Subject: From: Date:

Re: [ECS] newbie Dan Carrington Sun, 10 Jan 1999 17:31:49 -0800

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you can start with a blank config file to just play.  The one that comes
with ECS is fairly full of things you may not need or want.  A really
basic setup would have only a few items like Time, PLC-interface, and
Light.  Then you would say things in your event like:

If	Time		Is Now		8:00pm
Then	Light		Set		On
If	Time		Is Now		9:00pm
Then	Light		Set		Off

Now that's really basic, but the principle is the same.  You create the
Items you need/want and program things to happen with them.  TIME lets
you use the actual time as a thing to look at.  The PLC-INTERFACE lets
ECS know you have the CM11A (I don't know which PLC interface it ends up
as) and which serial port it is on.  The LIGHT lets ECS know you have a
X-10 unit that is a Light unit at a certain house code and address #. 
You will need a variety of items for ECS to run happily.  You create
things like Time and Day and Date to just know when it is.  You create
items for your hardware interfaces so ECS knows they exist.  Then you
create items for the things you want to control.  Then you create
whatever else you need to make your desires happen.  Things like
counters, variables, timers, etc....

Have fun
Dan


THutch4882@aol.com wrote:
> 
> I'm trying to evaluate ECS lite to determine if I should purchase the full
> version, but to date I've been unsuccessful becase I just don't know where to
> start. I have a CM11A set up w/ Active Home and it's working fine but when I
> try to get the same things working in ECS I get lost. There is just so much
> available that I think I'm overwhelmed. The help is extremely thorough but
> once again I'm overwhelmed. Is there some way toget a pared down version to
> get started?
> I've been playing w/ this for days and not making much progress. ECS looks
> awesome and I think I would like it if I could just get started
> 
> Tom

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