433MHz Versions - Simulating with PIC

[Davegsm82]

I just recently ontained a box of Wireless Bayonet Lampholders, branded 'Response', also with the 'Friedland by honeywell' logo on them. I've been using your analysis to try and simulate something compatible which will turn them on and off, unfortunately I'm not having a lot of luck.

I did notice that all of the previous analysis is on 915 and 868MHz variants, whereas in the UK we tend to see 433MHz ISM stuff which is what these ones are.

I'm curious if the timing and the protocols are likely to be the same on the 433 units?

From your description, the data frame is - LOW-LOW-LOW <6 BYTES> HIGH-HIGH-HIGH, LOW-LOW-LOW, HIGH-HIGH-HIGH. Does this frame immediately repeat after that? or is there some sort of inter-frame delay?

I apologise if this isn't the correct way to raise a question but I'm new to Github and couldn't see any other contact method.

[klohner]

Interesting. I'd be curious to see a recording of the signal. Would you be able to record a .cu8 file with something like

rtl_433 -S all

and post it here? You can also contact me directly using this form.

[Davegsm82]

Hi Klohner, I'm sorry if I wasn't too clear with my original message, I unfortunately don't have a transmitter, I only have a whole bunch of receivers. I'm trying to create a transmitter using your timing information, I'm just curious if what I've written above sounds correct?

I don't have a Yard stick one, however I do have a Portapack H2 which can both send and receive. It will record/send signals in the .c16 file format which is probably similar to the cu8? I can import files into Audacity and view them as raw data and you can see 433MHz signals from other transmitters using that.

[klohner]

I searched a little bit and I'm guessing you have the Friedland HIS2A, FGGA0201WWE, or FGGA0202WWE E27 Lamp Base. Does it look like this? According to that listing, it does work on 433 MHz.

FYI, as an alternative to building a transmitter to control these lamp bases, it appears that there's an IP gateway (such as included as part of this set and with PDF documentation) that may be an option to send out the RF signal to control these devices.

Anyway, I found documentation on the FGGA02* Series lampholder that seems to indicate your lamp bases will transmit some kind of pairing code if you press the button on the lamp base for 3 seconds. You'll want to record this signal for analysis using your Portapack H2 (.c16 format is fine) and attach it here so I can also take a look at it. I'm curious to see what this signal looks like!

--Karl.

[Davegsm82]

Hi Karl,

Ok, so the lampholders I have are model HIS2A. These ones are 433MHz receive only, there is no transmit function in them, I've taken one apart for analysis and the RF module only has 3x wires, 0, 5v and Signal.

I've attached one module to a PIC 16F628A on a prototyping board in order to simulate the signals coming from the RF module (also, a 50Hz square wave as it won't boot without this, I believe it's used for the Zero-Point-Crossing detect for TRIAC switching).

The receiver is based on the PT4301-X, has a 13.226MHz crystal fitted, which when looking at the datasheet indicates that the receiver is intended for 433MHz operation. http://www.princeton.com.tw/Portals/0/PT4301-s.pdf

Here's some photo's of the board. The main processor is an ELAN EM78P-something, there's a serial I2C eeprom on board guessing for ID-Code storage.

Could you upload a sample capture of one of your transmitters? I can try to play it back using my Portapack.

[klohner]

Hi Dave -

That's some fairly in-depth analysis! Based on this, though, I'm going to guess the protocol isn't similar.

These devices would need to have some kind of ID code to be able to identify themselves from any neighbors. I'd assumed that a 3-second push on their button would transmit the device's unique ID code. However, if these devices cannot transmit and there is no unique ID code written on the device, I'd think the 3-second push would put the device into a mode where it would be told what ID code it should respond to in subsequent signals.

Based on page 59 of the HISK1 control panel document, it seems this is the case for these 433 MHz on/off receivers.

Home Automation Control

For receiver type of devices (e.g. ON/OFF, dimmer), scroll through the menu until '4-1 Home Auto Control Setup' is displayed.

Enter Home Automation Control number (1-32) to be configured and press ENTER.

Learning a receiver

This is used to link the device to the Control Panel.

Firstly, press and hold the learn button for 3 seconds on the receiver until the LED flashes rapidly. The receiver will wait to learn the ID code of the Control Panel.

In the Control Panel scroll through the menu until ':1 Link Panel to Control' is displayed and press ENTER. The LED on the receiver will stop flashing if learning is successful.

Two possibilities would happen as follows on the display:

Sending ID code Wait 2s – the ID code was emitted from Control Panel.

Wait 2 Second Test – the code was learned by the receiver. The receiver turns On/Off automatically once after learning was successful.

So, there would need to be some signal from a control panel that would tell a receiver in pairing mode what its device ID should be set to. I haven't seen anything like this used with ActivLink protocol devices.

I don't know how you'd be able to figure out what this signal would be with only a receiver to analyze. I'd think you'd need to get the HISK1 control panel kit in order to see what that 433 MHz ASK/OOK signal looks like or find someone with this control panel who could capture such a signal for you with the procedure above.

Anyway, you can look at captures from the ActivLink devices in the ActivLink folder in the rtl_433_tests repository. Note that these are FSK signals, and it seems your receivers are expecting ASK/OOK signals.

Also, you may find the iqtool project useful to generate custom IQ files to experiment with sending signals from your Portapack H2 to your receivers.

Hope this helps. Good luck. Please let me know if you make any progress!

--Karl.