We have all this technology and nothing seems to work with each other. PDA's are limited by their IR, every possible RF device uses its own chanel, wi-fi's - well I have not researched them - seem to be proprietory, bluetooth is short and wi-fi is to long, etc. etc.

I am a designer of sorts (landscape, lighting, pools, fountains, irrigation, garage doors, all with x-10 compliance) and I guess in order to sell my designs with automation, I am going to have to have a sample of each product.

I am going to end up with a carpenters tool belt that has Pronto, Magnavox, My PDA, X10's outdated pda, and Z-Wave. I am going to look like a remote contol gun-slinger!

I have this damn smartphone: with an sd card. Is there technology or a magic device out there that will link a pocket pc to an x-10 system? But the glitch is OUTSIDE, and without having to lug all kinds of IR to RF to IR to X-10.

Is there an easy solution?

Its all because of that "CCF" file, the "Pronto" and "PDAWin" What are these things, teasers for technology! I also bought Total Remote(not compatible) And Ultra Remote (Not compatible)

I think tonto for programing would be great and now that is obsolete, and you know electric dogs compact flash card has dissapeared off the market. I know the industry is reading these forums. Are they eliminating the competition to keep things proprietory?

Ok thats off my chest, twice, any help ideas will greatly be appreciated. (This was a stem from another thread on "PCF Software" but I felt it warrented the attention of a new discussion)

No.


It has nothing to do with the file format. It is a matter of hardware.


It disappeared because the company making the bare printed circuit cards more than doubled their price, the distributor supplying the CF card frames and covers changed their minimum order from 100 to 5000 (probably because PDAs no longer have CF slots), and because Dell was planning to add CIR capability to their PDAs. It no longer made economic sense. It was designed to fill a niche. The niche disappeared.


The market is too small to justify marketing an X-10 RF transmitter module to work with PDAs. FCC certification tests would cost 3K-5K. X-10 uses a different RF frequency outside N. America so those costs would be doubled.

For X-10, your best route is to add a 310MHz RF transmitter module to a Pronto.

[Link: embed-x.com]

Z-Wave uses a proprietary format and non-standard RF frequency (I think its 904.15MHz in N. America). They want developers to several thousand dollars for their SDK. If you plan to do Z-WAve you'll need to buy one of their dedicated remotes.

Another route would be to use the Global Caché GC-100. You can send TCP strings to it from a PDA (you will need a wireless access point or router) and have it send IR or RF.

[Link: mbx-usa.com]


This message was edited by Dave Houston on 07/24/04 17:18.

I thought you might be the first to reply.

The TSU6000 with adding a 310MHz RF transmitter module seems feasible. All my clients have the X-10 Transceivers. So a demonstration will hopefully run smooth.

Does the 310MHz RF transmitter module interfere with Prontos dedicated RF?

I thought I saw somewhere that X-10 RF could be received directly by changing the Pronto's: CH and ID.
I thought it was from

[Link: wilsonmar.com]

but I cannot seem to relocate it.
The above page talks about x-10 at the 418MHz

Anyway thanks for the first reply.

It shouldn't as it uses the IR signal but I haven't seen the insides of a TSU3000, TSU6000 or TSU7000. There was someone in the Pronto NG group using a TSU7000 in Australia who was planning to try a 433.92MHz transmitter module to talk to his X-10 transceivers but I haven't heard whether he actually tried it or not.


No way. Prontos in N. America send 418MHz while X-10 transceivers receive 310MHz.


I'm not going to waste my time reading through the page you referenced. If you want to understand it, start at...

[Link: mbx-usa.com]

I would happily consider making an SD card that implemented an X-10 compatible RF transmitter. Given as Griffin is a real company quite familiar with FCC approval that aspect doesn't bother me at all (FYI, FCC cert cost $5600 the last time I did it for one of our products). However, I have very little interest in reverse-engineering the protocol, so if someone can point me to a nice concise explaination it might get this project going. RF engineers who have already built their own hobby transmitter and are willing to spill their guts are encouraged to get a hold of me. :)

--Don

Thanks for the reply, I wish total remote would work on my smartphone Toshiba 2032. But I will probably get the next new thing when it comes out.

Indicated by Dave, CF's are on the way out, SD cards are the next norm. The missing link in all this technology is the connection to the x-10 frequency And the ability to send Ir's at a greater distance from a wider platform of products.

So if the (lets say total remote) generates an Ir but releases it in x-10 rf (310 mhz) from the SD card; then an x-10 to ir linc could pick it up and send it wherever it needs to go (home theater equip).
[Link: smarthome.com] (one of the x-10 to ir lincs)

And for all other x-10 stuff an x-10 transceiever could also pick up the signal and sent it over the lines to lighting, irrigation, pools, and fountains,
rainforests (part of my irrigation system) So, having these on a remote as an entities really adds pizazz to the overall landscape automation.

Nobody is tapping into X-10's frequency. This, I beleave is the way to go! And If this was available, I would easily pay $100 and I am sure others would to. The overall price still beats multiple remotes one being a pronto and its proprietory equipment.

Keep us informed, Thanks for all your efforts!

Have you looked at NetRemote? It does IR and WiFi. You can control almost any device you want when combined with Girder. www.Promixis.com