MCS Pro Can not com with Rain 8

[Richard]

Continued not working. MCS can not communicate with Rain8net.

The following is in your startup sequence

GetHouseCode .71 Interface=mcsSprinklersP, IOMisc=Rain8, Name=
GetHouseCode )15 Interface=mcsSprinklersP, IOMisc=Rain8, Name=

You have house code "." devices for mcsSprinklers zones. Delete all the devices with this house code.

The "." is the provided by HS first in the enumeration of devices so mcsSprinklers believes "." devices are the ones it needs to control. When a ")" device is commanded, mcsSprinklers forwards the command to HS rather than controlling it itself. This is why your valve is not being controlled via HS device control. The communication test works because it bypasses HS and commands the Rain8Net hardware directly.

I removed the devices I HS with a "." in the device.

You said that "When a ")" device is commanded, mcsSprinklers forwards the command to HS rather than controlling it itself. This is why your valve is not being controlled via HS device control. "

Now all I have is ")" devices from screen shot. Do you need these removed also. You are not clear on this or I do not understand what is next? this sentence above seems to indicate that ")" is another issue.

You said delete these only - You have house code "." devices for mcsSprinklers zones. Delete all the devices with this house code.

Do I want MCS to control valves directly in my setup.... and ")" is another issue? What do I have to do about that?




I did not create the "." housecode . Will they get created again?

I have seen devices not assigned, wrong assigned, new devices duplicated over and over.
Am I accurate on what I have listed and seen on this issue?


See screen shot below.

Still does not work - no serial communications in log.

Did I remove the devices - not clear if they are somewhere else??

"You have house code "." devices for mcsSprinklers zones. Delete all the devices with this house code."

Stopped and restarted HS and MCS.

[Richard]

Continued not working. MCS can not communicate with Rain8net.

debug logs again.

[Michael McSharry]

In the last email the debug showed the unexpected "." house code and that was causing issue with knowing about ")" house code. I asked that you remove the "." ones. After a restart I expected the issue to be resolved. Apparently is has not been. Show the debug with startup sequence now that the "." devices have been removed. Include an attempt to manually control a valve from General Status page.

[Richard]

In the last email the debug showed the unexpected "." house code and that was causing issue with knowing about ")" house code. I asked that you remove the "." ones. After a restart I expected the issue to be resolved. Apparently is has not been. Show the debug with startup sequence now that the "." devices have been removed. Include an attempt to manually control a valve from General Status page.

attached debug........

Does HS have a house code assigned?

Why doesn't the MCS application ask - " what house code should I use "?

House codes that are automatically assigned "." are incorrect, and others?

[Richard]

No communication....

Debug startup.

[Michael McSharry]

Does HS have a house code assigned?

Why doesn't the MCS application ask - " what house code should I use "?

House codes that are automatically assigned "." are incorrect, and others?

HS owns the house codes and gives them to a plugin when a plugin asks for one. mcsSprinklers first looks in the HS devices and sees if a house code has previously been given. If it has then it will use the one it finds. If not it will ask for a new one. You should look in the plugin API from HST if you want to better understand house codes.

In the debug I see the following. These should also be visible in the Serial IO page. This looks to me as if normal control of the valves is occurring.

NET(0) OUT | 40, 02, 42
NET IN | 40, 02, 42 Valve Command Acknowledge
NET(0) OUT | 40, 01, 35
NET IN | 40, 01, 35 Valve Command Acknowledge
NET IN | 40, 02, 00 Status Response

What is the issue that you are having now?

[Richard]

Rain8net will not communicate - Finale

Wanted to get a reply back on this outage and the solution. As you know MCS does a number of "hidden processes / adaptations" and the failed communications of the MCS Pro to Rain8net stopped me dead. It went from working to no control.

I observed that the internal MCS "communication test" was working
and my troubleshooting use of putty to Rain8net sessions - always worked

The issue was due to HS assigning the "." that I could not delete in the HS web page - devices "delete" process. I was able to remove them by accessing them in the HS device DB.

MCS Support stated ..." You have house code "." devices for mcsSprinklers zones. Delete all the devices with this house code."
Again, the problem was they would not delete with the web page process!

MCS Support / information - The "." is the provided by HS first in the enumeration of devices so mcsSprinklers believes "." devices are the ones it needs to control. When a ")" device is commanded, mcsSprinklers forwards the command to HS rather than controlling it itself. This is why your valve is not being controlled via HS device control. The communication test works because it bypasses HS and commands the Rain8Net hardware directly.

After the removal, I was left with;

)32 Rain8
)31 Rain8
)30 Rain8
)29 Rain8 and so on.....

and communication to Rain8net valves and proper control.

From all the collective troubleshooting done in the last few weeks, removing them allowed the Rain8net devices to communicate with MCS / HS.

You might have a more detailed and a complete explanation that I would welcome, since in some ways as the end user; I am only working with a sealed "black box". The internal re-direction to the wrong device that was not the Rain8net, kept this all from working.

I want to thank you for your help, ... and in a different way, as the result of my frustration and your information, I determined that a deep dive was needed and I had to find out the source of the "." device assignment error.

MCS works great again.