Station alert project

[rescuelt]

Here is a station alert project ive been working on... I installed an X10 lighting system in our station(turns lights on and off through a control signal) Hooked up a unit that controls the lights through low voltage signal to a Maxtrac radio, and used the external alert pin to activate it. I also used a couple relay timer units to open/close our garage door.
Basically what happens is our tone goes off, activates the X10 unit and turns on the station lights, it also sends a signal and opens the garage door 5 seconds after the warning tone( to keep people away from the door) and after 5 min, the lights turn off and the door closes. Works really well!! Total amount invested- $250.00

[Gigs]

I've hooked many systems up, but keep in mind. (And I'm telling you this for a reason). You mentioned after 5 minutes everything shuts off AND THE GARAGE DOOR GOES DOWN. Keep in mind the "chance" that a peice gets out late, like starts pulling out of the station at 4 min and 50 seconds. You may want to consider adding a light showing the door is up to watch as your pulling forward along with photo beam to quickly put door back up if it starts down as your pulling out.

[rescuelt]

The door has a beam to keep it from coming down if the truck is pulling out.

[nmfire10]

That scared me too. None of our bays have any kind of sensor to prevent them from closing on something or someone. I'm glad you have that!

[jim]

X10 works great for this! We just did one that activated lights and shut them off 15 minutes later. The system also held the PL open for 2 minutes then reset it (at customer request). The system would sometimes "miss" a sensor but after installing the extender in a receptacle, it works fine.

[LCFD1]

We tried this same thing for a while. The only other potential problem is the possibility of not being in quarters when the door goes up. I suppose it depends on the neighborhood you are in, but I'll bet in some cases it would cause the Chief to feal uneasy. Or in a volunteer dept, a weekly tone test might get the attention of the neighborhood kids when the door opens at 1900 hrs on the nose every week, with no cars at the station.....

The electric eye is a must! I was given an award at our awards banquet: two broken Code 3 550 rotators!

-sonny

[Wes]

Can someone post more info on "X10". I have had use for this before, but never heard of it.

Who makes it?

Web Site??

Thanks,

Wes

[Bob]

Wes,
'X10' is actually a brand name for equipment that uses a comms protocol over power lines. The power lines are essentially used as a bus. Modules plugged into the power lines have physical hardwre addresses and are addressed by one or more controllers on the 'network'. The simple protocol, coupled with the huge array of devices, can make for a very powerful system.

You can read up at http://www.x10.com
Another good resource is http://www.smarthome.com

[rescuelt]

I installed a switch to turn the garage door opener on and off, if we arent at the station it doesent open, or if we are already out on a run, dispatch just sends it out over the radio with no tone.

[nmfire10]

I've been wondering how to run the lights without spending a lot of money. X10 is not a bad idea! It would accomplish the same as an expensive control system for a fraction of the cost.

[PropellorHead]

How did you get the bay doors to trigger? Right now we're using a CDM and a couple relays and timers for lighting. Basically when we get a call, the lights kick on, the speaker unmutes and alerts and after 2mins everything resets. We want it to trigger our bay doors now as well, but I am having trouble figuring out how to trigger them.

How have you guys triggered your doors? Please, as much detail as possible.

Thanx,

Louie

[Bruce1807]

actually X10 is the name of the protocol. There just happens to be a brand called X10 that bought out pico labs from Scotland.

Couple of things.
You should have a device switch off the cooker and the outlets on the kitchen counter (not the fridge)

Second is security.
X10 is very easy to hack and by simply plugging an X10 txer into a external outlet I could open the stations doors in no time
It very easy to mod an X10 txer and replace the code switches with a basic electronic stepper that pols all available codes in about 2 minutes.

Just something to be aware off.

Any way your system is great, just add the cooker and it should be fine.

A hell of a lot cheaper than the Moscad stuff I use and just as effective apart from the security issue.

[PropellorHead]

Ok so i believe I have this auto open bay door thing figured out...but here's a question...

We get QCII's whether we're in station or not...how do you get the doors to only open when you're apparatus is in quarters? Also, how do you get the doors to auto-close? Has anyone found a piece of hardware to accomplish this task?

[spareparts]

Another option is made by NightHawk. They build the FAS decoder, which drives 8 different relays based on the capcode sequence received. A link with product infor can be found at http://www.preferredwireless.com/pages/ ... vice_5.cfm.

A while back I built a system for a volunteer house using PLC logic tied to the radio. The biggest challenge was safely turning off the LPG when the tones dropped. Ended up using a Honeywell 24 volt CNG valve in 1/2" gas line to the stove. You could not turn the stove back on unless each valve was in the off position (the "reset" logic was tied to the electric igniter).

The door watchdog timer "anti-close" is a photocell across the front of the bay. If the door started to close with anything in the beam, it would stop & reverse the door motors for another 4 minutes, then try to close again.

The In-station logic was a second photocell across the bay that the first due truck was in. If the truck was in the bay, you were in house

*Square D TSX 37 21/22 PLC

[PropellorHead]

What was the brand of photocell you used for the quartered engine that would keep the bay from opening if a unit was not there?

[arlojanis]

I have a Radio Shack infrared photorelay/alarm set. It is new in the box. It will work in high ambient light areas. It can be used with 12 vdc counter, bell, or other things. Covers up to 50 feet. Radio Shack price is $ 69.95. My price is $ 40.00 plus $ 12.00 UPS. Paypal is OK.

[spareparts]

What was the brand of photocell you used for the quartered engine that would keep the bay from opening if a unit was not there?

Square D. The model is Class 9006/XUJ-LM. Ir is configured for through-beam operation, rather then with a reflector as the paint on the truck is reflective enough to confuse the sensor.