Premise X10 extended codes and Premise

[mhilbush]

I have some Leviton scene-enabled X10 dimmers that I would like to use with Premise. This includes devices like the HCP03 plugin dimmer and the HCM06 universal dimmer. While these devices are not state of the art, this stuff was relatively expensive at the time, and the devices still work fine.

I would like to take advantage of the scene capability of these devices, as a scene command operates faster than controlling the devices individually with a Premise scene or script. However, I can't figure out how to send the extended code functions. I hope this is making sense. I apologize if I am not using the right terminology...

For example, if you are familiar with heyu in Linux, it would be a command with the syntax "heyu xgrpexec B 0.7". Is there an equivalent way to issue such a command with Premise?

When I issue the heyu command above, it shows up as the following in PortSpy:

5A 
C3 
C3 
05 01 E7 00 
26 36

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[123]

Aren't scenes assigned standard X10 addresses? For example, "E1" could be a scene that turns on all lights on the ground floor. Premise X10 driver supports all X10 addresses. Or am I missing your point?

 

[mhilbush]

Yes, I suspected I wasn't doing a very good job of explaining this...

These articles do a pretty good job of explaining how scenes/groups work.
http://forums.x10.com/index.php?topic=16648.0
http://www.csi3.com/scenes.htm

 

[etc6849]

Have you tried a CM11A? If you add a CM11A under X10 found under Devices (you must select the X10 add-in first), you'll see it offers several options for dimmers, but you must click the button shown to access them. There's even an extended dimmer for Leviton (which hopefully supports what you're trying to do).

I have a CM11A, but I don't have any fancy X10 stuff to try with it. However, if you search listing details on ebay, you can probably find a lot of X10 stuff that includes the hard to find CM11A that is no longer made.

Let us know how things turn out.

 

[etc6849]

The attached image shows some of the properties of the extended dimmer. It looks like the CM11a is worth exploring...

 

[mhilbush]

Thanks for the suggestions. I have the CM11a installed in Premise -- works fine for all the "normal" x10 functions.

There's a drop-down here that includes the Extended Code option, but I can't figure out how to use it to send the right Extended Code command to execute the scene.


The Premise help also include this nice description, but, again, I can't seem to figure out how to use it to execute the scene. I really wish we had access to the Premise source code -- would make it so much easier to figure these things out!


It seems that this was all accounted for in Premise, but it's unclear whether it actually can be made to work!

 

[etc6849]

Here's my guess...

Fill in the Data portion with some integer data value, then pass the integer noted in the help file to the multivalue property. To get the secret data value as an integer, I'm guessing that you would take the hexadecimal data portion from the command packet and convert it to integer. What's more confusing is it could be the integer value of text that represents the hex data; it all depends on the X10 protocol for the CM11A. I'm sure you've already tried things both ways and it didn't work...

Another thing to try would be to read the old forums as I'm sure this topic has come up before. The links are on the Premise wiki page.

 

[mhilbush]

Fill in the Data portion with some integer data value, then pass the integer noted in the help file to the multivalue property. To get the secret data value as an integer, I'm guessing that you would take the hexadecimal data portion from the command packet and convert it to integer. What's more confusing is it could be the integer value of text that represents the hex data; it all depends on the X10 protocol for the CM11A. I'm sure you've already tried things both ways and it didn't work...

Yep, did that. Monitoring with Portspy shows no difference in the bytestream no matter what is entered into the Data property. Arggg. I was doing this all through the Premise Builder (as opposed to using a script). I'll need to try this from a script to see if it works any better. Maybe (hopefully) the Builder user interface is broken...

I also have a CM11a hooked up to a Linux box, so using heyu on the Linux box and Portspy in Premise Builder, I'm able to see the correct byte sequence. I can then compare this to what the Premise Builder sends in order to know if Premise is sending the right thing.

As for the hex and/or decimal values, I think I have that all sorted out.

Another thing to try would be to read the old forums as I'm sure this topic has come up before. The links are on the Premise wiki page.

Yes, I know. <frown> I started down that path, but quickly got discouraged due to the lack of an ability to search. Was hoping I would not have to endure that....

 

[123]

I skimmed the first link you posted and I think I understand what you want to do. You want to use Builder to send an X10 command sequence to a device that will program it to be part of a scene.

I have Switchlinc devices and I've always configured them manually (i.e. push the device's programming button and send it the correct sequence of commands using a pushbutton controller). You want to send the command sequence using Premise. Correct?

BTW
Many moons ago, I had used a utility program to make a copy of the entire PremiseForums site. The site kept going up and down (and then lost search capabilities) and I didn't want to lose access to it. I searched my local copy for the words "extended codes" and this is the only post that seems to be partially relevant: Leviton scene control/dimmer issue - urgent

 

[mhilbush]

I skimmed the first link you posted and I think I understand what you want to do. You want to use Builder to send an X10 command sequence to a device that will program it to be part of a scene.

I have Switchlinc devices and I've always configured them manually (i.e. push the device's programming button and send it the correct sequence of commands using a pushbutton controller). You want to send the command sequence using Premise. Correct?

Yes, 123, you are very close to what I'm after. I already have the devices programmed to be part of a scene. This can be done manually using the controller, as you describe. What I really need is a way to use Premise to send the command to execute the scene.

Many moons ago, I had used a utility program to make a copy of the entire PremiseForums site. The site kept going up and down (and then lost search capabilities) and I didn't want to lose access to it. I searched my local copy for the words "extended codes" and this is the only post that seems to be partially relevant: Leviton scene control/dimmer issue - urgent

Yes, this post is very relevant, as the post shows the byte sequence that's generated when you execute a scene/group command. The challenge is to figure out how to make Premise generate this sequence. Ideally, I would be able to generate this sequence from a script and/or a logic diagram. Unfortunately, this post doesn't shed any light on that.

I've been debating whether I should pull the entire PremiseForums site. I think you've convinced me!

 

[123]

OK, so to execute scenes for these Leviton devices you need to send a sequence of bytes as opposed to Switchlincs where a scene is conveniently represented by an X10 address (yeah, I know that also involves sending bytes but it's done by the driver). With Switchlincs, I can activate a scene by simply using issuing an E1 ON (or some other address I've programmed) without concerning myself with the actual bytes involved.

I tried two simple things with the CM11A driver:

• Setting "Command" to "Extended Code" fired off a sequence of bytes.
• Setting "Data" to a hex value doesn't appear to do anything. The value disappears when you move focus away from the property field and Port Spy shows no activity.

Whereas "All Lights On" is self-evident, and requires no additional parameters, its unclear to me how the driver is supposed to use the "Extended Code" command.

 

[mhilbush]

OK, so to execute scenes for these Leviton devices you need to send a sequence of bytes as opposed to Switchlincs where a scene is conveniently represented by an X10 address (yeah, I know that also involves sending bytes but it's done by the driver). With Switchlincs, I can activate a scene by simply using issuing an E1 ON (or some other address I've programmed) without concerning myself with the actual bytes involved.

I tried two simple things with the CM11A driver:

• Setting "Command" to "Extended Code" fired off a sequence of bytes.
• Setting "Data" to a hex value doesn't appear to do anything. The value disappears when you move focus away from the property field and Port Spy shows no activity.

Whereas "All Lights On" is self-evident, and requires no additional parameters, its unclear to me how the driver is supposed to use the "Extended Code" command.

Drat! I was hoping you would know some magic to make this work.

Thanks for spending the time to look into it.

 

[etc6849]

Is it worth exploring the Leviton HCCOP native Premise add-in? I'm wondering if the HCCOP would have been written by a different person and might with the extended codes/data?

From the help file:
"Leviton HCCOP offers 2 way communication to control up to 256 devices through remote or keypads. HCCOP utilizes X10 communication via a serial port -- connected to the Premise Server. See below for connection instructions and more information on using the device with Premise Server."