X10RFXMETERS(5)X10RFXMETERS(5)NAMEx10rfxmeters - RFXMeter support for HEYU
DESCRIPTION
Heyu is an X10 Automation program for Linux, Unix, and Mac OS X. See
man page heyu(1) for usage information.
RFXMeters are remote RF sensors which transmit encoded data from elec‐
tric power, water, gas, or other metering modules, depending on config‐
uration. When equipped with a compatible RF receiver, Heyu can receive
and decode this information. An overview of these sensors appears fur‐
ther down in this page.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
To use RFXMeters with Heyu requires a 433.92 MHz RFXCOM X10 RF receiver
and Heyu version 2.2 or greater.
COMPILER OPTION
Support for RFXMeters is compiled into Heyu by default. A compiler
option can be used to omit this support. See the file INSTALL included
in the Heyu distribution source directory for details.
HEYU CONFIGURATION
It is assumed that a working installation of Heyu version 2.2 or
greater exists on the computer, and that the user has a basic familiar‐
ity with Heyu.
The Heyu configuration file should include the directive:
TTY_AUX <serial_port or network_address:port> RFXCOM
where <serial_port> is the port where the RFXCOM receiver is connected,
or <network_address:port> is where the RFXLAN receiver is listening.
Start Heyu with 'heyu start', then open another xterm window and start
the Heyu Monitor.
Wait for the RFXMeter to make a transmission, at which time you should
see in the Monitor widow something like this (ignoring the date and
time):
rcva func RFdata : Type RFXMeter ID 0x08 Data 0xADB92C07
Map the RFXMeter ID to an otherwise unused housecode and unitcode
address with an ALIAS directive, using one of the following module
types depending on whether the RFXMeter is monitoring Electric Power,
Water, or Gas (or is just used to count pulses):
RFXPOWER <ID>
RFXWATER <ID>
RFXGAS <ID>
RFXPULSE <ID>
Example using housecode|unit C5 and the above ID:
ALIAS MyElectric C5 RFXPOWER 08
Run 'heyu restart'. The next time the RFXMeter transmits, you should
then see in the Monitor window:
rcva func rfxPower : hc C unit 5 Meter 99.876 kWh (MyElectric)
If instead of electric power the RFXMeter is monitoring Water or Gas
consumption and the following mapping is used:
ALIAS MyGas C5 RFXGAS 08
You would instead see in the Monitor window:
rcva func rfxGas : hc C unit 5 Counter 99876 pulses (MyGas)
UNIT SCALING
While the RFXPower module is already calibrated in kWh, the scale fac‐
tor for Water, Gas, or Pulse metering must be supplied. For this, one
of the following configuration directives is used:
RFX_WATERSCALE <Water_unit> <scale_factor>
RFX_GASSCALE <Gas_unit> <scale_factor>
RFX_PULSESCALE <Pulse_unit> <scale_factor>
For example a gas meter often has a series of dials and an optical sen‐
sor can presumably be mounted to provide one pulse for each rotation of
the smallest dial. On one type of gas meter in the USA, each rotation
of the smallest dial corresponds to 0.5 cubic feet of gas, so the
directive to use would be:
RFX_GASSCALE cu_ft 0.5
And (after 'heyu restart') you will then see:
rcva func rfxGas : hc C unit 5 Meter 49938.0 cu_ft (MyGas)
ROLLOVER
The counter in a RFXMeter module counts from zero to a maximum value of
16777215 (0xFFFFFF), corresponding in the case of RFXPower modules to
16777.215 kWh, then rolls over to zero. When Heyu detects that a
reported count is less than the previous count it sets a local
"rollover" flag. Note that this includes the case where the user has
reset the counter to zero during RFXMeter configuration.
POWER PANEL TOTALS
If two or three RFXPower modules are installed in adjacent slots in an
RFXMeter transmitter, Heyu assumes they are being used to monitor the
phases in a two or three phase power panel or breaker box. It will
then sum the readings from each of the phases and display the total in
the Heyu Monitor and log file as a "Panel". Panels are numbered start‐
ing with 0 in the event there are multiple RFXMeter transmitters, each
with two or three RFXPower modules.
STORED RFXMETER DATA
If the Heyu Engine daemon is running, the most recent transmissions
from RFXMeters are stored in the Heyu state tables and can be recovered
with the following state commands:
heyu rfxpower Hu (for Power)
heyu rfxwater Hu (for Water)
heyu rfxgas Hu (for Gas)
heyu rfxpulse Hu (for pulse count)
heyu rfxcount Hu (raw counter of any RFXMeter)
heyu rfxpanel [N] (Power panel [N] total - default N is Panel 0)
The command 'heyu show rfxmeters' will display the meter readings for
all configured RFXMeters in a tabular format.
HEYU SCRIPTS
The functions rfxpower, rfxwater, rfxgas, and rfxpulse can be used in
launch conditions to launch Heyu scripts the same as any other Heyu
function. The source keyword "RCVA" must be included in the launch
conditions.
Example:
SCRIPT C5 rfxpower rcva :: my_power_script.sh
Any of the usual flags may be included in the launch condition, includ‐
ing the rollover flag set after an RFXMeter counter rolls over to zero.
Example:
SCRIPT C5 rfxpower rollover rcva :: my_rollover_script.sh
SCRIPT ENVIRONMENT
Any Heyu script has access to the stored RFXMeter values through envi‐
ronment variables linked to the housecode|unit (Hu) and its alias
mapped to each RFXMeter.
X10_Hu_Power x10_<Hu_alias>_Power
X10_Hu_Water x10_<Hu_alias>_Water
X10_Hu_Gas x10_<Hu_alias>_Gas
X10_Hu_Pulse x10_<Hu_alias>_Pulse
X10_Hu_Count x10_<Hu_alias>_Count
Example:
SCRIPT A1 on sndc :: echo "Gas used: "$x10_MyGas_Gas | mail
RFXMETER CONFIGURATION
Configuring the RFXMeter is a matter of pushing or not pushing the MODE
button on the RFXMeter transmitter in response to transmitted prompts.
When the button is to be pushed, it generally has to be done within 5
seconds. Or if the button is not to be pushed, it´s necessary to wait
5 seconds for the next prompt.
To help avoid confusion and frustration with this process, a special
Heyu Monitor feature has been implemented. If the monitor is started
with the parameter "rfxmeter", i.e.,
heyu monitor rfxmeter
then only RFXMeter messages are displayed and their format is simpli‐
fied as follows:
The usual date, time, and signal source are omitted.
Normal data transmissions are displayed as:
RFXMeter ID nn, Counter nnnn pulses
Instructional messages and prompts from the RFXMeter are
translated and displayed.
With this special monitor window open, start the configuration process
by powering down the RFXMeter for at least 10 seconds, then hold down
the MODE button on the device while restoring the power. When the green
LED lights, release the button. Following display of the firmware iden‐
tification, the prompts will begin.
The order the configuration items will appear is:
Set Interval
Set Address
Power Calibration
Reset Counter to zero
Note: Power calibration requires a precision wattmeter and is normally
unnecessary since the unit is precalibrated at the factory.
RFXMETER OVERVIEW
RFXMeters are manufactured by RFXCOM (http://www.rfxcom.com) They con‐
sist of an RF transmitter with up to three plug-in modules. The trans‐
mitter operates at a carrier frequency of 433.92 MHz. Plug-in modules
are available for metering power consumption and for counting pulses
from optical sensors or switch contacts attached to other types of
meters such as water or gas meters. Counter values are saved in non-
volatile memory in the event of power interruption.
Multiple RFXMeter transmitters may be used with a total of up to 256
plug-in modules. (This many would use all 256 X10 Housecode/Unit
addresses.)
The RFXMeter transmits its data packet at user configurable intervals
of 30 seconds, 1, 6, 12, 15, 30, 45, or 60 minutes.
AUTHORS
RFXMeter support was added to Heyu by Charles W. Sullivan
SEE ALSO
http://www.rfxcom.com/sensors
http://www.rfxcom.com/documents/RFXMeter.pdf
http://www.rfxcom.com/documents/RFXPwr%20module.pdf
http://www.rfxcom.com/documents/RFXPulse%20module.pdf
http://www.heyu.org
heyu(1), x10config(5), x10sched(5), x10scripts(5), x10aux(5),
x10cm17a(5), x10rfxsensors(5)
local X10RFXMETERS(5)
