X10 Community Forum
📱🖥️PiX10Hub => 💬General Discussion => Topic started by: Tuicemen on December 27, 2018, 08:11:01 AM
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Many of us have multiple Pi boards, Amazon devices, X10 controllers, other protocols, other Hubs.
I got thinking this morning I should get some of this all talking to one central Hub. Right now all my x10 devices, Alexa products, and Broadlink RM connect to just one Pi. I have another Pi which currently is just being used for testing and one still in a static bag, but I'd like to integrate these some how.
Will I gain any benefit with integrating another Pi into the mix?
I know you can run HA-Bridges and HomeGenie on different devices and have them interconnect but is this needed? I'm just wondering how others are making use of multiple Pi Boards. ??? Do you have them all talking to each other or do they just do their own thing and not inform the other Pis as to what they're doing?
So what are your PiX10Hub Companions?
Do you plan on creating some?
>!
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I'm just wondering how others are making use of multiple Pi Boards.
Back on track I hope. I have a main PC that runs Homeseer as the goto for all my automation pieces. Those pieces consist of two z-net Pis, one RPi3 for zigbee and a CM15A that just sits with nothing to do for now, though it is controllable by Homeseer just not to the extent that it could or should be.
My issue still remains signal noise and signal suckers. I am not willing to invest more into X10 due to noise issues, hence my drift to z-wave and zigbee.
Back on track, for me having a central "station" that controls all devices regardless of flavor is very important if not critical. This includes simple control and "macro" type control all along being able to seamlessly communicate within the various boards.
It's not Homeseer itself that's so important to me, it's the ability to pick and choose which plug-ins or add-ons you need or want. Perhaps HG can also do this. But I'm not about to build another system to find out.
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I currently have 4 PI's running. The oldest one runs HA Bridge to connect Alexa to my X10 lights and Appliance Modules. The second (pi3+) runs as a Plex Server with a connected USB hard drive containing movies, tv shows, photos, etc.. This is enough of a workload for this pi. These files are accessed by a ROKU on one TV and by a third pi on another TV that is running RASPLEX. My fourth pi runs Domoticz which controls my x10 home automation (timers for lights, security sensor actions (turn on lights, email messages), temperature monitoring inside house, weather, etc.).
I could combine the HA Bridge and Domoticz pi's into one unit but the HA bridge pi runs just fine by itself and is out of the way which leaves me free to experiment with the Domoticz pi without affecting the Alexa functions that my wife likes.
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Thanks racerfern & b0b99 this is more in line of what I was looking for.
@racerfern HomeGenie is very simular to HomeSeer except it is free. I also wouldn't suggest anyone give up on a working setup.
I'm not into trying a dozen or more different HA combinations just to experiment and say I've used them.
If I can do what I want with what I have and the protocols I currently have I'll be happy.
My Goal is to do away with the PC for HA and this I feel I've accomplished with the PiX10Hub. However I suspect I'll need a few companion Pis running at some point due to the processing power of these little devices not the software running on them.
>!
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I could combine the HA Bridge and Domoticz pi's into one unit but the HA bridge pi runs just fine by itself and is out of the way which leaves me free to experiment with the Domoticz pi without affecting the Alexa functions that my wife likes.
The PiX10Hub merged the Ha-Bridge and HomeGenie on to one Pi, however see the value of having them on separate Pi boards.
Is your HA-Bridge pi talking to the Domoticz pi or it's own controller connected to it or both?
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I'm very new to using HG and pi boards.However there are at least a couple user on this forum that have been using both for a number of years. HG will talk to other HG setups Im just not clear on how this is done if each instance is maybe using a different protocol?
I recently installed a Zwave door lock but currently need to run an extra HG pi due to only one usb port on the ZeroW. But that is another thread. For now this gives me the perfect chance to play with a PiX10Hub companion. I've dug out my other Zwave modules I had picked up for testing but never put into regular use to help stablize my Zwave intergation.
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I've decided to jump in with both feet, not to replace my Homeseer setup but I am going to setup my second z-net to talk to HG which I'm sure is straightforward. We'll see. I made the image and now am waiting for a new RPi3 B+ to arrive. After that I may resurrect the CM15. If anything, it's a good mental exercise.
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The 3B+ board should make for a nice all in one Hub. The ZeroW which the PiX10Hub was initially created for lacks the power and extra USB ports for a true central "station".
Companion pi boards talking to each other shouldn't require the extra power of a 3B+ but it never hurts.
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I could not get V1.1 to install on a 3B automatically.
I had to use the HDMI Monitor and USB Keyboard to get it installed. In a few places where it seemed to hang up. I had to try a few keyboard inputs to go past what looked like a hung up system.
I did get it working. Up to the installed demos. I did not try anything further at the present time. Connected to a CM15A with the memory cleared and set to None for transceived House Codes through AHP before moving it to the 3B and turning off AHP.
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Using the keyboard and HDMI connection was how I initialy got to the configuration screen on my 3B+ pi for the PiX10Hub I suspect maybe boards with a ethernet port ignor the wpa_suppliment.config file at first boot.
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Interesting, since I haven't setup yet, should I comment out or rename the wpa_supplement.config file? I'll be hardwired anyway, not WiFi.
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I'd remove the wpa_supplement.config since you plan a wired connection any ways.
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Using the keyboard and HDMI connection was how I initialy got to the configuration screen on my 3B+ pi for the PiX10Hub I suspect maybe boards with a ethernet port ignor the wpa_suppliment.config file at first boot.
The supplicant file works with any Pi3 or greater or the Pi Zero W. On the Pi 3 or greater there's no need to hook up an Ethernet cable. In fact, from Stretch onwards the supplicant should work in the Pi 2 if it has a wifi dongle inserted in a USB port prior to boot.
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Thanks, however I want to stay hardwired, no need for Wifi if all my HA components are in the same cabinet within reach of a short RJ45 cable to my switcher.
I only have few Wifi devices in the house, two phones a tablet, some smart devices. The z-nets, RPi3s, 2 PCs, home A/V are hardwired.
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I run my off grid pi hardwired however I have found instances were wi-fi was required (which is wierd being every thing is connected to the same router) so I also have it set up. It acts more as a backup.
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Quote from: Tuicemen on December 29, 2018, 09:17:24 AM
The PiX10Hub merged the Ha-Bridge and HomeGenie on to one Pi, however see the value of having them on separate Pi boards.
Is your HA-Bridge pi talking to the Domoticz pi or it's own controller connected to it or both?
The HA-Bridge PI is using a CM11A with a USB to Serial converter. The Domoticz server is connected to a CM15A that was cleared using my old AH software when I had it running on a PC. I know it is not a good idea to have two interfaces running but I have not had any problems with this setup.
Bob
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Quote from: Tuicemen on December 29, 2018, 09:17:24 AM
The PiX10Hub merged the Ha-Bridge and HomeGenie on to one Pi, however see the value of having them on separate Pi boards.
Is your HA-Bridge pi talking to the Domoticz pi or it's own controller connected to it or both?
The HA-Bridge PI is using a CM11A with a USB to Serial converter. The Domoticz server is connected to a CM15A that was cleared using my old AH software when I had it running on a PC. I know it is not a good idea to have two interfaces running but I have not had any problems with this setup.
Bob
Shouldn't be either. One pure PL and one RF/Pl. Domoticz uses a different driver too.
Are you getting updates on Domoticz when you issue an X10 command and vice versa. It would be even better using a pure RF controller like the CM19 on HG. You could have the best of both worlds.
The problem arose with those who were using AHP and CM15 while using a separate CM15 on HG. Of course you will get those who swear everything works until their setup gets a little more complicated.
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IIRC, HG communicates between each other using MQTT. There is a built-in MQTT server that comes with HG, but I've always installed Mosquitto and linked to that. I don't know why I still do that since the one Gene selected should work just fine.
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[quote
Shouldn't be either. One pure PL and one RF/Pl. Domoticz uses a different driver too.
Are you getting updates on Domoticz when you issue an X10 command and vice versa. It would be even better using a pure RF controller like the CM19 on HG. You could have the best of both worlds.
The problem arose with those who were using AHP and CM15 while using a separate CM15 on HG. Of course you will get those who swear everything works until their setup gets a little more complicated.
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All activity (whether from Alexa or Domoticz) for a switch is logged in Domoticz in the switch log for each switch. Additionally in the log under setup, the activity will show "User: Admin initiated a switch command" for those switches turned on or off from Domoticz. All switch events are also listed (whether from Alexa or Domoticz) as "Mochad X10 Lighting" events.
I do not have a CM19 to experiment with and I found the HG coding confusing with what I wanted to do with notifications from x10 security devices. On the other hand Domoticz has BLOCKLY which is very much like the old AHP. It even supports dummy switches and variables. Setup for x10 security modules to send text notifications to my cell phone was simple and easy. So far I have not found anything I need to do that cannot be done with BLOCKLY.
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[quote
All activity (whether from Alexa or Domoticz) for a switch is logged in Domoticz in the switch log for each switch. Additionally in the log under setup, the activity will show "User: Admin initiated a switch command" for those switches turned on or off from Domoticz. All switch events are also listed (whether from Alexa or Domoticz) as "Mochad X10 Lighting" events.
I do not have a CM19 to experiment with and I found the HG coding confusing with what I wanted to do with notifications from x10 security devices. On the other hand Domoticz has BLOCKLY which is very much like the old AHP. It even supports dummy switches and variables. Setup for x10 security modules to send text notifications to my cell phone was simple and easy. So far I have not found anything I need to do that cannot be done with BLOCKLY.
Yes the market is awash with open source home automation products these days. HAB , Home Assistant (my personal favourite) Domoticz etc. All proven to work with X10 I might add. You try a few and find one that suits you but they all follow a similar design.
That's what makes recommending one over another quite difficult.