HA and XL

[justonemore]

Has anyone used XL and a homeautomaiton application, other than homeseer?

I PERSONALLY don't see great things in homeseer's future. I hate to say that, but unless they change their ways they're gonna shut out all their long time users to the point of the perverbial "Add/Remove" button.

[Aaron]

I PERSONALLY don't see great things in homeseer's future. I hate to say that, but unless they change their ways they're gonna shut out all their long time users to the point of the perverbial "Add/Remove" button.

yup... I use HS 1.7 but I no longer support Homeseer and I do not frequent the forum anymore.

They had a great start... then they got greedy, they do not listen to the market (ie focus on a front-end to compliment the back-end, etc), and will eventually be marginalized or non-existant in 3 yrs or so.

oh well... not my company.

[kris]

I'm using the european EIB system to manage lights, heating, security, cctv, sprinklers, access control, ...

This system is equipped with a visualisation module that I am displaying in a separate XL screen on a touchscreen.

Currently I do not have any events or triggers linking the two frontends. But I am looking into doing this. The EIB systems allows communication via IP telegrams, having an XL plugin that is able to receive and send IP telegrams would thus allow seamless communication. (but since this plug in does not yet exist

examples of use would be : using the buttons on the wall to 'mute' xl zones,...

Example Screenshot

[rika]

Kris, what program do you use to control your EIB. I have tried to find some sort of simple prog that can send messages on the bus (and don’t cost fortune). Any tips?
I use a prog called e-hem home, it can control EIB and X10 (and combinations of them) Prog and EIB plugin can be found here: http://www.ehem.com/drivers/
if you want to check it out.
I have to send x10 commands from XL and then e-hem picks it up and sends messages on the bus. I can tell you more about it if you have interests.

Rika

[kris]

Rika,

I'm using the GIRA Homeserver to add additional functionality to my EIB installation (visualisation, logfiles, scenes, logic, ...). This is a separate server running a some linux distribution and not having any moving parts (disks, fans or alike). This box is designed to keep running day-in and day-out for several years (as opposed to a normal windows box)

This is also the box that is able to map IP telegrams on to EIB commands. It also has the web-based visualisation. Pretty nifty device imho, downside is that is will set you back a respectable 2000 euro's.

If you just want to be able to send messages on to the eib-bus you could use the EIB ASCII terminal from Schlaps. This 'gateway' comes with drivers allowing you connect to the EIB bus using Visual Basic or Javascript. It does not have any logic or so on board, just passes your commands. Price is about 500 euros.


If you want to go 'deeper' you could use the Falcon components. These are a set of DCOM libraries facilitating communication with the EIB bus over the standard rs232 or usb gateways. No idea however on the license fees. This thing is mainly used by third party developpers. (I think that the eHem product you mentioned uses these components)


I believe that there are also some open source like initiative in progress. I'll check to see if I can find any info on those for you

Hope this helps.

kris