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[JBL11554]

Well I'm totally lost.  I was an electronic tech for well over 30 years and I don't see anything about the actual device anywhere in this/these post.  Is this a downloadable file of sorts? It appears that you have to modify the X10AHP and convert it to the PiX10.  I skimmed thru all this and all I see is what it is capable of doing and where to get the micro usb adapter.  I've never opened the X10 AHP.  Is there a usb jack/port located inside it?  Plus I can only assume it has wifi capabilities.  Signed, Confused.

[Brian H]

The X10PiHUB is assembled with a Raspberry Pi Zero W, power supply, SD card and Micro USB to USB B cable to go from it to the CM15A or adapter to allow the original CM15A USB cable to mate with the new assembly. Some have found a new cable to go directly from the Pi to the CM15A's B type USB connection.

There is a SD card image you can download and program the SD card. To set it up you have to SSH it from a computer or use a USB keyboard and a HDMI monitor cable. One of the adapters you may have seen was for the Micro HDMI connector on the Pi to a standard HDMI connection on a TV or monitor.

There are some links in the threads for finding the needed programs to image the SD card and access the assembly to set it up.

[JBL11554]

Thanks but, I'll pass at this point sounds to complicated to me. Besides I've never had a whole lot of success making stuff from pieces parts.  I'll just hybridize the X10AHP and X10 Wifi for right now : ). Thanks for the clarification.

[brobin]

The CM15 doesn't need to be opened or hacked in any way. Just clear it's memory and plug it in. The USB cable plugs into a Raspberry Pi Zero W which costs less than $28 with a case, and a USB adapter (so you can plug the CM15 USB into the Pi). The only other item needed is a $6 MicroSD card.  With that in hand you follow the directions at http://forums.x10.com/index.php?topic=30714.0 and you'll have Home Genie up and running.  Not tools or modifications to hardware are required.

[Tuicemen]

JBL11554 you realy are over thinking things if you can setup your TV you can set this up.

[racerfern]

The RavPower RP-PB060 arrived today and is now working with the PI.  I can confirm that it appears to be charging while powering the Pi. The first time I tested I had plugged the power supply into the powerbank first and then the Pi. The 1st time I turned off the power supply the Pi went off. Uh-Oh!  So then, with the Pi already plugged into the powerbank, I turned the power supply back on and, after the Pi had finished booting, turned it off again. It worked - the Pi remained on through multiple on/off cycles.  I'll check it again later to ensure that the powerbank is maintaining a full charge.

I just got one, I'm hoping to power a Homeseer z-net which is a very low power unit although not as low as the zero I'm sure. My z-net comes with a 2.5A power supply, of course that's max and I doubt it gets anywhere close to that. However, I can't get it to stay on even following what you did. Confused.

[brobin]

After testing for a few more days, the jury is still out this one. Sometimes it seems to be fine but yesterday it was almost down to nothing.  I plan to call them to see what I may be doing wrong.

[racerfern]

I emailed them and they said not to use it for a HA setup, not sure why. It's a nice device and I might just try the 20000mAh as that is 3.4A output.
https://amzn.to/2BUftux

[racerfern]

As a follow up on the Ravpower, I opted for this one. https://amzn.to/2CQljig as the output is high enough. It works perfectly. Right now it is powering a z-net so the power requirement should easily keep the battery charged. I'm using the power supply that came with the z-net. I think the problem with the RP-PB060 may be that the max output is 2.4A and the spec calls for 2.5A. Also with the RP-PB060 I got undervoltage warnings on the RPi desktop screen via a lightning bolt on the screen as soon as it was asked to do anything more than just sit there.

I just unplugged the charging cable and it stayed up and running perfectly. We'll see if it slowly starts to lose charge or maintains a full charge with the charging cable connected.

[brobin]

I'm glad to hear that you've found a working one. When I put a meter on the PiZW running the X10 Hub package it draws a peak of 900ma so the 6700mah model should handle it OK.  I spoke to a tech support person at RavPower yesterday who had no idea what 'pass-through' operation meant and I had to give him a link to their own web page for him to understand. He spoke to someone else there and - towards the end of our 45 minute call - explained that their 'pass-through' is not meant for full time operation.  

It will power the Pi while it is charging itself but once the powerbank is fully charged it will turn off it's input until unplugged and plugged in again to prevent damage. So once it's fully charged the Pi will use up the battery (mine ran for 3 days) and then die.
 
  I could just plug the powerbank's charger into an X10 module and cycle it on and off once a day but I'll look for a better solution.  Can you confirm that the model you have now doesn't do the same thing?

[racerfern]

I just switched from the z-net which is a very low power requirement unit and put it on an RPi3B+ that I just set up as a Plex server and I have yet to see the undervoltage warning even though the battery pack is not plugged in. That's a good thing.

Now have plugged in the charger and unplugging does not affect anything. In theory, the battery should charge up in a few hours. I'll see it the Pi stays up and running or not. If not, I have I a couple of emergency power supplies

[racerfern]

The battery is fully charged and the Pi did not shutdown because the battery was fully charged and charging stopped. I shut off charging to the battery pack and the RPi kept right on going. So far over 30 hours without a hiccup.

Note that if I connect an HDMI monitor I do get an occasional low voltage warning but everything continues to perform just fine. You do not see the low voltage warning when using VNC. This power supply has two USB outputs but the total is 3.0A so it will still power only one RPI3.

Not sure how long it will run on just battery power. Will find out sooner than later.

[Convastor]

The RavPower RP-PB060 arrived today and is now working with the PI.  I can confirm that it appears to be charging while powering the Pi.

Have you established how long that RavPower device will keep the Pi Zero W running?

[racerfern]

I haven't established how long it will keep it running because it will not reliably switch to battery power when disconnected from mains. It completely shuts down, but not all the time. Not repeatable, so I decided to go with a standard UPS Tripplite 550. For the occasional brief outages it will suffice.

Apologies for not answering sooner, I wanted to make sure where or what the issue was.

[bkenobi]

If you connect the UPS to your RPi via a USB cable you should be able to utilize a software shutdown service.  I use APC and therefor the apcupsd software works great!  I have an app for HG that even sends a notification prior to shut down (not required, but nice to know).