Velleman K8055 Plugin V1.0.0

[Bestgear]

Hi....yes, we all ask stupid questions... he he...

The Velleman 8055 kit gives you 8 digital outputs and 5 digital inputs, along with a few other things such as counters on two of the inputs.

With the plugin, these items appear as devices that you can monitor and control....

Simple really.... hope that helps...

I personally go the velleman US site, as it has heaps of stuff on it....

DJ

[scag]

what can i use this card for???

Hi DJblack

Yes I know what the kit has as everywhere states the same stuff but its what these in/outputs mean, any examples???

you say ...

With the plugin, these items appear as devices that you can monitor and control....

Is this a plugin for HomeSeer?? I wish to write a plugin for Girder if possible so thats why im trying to understand how to wire my IR receiver device to the 8055 to learn how to use it as a USB and not Serial device

Yes i have been to the US site but it just promotes buying more kits etc. I suppose is practicle experience of using this device, if it is something that is going to help.

My Serial device uses the DCD, RTS & GND pins of the serial port. Is it possible to plug these wires into the 8055, run the demo software to see what lights up or changes when i send a IR signal via a remote control being directed to my receiver????


Sorry I still am lost
Many thanks
Mike )

[Bestgear]

Hi Mike... answers inline....

"Is this a plugin for HomeSeer?? I wish to write a plugin for Girder if possible so thats why im trying to understand how to wire my IR receiver device to the 8055 to learn how to use it as a USB and not Serial device"

This thread is discussing the excellent work that Malarcy has and is doing on writing a homeseer plugin for the 8055. You would not connect a grider or other IR receiver to a 8055 - most Ir devices are RS232 or USB themselves and have no need for a device such as a 8055. I am not a developer by *any* means... but reading and writing to a serial port in HS is a very simple operation... even I can do that! I suggest you have a look at the scripts libraries on this Board - there are heaps of samples you could build off. as for USB, most...(certainly many) usb devices present themselves as serial com ports, so that may bring to the same place.


"Yes i have been to the US site but it just promotes buying more kits etc. I suppose is practicle experience of using this device, if it is something that is going to help."

The site does covery everything Velleman build - I had envisaged that the documents there would have helped you understand interfacing to the 8055. The last few pages in the product manual do infact cover the i/O aspects and how to connect safely to the board. As above - dont bother reading them as the 8055 wont do what you want.


"My Serial device uses the DCD, RTS & GND pins of the serial port. Is it possible to plug these wires into the 8055, run the demo software to see what lights up or changes when i send a IR signal via a remote control being directed to my receiver????"

Nope is the simple answer...

I think you should have a look around at the code samples and snippets that are in the libraries, and post a question in one of these forums, asking specifically about reading/writing to serial ports.... but pls do a search first, as much (everything!) has already been written about that ability.

Sorry that is not the answer you are looking for... but it should point you in the right direction.


DJ

[RFsolution]

Hi malarcy,I saw some msg about the multiple board version, if you want I have to boards and give it a testrun

Walter

[Bestgear]

Malrcy...I have two 8055's, so if you want, I can send you mine so you can test...

DJ

[Malarcy]

Guys - I will hopefully have some rawish test code out end of this weekend - assuming, no other HA emergencies come up ( just been away for the weekend - get a call from the wife while I am in the middle of France watching some loud motorcars..... - saying that the house has gone nuts and all the lights keep coming on, she has done the in case of emergency unplug this (cm11) thing and no difference ..., so spent today isolating a rouge tm13 that I had forgotten about in the garage)....

WAF low at the moment - so I need to tread carefully but I should have some code that with a few manual reg entries should get up and running, I currently only have one board - but the logic for driving mutliples makes it relatively easy to emulate the others - I'll depend on you guys with 2 or more to debug for me.

more when I have it.

Malarcy

[Bestgear]

Hi Malarcy

You will be very glad and releived to hear that I am now up and running on the main HS server!

It looks like the root to all my problems with the 8055 plugin was the Velleman supplied Dll I was using. Having switched to yours, I am now up and running.

My next worry is that I go back to the "new" Velleman Dll... to gain multi board support (which I understand the old version omits) I end up broken again!

Are you using a later dll or the same one? I think the later ones state they handle memory and performance better....

I really appreicate all your help... this has been a long drawn out pain in the butt...

DJ

[Malarcy]

Thank ****** for that......... Your issue was killing me - I hate that kind of problem - glad you got it sorted and sorry I couldn;t spend more time on helping you debug it.

That let's me cary on with the new one without wondering what the hell was waiting to bite me.

The newest DLL contains some easier to use code for switching boards - but the version I am using (the one I posted) will work with both .

I'll try both, and see if I can break either of them.

Cheers

Malarcy

[Bestgear]

Hi Malarcy

Sorry for going back to a previous post...re logging.

If I trigger any of the digital inputs, the web status obviously changes..all good.

It does not, however, stick the event into the log. I have checked that the box to prevent this is not checked.

Could you add the facility?

DJ

[Malarcy]

I am sure it used to - maybe that was under 1.7 - not at home at the moment so I can't check but it seems easy enough - I'll add it as an option to write a log event on set and unset - any preference for what it should say?


Malarcy

[Bestgear]

Hi Malarcy...

Not too fussed as to the text.... and only really bothered about the digital inputs...no need for analogue values...unless that is easy to do! I would be happy with a simple on and off or 0/1 for state....

Dont know if the counter would be easy to add in the log too... kinda thought about using that for some of the sad "features" that are on the excellent www.bwired.nl....

DJ

[Malarcy]

Just looked at the code - and "my" copy does log - I run it with debug - so it's easy to add as an option, I'll do it for the digital inputs/outputs and the counters. Initially it will just b "device" on / off - but I might modify so it takes the device desription / location and logs that instead - so K8055 [6 On becomes K8055 Stair Pressure Mat On.

The analogs are also easy to do but I have been thinking about those - I probably need a "damping" factor on those - if people are using this for real then you could get a number of updates since analog values tend to fluctuate a bit - so maybe I'll add something to only register a status change when the value changes by 5 or more for example.

Malarcy

[Bestgear]

Hi Malarcy...

Another thought... is it possible to use an analogue input as a digital input... in terms of setting the device to ON when at 255 and OFF at 0?

It would mean I get another 6 inputs across my (now) three 8055's!!

DJ

[Malarcy]

You could use it like that already - you should get a trigger on device value change - so just check it and respond if 0 or 255

Malarcy

[Bestgear]

Hi Malarcy... back to the logging for a mo...


[QUOTE=Malarcy]Just looked at the code - and "my" copy does log - I run it with debug - so it's easy to add as an option, I'll do it for the digital inputs/outputs and the counters. Initially it will just b "device" on / off - but I might modify so it takes the device desription / location and logs that instead - so K8055 [6 On becomes K8055 Stair Pressure Mat On.

Do you mean you run HS with Debug?

When I press one of the test buttons on a 8055 it does not log anything (dont have HS in debug mode - not sure how!)

If I hold the button and do a web page refresh, it certainly changes status. Likewise, if I have an event watching for the input press, it works... just no discreet log entry for the input.

I have checked that the box is not ticked for dont log..

Aside...how did the new ver go? Been itching to ask!!!


DJ