Controlling the outlets

In my previous post, I installed software for using a Tellstick Duo on the controller Raspberry. In this one, I will begin using it to turn on and off the power to an outlet.

First I need to configure the Tellstick with some information about the devices I want to control. I can do this in /etc/tellstick.conf, following this guide. The devices I want to control are two instances of this (link in Swedish) remote-controlled power outlet. I need to know the following things about them:

• The protocol they use. From the documentation on the product page I find that I would choose the brand “Proove” if I were to connect them to the Telldus Live service. The guide for tellstick.conf says that Proove uses the “arctech” protocol, so that is what I go with.
• What model they are. Since I am supposed to pair them with the remote control I guess that they are of the type “selflearning-switch”.
• What “house” they are. I am still not sure what it means, but there is a number written on them. If I use that, things work.

I use the following tellstick.conf:

user="nobody"
group="plugdev"
deviceNode="/dev/tellstick"
ignoreControllerConfirmation="false"
device {
  id=1
  name="Computer"
  controller=1
  protocol="arctech"
  model="selflearning-switch"
  parameters {
    house="312538"
    unit="1"
  }
}
device {
  id=2
  name="Speakers"
  controller=1
  protocol="arctech"
  model="selflearning-switch"
  parameters {
    house="312538"
    unit="2"
  }
}
controller {
  id=1
  # name=""
  type=2
  serial="A7Z2YPNF"
}

I can now tell the first outlet what signal to listen for, by holding its button down for 3 seconds and doing:

pi@controlpi:~ $ tdtool --learn 1
Learning device: 1 Computer - Success

The “Success” is because the command was successfully sent, not necessarily because the outlet learned the code. To find that out, I listened for two clicks from the outlet, which I heard. I can now control the outlet with tdtool --on 1 and tdtool --off 1. I repeat the procedure for the second outlet.

Now that the output works, it is time to look at the input. Join me next time as I begin to learn about HDMI-CEC.