XTension Discussion

Re: Macworld article on microcontroller interfacing

From: Steve Hume <stevelist-AT-hume.ca>
Date: 17 May 2008 09:27:12 UTC   (01:27:12 PM in author's locale)
To: xtensionlist-AT-shed.com

On 17-May-08, at 12:59 PM, Patrick Blaya wrote:

> Le 15 mai 08 à 16:43, Rob Lewis a écrit :
>
>> Anybody already using it?
>
> I do not use an Arduino board, but a Weeder <http://www.weedtech.com/ > > board. Compared to the Arduino board, they come with a firmware
> already programmed to generate a message on the serial port when
> their inputs change state. I wrote a little interface program called > WeeXTX who receives these changes and has two ways communication to > XTension.
> The Weeder boards are more expensive and they can be connected
> together, so with one serial port you can a lot of I/O.
>
> Works very well for me, and may be another user of the list, if
> anyone is interested to use that solution let me know !

I use Patrick's WeeXTX to monitor reed switches in doors and motion
sensors (PIR/Ultrasound pet-immune). It works well. I had to add some startup scripts so that all is connected well on system restarts.
These startup techniques also are used on James' X2Web beta.

I actually have a <http://www.robotshop.ca/ProductList.aspx?cc9> supplier in Canada. I have ordered a couple of Arduino Diecimila USB
Microcontroller Boards for experimentation. It looks like they can be programmed to interface I2C serial (one-wire) stuff. The open source
aspect is attractive.

My son can always use them for robotics if I fail.

One aspect I want to control is a filter on the motion sensors. In a
busy area , the security sensors send a lot of events (every few
seconds). From an automation perspective I would just need a
programmable filter that XTension can control. Now I am postponing a
scheduled event every few seconds that could be 30 seconds to a minute interval. The Weeder does not offer this level of filter.

Temperature monitoring possibly could be delegated to just report
changes without lots of polling from XTension.

Another thought is to have light sensing tuned per room to detect the ambient light. That way, I can detect my SwitchLinc V1 switches
turning on when not actually told to do so by XTension:-) Just
kidding. It might be useful to control logic when there are manual
lights and sunlight available that XTension is currently not aware of.

Steve Hume

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