Command format on Raspi

tuicemen · Jan 27, 2022, 1:06 PM

@steve-porter you only have a year on me I'm still learning too.
I find I have to go through my TRIGGER calls and scripts a couple of times to catch my typos. I seem to have more of them lately
The Script route really is the best route.
I've read several posts on other Home Automation sites complaining about mochad not working correctly for them. It was one reason I chose not to use that Home Automation software.
Mochad was originally created for the North American market and it seems like that maybe why some users have problems though I think it is mainly the RF side of it.
Are you using mochad as a addon for another Home Automation software?
What X10 hardware are you interfaceing with?

Steve Porter · Jan 29, 2022, 7:56 PM

@tuicemen I'm mostly now using smart plugs and light bulbs via WiFi but still have a bunch of X10 stuff. My pool light and waterfall both have 220v X10 modules, and the smart plugs won't work with fan motors. And for my house ceiling fans I installed X10 "relay" switches cause they're way cheaper than the smart switches that would work.

I moved all the X10 stuff from my Windows Desktop to the Raspi. Mochad wouldn't compile without a bunch of errors, which is why I modified it. The version I started with was mochad-0.1.17. I've heard rumblings of a mochad-0.1.19 version floating around somewhere, so I'm bumping this one to mochad-0.1.21 just to be sure. Mochad recognized my X10 CM15a with no problem. That's the same hardware I was using with my Windows installation for years.

I'm going to be setting up the script stuff you and Russ pointed my towards today.

Cheers

(P.S: I'm in California, what region are you?)

tuicemen · Jan 29, 2022, 9:27 PM

@steve-porter I'm in Ontario Canada.
My setup is still mostly x10 though I have wemo, zwave, sonoff modules (WiFi), mylight (rf & wifi), Broadlink RM (for IR and some RF ) I've integrated most of my setup with HomeGenie so I can control it all from anywhere, schedule things and view status of things and my cameras. I move my stuff from windows to the PI mainly due to my off grid place so I could reduce power consumption of a PC Running.
I actually moded a CM15A so a PI zero W fits inside.
https://forums.x10.com/index.php?topic=30322.0
I did this mod to 3 different CM15As all are running HomeGenie.
One I added a hat to give me extra USB ports and I'm thinking of upgrading that one pi to the ZeroW2.

Steve Porter · Jan 29, 2022, 9:57 PM

@tuicemen Oh, SWEET! So sounds as if this was a consulting gig for someone else? Very nice!

tuicemen · Jan 30, 2022, 4:30 AM

@steve-porter said in Command format on Raspi:

Oh, SWEET! So sounds as if this was a consulting gig for someone else? Very nice!

No, not really. I did create a CM15A Pi combo for the new owners of X10 (Authinix) mainly to show the CM15A could be upgraded as a Pro option to their limited WiFi Module(WM100).
The other two were for myself. I do know of a few others that created these combos for their CM15As based of my shared info.

Steve Porter · Jan 30, 2022, 4:30 AM

@tuicemen Got it all working tonight. YAY! Thanks again guys. Just to get it all in one place, here's what works for me:

/root/.TRIGGERcmdData/commands.json
[
{"trigger":"Living Room Fan","command":"/home/pi/scripts/X10.sh i6","ground":"background","voice":"Living Room Fan","allowParams": "true"},
]

(duplicated for each X10 house unit, i.e. i6, i5, etc.)

Script:
"/home/pi/scripts/X10.sh i6"

echo "pl $1 $2" | nc -w 1 localhost 1099
echo "sent powerline command $1 $2 to mochad"

Even with you guys' help this was a bit of a pain. This really should all be put into a simple install guide. But, it works great!

Cheers!

Steve Porter · Jan 30, 2022, 6:10 AM

@steve-porter Oops,
"home/pi/scripts/X10.sh"

tuicemen · Jan 30, 2022, 12:22 PM

@steve-porter glad to see you have it all setup and working.
setup is a bit of a pain for new users especially with a large number of devices possible in a X10 setup.
A setup wizard sure would help even for me just adding one new device once in a while.

Steve Porter · Jan 30, 2022, 11:52 PM

@steve-porter Actually, I just noticed in my example .json command I left a comma in at the end of the line. That'll be a gotcha. The LAST command line in that file can not have a comma, it won't tell you that, it'll just not update the .json file.

tuicemen · Jan 31, 2022, 11:20 AM

@steve-porter yep that will mess things up. I remember reading another post about that so that isn't something that you alone have experienced. I found a couple times the file didn't update for me for different errors in command lines.
I've gotten into the habit of double checking if it saves.