Category Archives: ZigBee

Hacking Eaton HomeHeartbeat Part 8: Sensors

Posted on March 5, 2012 by steve

This post documents my research into the HHB sensors, complete with pretty pictures. With the exception of the power sensor, these devices are all variations on a similar theme. They all contain the same Atmel ATMega64L MCU and Ember EM2420 … Continue reading →

Posted in ZigBee | Tagged | 15 Comments

Hacking Eaton HomeHeartbeat Part 7: Success!

Posted on March 4, 2012 by steve

Spent a good deal of time on Saturday working with the Base Station and my collection of sensors. I’ve managed to decipher enough information from both the Serial and ZigBee side of things to come up with a workable solution … Continue reading →

Posted in ZigBee | Tagged | 10 Comments

Message to Eaton: Help would be appreciated!

Posted on February 27, 2012 by steve

Looking over my Google Analytics pages I’m seeing a few hits each week that appear to be coming from Eaton corporate networks. Welcome! FYI, I’ve been receiving quite a few messages from people who really like their HHB hardware. Most … Continue reading →

Posted in ZigBee | Tagged | 1 Comment

Hacking Eaton HomeHeartbeat Part 6: Autopsy

Posted on February 26, 2012 by steve

Well, the good news is that I got an entire day to dissect the HHB base station, and now have a much more thorough understanding of the inner workings of the device. The bad news is that I managed to … Continue reading →

Posted in ZigBee | Tagged | 3 Comments

Hacking Eaton HomeHeartbeat Part 5: Ack! No Time!

Posted on June 10, 2011 by steve

Between one daughter’s wedding and another daughter’s surgery I haven’t had any time to play with this stuff this week.  I did, however, clean out my friendly Ebay vendor’s supply of $5 sensors for my collection, adding a few more … Continue reading →

Posted in ZigBee | 6 Comments

Hacking Eaton HomeHeartbeat Part 4: Why Bother?

Posted on June 6, 2011 by steve

It’s been asked. Why bother? Seriously? HomeHeartbeat was hot sh*t back in 2005, but isn’t it showing it’s age now? All valid questions. Consider this, however – let’s say, for the sake of argument, that you were just now getting … Continue reading →

Posted in Arduino, HomeAutomation, ZigBee | Tagged | 6 Comments

Hacking Eaton HomeHeartbeat Part 3: New Project!

Posted on June 5, 2011 by steve

If anyone is interested in following along, I’ve created a new project on GitHub: HomeHeartbeat on GitHub This will be a simple Python interface library.

Posted in HomeAutomation, Python, ZigBee | Tagged | 2 Comments

Hacking Eaton Home Heartbeat Part 2: They’re Heeeeerrrrrreeee…

Posted on June 4, 2011 by steve

I received a box chock full o’ Eaton Home Heartbeat devices today.  They are nice little devices, fairly well designed (if a bit boxy).  I was up and running with a basic installation in a matter of minutes – very … Continue reading →

Posted in HomeAutomation, ZigBee | Tagged | 14 Comments

Robust 1-Wire Support for Arduino via EDS HA7S

Posted on June 2, 2011 by steve

I have purchased several devices from Embedded Data Systems (EDS) over the last few years.  Their HA7Net Ethernet 1-Wire Host Adapter makes integrating 1-Wire devices utterly painless; it is a solidly constructed, well-engineered piece of hardware.  It is also very … Continue reading →

Posted in Arduino, HomeAutomation, XBee, ZigBee | 9 Comments

Hacking Eaton Home Heartbeat

Posted on May 28, 2011 by steve

Effective 6/1/2011, Eaton is discontinuing their Home Heartbeat line of home automation products.  Suppliers are beginning to dump their stock, and these once-expensive devices can be had for pennies on the (original retail) dollar.  As these devices are ZigBee-based (details), … Continue reading →

Posted in HomeAutomation, XBee, ZigBee | 2 Comments