Pics from EHX

[Guy Lavoie]

Here is Wayne Wittenberg ("WayneW", on the right) dropping in to chat at the Applied Digital booth:

 

[Guy Lavoie]

And here is part of the group that gathered at the Worthington booth to go to the Golden Corral:

 

[electron]

See anything missing in that picture?


ME!

Hope you guys had a good time, it looked pretty interesting for sure!

Guy, do you have any news on what new protocols the Ocelot might support in the future? :lol:

 

[Guy Lavoie]

Actually, everyone was trying to get a feel for which of the "new" protocols might be a clear leader (and reps from both camps made certain to stop by and make their case) but it is not yet clear as to which one (or ones) are dominant. The Applied Digital guys I was with also realized that something will need to to be introduced soon in order to keep the product current, but the approach remains to be determined. On the last day of the show, I heard a mention of some kind of "TW-523-like" module (ie: compatible to a device or controller that can drive a TW-523) that could be used to somehow "map" Z-Wave devices to virtual X-10 addresses to allow at least some basic functionality right away. Any more information on this device is welcome. The Appllied Digital design team is quite busy with other non-HA products but they realize that this can't be held off indefinately, so I think we should expect some news in the coming months.

 

[rocco]

. . . I heard a mention of some kind of "TW-523-like" module (ie: compatible to a device or controller that can drive a TW-523) that could be used to somehow "map" Z-Wave devices to virtual X-10 addresses . . .

IMHO, this would be bad for ZWave. Since the TW523 "bit-bangs" at the line frequency rate, this would force ZWave to operate at the speed of X10 (at least through this device).

 

[WayneW]

The device is a ZW-523 from Boca Devices. They were in the Z-wave booth, but a real quick Google search didn't find anything.

I assume it appears to the panel (JDS, etc) as if it was a TW-523, therefore the panel instantly supports the ZW-523. I don't have anything that requires a TW-523 anymore, so I didn't pay too much attention to it. Since the Z-wave protocol isn't tied to the AC zero crossing, maybe the ZW-523 operates as if it was on a 600 Hz (or something fast) powerline to gain speed? Would the panel get confused by data coming too fast? Maybe they figure that Z-wave support at slow speeds is better than no Zwave support?

Oh, and I also heard SmartHome mention a TW-523 emulator to add Insteon support for hardware panels. I told them they should also consider a CM11a or 1132U emulator so that all the HA software would instantly support Insteon also.

 

[rocco]

Since the Z-wave protocol isn't tied to the AC zero crossing, maybe the ZW-523 operates as if it was on a 600 Hz (or something fast) powerline to gain speed?

Actually, that is a great idea. Especially if you can set the rate. As you said, all it would take is for the device to send zero-crossing pulses faster than 60 Hz. If you could set that rate, you could go as fast as your controller would allow. If it could not go faster than 60 Hz, slow ZWave IS better than no ZWave.