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    Rfxcom + w800

    I was wondering if the RFXCOM plugin will also support the USB W800 device?

    I'm hoping to soon purchase a LAN RFXCOM with a visonic receiver as well as a UK tranceiver. I was then thinking of getting a USB W800 to support the cheaper US X10 Security devices.

    Is there any benefits of the USB US RFXCOM receiver over the W800?

    Thanks, Law

    #2
    The RFXCOM plug-in does not support the W800.

    The 310MHz US RFXCOM receiver can receive the full packet length of the US X10 security sensors. The risk on duplicate sensors due to the same ID is very low and receiving of wrong RF packets is also very low due to the additional received information.

    Comment


      #3
      Maybe this is a dumb question.... My ACRF2 Plug-In sees my X10 EagleEye and ActiveEye motion sensors using my W800. I just installed a Dual-band (433/310Mhz) 2 com port with LAN RFXCOM receiver and the RFXCOM plug-in and Homeseer doesn't appear to see anything coming in on the 310MHz receiver. I know the receiver is receiving the 310Mhz X10 signals since I can see them using the RFreceiver program. Is this a plug-in problem, or is there a setting that I'm missing? Also, which antenna is 433 and which is 310? The supplied antennas are the same and there is no indication on the unit as to which antenna jack is which.

      Thanks in advance,
      Craig

      Comment


        #4
        Craig,

        Did you enable the X10 receiving option for the receiver on the RFXCOM - RF Interfaces tab?
        And for X10 Lighting sensors like the X10 EagleEye you have to set the house code used by these sensors to Status Only on the RFXCOM - X10 config page.

        The antennas do not differ. Extract the 433.92 antenna to the maximum length (about 37cm) The 310 can be extracted to 24.5 cm (1/4 wave) but there is not much difference if you extract this antenna also to the full length.

        Bert

        Comment


          #5
          Hi Bert, I did have the X10 devices checked in the RF-Interfaces tab and also checked the housecodes in the X10 tab. I put an X10 ActiveEye right next to the RFXCOM receiver and it was able to pickup the signal, but not possible from 20 feet away. Is this typical?

          To clarify my antenna question, which BNC jack on the RFXCOM receiver is for the 310Mhz antenna and which is for the 433? I realize the supplied antennas are the same, but I am looking at installing different antennas.

          Thanks,
          Craig

          Comment


            #6
            Hi Craig,

            The sensor is most probably transmitting outside the frequency 309.7 - 310.3MHz

            The RFXCOM receiver has a band pass filter of 600kHz and the US X10 sensors are sometimes transmitting outside this frequency. The range will be limited than but tuning the sensor, by bending the antenna coil inside the sensor a little bit towards or away from the printed circuit board, it is possible to set the transmit frequency for maximum distance. The antenna coil is a 3/4 turn wire of about 5mm diameter. See an example of such a coil in the picture.
            Switch a lamp to see the result of the tuning while increasing the distance or use a spectrum analyzer to adjust the sensor to 310MHz.

            European X10 sensors are crystal controlled and are always transmitting at 433.92MHz. So European X10 users do not have this problem.

            Bert
            Attached Files

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              #7
              Thanks Bert. I've got a Rhode & Shwartz communications service monitor that I'll attach to the antenna of the X10 device to check freq and adjust the loop per your suggestion. What's interesting is that my W800 is picking up all X10 motion devices on my property as far as 150 feet away. Perhaps it has a broader band-pass filter. Will see...

              Most puzzling is that I have RFXSensors (310 Mhz) approximately 120 feet away that the W800 sees but the RFXRcvr won't and both receivers are in my attic within a foot of each other. Both are using the stock whip antennas. I'll do some additional testing and let you know. The 433 Mhz receiver seems to be working just fine.

              Craig

              Comment


                #8
                Craig,
                I had exactly the same problem. Solution - both receivers and both plugins....
                I wish they would change the darn design and put crystal into them. The transmitting parameters are different for each individual sensor. It also matter which way they are oriented to the antenna.
                I guess we get what we pay for....
                Marty

                Comment


                  #9
                  Craig,

                  The RFXSensor is crystal controlled. I guess there must be something wrong with the receiver as the sensitivity of the RFXCOM receiver must be better.
                  I will contact you how we proceed.

                  Bert

                  Comment


                    #10
                    The method Bert suggested for aligning US 310 X-10 sensor transmitters worked great! The trick is knowing where to look and having the right tools. While it didn't solve my RFXCom 310 Rcvr issue, it substantially improved their range with my W800 receiver. Thanks to Bert for the info and helping to resolve my RFXCom 310 Rcvr issue.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      In order to use an existing 310MHz W800 plus a dual-band RFXCOM LAN in the same HS system, what is the best approach in terms of assigning hardware to plug-ins?

                      Since the RFXCOM plug-in doesn't support the W800, is it possible to assign ACRF-2 control of the W800 AND the 310MHz section of the RFXCOM dual-band hardware, while assigning the 433MHz section of RFXCOM hardware to the RFXCOM plug-in? This would provide expanded 310MHz coverage and allow the ACRF-2 plug-in to filter/combine packets when a given 310MHz sensor is "heard" by both receivers.

                      Otherwise, if both RFXCOM's bands are assigned to the RFXCOM plug-in and the W800 is mapped to ACRF-2, how would such "duplicate" 310MHz messages be handled across the two plug-ins? Perhaps each 310MHz sensor / housecode must then be assigned to one plug-in/receiver or the other, resulting in a "less flexible" expansion of 310MHz coverage? In this case, supplementing an existing 310MHz W800 might best be done by adding a second 310MHz W800 (or a 310MHz-only RFXCOM) plus a 433MHz-only RFXCOM.

                      Thanks,
                      Don
                      Last edited by dschoppe; May 27, 2009, 06:57 PM. Reason: Rephrasing / attempted clarification :)

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Hi Don, I know that the ACRF2 Plug-In will support up to 4 different receivers simultaneously. They can be any mix of W800, RFXCOM or X10 MR26a. That may be the simplest if you want to use just one plugin. I have both the ACRF2 plug-in and the RFXCOM plug-in but have yet to reach any conclusions as to continue running both or consolidate to just the ACRF2. At the moment, keeping them split is helpful so I can trouble-shoot my new 310/432 MHz LAN RFXCOM receiver without interfering with my W800 and existing configurations. During my testing with both running, I received signals in both receivers from the same device with each instance mapping to a different code in Homeseer. My strategy will be simply to have my programming logic use the device code from the receiver which was most reliable for that particular device (e.g. closer to it)... if that makes sense.

                        Craig

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Originally posted by garciacg View Post
                          During my testing with both running, I received signals in both receivers from the same device with each instance mapping to a different code in Homeseer. My strategy will be simply to have my programming logic use the device code from the receiver which was most reliable for that particular device (e.g. closer to it)... if that makes sense.
                          Craig
                          Gotcha, thanks Craig. I'm thinking that if the 310MHz section of the RFXCOM HW and your existing W800 could both be assigned to the ACRF-2 plug-in though, it seems you'd only need one code per device in HS and the ACRF-2 plug-in could intelligently process/combine packets from both 310MHz receivers. (i.e., No need for you to determine/decide on a per-sensor basis which antenna/receiver is the better one to use).

                          Don

                          Comment


                            #14
                            i will try the same. i have rfxcom and acrf with rfx receiver and w800. i will enable the rfxcom receiver on the acrf as well and see what gets the better signal. i have some oregon senors that go in and out with rfxcom... cant use them with the w800 though.
                            HS3 , Zwave, HometrollerS6, ELK M1G Ultra; mcs sprinklers; WGL800; BLRF; BLNetCallerID; BLSpeech

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