Can't Connect to Panel

[nick_nj]

I'm having an issue with Homeseer and my Caddx NX-8e. I had it working before; I've double checked my settings with the instructions on the sticky. I just can't get my panel to talk with Homeseer.

Here is the content of my log...

9/30/2006 8:11:16 PM __NEW__
9/30/2006 8:11:16 PM hsCaddx Started on COM 3 DEBUG_LEVEL = 3
9/30/2006 8:11:17 PM CaddxComm::refresh_zone_status() - Total Groups of Zones: 3
9/30/2006 8:11:17 PM CaddxComm::send_panel(): ||0225002750||
9/30/2006 8:11:18 PM CaddxComm::send_panel(): ||0225012851||
9/30/2006 8:11:18 PM CaddxComm::send_panel(): ||0225022952||
9/30/2006 8:11:19 PM CaddxComm::check_port(): $read_port = ||09860001000840620480BEED||
9/30/2006 8:11:19 PM CaddxComm::send_panel(): ||0226002852||
9/30/2006 8:11:21 PM CaddxComm::check_port(): $read_port = ||09860001000840620480BEED||
9/30/2006 8:11:24 PM CaddxComm::check_port(): $read_port = ||09860001000840620480BEED||
9/30/2006 8:11:26 PM CaddxComm::check_port(): $read_port = ||09860001000840620480BEED||
9/30/2006 8:11:29 PM CaddxComm::check_port(): $read_port = ||09860001000840620480BEED||
9/30/2006 8:11:31 PM CaddxComm::check_port(): $read_port = ||09860001000840620480BEED||
9/30/2006 8:11:34 PM CaddxComm::check_port(): $read_port = ||09860001000840620480BEED||
9/30/2006 8:11:36 PM CaddxComm::check_port(): $read_port = ||09860001000840620480BEED||
9/30/2006 8:11:39 PM CaddxComm::check_port(): $read_port = ||09860001000840620480BEED||
9/30/2006 8:11:41 PM CaddxComm::check_port(): $read_port = ||09860001000840620480BEED||
9/30/2006 8:11:44 PM CaddxComm::check_port(): $read_port = ||09860001000840620480BEED||
9/30/2006 8:11:46 PM CaddxComm::check_port(): $read_port = ||09860001000840620480BEED||
9/30/2006 8:11:49 PM CaddxComm::check_port(): $read_port = ||09860001000840620480BEED||
9/30/2006 8:11:51 PM CaddxComm::check_port(): $read_port = ||09860001000840620480BEED||
9/30/2006 8:11:54 PM CaddxComm::check_port(): $read_port = ||09860001000840620480BEED||
9/30/2006 8:11:56 PM CaddxComm::check_port(): $read_port = ||09860001000840620480BEED||
9/30/2006 8:12:04 PM CaddxComm::check_port(): $read_port = ||09860001000840620480BEED||
9/30/2006 8:12:04 PM CaddxComm::check_port(): $read_port = ||09860001000840620480BEED||
9/30/2006 8:12:04 PM CaddxComm::check_port(): $read_port = ||09860001000840620480BEED||
9/30/2006 8:12:06 PM CaddxComm::check_port(): $read_port = ||09860001000840620480BEED||
9/30/2006 8:12:08 PM CaddxComm::send_panel(): ||03BE0101C34B||
9/30/2006 8:12:09 PM CaddxComm::check_port(): $read_port = ||09860001000840620480BEED||
9/30/2006 8:12:11 PM CaddxComm::check_port(): $read_port = ||09860001000840620480BEED||
9/30/2006 8:12:14 PM CaddxComm::send_panel(): ||03BE0101C34B||
9/30/2006 8:12:14 PM CaddxComm::check_port(): $read_port = ||09860001000840620480BEED||
9/30/2006 8:12:16 PM CaddxComm::check_port(): $read_port = ||09860001000840620480BEED||
9/30/2006 8:12:19 PM CaddxComm::check_port(): $read_port = ||09860001000840620480BEED||
9/30/2006 8:12:21 PM CaddxComm::check_port(): $read_port = ||09860001000840620480BEED||


Any ideas?

[stevenslosangeles]

Checklist worked for me

---Is red edge of Serial Cable facing edge of the NX8E board? ... it goes backwards

---Did you connect Serial Cable from NX8E board to your device with a Null Modem Adapator or cable (straight thru does not work)

---Did you program the LCD keypad according to the data parameters set out by Nitrox "Complete Install Instructions"? - On my system I found that contrary to Nitrox instructions that if you had to change a data parameter that you have to hit " * " to save the change THEN hit " # " to exit the location....Nitrox mentions only to enter the " # " ...which will NOT save any changes you make to a data parameter...I had some probs at first until I discovered this and then I was on-the-air.

I hope this helps.

Stevenslosangeles

[nick_nj]

Thanks!

Yes the ribbon cable has the red towards the edge of the board; I did follow the Complete Install Instructions and I did press * to after programming the desired values.

I had this working with the trial version of Homeseer. I reloaded the OS and purchased a license for Homeseer; ever since it isn't working.

[jasv]

Looking a the output of your serial port...

Taking a glance at your output from the port it looks like the panel is connected to your PC just fine.

The message you are sending the panel (0225002750) is a partition snapshot request and a partion status request(0226002852). You are receiving a "partition status" message that seems courrupt (I am not 100% sure). The last four digits are a checksum and they appear to be off.
I would recommend that you reset your caddx panel and try again. By resetting, I mean shutting off the power and disconnecting the battery. The other thing you could try is re-installing the caddx plugin.

[nick_nj]

Thanks!

I powered everything down for a few minutes. I'm not getting different information in the log...

10/1/2006 11:04:15 AM __NEW__
10/1/2006 11:04:15 AM hsCaddx Started on COM 3 DEBUG_LEVEL = 3
10/1/2006 11:04:16 AM CaddxComm::refresh_zone_status() - Total Groups of Zones: 3
10/1/2006 11:04:16 AM CaddxComm::send_panel(): ||0225002750||
10/1/2006 11:04:17 AM CaddxComm::send_panel(): ||0225012851||
10/1/2006 11:04:17 AM CaddxComm::send_panel(): ||0225022952||
10/1/2006 11:04:18 AM CaddxComm::check_port(): $read_port = ||0B81352F33386200FA0700591893||
10/1/2006 11:04:18 AM CaddxComm::send_panel(): ||0226002852||
10/1/2006 11:04:20 AM CaddxComm::check_port(): $read_port = ||0B81352F33386200FA0700591893||
10/1/2006 11:04:23 AM CaddxComm::check_port(): $read_port = ||0B81352F33386200FA0700591893||
10/1/2006 11:04:24 AM CaddxComm::send_panel(): ||03BE0101C34B||
10/1/2006 11:04:26 AM CaddxComm::check_port(): $read_port = ||0B81352F33386200FA0700591893||
10/1/2006 11:04:28 AM CaddxComm::check_port(): $read_port = ||0B81352F33386200FA0700591893||


I also realized that I don't have a "Caddx Plug in" button across the top of my Homeseer menu like indicated in the Complete Install Instructions.

Should that button be there?

[Alconnell]

You won't see a menu button with HS2. It is under Setup/Interfaces/Caddx where you would configure it. You should probably check all the tabs under the config to make sure they are proper, since it does look like the panel is connected. Also, you can specify verbose logging which may help debug this.

[nick_nj]

OK still no communication. I have the same things in my log file as above; I tried multiple COM ports (two onboard and another two in an expansion card) -- no go. I verified that each of these COM ports works OK with my CMA11 X10 interface.

I've uninstalled HomeSeer and deleted the directory and reinstalled multiple times. Still can't get any interaction between the panel and Homeseer besides what is listed in the log.

Any other ideas? Thanks for the help.

[jasv]

You are connected

I can tell you that you are connected to the caddx panel. The message you posted as "0B81352F33386200FA0700591893" is an "interface configuration message" that requires an awknowledgement from the plug in. There is no awknowledgement coming from the plugin and because of that the panel keeps sending the message. I don't think Nitrox's plugin has the ability to handle all the caddx messages. If you were not connected to the panel you would not be receiving that message. The readport would either receive garbage or nothing at all.

I would revisit my panel set up and make sure you did not turn on too many of the paramaters. If you are using dl900 make sure that the transition messages turned on are the only ones that Nitrox has identfied to be on.

For the NX8E Look at Location 210 segment 1, data 2. If it is on, it is telling the panel to send you a mesage anytime anything has been configured. Turn it off and the message should go away.

I am in the process of finishing a plugin using .NET for the caddx panel. It is working pretty well in two locations. It will be available for free and at some time I will also make the source code available for free. It supports a lot features I felt were useful. But I would guess I am 2-3 weeks from feeling comfortable in putting it out there.

[AZshooter]

new plug-in??

I am in the process of finishing a plugin using .NET for the caddx panel. It is working pretty well in two locations. It will be available for free and at some time I will also make the source code available for free. It supports a lot features I felt were useful. But I would guess I am 2-3 weeks from feeling comfortable in putting it out there.

Not to hijack the thread, but JasV: will you support multiple partitions? Were you able to make messages to the LCD keypad's display "stick"? Care to provide some details of your plug-in?

I for one would be very interested in a new plug-in that has strong support from the author (and source code available is a real plus). Thanks for your work!

[jasv]

Keypad Messages

The way I understand it the keypad messages are only temporary. You send the message to the keypad for a specified period of time. More of an issue is that the doc says it only supports NX148e keypads. But I would imagine it supports NX1192e keypads as well.

The other option is to send each keypad a custom message but it would be permanent. I haven't finished coding these features but hopefully I will by next week. The things I've tested so far include

• All of the Nitrox Caddx features
• Bypassing zones
• Event Triggers based on zones going into a status faulted, bypassed, normal, or bypassed&Faulted
• Event actions that chime, Arm, Disarm, or trigger an Aux
• Creating the HS devices representing a zone using the Panel's custom text for a zone such as "kitchen"
• Showing the status of panel such as "ready", "Siren Blaring", "Fire", etc
• There are some other panel type stuff that I am displaying at the device level such as Zone type, etc.

Things I am working on inlcude

• Fixing bugs
• Ability to change Zone Name (description) both for HS and the panel
• Ability to change custom messages
• Triggers based on an alarm code being entered. Something like entering 2054 on the caddx keypad will turn the alarm on and trigger an HS event

I wasn't planning on supporting multiple partitions but I don't see that as a big effort. I thought about using them but I didn't see anything of value as a homeowner. How are you using multiple partitions?



I am doing this mostly to manage my vacation home and because it is a lot of fun. If I am missing anything cool, let me know and I will see if it can be implemented.

[drodegeb]

That sounds like a nice feature set. Would you mind a beta tester???

[jasv]

Sure

It would be great to have some beta testers. I will contact you in a week or so.

[drodegeb]

Thanks

[nick_nj]

Well, I made a little bit of progress. I got the panel to send a difference ASCII string. My panel continues to send ||098600010008400104805DC9|| every few seconds. You'll see in the log excerpt below that HomeSeer asked the panel to turn the chime off (i.e., ||03BE0101C34B||) but the panel just continued with ||098600010008400104805DC9|| and didn't change the chime.

Any ideas? Does anyone know what this string translates to?
Thank you.

10/5/2006 6:42:23 PM __NEW__
10/5/2006 6:42:23 PM hsCaddx Started on COM 1 DEBUG_LEVEL = 3
10/5/2006 6:42:23 PM CaddxComm::refresh_zone_status() - Total Groups of Zones: 3
10/5/2006 6:42:23 PM CaddxComm::send_panel(): ||0225002750||
10/5/2006 6:42:24 PM CaddxComm::send_panel(): ||0225012851||
10/5/2006 6:42:25 PM CaddxComm::send_panel(): ||0225022952||
10/5/2006 6:42:25 PM CaddxComm::check_port(): $read_port = ||098600010008400104805DC9||
10/5/2006 6:42:25 PM CaddxComm::send_panel(): ||0226002852||
10/5/2006 6:42:27 PM CaddxComm::check_port(): $read_port = ||098600010008400104805DC9||
10/5/2006 6:42:30 PM CaddxComm::check_port(): $read_port = ||098600010008400104805DC9||
10/5/2006 6:42:32 PM CaddxComm::send_panel(): ||03BE0101C34B||
10/5/2006 6:42:32 PM CaddxComm::check_port(): $read_port = ||098600010008400104805DC9||

[jasv]

Translating the message

Please note I had uploaded the wrong "send message script". Please download the CaddxEvent.txt instead. Sorry for the confusion.


The message 098600010008400104805DC9 is the panel telling you about a change in your partition status. It is expecting an awknowledgement from the plug in. The documentation warns that you need to send awknowledgements or the panel will go into a state where it keeps sending the same info.

I've attached 3 vb scripts to this post. Download them and put them in the HS script directory. Edit them for the right com port (from 14 to yours).

Shutdown the Caddx plugin and then execute the open script. The sendmessage script will execute by itself each time the port sends a message (the message it receives will be written to the log). This script will send awknowledgement messages to the panel as long as it keeps receiving messages that require an awknoledgement. After a few times you should see the message in the logs become something else. After the messages change, execute the closeCom script and restart the caddx plugin.

Hopefully after that you won't have any more problems. I have seen the behaviour you are seeing happen a couple of times over the last year. Hopefully it won't happen to you again.