X10 - RF protocol for Powermid or RF remotes

hummbie · Post by **hummbie** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 12:16 pm

I've managed to create an upgrade file to control X10 devices with a normal RF remote. It also works with the Powermid. The file could be downloaded here.

The only drawback is that you can control only 8 devices simultaneously. However by using custom NEC protocol (such as $11a or $141) with two devices the upgrade can be extended to control all devices.

It should be possible to create a protocol/extender to control all house/unit combinations or even work as a normal X10 remote (select unit first and than send command for the last selected unit). Anybody interested?

Enjoy

Post by **The Robman** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 1:35 pm

I'm curious as to what constitutes a "normal RF remote"? If you mean a normal JP1 RF remote, such as the 15-2117, URC-9910 and HTPro, then I think the fact that they all use a different RF frequency to that used by X10 would present a problem.

In your file description you state that the Powermid is cheaper than the IR543, but here in the States, people can get the IR543 for under $20 from homeautomationnet.com, so the price comparison probably isn't valid.

I'm not trying to rain on your parade here, as it's great when people start to think outside of the box, I'm just pointing some of the short comings before X10 users get too excited, as it's a very common misconception that you can use RF remotes like the URC-9910 to control RF X10 transceivers.

GLT · Post by **GLT** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 2:28 pm

Well this is interesting, and I await the answers to Rob's questions.

It appears that maybe I could get rid of the IR543's in some cases because I often have them side by side with a powermid.

Does this work w/ US powermids/remotes?

I have a 15-2117 that I use primarily w/ powermids cause the antenna broke off of it's little box and range never seemed all that good anyway.

GLT

Post by **The Robman** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 2:58 pm

If the Powermids do indeed use the same freq as X10, sending the correct NEC signal to them could well be quite an ingenious way to control X10.

GLT · Post by **GLT** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 7:43 am

Well a QUICK search shows X-10 @310 MHZ and Powermids @418/433MHZ, so I don't see how this could work.

Hummbie, can you elaborate?

GLT

Edit: EUROPEAN X-10 is at 433 MHZ it appears. So could work for Europe. For us poor US people, maybe something with the european version of WGL designs W80032 maybe, but that is getting pretty cost prohibitive.