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ronaldvdh
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n00b questions and nice to meet you

Post by ronaldvdh »

Hello all,
I monitored the forum a lot and though I should start posting. I have a very basic HA setup at the moment consisting of:
* Marmitek SC9000
* Marmitek MS90
* Marmitek DS90 (2x)
* Marmitek LM12
* Oregon Scientific RMR132HG (base station and 1 ext temp sensor)
* The necessary key fobs and remotes
* The Domotica book by Heino Peters :)

We will be moving to a new house in about 4 months and because of that, I am more interested in home automation again, and in my search I stumbled on this nice forum.

When I want to extend (or with such a small setup, you can just say start with) my HA setup and do a bit more monitoring. The following is on my wishlist:
* Place micro modules / new switches in the house to remote control lighting
* Gather sensor data (like temp and MS/DS90)
* And last but not least make it possible to program macro's and view the status of my HA setup remote.

Just a simple minimal setup that I can start off with and later on add more sensors and devices.
But to do this all I get a bit confused and I could appreciate your help. My setup is mainly X10 based but there are more systems like Klik-aan-klik-uit or z-wave. The questions that pop-up are then:
* Is the rfxcom receiver the most interesting component to start collecting data?
* Should I keep using X10 or because I then have a rfxcom receiver, and I probably will buy the transmitter, start looking at RF devices like "klik-aan-klik-uit or Z-wave?
* WIll X10 (combined with the x10rf via SC9000) not easily conflict with neighbors with the same house code? And is there a way to only allow signals from registered remotes?
* The new Marmitek cm15pro looks like a nice device but it could conflict with the SC9000 that also converts radio signals to X10 on the powerline. The central unit must have an x10 receiver to gather the state of the switches I presume?

A lot of questions and probably a lot of opinions but if someone could aim me (the newbie) a bit in the right direction that would be great.

Thanks!

Ronald
Digit
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Post by Digit »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">* Is the rfxcom receiver the most interesting component to start collecting data?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">IMHO, yes. X10 RF, Oregon, Visonic, to name just a few (with the appropriate modules ofcourse). Works always.

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">* Should I keep using X10 or because I then have a rfxcom receiver, and I probably will buy the transmitter, start looking at RF devices like "klik-aan-klik-uit or Z-wave?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">I'm not very fond (anymore) about KAKU and similar stuff. Not reliable enough for me. No experience with Z-wave.

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">* WIll X10 (combined with the x10rf via SC9000) not easily conflict with neighbors with the same house code? And is there a way to only allow signals from registered remotes?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Try to find a way to isolate your communication between remote and HA system from "the rest". That depends (a bit) on your choice of HA system. Are you going to make it yourself?

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">* The new Marmitek cm15pro looks like a nice device but it could conflict with the SC9000 that also converts radio signals to X10 on the powerline. The central unit must have an x10 receiver to gather the state of the switches I presume? <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Can't tell about cm15pro. For picking up (and sending) over the powerline i would use a CTX35. Never fails.
ronaldvdh
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Post by ronaldvdh »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">That depends (a bit) on your choice of HA system. Are you going to make it yourself?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">I would like to make it myself, but there is a big learning curve in the hardware part for me. What would you advice in that part? For the software part I will probably use some linux / windows tools to wire it all up. Homeseer looks nice but still, making it yourself gives some advantages and is a nice hobby :)

I know the SC9000 just accepts all signals for X10rf. The only registration you need to perform is for sercure x10 to activate / deactivate the alarm functions.

The CTX35 puts RF signals on the powerline right. Won't this conflict with the SC9000 because that will do the same?

Can immagine when you have a computer with a RFXCom receiver and a CM11 that you can manually choose to put x10rf signals on the wire instead of forwarding all (i would almost consider a x10 firewall :))
Digit
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Post by Digit »

The CTX35 is a gateway between PC and powerline. No RF.

About hardware: it's nice making everything yourself, but if you're not that comfortable with the matter you should consider what it will bring. you. Do you see it as a real challenge to make everything yourself? Then go ahead and do it! But consider the time you'll have to invest.
And since you're also thinking about doing things yourself on software-side, watch out to not overload yourself with things to learn and do ;-)
ronaldvdh
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Post by ronaldvdh »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Digit</i>
<br />The CTX35 is a gateway between PC and powerline. No RF.

About hardware: it's nice making everything yourself, but if you're not that comfortable with the matter you should consider what it will bring. you. Do you see it as a real challenge to make everything yourself? Then go ahead and do it! But consider the time you'll have to invest.
And since you're also thinking about doing things yourself on software-side, watch out to not overload yourself with things to learn and do ;-)

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Wow 2 posts and you already know me ;) overloading is my middle name. True I find Software nicer than hardware so I will focus first on that part. So making "everything" myself is out of the question but maybe some small sensors later on. I would like to have the flexibility to extend the system with other sensors (maybe other brands as well)

question about the CTX35. I read that it is for the Xanura. Is that compatible with x10?
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Post by Digit »

Yep, 100%. I have X10, A10 and S10 in my house. Can control them all with my ACT TI-213 (=functionally equivalent to CTX35).
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