Am I Ready to Buy an X10 Setup?

[thespazardman]

This is probably a silly question, but I'm trying to determine if I'm ready to buy an X10 setup.  I'm interested in X10 for it's ability to control lights/cameras, etc, but I really need it to control my garage doors (all 7 of them).  I know I can use a UM506 to control each door, but I have some minor concerns about security, and what I'm wondering is this:

1.  Can one of the universal remotes (the Platinum 5-in-1 for example) be used to trigger a UM506 through the ActiveHome Professional software?  For example, if you hit the "7" button on the remote, the UM506 will activate?

2.  If the answer is "YES", to question 1 above, can a macro be set in ActiveHome Professional to trigger a specific UM506 after a series of keys are pressed on the remote?  For example, if you hit "1-2-3-4", the UM506 will activate?  Obviously, this would allow for one remote to control mulitple UM506's, while adding a hint of security (you need to know the "code" to activate any specific UM506).

Granted, the range of the remote may be a limiting factor... any thoughts?  As much reading as I've done, I can honestly say I have very little comfort with how the ActiveHome Professional system works.  I'm afraid I embody the very essense of the term "newby" with respect to X10 technology.

Thanks in advance.

Thespazardman

[Puck]

thespazardman: Welcome to the forum.

1.  Can one of the universal remotes (the Platinum 5-in-1 for example) be used to trigger a UM506 through the ActiveHome Professional software?  For example, if you hit the "7" button on the remote, the UM506 will activate?

Yes. With AHP, you can set up macros to control individual UM506's with any X10 remote.

2.  If the answer is "YES", to question 1 above, can a macro be set in ActiveHome Professional to trigger a specific UM506 after a series of keys are pressed on the remote?  For example, if you hit "1-2-3-4", the UM506 will activate?  Obviously, this would allow for one remote to control mulitple UM506's, while adding a hint of security (you need to know the "code" to activate any specific UM506).

You could use a series of button presses to simulate a security code via macros.

What you would have to do is have each button set a status flag for a few seconds. Each consecutive button would check if the previous button's flag is set, if so it would temporarily set it's flag for a few seconds. This would continue until you get to the last digit where the UM506 would be activated. If any of the flag conditions are not met on the way through the digits, use an else statement and clear all the flags so it sort of resets the sequence and start over.

One flaw with this is that you wouldn't know when/if the macro got triggered. You could have an outside light toggle with each digit for some visual indication.

However, trying to make this work with 7 different garage doors would most certainly be tricky or not very secure. There are only 16 status flags... that would only amount to 2 digit security per door. It wouldn't take very long for someone with a remote to find a sequence to open one of the doors. The tricky part would be to create macros that allow you to use the same digits across various doors so you can use a 3 or 4 digit security code.

[Walt2]

Well, you would need to hit (press), "X10"... "7" ... "ON" , and that would send an RF signal to your AHP/CM15A that would trigger a macro for the house/unit code.  Well, the house code set in the remote and the unit code, for this example, is '7'.  That macro could then set a PL command to the UM506.

You could hit (press) "X10"... "1"... "ON"  "... "2"... "ON" "... "3"... "ON" "... "4"... "ON" , and have it trigger those macros.

In more detail...

Macro "1" would check for Flags 1, 2, and 3 being clear, and if true, set Flag 1.

Macro "2" would check for Flag 1 being set, and if true, clear Flags 1 and 3 and set Flag 2.

Macro "3" would check for Flag 2 being set, and if true, clear Flags 1 and 2, and set Flag 3.

Macro "4" would check for Flag 3 being set, and if true, clear Flags 1, 2, and 3 and send a PL "on" to the UM506.

[-Bill- (of wgjohns.com)]

The security issue here is that when all is said and done, the UM506 is simply receiving a "House Code / Unit Code ON" command on the power line, so anyone who can inject that signal onto your power line could trigger the door (and there are only 256 posible code combinations)!   
 

[Puck]

The security issue here is that when all is said and done, the UM506 is simply receiving a "House Code / Unit Code ON" command on the power line, so anyone who can inject that signal onto your power line could trigger the door (and there are only 256 posible code combinations)!   
 

Good point Bill 

thespazardman: may want to consider plugging the Universal Module into an Appliance Module. Have both on different house codes and let the final macro turn both on. This way would eliminate the one house & unit code that opens the door.

[thespazardman]

Thanks to everyone for the input!!  Great forum with helpful people... WOW!

Thespazardman

[HA Dave]

I just recently set-up my garage door to open using BXVC.

Of course I used the unversal module. And for safety sake I used a conditional, so the module will only trip IF the garage cam (and a light in the house) is also ON.

For security sake: I think I will plug the unversal module into an appliance module (on a differnet house code), and put that module on an AHP 30 sec timer. The timer should give me a (30 sec) window in which I can open or close the the garage, yet give me extra security.

I think I will also use the (AHP) ability to use some un-used ON codes to trigger (any) one the modules to turn OFF. It would be difficult at best, to randomly scan through X10 ON codes and open my garage door.

Thanks Puck and Bill