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[mike]

Wonder if anyone has put their X10 security controller away and switched to the HG security controller? 

After redoing my system recently, I turned on each DS10 door sw settings to be used in the HG security system.  Interesting!  Now it shows everytime each sends its hourly status check in the HG security module icon. 

I have scheduled timers to turn on/off the HG security module each day at proper times.  Those programs also use api to send RF thru cm15 to my  X10 security module to arm/disarm.  So I have both running in parallel...   hmmm

I have one DS10 for testing on my computer desk in the unattached office building.  The other night, one of the cats jumped up and played with it about 2:00am, set it off.  Since it was not in X10 list, no harm done.  But it was in the HG list so it triggered it!  I was not using that 'feature' but had for fun set our bedroom lite in the house to be a siren/strobe.  Sure enough, it started blinking on and off like crazy! So the HG system works too! 

So it seems to maybe be capable of all that the X10 security system does, if anyone has made a program to phone and play a premade message on alert, and maybe include a microphone altho I never used that feature.

So just wondering if anyone has moved their security system over from X10 DS1200 to HG on pi?

[Tuicemen]

I never used my ds7000 in the city with HG other then playing with triggering/ arming/ disarming. 
HG does all the security work there.
At my off grid place my DS7000 is sometimes unplugged as I try to avoid using it there while there. HG is doing most of the security work there as well. I get pics of the location triggered sent to me via HG as well as my other camera locations.
On a sensor trip HG turns a camera to the tripped sensor.
I only use the DS700 for the siren.

[mike]

I will still be interested to hear if anyone besides you and I have messed with the HG security unit vs X10 ones.

Thanks for your experiences. 

Having had times when HG just stops communicating, I do not think I could replace my SC1200 or replace either of my DS7000's at remote locations with a pi.  I have never had these X10 security units malfunction in, what, 40+? years.  I do keep a good 6V gel cell on each for battery backup, plugged in with two LEDs in series with a 12V wallwart to keep them charged (have had LEDs burn out over the years - why I use 2 in parallel.  The gel cells last this way about 5 years each.  I have no experience with the sirens working with the HG and do not want to take a chance changing them to HG security module using its on/off siren output, if that would even work.  May add a couple X10 chimes to HG at home to see how they work out. 

[petera]

I never really had a need for an X10 security console. Just got a cheapo deal on eBay for one to work out its inner secrets. All done now. Effectively all it's features can be easily replicated. If you really need the voice feature that can be achieved with a USB 3G/4g dongle attached to the Raspberry Pi.

After that I've mentioned it many times, there should be no reason to restart/reboot you HG server other than for maintenance purposes. Once your service daemon is correctly configured, if for any reason HG stops it will automatically restart. In the case of a power outage, one of those cheap UPS battery backups can take over powering your RPI until mains is restored.

The final piece of advice to anyone is, unless you absolutely need those infernal logs turn off logging in HG. You're killing your SD card unnecessarily.

[mike]

Petera,   I just went a few days of HG api not working.  I was able to putty in, I was able to use my file browser in.  I could ask it anything.  Just ALL API workings stopped.  DEad.  Makes it totally unusable for a security system when this happens.

I turned my logging off a month ago per your suggestion so I have no clue why the API stopped workkng which everything else seemed to work.  Unfortunately I need the API to set my X10 alarm.

A simple reboot of the pi brought the API back and it has been working again (3 days or so).  I just have to keep an eye on it to know when it needs a rebolot I guess.

While logging was on, it ran about a year before this...

[petera]

Petera,   I just went a few days of HG api not working.  I was able to putty in, I was able to use my file browser in.  I could ask it anything.  Just ALL API workings stopped.  DEad.  Makes it totally unusable for a security system when this happens.

I turned my logging off a month ago per your suggestion so I have no clue why the API stopped workkng which everything else seemed to work.  Unfortunately I need the API to set my X10 alarm.

A simple reboot of the pi brought the API back and it has been working again (3 days or so).  I just have to keep an eye on it to know when it needs a rebolot I guess.

While logging was on, it ran about a year before this...

You're logging enabled is in no way going to help your setup become more stable. In fact in most home automation programs its logging that is usually the culprit owing to delayed writes to the database.

I've no idea why your system appears to be unstable. I'm assuming you install Raspberry Pi OS and HG from official sources. Other than that you may be using old HG programs from the old HG forum that haven't been re edited or recompiled since they were originally written. That's one sure way of crashing your system.

Those programs need to be looked at closely, edited where necessary and recompiled to work on the current version of Mono. No matter how innocent the program looks, if it's error handling is not properly handled as per today's Mono version they crash HG and leave it hanging.

Best to stick with the stock version of HG and create Wizard automation scripts where necessary to avoid this. Some of the JS stuff is way out of date too. Of course you can adapt some of the known working CSharp and JS scripts but best to avoid all that older stuff. It's more trouble than it's worth. That's the trade off for a solid reliable setup.

Check your service daemon and ensure it include the line Restart=always. That ensures HG will restart should it stop for any reason. Keep everything simple.

[Tuicemen]

Effectively all it's features can be easily replicated. If you really need the voice feature that can be achieved with a USB 3G/4g dongle attached to the Raspberry Pi.

Years ago I wrote a program that could dial out and excepted touch tone responces for x10 it played a message telling me what caused the dial out. I later expanded on it to take voice commands as well. To use voice or touch tone requires a voice modem. So if you decide to go that route besure the USB modem is a voice modem many are not.
I never thought of setting my pi up to do a phone call a text with a pic I think is better any ways and with the HG phone app it is rasy to trip something if needed.

[mike]

Thanks Tuicemen.  Yes, years ago with teenager daughters at home, I had to build a touchtown decoder box I too hooked to our phone line...  We gave each girl a code to use the phone, then accumulated their on-phone time.  When they exceeded their allotment the phone became unusable, until their new allotment came next day...   hahaha.  Fun times with stuff like that.  Programmed it in machine language.

Anyway, I love the SC1200 and the remote DS7000s work great too, so no plans to undo them.  Just augment them with different uses of the HG security gadget.