RFXCOM offer a range of USB RF transmitters and receivers that are compatible with a large number of common wireless Home Automation protocols.

The RFXCOM range also includes a variety of 1-wire sensor modules and electricity meters that are compatible with their receivers.

Due to the support for such a wide range of devices, the RFXCOM receivers are a better choice than the rival W800RF32 device from WGL Designs.

The xPLRFX service for Windows 98, 2000, XP and Vista provides full support for any number of RFXCOM transmitters and receivers in a single application, including all of the protocols handled by these devices.

xPL and RFXCOM support devices from the following manufacturers:

 

The requirements for using RFXCOM transmitters and receivers with xPL are:

Download

xPLRFX does not work in isolation. To be useful it needs to be part of an xPL network. The basic software requirements for an xPL network are the xPLHub (which must be installed on every computer running xPL applications), and xPLHal, which is the "brains" of the system. Scripts running under xPLHal read incoming xPL events and send out commands to control other devices. A more detailed description of xPL can be found here.

Download and run the xPLRFX installer (.msi) file. The installation process is straightforward and will set up the xPLRFX service, and the xPLRFX configuration application.

Once installed, run the xPLRFX configuration program, and set up your RFXCOM transmitter/recievers (See the section on Configuration below). No RF messages will be sent/received until this is done.

Next, run xPLHal Manager and find xPLRFX under the Devices/Awaiting Configuration tab. Double click on the xPLRFX entry and change the instance from Default to your chosen instance name (maximum 16 characters).

To test the system, start the xPLMonitor from xPLHal Manager's Tools menu. If you have a receiver, get one of your RF devices to transmit a message. You should see an xPL message appear in the log. If you have a transmitter, use the Send xPL Message option from the xPLHal Manager Tools menu to send a message to control one of your devices. If you have a compatible receiver, you should also see this message appear in the xPL monitor log.

If the messages are not received, or the xPLRFX service cannot be seen in xPLHal Manager, there may be an error in your xPL network. Download and run xPLDiag to test your installation. For further help, post a message to the xPL forums.

When first installed, xPLRFX requires some configuration before it can function. The installation process will add a link to the xPLRFX configuration program on your program menu under 'xPL/xPLRFX'. Run the program, and the main screen will appear.

Note - while the configuration program is running, the xPLRFX service will be stopped.

The screen is divided into two sections. The top section, labelled 'USB Modules' lists all the RFXCOM USB devices. The bottom section, labelled 'Configurable RF Devices' lists all the RF devices that the xPLRFX service has received messages from (except standard X10 devices - more on that later). When first run, both these sections will be empty.

The first step is to set up your RFXCOM USB Modules. Each module may contain one or two receivers, or a single transmitter. If your module contains receiver(s), click the 'Add Receiver' button. If it contains a transmitter, click 'Add Transmitter'. You will be presented with one of the following dialogs:

Choose the correct COM port for the USB module, and then check all the protocols that you want to use. Note that not all protocols are supported by the older RFXCOM receivers. For transmitters, each protocol adds to the time taken to send messages, so only enable the ones you need. Click OK to save your settings and return to the main screen.

If this is the first time you have run the configuration program, the 'Configurable RF Devices' section will probably be empty. Devices do not appear here until the xPLRFX service has received a transmission from them, so click OK to leave the configuration program (which will restart the service), and then get all of your devices to send messages. You can monitor activity in xPLHal Manager's message monitor. When you return to the configuration program, you should see your devices listed. Note - Standard X10 devices, including those that are mapped to X10 such as ELRO, NEXA, KlikOn-KlikOff and Domia Lite, do not require configuration and so do not appear here.

The configurable items is a list of hardware devices, with sub-items for each sensor value. For example, in the screenshot of the main screen, Oregon Rain Gauge has been expanded to show the two values it reports - the total rainfall and the rainfall rate. Each of these sub-items represents a source of xPL, and can be configured by highlighting and clicking the configure button. The following screen will appear:

For some devices, such as RFXSensors, it is important to set the sensor type, so that the correct conversion can be applied to the raw data. Otherwise, the main use of this screen is to allow the sensor to be renamed. The name will be used to identify the sensor in xPL messages, and so must be unique.

The Optional Configuration section is provided so that the user may fill in the room, floor and comments that will be used in a future generic sensor schema.

The xPLRFX service sends and acts on messages using a number of xPL schemas. These are outlined in the table below: