independently of their host and that may be what is causing the problem.

I have run CM11a's at 9600N81 without a problem from HouseBot.

[ScottBot]

I think you're supposed to use a TW523 or PSC05 to interface the TXB16 to the powerline, not the CM11a. You might want to double-check the manual.

Instead of sending RS232 to X10 and then back to RS232 again why not just send RS232 straight from the RCS thermostat direct to Housebot.

They do make thermostats that talk RS232/485 instead of X10, but the RCS TXB16 is not one of them. An RS232 thermostat would also require a special HouseBot Hardware Interface plugin to manage the RS232 protocol of the thermostat.

[derek]

Thanks for the replies.

I have ordered an Australian equivalent of the TW523 (an XM10 interface module).

I expect this will solve my problem.

For some reason the RCS was shipped to me with a CM11A which doesn't seem to be a compatible controller to use with the RCS.