RFXCOM for xPL

[krambriw]

I believe I'm getting addicted to xPL....

First time I heard about it was when doghouse introduced it here and published his xPL plug-in for EG

Visit his home page and read about and learn all the fantastic stuff his done!
http://doghouselabs.blogspot.com/

I have recently purchased some very nice RF (433 MHz) products from RFXCOM. They are not the cheapest but they are for sure very good. I bought a Receiver and a RFXmitter and they came with a cable in between for handshaking purposes.
http://www.rfxcom.com/

Since they are now supported by xPL, I decided to make a shot and make a plug-in for it.

To have the thing running you need the following software's to be installed

- xPL Hub
- xPL HAL
- xPLRFX from xPL Monkey

Also good to have is xPL Diag and xPL Network Settings

Links to all this can be found at xPL Monkey's home page

http://www.xplmonkey.com/

Once you are here, you will need to add the plug-in below (make a folder in plugins named RFXcom_xPL and extract the files from the zip into this folder)

First of all, all credits to doghouse. You can configure all this without my plug-in, using only his xPL plug-in. Mine only makes things a little bit easier when you specialize on the RFXCOM devices

Currently I have not included all xPL schemas that are defined, I do not have all the products that are supported by the RFXCOM devices. It is however fairly easy to add more later

Best regards, Walter

Latest version always here:
Version 0.7 with the following enhancements:
- Sensor data in the payload (selectable in settings with a checkbox)
- Heartbeat is now sent every minute instead of every fifth
- Control of xPL Vendor ID, Device ID and Instance ID (Vendor ID max 8, Device ID max 8, Instance ID max 16 characters)

RFXcom_xPL_29.08.2011.zip

(13.42 KiB) Downloaded 614 times

Previous version here:
Version 0.5 with support for the new RFXLAN

RFXcom_xPL_07.06.2011.zip

(13.01 KiB) Downloaded 455 times

[krambriw]

EventGhost 0.4.0 update

I have updated the plugin with the mandatory GUID entry

[krambriw]

In this version I have added a HeartBeat monitoring thread and restart function
I noticed that if I had EG and the plugin in one computer and connected to RFXcom over the network, a lost connection was not restored. This is now working in this version

Best regards, Walter

[damage]

I believe I'm getting addicted to xPL....

First time I heard about it was when doghouse introduced it here and published his xPL plug-in for EG

Visit his home page and read about and learn all the fantastic stuff his done!
http://doghouselabs.blogspot.com/

thanks for the kind words. feel free to say thanks by clicking some ads on my site

[b_weijenberg]

Walter,

I have sent you by email an updated version of your plug-in with these changes:
support added for the RFXLAN xPL transceiver http://www.rfxcom.com/receivers.htm#11201
protocols added to x10.basic: arc,Koppla,Flamingo,Harrison,Waveman,he105,rts10
ac.basic added
Vendor-ID and Device-ID changed to: rfxcom-eg
Instance_ID limited to 8 characters
hbeat version 0.4

regards Bert

[b_weijenberg]

Walter,

I've sent you an updated version 0.5 revision date 6/6/2011

This version has support for the 8 I/O lines of the RFXLAN and X10 security to control the X10 panels like SC9000.

The RFXCOM_xPL plug-in supports now, in addition to the xPLRFX xPL Monkey plugin, the following functions of the RFXLAN xPL:
Transmitter:
X10 lighting,
X10 security,
KlikAanKlikUit,
Chacon,
DI.O,
ELRO AB600,
DomiaLite,
ByeByeStandBy,
ANSLUT,
NEXA,
Proove,
Intertechno,
D├╝wi,
Harrison electrical curtain,
HomeEasy UK,
HomeEasy EU,
Ikea Koppla,
Flamingo,
Waveman.

To be implemented:
RTS10,
ATI Remote,
Robocam/Ninja,

RECEIVER:
X10 lighting sensors and remotes,
X10 security sensors,
Digimax,
KlikAanKlikUit,
Chacon,
DI.O,
NEXA,
Proove,
Domia Lite,
ByeByeStandBy,
ELRO AB600,
Intertechno,
D├╝wi,
RFXSensor devices,
RFXPower & RFXMeter devices,
Oregon Scientific weather sensors,
Oregon Scientific Body Weight Scale,
ATI Remote Wonder,
PC Remote,
HomeEasy UK,
HomeEasy EU,
cent-a-meter, Electrisave,
OWL CM113
OWL CM119
OWL CM160
KD101 Chacon,NEXA,Avidsen smoke detector

Bert

[piert]

Walter and/or Bert,


I have bought the RFXCOM LAN Transceiver and downloading and installing all the xPL stuff as suggested (xPL Hub, xPL HAL manager, xPLRFX from xPL Monkey, xPL Diag and put the EG RFXCOM plugin in the plugin folder) I got if working in EG (had some problems at first, but it turned out I did not use the exact name of the RFXCOM device in the configuration of the EG RFXCOM plugin. This name can be found in the information messages in the EG logs).

I now have a nice X10 trigger from a 'Klik aan/Klik uit' motion sensor that I want to use to enhance the reliability of the motion detection from several IP cameras.

Several questions/remarks/observations remain:

1. Although I have it working now I am confused about the ports that are used. I read in the manuals that the xPL mode sends and receives on port 3865. However, the RFXCOM plugin for Eventghost asks in its configuration dialog to provide the ' lowest port number to use', which defaults to '50005' and it is impossible to go below 50000? what's up with that?
2. Also, I find the 'traffic' in the EventGhost logs quite heavy. It appears that some messages are replicated several times. Is such heavy traffic going to slow down the LAN significantly?
3. I have also tried to configure the RFXCOM LAN Transceiver directly from it's webURL interface, but it is protected by loginname and password, which I can't find anywhere.

As I now got it working, I am getting more and more excited. Next steps will be to study the subject of xPL a bit further. I find the 'Determinators' scripting in xPL Hal an interesting subject, as it seems that complicated logic can be created quite easily. I am not sure if I should switch the conditional actions/logic to the xPL side or keep it in Eventghost (I have always found it somewhat cumbersome to do the conditional stuff in EventGhost; although it may well be that it is a lot easier if you program it in Python, but I am not a programmer).

Thanks and best regards,
Perry

[krambriw]

Dear Perry, nice to hear that you have managed to get the things going!

I have had the xPL part in EG running for a number of years, everything working without any problems at all. To try to answer your questions:

1. Although I have it working now I am confused about the ports that are used. I read in the manuals that the xPL mode sends and receives on port 3865. However, the RFXCOM plugin for Eventghost asks in its configuration dialog to provide the ' lowest port number to use', which defaults to '50005' and it is impossible to go below 50000? what's up with that?

This is partly correct. Port 3865 is used by the xPL hub that you have installed as a listening port. When your xPL application starts up, it sends heartbeat to this port including info of your port that is used (e.g. 50005). From then on, the hub will forward (or CC your app) all xPL messages on the network to your port. You won't miss anything. You do not need to have other settings.

2. Also, I find the 'traffic' in the EventGhost logs quite heavy. It appears that some messages are replicated several times. Is such heavy traffic going to slow down the LAN significantly?

For a normal LAN this traffic is nothing. I do also receive a lot of messages, especially from some neighbours weatherstations...the replication is because many sensors are sending them several times. I think the motion sensor is of such kind, mine is also sending repeats like that (I think I counted them to nine repeats for each event)

3. I have also tried to configure the RFXCOM LAN Transceiver directly from it's webURL interface, but it is protected by login name and password, which I can't find anywhere.

This is something Bert may know

I am not sure if I should switch the conditional actions/logic to the xPL side or keep it in Eventghost

Python is very competent & powerful for this purpose. You can create scripts very easy to do conditions and filtering, possibilities are unlimited.

If you stick to Python, you can get help here on this forum from many very skilled members. If you decide to go for xPL "decoding", you need to find help on other sites like this http://xplproject.org.uk/

xPLRFX from xPL Monkey

RFXCOM LAN Transceiver can be flashed with a special firmware such that it supports xPL nativly, in this case you do not need the xPL Monkey

Best regards, Walter

[piert]

Thank you very much for the clarifications, Walter.
I will probably be asking some more questions in the future, I hope you don't mind.

Here comes another:
What was you reason for choosing xPL rather than the 'normal use' of TCP/IP, which the RFXCOM can reportedly also handle. When using that, you could omit the extra xPL software (which is overhead, extra potential points of failure). What do you see as the extra advantages?

[krambriw]

What was you reason for choosing xPL rather than the 'normal use' of TCP/IP, which the RFXCOM can reportedly also handle. When using that, you could omit the extra xPL software (which is overhead, extra potential points of failure). What do you see as the extra advantages?

When I started this thing off, I had myself USB versions and there was already an xPL implementation for Windows made (the xPL Monkey) for the RFXCOM devices. I took the simple path since xPL was also at that time available and supported by EG (thanks to Doghouse). The RFXCOM plugin was until recently just a tailoring of Doghouse xPL plugin. The latest version enhanced by Bert now has a lot more.

Since this approach worked fine, I did'nt mind thinking of implementing the protocol directly. If so you would have to consider supporting not only tcp/ip but also usb,,,,

Best regards, Walter

[b_weijenberg]

Perry,

The username/password is mentioned in the RFXLAN documentation (on the CD delivered with your RFXLAN)
The only thing that needs to be configured in the RFXLAN is the I/O line configuration.
The direction and a pull-up can be configured on each of the 8 I/O lines.

Received RF sensor messages are translated to one xPL message.
Some RF sensors transmit multiple RF messages but only one xPL message is send on the network.

There are two possibilities to use the RFXLAN:
1 With xPL firmware loaded in the RFXLAN, than only Walters plug-in is needed.
2 With TCP/IP firmware loaded in the RFXLAN, than Walters plug-in and the xPLRFX is needed.

To connect the RFXLAN directly in EG using TCP/IP is not as easy as using xPL. A plug-in for TCP/IP would be much more difficult as the xPL plug-in and another advantage is that multiple systems receive the xPL messages while a TCP/IP connection is always a point to point connection between one application and the RFXLAN. So Walters plug-in is the best solution.

Best regards, Bert

[piert]

That is a very helpful explanation, Bert. Thank you.

I have downloaded and installed all sorts of xPL software onto my laptop for testing purposes, but would prefer to add as little CPU eating overhead stuff onto my low power PC as possible. Hence, the xPL firmware would probably the best choice for me.
How can I find out which firmware is loaded into my RFXLAN?

Regards,
Perry

[b_weijenberg]

The firmware type and version is displayed on http://rfxlan

[piert]

There are two possibilities to use the RFXLAN:
1 With xPL firmware loaded in the RFXLAN, than only Walters plug-in is needed.

But the xPL HUB software must always be loaded on the 'always on computer', am I right??

I have Firmware RFXxPL_0_11.hex

I assume this is the xPL firmware, so all I need is the HUB and the RFXCOM Eventghost plugin by Walter, right?

Regards,
Perry

[b_weijenberg]

That's thrue, you need one xPL HUB on each system that has an xPL application running like EG + Walter's plug-in.
Here is a nice overview http://www.xplmonkey.com/primerdiag.html