Oregon Scientific, RFXCOM, and mcsTemperature working

[SeattleGirl5122]

I have a 5 lab rooms I need to monitor and record the humidity and temperature in.

I have RFXCOM 's USB 433.92MHz receiver and currently two of Oregon Scientific's THGR810 Inside Temp-Hygro:

1. http://www.cheapertronics.com/produc...=64&item_id=23

2. http://www.digitalgiftstore.com/thgr810.html

I Homeseer 2.2.0.11 installed along with mcsTemperature 5.7.0.3.

I know nothing of xAP. I can barely spell it. I just know it is involved in getting these things to work.

Michael McSherry has been helping on this. I post this in another forum, but he said to move it here.
http://forums.homeseer.com/showthrea...ghlight=rfxcom

If it was not for his help, I would be completely sunk. He like answers my questions in a couple of hours, and I post questions all day long.

This is what he has said so far on this:

The most current version of the software for the Oregon Scientific input is at http://mcssprinklers.com/xapXap.htm
You will want to download xapmcsHub, mcsXap, xapmcsRF from there. You will also want to download the xAp Viewer from http://www.edjo.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk...iewer_main.htm to use as a debugging aid.

mcsXap is unzipped into the Homeseer 2 folder. The others can be placed anywhere, but should each have their own folder. Start xapmcsHub.exe and xapmcsRF.exe and the tray will contain icons for each. No configuration should be needed for xapmcsHub. xapmcsRF will need the settings to identify the Serial Comm Port and 48 Bit mode for the RFXCOM receiver. The Serial Comm IP Address will be blank in your case the the defaults should be fine for the others. For browser content checkboxes you only need the setup checkbox enabled initially.

When the Oregon Scientific data is recognized it will show up as a new row on the xapmcsRF browser page. If you want it to go into Homseer then give it a Location name.

mcsXap is setup from Homeseer as an IO Interface. The setup page for mcsXap should have the checkboxes for Receive BSC and Add to HS Menu.

Once both of these are setup and you have a few sensors showing in xapmcsRF have been given location names then use the BSC Query of Receiver button at the bottom of xapmcsRF to request that current status be sent for these sensors. They should then appear as new rows in the mcsXap browser. You then use the "A" column (Accept) checkbox to cause the sensor to be stored into a Homeseer Virtual device. mcsXap will assign defaults for DC, Location and Name. These can be changed if desired.

Once the virtual devices are created then add these virtual devices to the Sensor Page of mcsTemperature

For debugging xAP messages use the xAP Viewer. If will show if messages are being sent from xapmcsRF and mcsXap.

For debugging RF reception use the IO window from the xapmcsRF tray icon to see the raw RF being received

Once you have it working then add xapmcsRF.exe and xapmcsHub.exe to your Windows startup folder so they will start when the computer is started.

[SeattleGirl5122]

I am trying to get that xAp Viewer, but the link is dead. I did find this:
http://www.xapautomation.org/wiki/index.php/xFx_Viewer
http://www.edjo.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk...iewer_main.htm

I think this is the latest version. Not sure though.

The install of xapmcsRF has me a little confused. When I unzip xapmcsRF.zip, I see one executable and 5 folders.

The five folders are Config, Docs, Scripts, Data, and HTML. When I saw those I thought I was suppose to expand this zip in the Homeseer 2 directory. From Michael's post, this is not the case.

I just uncompressed the file into its own directory on the desktop along with xapmcsHub and left it as that.

[SeattleGirl5122]

To test things, and just verify that I have the hardware installed and working, I ran RFreceiver and it displayed the following:

This tells me the sensors, the antenna, and hardware drivers are working. So that is one hurdle behind me.

[SeattleGirl5122]

When I run xapmcsRF's Browser page, I have these missing images in the http://localhost:8017/status page:

http://localhost:8017/xapmcsW800/images/sensors/Temperature.gif
http://localhost:8017/xapmcsW800/images/sensors/off.gif

I searched my harddrive and no images showed with the Temperature.gif. I did find off.gif.

At first I thought they were refering to the html directory in the homeseer 2 directory. Actually, it turns out it was refering to the html directory inside of xapmcsRF home directory that I put on the desktop.

I just put an off.gif image I found in the homeseer directory, and put it in the xapmcsRF directory. That worked, but I don't know if they are the same image or just named the same.

[SeattleGirl5122]

I am puzzled.

I just have two sensors. Each measures temperature and humidity.
Then why do I have six entries in the xapmcsRF's Browser page at the bottom. I don't know what that section is called or what is appearing there.

It looks like the values from the two sensors begin with a prefix of FA28_167 and FA28_1E6. But what is the suffix "_P" or "Switch" value for? Do these things have switches?

[bdickhaus]

The missing images do not affect operation, I just found images that were close enough and renamed them.

I'm not sure about the _P, but all of mine have that also and they are all always off, maybe battery status? Michael will know.

I've got about 8 OS sensors and the OS rain gauge all working with this setup. You will need to install a xap hub and the mcsXap plug-in to get the values into HomeSeer.

I have the same question about the viewer, the most recent one I could find has a date of 04/21/2005 on viewer.exe.

Bill

[Michael McSharry]

The viewer link at http://www.edjo.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk...iewer_main.htm is the one that I recently upgraded to for the V1.3 xAP spec changes. It is also .NET 2.0 vs. the .NET 1.1 of the prior one.

I did include a set of images and made the change for the temperature icons with the xapmcsRF post at http://mcssprinklers.com/xapXap.htm

Bill made a good guess. The _P is battery status. The _B was previously claimed for barometer.

Also as Bill indicated your next step is with install of mcsXap plugin. The zip file is downloaded into the Homeseer folder, unlike the other xAP applications. Just follow the post #1 guidance at the top of this thread and the xap Homeseer setup that was previously referenced at http://board.homeseer.com/showthread.php?t=113939. This setup was for xapmcs1Wire, but the same approach is used for xapmcsRF.

[SeattleGirl5122]

Thanks Bill for tip. Appreciate all the help.

Things just got really weird. mcsTemperature, mcsXap, WeatherXML, and the ability to remotely log in just up and disappeared.

mcsTemperature and mcsXap had switched to disabled. I just enabled them again. WeatherXML was completely gone from the Setup/Interfaces page. I just downloaded it again using Homeseer Updater (which oddly said it was already installed).

Some old Temp08 sensors just reappeared again.

I think it is back on track. The settings for each were preserved.

Weird. I was working until 6 am, but I don't think I was that out of it to do that.

[SeattleGirl5122]

I would like to lodge an Official Complaint

Michael,

I may have little knowledge in the area of Homeseer, but I can contribute this:

The tray icon for xapmcsRF dreadful. It is gray on a blue background which makes it nearly invisible on my monitor. You should bring it up a notch.

I can make an icon for it if you don't have time. I could try to make an icon template you could modify for each of your products so a common theme connects them.

[Michael McSharry]

The computer where I run xapmcsRF is W2K and its task bar is a light gray. The tray icons use a transparent background and have an inactive and active state. The lighter color is inactive and the darker color, when a sensor is being read in xapmcsRF's case, is active. If you want to make an icon pair that works for you then attached is the pair that I now use.

[SeattleGirl5122]

FYI: USB and Comm Ports For people following this

My RFXCOM antenna connects via USB. After I install the drivers I downloaded from http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm, I started the RFreceiver program I got from http://www.rfxcom.com/documents/RFreceiver.zip.

When it ran it asked for a Comm Port, which threw me off cause I was using USB. I only have Comm Port 1 and it was being used by Z-troller. Then I noticed RFreceiver was reporting Comm Port 4. I don't have a Comm Port 4, so I figured the drivers made a virtual one and RFreceiver auto detected it. I chose that and RFreceiver started receiving messages from my two O.S. Temp/Hum Sensors.

Well actually it started to receive after I clicked "Varibale length mode", "Enable ALL RF", and checked "Timestamp" and "Decode". Then I waited about two minutes and stuff started streaming past.

After that point, I have been entering Comm 4 as the answer to settings in mcsXap & xapmcsRF.

For xapmcsRF, I clicked on the tray icon and chose "Browser". On the web page that opened up I entered the information you see below and hit save. I knew the information I entered was correct because after five minutes I hit refresh and the bottom section which was blank before filled out with information that looked like my sensors.

[SeattleGirl5122]

Question

Michael,

You said the following:

When the Oregon Scientific data is recognized it will show up as a new row on the xapmcsRF browser page. If you want it to go into Homseer then give it a Location name.

So to get data from the sensors to appear in Homeseer, I just need to fill in the bottom half like I have done in the attached picture? Nothing else? Seems too easy. I am concerned.

What are all the other columns and checkboxes for? I am most curious about "Tag".

Does the "_P" or Battery value marked as "Type" Switch actually work? I see that it is off now, so when it is on the battery is about to die? If that works, it would be super cool. A real God send if true.

Also, why is my "Status" column now blank? Well it is not entirely blank. The Switches are showing as "Off" as seen below, and FA28_1E6_H is now having a value of 41% with the Humidity Icon after the screen shot was taken. The others are still blank.

And another question, The check boxes "Receive xAP Messages" and "Receive xAP Detail" look important. Should I check them now that I have things setup?

Oh, and "Periodic Script Interval" is set at 2 seconds. Is that right? Should I make it longer?

[SeattleGirl5122]

After I installed mcsXap, a menu button now appeared in the Homeseer application called "mcsXap". This button had two drop down options. "GUI Setup" and "Browser Setup".

I chose "Browser Setup", and followed your instructions for clicking on checkboxes for "Receive BSC" and "Add to HS Menu". Though I selected "Add to HS Browser Links", it just unchecked itself after I hit save.

Below is a section of the "Browser Setup" screen for mcsXap.

[Michael McSharry]

So to get data from the sensors to appear in Homeseer, I just need to fill in the bottom half like I have done in the attached picture? Nothing else? Seems too easy. I am concerned.

Not that easy. By giving it a location name it will transmit the received RF on the LAN using the xAP protocol. mcsXap has to be running for it to hear the message on the LAN. It is easiest if your location names are the names you want them to be called in Homeseer.

What are all the other columns and checkboxes for? I am most curious about "Tag".

xapmcsRF has its own custom scripting capability. The Tag is the name of the sensor that is used in the scripts. Ev checkbox means to trigger the script when the sensor is updated from the RF input. When Receive xAP message is checkboxed then you will be able to enter xAP incoming messages that are of interest for use by the script. For example, an xAP message from some other source may be an alarm input that a door has been opened. You may want to do something when the door is opened and when a RF motion sensor indicates someone is present. It is the same concept as events in Homeseer. The xAP Detail will show the individual values contained in each messages. For example status=on, value=100.
There is a manual that comes with xapmcsRF and it should describe the other fields as well as the scripting interface. I would not recommend using the scripting interface for your application.

Does the "_P" or Battery value marked as "Type" Switch actually work? I see that it is off now, so when it is on the battery is about to die? If that works, it would be super cool. A real God send if true.

It should work. You can setup a homeseer event for email or other notification when the battery power indication goes ON.

Also, why is my "Status" column now blank? Well it is not entirely blank. The Switches are showing as "Off" as seen below, and FA28_1E6_H is now having a value of 41% with the Humidity Icon after the screen shot was taken. The others are still blank.

Look for any error messages. They will show up using the xAP viewer with the Homeseer.Event Class. Another way to view error messages in a format like the Homeseer log is with xapmcsWritelog which is at the same site where you found xapmcsRF. I should also add the abilty to have mcsXap pick up there and put them in Homeseer's log, but it is not there now. Only log messages going the other way.

I do not have any RFXCOM or OS sensors so testing the code change is easier at your end than mine. I did test the motion sensors to assure

And another question, The check boxes "Receive xAP Messages" and "Receive xAP Detail" look important. Should I check them now that I have things setup?

Oh, and "Periodic Script Interval" is set at 2 seconds. Is that right? Should I make it longer?

Since you do not have any scripting I would leave the interval blank. It is used to invoke the script just as you invoke scripts using the recurring trigger in Homeseer.

I chose "Browser Setup", and followed your instructions for clicking on checkboxes for "Receive BSC" and "Add to HS Menu". Though I selected "Add to HS Browser Links", it just unchecked itself after I hit save.

There are some checkboxes on the Events and Triggers section that do not need to be enabled for your needs.

I will need to look at the browser links item. It is not something I normally use.

Have you yet used the BSC Query of Receiver button on xapmcsRF or seen any of the sensors appear in the mcsXap browser window?

[SeattleGirl5122]

OK, it is starting to get ugly. The sensors are not showing any values. They look like the first picture below. This is after the system has been on for a few minutes.

Now onto the xAP Message Viewer. I just powered it up and I don't have a clue how it works, but I don't think it is happy.

I have attached a zip file containing xAPMessageHistory.xvw for you to look at.

Take a look at the second image, and you will see error messages appearing in the viewer application. More bad than good ones.

The first message is good and is labeled "xap-header 22:28:21.57" contains:

xap-header
{
v=13
hop=1
uid=FF.0052:00
class=Homeseer.Event
source=mcs.W800.JUSTICE-1
}
Event.Log
{
Time=8/12/2007 10:28:21 PM
Type=xapmcsW800
Data=FormatHTML Line 180 Type mismatch
}

The second message is bad and is labled "Invalid message 10:28:21 PM" contains:

Error Message: The Subaddress text cannot be an empty value
Message Line#: 5 - uid=FF.0052:
Received From: 127.0.0.1:32768
xap-header
{
v=13
hop=1
uid=FF.0052:
class=xapbsc.event
source=mcs.W800.JUSTICE-1:Sensor2T.RFXCOM__FA28_1E6.Temperature
}
input.state
{
State=ON
DisplayText=
Text=76.8
}

The third message is an error labeled "Invalid message 10:28:21 PM" is interesting. I did not expect actual HTML code to be in it. Is there something wrong?:

Error Message: The Subaddress text cannot be an empty value
Message Line#: 5 - uid=FF.0052:
Received From: 127.0.0.1:32768
xap-header
{
v=13
hop=1
uid=FF.0052:
class=xapbsc.event
source=mcs.W800.JUSTICE-1:Sensor2H.RFXCOMFA28_1E6_H.Humidity
}
input.state
{
[HTML]State=ON
DisplayText=<table><td><img alt='44%' src='/xapmcsW800/images/sensors/Humidity.gif'><img alt = ' ' src='/xapmcsW800/images/sensors/blank1.gif'>44%</td></table>
Text=44[/HTML]}

The fourth message appears good and is labeled "xap-hbeat 22:33:16.00" that contains:

xap-hbeat
{
v=13
hop=1
uid=FF005200
class=xap-hbeat.alive
source=mcs.W800.JUSTICE-1
interval=600
port=32769
}