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Cm15

10 (83.3%)

Cm11

1 (8.3%)

Cm19

1 (8.3%)

Cm17

0 (0%)

Other?

0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 11

[Geewiz]

...I was just curious as to what hardware Geewiz had and how much of it could be integrated into HG with the minimum of fuss and where possible without the aid of 3rd party intervention.

I started out with X10 back at the turn of the century  and have about 20 lamp and appliance modules.  I installed the XTB-II coupler repeater and that has made a world of difference in getting PLC's across our 4500 sqft house.  I had a dedicated X10 server running 24/7 and, save for a few system crashes over the years, the X10 system has worked very well. 

The last computer crash I had a couple of years ago, and the ensuing difficulty I had rebuilding the system, got me thinking that it might be time to start looking at alternative home automation platforms...especially in light of X10 going out of business.

A couple of years ago I picked up a Smartthings package at a good price and found integrating various modules was extremely easy, and building routines was a snap.  So, I started transitioning over to Smartthings. 

Then I discovered Tuicemen's Alex10, and my enthusiasm with X10 was wholly renewed.  Integrating voice commands into Alexa gave X10 a whole new life! 

So now I have a rather eclectic variety of systems working together: X10 Active Home running on a dedicated PC + Alex10 + Alexa + Smartthings.

I'm currently using about 15 X10 devices, all of them appliance, lamp, and wall switch modules.  I also have about 20 Smartthings devices which include smart bulbs, wall plugs, motion sensors, and door sensors.

I'm excited about the prospect of moving the X10 control to the Raspberry Pi.  I'd really like to retire that PC!  I really appreciate all the help, advice, and innovation that all of you have provided over the years!

[Tuicemen]

Geewiz are you looking to add SmartThings devices to HG, or just X10 devices to your SmartThings hub/app, or both?
I'm a bit confused as to what exactly your hoping to do.

[dave w]

The last computer crash I had a couple of years ago, and the ensuing difficulty I had rebuilding the system, got me thinking that it might be time to start looking at alternative home automation platforms...especially in light of X10 going out of business.

I'm excited about the prospect of moving the X10 control to the Raspberry Pi.  I'd really like to retire that PC! 

Rabbit trail follows:

Since about 2005 I have ran our X10 smart home from a Homeseer desktop server. In the past I have had a couple of hard drive failures,  so always feared the day the Homeseer server drive would spin its last.

I saw last November, Best Buy had Solid State Drives at prices too cheap to pass on. A 1 Tbyte SSD was barely $100 and a 300 GB was so cheap the next best thing would have been, they pay me to take.

Anywho I upgraded to a Samsung SSD, replacing the old hard drive with it. Samsung migration software was easy and flawless. The server now draws less power, runs cooler, is much faster when booting or preforming other tasks besides running the house.

I still want to try the Pi X10 HG fix, but I have 89 X10 devices and 127 events (macros, some quite long)  in Homeseer so am postponing rebuilding every thing in HG as long as I can.

Rabbit trail ends.

[Tuicemen]

Rebuilding your setup in HG (actually any software) will be a long process though rewarding I'm sure.
Entering the devices is simple the macros and timers will take the most time to setup however you could slowly move over things over running both setups if you have a spare x10 controller which most of us long time users do. Start with the simple things first. Take baby steps and you'll not be disappointed.
 

[alzy]

I have tried the PXH image with both the cm19 and cm11 on the Pi Z W. I could never get it to trigger the cm19 reliably even though I tried it on 2  Pi Z W's from 2 different suppliers and with 2 different cm19s  (both cm19s work perfectly with Alex10 software and were in the same physical location and same "environment" during testing). I had 2 issues, one was long delay times to trigger and the other was often it would take 2 clicks of the HG widget to get the cm19 to respond. I did not see these issues with the cm11, but I do need to do more testing with Alexa and the HGEB, which I will do once the HGEB is released with the dim capability update. If the Alexa response time proves to be on the order of a second or so and Alexa dimming works well , I plan to gradually move my system to the PIXH. I may have to go to a PI 3 to get the respond times acceptable.
I was disappointed to hear reports that the PXH install could be corrupted by a power failure and the sd card image would have to be replaced but I can power the hub off an existing ups to help mitigate this issue. I have 2 other R Pi's and an Arduino running that are not on a UPS, which have applications running that have shown to be immune to PS interruptions.

I have a system of about 30 x10 devices and 50+ macros.

I would like to thank all those involved in developing HG, the HGEB, and the PXH for their work and for all the support provided me during my testing. THANKS! 

[HA Dave]

...Since about 2005 I have ran our X10 smart home from a Homeseer desktop server...……….
…….I still want to try the Pi X10 HG fix, but I have 89 X10 devices and 127 events (macros, some quite long)  in Homeseer so am postponing rebuilding every thing in HG as long as I can.

Don't. Don't rebuild, that is. I've also switched to Homeseer.... and have also been experimenting other brands/devices/protocols/flavors/etc. This is a brand new age of Home Automation. So freaking much has changed since X10 was push-button-lighting-control…. it would be too long of a post to even try to type out. Let alone remain historically accurate.

When I had the chance to "rebuild" my setup.... I already had an Echo dot, MyQ garage door, a Wink Hub... and more. I realized I had to re-imagine my Home Automation setup..

Re-imagining a new setup was a difficult leap of faith. It meant disassembling some of my favorite parts of my setup. And even though the initial Hometroller was originally fernracer's and gifted to me... there was still some expenses and effort involved.

Imagine what your setup might look like... how it might function... with the technologies you plan to exploit in your new project. Lean heavily on it's best parts and shy away from its faults. Build the setup that best fits what you have to work with. Just My Humble Opinion. 

[LostDog88]

I leaped today. Into the unknown world of RPi and HG.

Aside from a couple of annoyances, I had the system up and running in about 10 minutes after I wrote the SD card.

Seriously. It was 10 minutes. I made a backup of the old system, followed the directions to setup the X10Hub and restored to the new system.

Done....all seems to work. Except a couple of config changes that I posted in another thread I would like to fix.