HouseBot

I saw this software in the Apple store, does anyone has experience with this, will it be possible to use it for housebot.

http://www.zinmansoftware.com/tcpIP.html

Yep. It should work.
Anything that can talk tcpip will be able to connect to the external control of Housebot.
Of course there will be some playing/configuration involved to get it setup.

Tim

Well, I read the website again, but I think it is an 1-way connection, I think that It not so useull with housebot.
I was looking for some solution with an Ipad.

Jacco

The easiest way would be to use a webserver, a (very) little bit of ASP / PHP code for getting/setting values and a bit of javascript to update values.
I've attached a screenshot of what I made it look like.

I can upload the needed files later today if you would like to play around with it.

Regards,
LostDreamer

What devices did you use to get the power consumption from different devices / groups in your system?
I use RFXCom with a single pulsecounter to measure total power consumption. It would be nice to be able to measure groups. I got 20 of them so almost all high power equipment like an oven, microwave etc has its own group and it would be easy to measure if only....

Hey Richard,

I use Plugwise for this: http://www.plugwise.com/nl/idplugtype-f/home-basic

9 plugs for €369,-
Extension packs are also avaiable.

They allow for very precise power logs, and switching on/off.

It works as followed:
1) 1x USB stick for PC
2) 1x Circle+ (this plug will connect with the other plugs and holds data in case the PC is offline)
3) X number of Circle plugs.

Every Circle (and the Circle+) will meassure the power consumption and send the data to the Circle+ every minute (or more often if you poll them)
The PC runs a software called "The Source" which will keep a connection to the Circle+, gather the data and fill an Access DB.
"The Source" also runs a lightweight webserver which you can use to get powerinfo and switch plugs on / off.

The plugwise network is a mesh network, so the more devices you have, the more stable the network is.

Maarten Damen also has reversed engineered the better part of the protocol, so if you dont want to run windows, you can also run it on linux.

I've been using the plugs for over a year now and have found them to be very reliable.

The only thing: You have to put plugwise in your firewall because they try to steal your energy usage data.
(It's also in there TOS)


Regards,
LostDreamer

Keep in mind I'm working on Housebot client + plugin that will replicate your theme in a browser.
It should work in any browser, including those on iphones & ipads. You won't need to know any ASP, PHP or how to install a webserver.
You can design your theme as you usually would in the theme editor and render it in any browser.
Extremely dirty alpha release sometime in the next month. And full version sometime in the next 2-3 months.
Tim

Ok, nice, I am looking forward for your client

Thanks

Sorry for being off topic. We may even start a new thread for this..

@LostDreamer:

Looks like a nice system. Do you get the data out of the Access dbase into HouseBot or did you interface HB with the USB stick directly?
I use Windows and would like to be able to have HB do what the Source tool is doing to prevent having to run Source in the background or something like that. So if the protocol is available how does your friend connect to the USB stick?

Hey Richard,

I still use the source software (also because this way I know that I wont miss any data if my HA software crashes/is offline) and use scripts to get the data into housebot from the xml files of it's webinterface.

If you google for : plugwise maarten daamen You'll find his blog where he shares his findings about the protocol. But it's nowhere near complete, the protocol is closed and all info is from reverse engineering it.

On domoticaforum you can also find a lot of info about the system (Maarten is also registered there)


Regards,
LostDreamer

Thanks!

Just read the pdf from Maarten and after reading that Plugwise is based on FTD to make it serial, I am sure this system can be fed into HouseBot without any problems. FS20 and RFXCom use the same serial chip. Just create a Generic Serial device in HouseBot and you will see all data coming from the USB stick. After that it's just scripting the protocol driver.
So now I just need to figure out how much I want this besides RFXCom. I would not use it for remote switching of devices because FS20 is already doing that, but monitoring my 20 Groups would be very nice.

Just ordered a Home Basic set from Plugwise.
Will be starting a new thread if people are interested after some work is done.

Suggest a new thread be created that features different ways that power consumption can be monitored, logged, and presented via HB. Plugwise looks interesting. Not so good for USA usage though. But there are other products that are...

Agree! I already wrote this was off topic but didn't expect so many posts about it.
Next one for sure will be in a new thread. Maybe Steve can start it;)

lostdreamer wrote:The easiest way would be to use a webserver, a (very) little bit of ASP / PHP code for getting/setting values and a bit of javascript to update values.
I've attached a screenshot of what I made it look like.

I can upload the needed files later today if you would like to play around with it.

Regards,
LostDreamer

Well, I read the website again, but I think it is an 1-way connection, I think that It not so useull with housebot.
I was looking for some solution with an Ipad.