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[Dean_X10]

Is there a way in Active Home Pro's software to determine how many times a door has been opened (door always closes after it is opened) during the day for a particular door sensor.  If so can this information be downloaded or cut an passed for further processing by another program.

Thanks
 

[HA Dave]

Is there a way in Active Home Pro's software to determine how many times a door has been opened (door always closes after it is opened) during the day for a particular door sensor. 

The log can see/keep/record that information.

If so can this information be downloaded or cut an passed for further processing by another program.

AHP... and the CM15A, using a DS10A and OnAlert Software...  isn't designed to be a person counter. There are much more profession units doing that now. Is that what you want to do?

[Dean_X10]

DAVE_X10L,

   Yes I would like to use this as a people counter.  I am very limited on funds right now and it would be a cheap way to go.  Also I want to monitor several open door locations at the same time so having its multiple wireless X10 capabilities would be very nice.  I haven't seen this type of capability in a professional unit.

    What I was planning to do was build a cheap electric eyes using a laser pointer, CDS cell or photo transistor, comparator and perhaps a 555 and relay / transistor along with a mirror to reflect the light back to the electronic eye sensor unit.  I would uses this electronic eye in place of the magnetic switch. 

    Do you know if the door sensor uses an magnetic reed switch or if it uses an solid state magnetic sensor?

    I would be connected to the internet at the location I am motoring so that I could download and crunch the log file with another program from home and obtain a people traffic count per day and perhaps time of day for say 5 different locations in a small Mall.  The total distance across the mall is less than 200 feet so the 10X range of 100 feet would be adequate if I placed the controller and computer in the center of the Mall.

    I talked to some one at 10X and he said I could do this with the Active Home Pro software setting the door in chime mode. However I would need to use one controller for each door since the controller only gives the computer house and ? data not zone data.  He said I might be able to get more information from the controller if I downloaded their development software and wrote my own user interface but did not know what data I could retrieve from the $49.99 controller.

    I would much rather only use one controller if at all possible.  It would be a cheaper and be a much simpler setup since I would only need one controller and USB cable connected to the computer instead of 5 controllers and USB cables.

I am not familiar with the software you mentioned would I be able to get multiple locations logged with it and be able to differentiate between locations using one controller.  Also could I still access the logged data from my home location.  If not this would not be to big of a problems as long as I could log several days of data at a time and retrieve the data manually at the Mall's location.  Also I could set up the computer at the Mall to be able to access it and run it from home.

If not do you know If I would be able to get the Zone information off of one controller by writing my own programs with their macro development software?

Thanks Much

[Dean_X10]

Dave_10X_L,

    I looked up the software you mentioned and figured out it is what you use with the Door sensors to work with the Active Home Pro software. 
   
    One question I had is do you know if I put the door sensor in Chime mode and open and close it quickly a couple of times will I get two lines logged or does the chime have to quit before another logged chime will result?  In other words do you know how responsive the 10X system would be in this mode (how quickly I could "see" a second person go through the electronic eye after the first person trips the eye)? 

This response time might determine how well the 10X system would work for me as a people sensor.  The traffic in the location I want to look at is fairly slow so even a slow response time might be antiquate. But it would be nice if it had a fast response time for better accuracy and the fact that I might want to use the setup at other locations which have more traffic.

Thanks again

Thanks again,

[HA Dave]

.....  I looked up the software you mentioned and figured out it is what you use with the Door sensors to work with the Active Home Pro software. 

The link I provided is for actual hardware and software designed for person/traffic counting. It has nothing to do with AHP or X10. What I was pointing out is: You don't need to reinvent this wheel... it's already for sale. I found that link after only a few seconds of searching. With recent economic down turns... you may be able to find "used" equipment on line as well.

[Dean_X10]

Dave_X10_L,

     TDave_X10_L,

     Thanks for the link, info and your input.  I appreciate you taking the time to give me some help.

     I have also done allot of searching for people counters and the link you sent was one I had come across. The cheapest sensors I have seen cost at about $300 each so if I got 5 sensors it would cost me $1500.
LiKe your voice control home system I also need to do it cheap - that's a neat system you have put together - I'm impressed, looks like a lot of fun.

     As I mentioned I am very limited on funds right now and am only doing a feasibility study at this point  I would like to only spend about $100 for the total system if possible which may be possible with the X10 system.

     I have build simple electronic eyes with the guts of cheap laser pointers before for less than $10 and they are easy to build and work great (over 500 ft distances) far beyond the what I need for this project.

    Based on the above I don't think I am reinventing the wheel since so far I have not seen any professional systems in the price range I need.

    If you or anyone else could answer the questions I asked above which I have re-listed below it would be greatly appreciated.


1.  Is there a way to get logs of individual door sensors off of one controller and know which door sensor opened, possibly by using the development software 10X informs me they give out for free.  I would really like to use one controller rather than 5 if at all possible.

2.  If I put the door in chime mode how fast can I open and close the contacts to the door sensor unit and get logs the openings.  If someone has a door that is used in chime mode perhaps they could give this a try.  This would give me a feel for the maximum traffic rate I could measure to determine if using a 10X for the application would be feasible.

3.  Does anyone know if the Door sensor uses a magnetic read switch or does it use a solid state sensor.

Thanks Again

[-Bill- (of wgjohns.com)]

Dean_X10,

3.  Does anyone know if the Door sensor uses a magnetic read switch or does it use a solid state sensor.

The DS10A uses a reed switch.


You could design your setup to use a powerflash module to put a signal on the power line when triggered.  There is about a 1 - 2 second delay.
I suggest this because the RF range of the CM15A is pretty poor unless you modify it.

The AHP software has a log of sent and received signals, or with the AHP SDK you can write software to log the signals as you like.

I have no idea why they would have said you needed a separate CM15A for every input!

Hope that helps a little.

 

[Tuicemen]

   1.  Is there a way to get logs of individual door sensors off of one controller and know which door sensor opened, possibly by using the development software 10X informs me they give out for free.  I would really like to use one controller rather than 5 if at all possible.

2.  If I put the door in chime mode how fast can I open and close the contacts to the door sensor unit and get logs the openings.  If someone has a door that is used in chime mode perhaps they could give this a try.  This would give me a feel for the maximum traffic rate I could measure to determine if using a 10X for the application would be feasible.

1: Yes using AHP and the On Alert plug-in and the SDK
The SDK won't see security devices so a phantom device needs to be tripped in AHP which the SDK will see.
There are a number of thirdparty softwares built with the SDK that will log the info.
PC Companion will save it and send the info to your web site or e-mail it to you.
Another option would be  using AHP and the On Alert plug-in and a script to just save the AHP log to a file every so often.
2. I'm not sure why X10 would suggest chime mode there is no such option on the sensors!
The Powerhouse phone dialer main security interface has this (not the sensors) and you don't need this!
The speed about every second but may vary with distance.
options on sensors (modes) are the delay: min & max
 
Update: a pic was downloaded to show speed test with my temperature sensor moded DS10A activity in  AHP's activity monitor

[Mel99]

Short question, or maybe I'm missing someting.

AHP with OnAlert plug-in permits the registration of door sensors, DS10A, in a macro by name.  The Activity Monitor reports opens and closes RF events by the name of the specific sensor.

I Googled 'log file monitor' and got lots of hits for various operating systems.  It's possible to use string searches and output to a file or take other actions on search hits.

My question - What about creating a dummy macro, registering all of the door sensors by unique names, using a log file monitor to 'extract' specific door opens/closes from the Activity Monitor and massage that data?

[Tuicemen]

Short question, or maybe I'm missing someting.
My question - What about creating a dummy macro, registering all of the door sensors by unique names, using a log file monitor to 'extract' specific door opens/closes from the Activity Monitor and massage that data?

Yep you missed it, sort of!

1: Yes using AHP and the On Alert plug-in and the SDK
The SDK won't see security devices so a phantom device needs to be tripped in AHP which the SDK will see.
There are a number of thirdparty softwares built with the SDK that will log the info.
PC Companion will save it and send the info to your web site or e-mail it to you.
Another option would be  using AHP and the On Alert plug-in and a script to just save the AHP log to a file every so often.

AHP won't directly send a text file as e-mail, But:
Using a script executed by a dummy (phantom) macro(using the window command option) you could save the Activity monitor to a text file and send that to who ever, and how ever you liked.