Moving Dry Contact sensors to 1-wire

[kwaugh]

I'm currently in the process of figuring out how to move my dry-contact sensors from x-10 based monitoring to 1-wire. I currently have an HA7NET that I use for temp/humid sensors, so I would use that as the end point.

My question is is whether the [4R3-R1-A] board can be used to somehow monitor the status of dry contact switches? If not, what suggestions do folks have for this type of monitoring?

Thanks in advance!

K

 

[etd607]

I'm currently in the process of figuring out how to move my dry-contact sensors from x-10 based monitoring to 1-wire. I currently have an HA7NET that I use for temp/humid sensors, so I would use that as the end point.

My question is is whether the [4R3-R1-A] board can be used to somehow monitor the status of dry contact switches? If not, what suggestions do folks have for this type of monitoring?

Thanks in advance!

K

Are you thinking of replacing X10 powerflash units with HB 4 relay boards? So far as I know, the 4 relay board cannot accept dry contact inputs. It can only turn on or off devices connected to any of its relay contacts.

I attempted to read the status of the 4 relay board outputs of the onboard ic's ( I forget their chip numbers) and had problems when going through my HA7Net bus master. Using the getbyte function, the relay I was probing would switch its output. If I received a 1 for output state, the chip controlling the relay would switch its output to 0 (ground). Read it again and you would get a 0 and the output state would change to 1.

Let me know if you find anything in the 1Wire world which will do what you are trying to do.

Also, check out my Bash script postings that I made on this forum. I can read temperature and humidity through the HA7Net using Linux bash scripts.

Ed

 

[kwaugh]

Yikes, this is getting more complicated that I was hoping it would be!

I'm definitely dedicated to the HA7NET (what a great device), so I'll need to keep looking for a solution and will post back...

Thanks,

K

 

[FrankMc]

Hi Guys

Is this what your after ??

http://nwe.net.au/JustForFun_1Wire.html

HTH
Frank

 

[kwaugh]

Frank -

That looks like EXACTLY what I'm looking for!

Looks like these are 1 time devices you made for your own use? Was it difficult?

Thanks,

K

 

[FrankMc]

Hi

No i didnt make them ..Just know the guy who did (Neil)....Drop him an email....although he may take a while to respond (work commitments)...

HTH
Frank

 

[kwaugh]

Frank -

Thanks for the tip.

I've exchanged a few emails with Neil regarding th sensors. I'll post what I find to this thread.

Are there others who might be interested in these? If so, I'll make sure Neil gets that info as well.

Don't know if he'll be able to help me/us, but we'll see!

Thanks,

K

 

[kwaugh]

An update -

Since I didn't get responses from other interested folks, I continued my search for low cost ways to get dry contact sensors on my 1-wire network and found that Embedded Data Systems (the maker of the HA7NET) had a fairly low cost option, called the D2

I've order a few and will report what I find when they arrive!

 

[kwaugh]

The units came last night. I only had a short time to fool around with them but was able to hook 1 up to my HA7NET and test that it was working.

These look like they are going to fit the bill perfectly. They are cheap (2 sensors on each $13 unit) and they were a piece of cake to poll via the HA7NET.

Embedded Data Systems comes through for me again!

K

 

[kwaugh]

EPILOGUE...

The D2's are awsome and it only took a handful of LUA code to read status. (I'm in the early stages of moving from HomeSeer to Girder, so I'm doing all new "stuff" in girder)

The only challenge was that added the new "leg" of 1-wire network to my HA7Net, it was invisible until I added a 100 Ohm resistor to the existing leg. Now everything is working great...

 

[SethP]

Hi! I'm just finishing up a plugin for HS that reads a variety of 1-wire devices, such as the D2, and the EDS 8 channel I/O. You can try it out if you want. It won't work with the HA7Net, though; just with standard 1-wire interfaces.

What do you like more about Girder than HS? It doesn't appear to support UPB.

Seth

EPILOGUE...

The D2's are awsome and it only took a handful of LUA code to read status. (I'm in the early stages of moving from HomeSeer to Girder, so I'm doing all new "stuff" in girder)

The only challenge was that added the new "leg" of 1-wire network to my HA7Net, it was invisible until I added a 100 Ohm resistor to the existing leg. Now everything is working great...