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[petera]

Progress!

I have exhaustively gone through all house and unit codes and discovered there is a pattern.  I apparently skipped a bit when I typed in the pattern yesterday.

A1 ON is 00101010110011001101010000...

Lets expand that:  00101010110  0110  0110  1010000...

In all patterns the first 11 bits have remained the same.  Bits 12-15 are the unit code, and bits 16-19 are the house code per the X10 Technical Note.

Command codes are more difficult because I don't see how to make the WM100 issue the full set of 16.  I did check ON, OFF, Bright, Dim, ALL ON, ALL OFF, and a pre-set dim.  They changed bits 21-29, but the patterns do not match the X10 protocol.  The basic commands use bits 22-25, and a pre-set dim command also used bits 26-29.

1000 - ON
0100 - OFF
1110 - ALL OFF
1101 - Bright step
0011 - Dim step

ALL ON just sequenced through individual ON commands for all lights even when on the same house code.

Jeff

You're certainly making progress on that one. At the rate you're progressing you'll have it cracked shortly. That'll be a shot in the arm for the WM100 makers.

[JeffVolp]

You're certainly making progress on that one. At the rate you're progressing you'll have it cracked shortly. That'll be a shot in the arm for the WM100 makers.

 
I've taken this just about as far as I can.  I have the data patterns for all house and unit codes as well as all the command codes the WM100 can issue.  What I haven't pursued exhaustively are the pre-set dim codes.

Essentially a transmission is a continuous string of 30 bits comprised of 3 words of 10 bits.  Data is the middle 8 bits of each 10 bit word:

Word 1:  00101010101  (Always this pattern for transmit - 55 hex - Receive starts with DD hex)
Word 2:  0UUUUHHHH1  (UUUU is the unit code, HHHH is the house code per TW523 spec)
Word 3:  0CCCCBBBB1   (CCCC is the command code, BBBB is brightness added for pre-set dim commands - normally 0's)

CCCC is defined as:

1000 - ON
0100 - OFF
1110 - ALL OFF
1101 - Bright step
0011 - Dim step

The data rate was about 100uS per bit - maybe 9600 baud.  (I didn't record the voltage levels.)

Jeff

[Tuicemen]

Great work Jeff
One step towards the end user not requiring the cloud to turn on a device.
Thankfully most of use have a palmpad or some other way to control our X10 devices.

Now to see about talking to the wi-fi chip or flashing it to put a custom firmware on it. This may be a bit more of a chore but I'm sure one of the talented members here is up for the chalenge.

[dhouston]

Now to see about talking to the wi-fi chip or flashing it to put a custom firmware on it. This may be a bit more of a chore but I'm sure one of the talented members here is up for the chalenge.

What Jeff has decoded would likely be serial communications between the MCU and one of the mystery ICs on the mother board. Before flashing the ESP8266 we need to understand communications between it and the MCU.

As for flashing the ESP8266, the ESPBasic interpreter would allow for experimentation.

https://www.esp8266basic.com/flashing-instructions.html

[JeffVolp]

What Jeff has decoded would likely be serial communications between the MCU and one of the mystery ICs on the mother board.

Yes, that is exactly what I decoded.  It occurred to me that I should also capture the received commands because they have a different pattern in the first word.  And using HomeVision, I can issue ALL the possible commands to see which ones are actually implemented in the WM100.

Jeff

[JeffVolp]

Well that wasn't too productive.  The WM100 motherboard only responded to the basic X10 commands:

1000 ->  ON
0100 ->  OFF
0011 ->  Dim
1101 ->  Bright
1110 ->  All Units OFF
1010 ->  All Lights ON
0110 ->  All Lights Off

These were the same data patterns that the daughter board sent for transmission, and they do not match the codes in the X10 Technical spec.

There was no response from the motherboard at all for any of the other 9 basic commands or extended codes.

In another test I monitored the line with the XTBM-Pro while controlling a dimmable module or wall switch.  The wall switch can be set directly to a given brightness with an extended code, but the WM100 ramped to the desired level with a series or bright or dim commands.  Apparently bits 26-29 tell it how many bright or dim steps to transmit.  It never transmitted either the old pre-set dim code or the extended command used by Leviton and newer X10 switches.  Essentially, it is no better than a PalmPad in this regard.

Jeff

[petera]

Well that wasn't too productive.  The WM100 motherboard only responded to the basic X10 commands:

1000 ->  ON
0100 ->  OFF
0011 ->  Dim
1101 ->  Bright
1110 ->  All Units OFF
1010 ->  All Lights ON
0110 ->  All Lights Off

These were the same data patterns that the daughter board sent for transmission, and they do not match the codes in the X10 Technical spec.

There was no response from the motherboard at all for any of the other 9 basic commands or extended codes.

In another test I monitored the line with the XTBM-Pro while controlling a dimmable module or wall switch.  The wall switch can be set directly to a given brightness with an extended code, but the WM100 ramped to the desired level with a series or bright or dim commands.  Apparently bits 26-29 tell it how many bright or dim steps to transmit.  It never transmitted either the old pre-set dim code or the extended command used by Leviton and newer X10 switches.  Essentially, it is no better than a PalmPad in this regard.

Jeff

At the risk of sounding a little naive Jeff, is there any features in the WM100 that you couldn't easily replicate yourself. My thinking from this would be, bye bye WM100, hello new concept. It certainly sounds like you couldn't do any worse.

If I'm getting this right, users are looking for a wireless X10 controller capable of issuing and receiving X10 RF commands. Am I being too simplistic with this assumption.

[Tuicemen]

Well that wasn't too productive.  The WM100 motherboard only responded to the basic X10 commands:

1000 ->  ON
0100 ->  OFF
0011 ->  Dim
1101 ->  Bright
1110 ->  All Units OFF
1010 ->  All Lights ON
0110 ->  All Lights Off

These were the same data patterns that the daughter board sent for transmission, and they do not match the codes in the X10 Technical spec.

There was no response from the motherboard at all for any of the other 9 basic commands or extended codes.

In another test I monitored the line with the XTBM-Pro while controlling a dimmable module or wall switch.  The wall switch can be set directly to a given brightness with an extended code, but the WM100 ramped to the desired level with a series or bright or dim commands.  Apparently bits 26-29 tell it how many bright or dim steps to transmit.  It never transmitted either the old pre-set dim code or the extended command used by Leviton and newer X10 switches.  Essentially, it is no better than a PalmPad in this regard.

Jeff

I knew the WM100 didn't issue extended commands. I couldn't get the Factory to understand the need for those.

I also expected the mother board to currently only respond to the codes you mentioned though I had hoped for better. Possibly a firmware upgrade may include the other basic commands as well as extended codes.

If I'm getting this right, users are looking for a wireless X10 controller capable of issuing and receiving X10 RF commands. Am I being too simplistic with this assumption.

I believe most users are wishing for PLC and RF (at least recieving)  thought the RF will not come from the WM100.

[JeffVolp]

At the risk of sounding a little naive Jeff, is there any features in the WM100 that you couldn't easily replicate yourself. My thinking from this would be, bye bye WM100, hello new concept. It certainly sounds like you couldn't do any worse.

If I'm getting this right, users are looking for a wireless X10 controller capable of issuing and receiving X10 RF commands. Am I being too simplistic with this assumption.

With regard to the motherboard, both the XTB-232 and XTB-523 do considerably more in that they support ALL X10 codes, including extended codes.  And while the WM100 is much more powerful than prior X10 transmitters, the XTB units deliver even more power.

What I could not duplicate myself is the WiFi communication because that is not my area of expertise.  But if someone wanted to develop a WiFi controller front end for the XTB-232, it could easily surpass the capability of the WM100.

As it stands now the WM100 is essentially an enhanced timer combined with a smartphone remote.  Since most people today seem to always be within arms reach of their cellphone, maybe that is a good option for today's generation.

Jeff

[JeffVolp]

I also expected the mother board to currently only respond to the codes you mentioned though I had hoped for better. Possibly a firmware upgrade may include the other basic commands as well as extended codes.

Since the interface chip on the motherboard only supports the limited command set, a firmware upgrade to the daughter board would not expand the X10 command set without the interface being replaced too.  At this point that is a black box without even a part number on it.

Jeff

[Tuicemen]

Since the interface chip on the motherboard only supports the limited command set, a firmware upgrade to the daughter board would not expand the X10 command set without the interface being replaced too.  At this point that is a black box without even a part number on it.

Jeff

I missed that you were sending the commands directly to the mother board.
So saddly sending or recieving any other command structure isn't possible even though it may be possible for the chip to send those. A firmware upgrade may allow other options like triggering of scenes but the main board would be limited to seeing/sending commands that it can currently.
It may be best to shift attention to integrating this daughter board into something else like your XTB-232, XTB-523 or a improved CM15A  That is assuming flashing it with a firmware allowing the daughter board to send the correct info to the mainboard of choice is possible.

[dhouston]

What I could not duplicate myself is the WiFi communication because that is not my area of expertise.  But if someone wanted to develop a WiFi controller front end for the XTB-232, it could easily surpass the capability of the WM100.

You also need to deal with timers, macros, etc. which is likely what the EEPROM on the WM100 daughterboard is for.

[Knightrider]

Is it possible to build a pi on an xtb-523? I'm not sure what the GPIO pins are capable of.

[JeffVolp]

Is it possible to build a pi on an xtb-523? I'm not sure what the GPIO pins are capable of.

The XTB-523 would require a new layout and a larger package.  The interface would also need some redesign.

The XTB-232 would also require a new layout and a large package, but it would be easier because it handles all the critical timing and only needs a 4800 baud serial interface

Jeff

[dhouston]

A $5 WeMos D1 Mini is all that's needed for a WiFi-to-Serial adapter. It also has a built-in USB-to-Serial adapter. There are numerous stackable shields that add other functionality (e.g. RTC). All that's currently lacking is an EEPROM shield should one want to support timers & macros.

https://diyprojects.io/wemos-d1-mini-esp8266-multi-purpose-card-for-e5/
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=Wemos+D1+mini+&_sacat=0