HACS AB8SS Speaker Switcher Plug-In

[bdickhaus]

David,

I updated to the version from the updater. I deleted the devices, recreated them and restarted HomeSeer.

The device string for the A/B device still is stuck on A. The selection does take place, On for A and Off for B. The device status changes to follow that. But not the string. I ran this script when it was off, then turned it on.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">devc = hs.GetDeviceCode("WAF AB8SS Speaker Switcher Input A/B")
hs.writelog "ab8ss test", devc & " status=" & hs.DeviceStatus(devc) & " value=" & hs.DeviceValue(devc) & " string=" & hs.DeviceString(devc) </pre>

And this is the results I got.

7/26/2003 3:20:24 PM~!~ab8ss test~!~)9 status=2 value=1 string=Input A Active
7/26/2003 3:20:36 PM~!~Device control from menu~!~)9 Off
7/26/2003 3:20:43 PM~!~Event Trigger~!~Trigger from menu (test)
7/26/2003 3:20:43 PM~!~ab8ss test~!~)9 status=3 value=0 string=Input A Active

As you can see, the status changes, but the string doesn't.

Bill

[dkindred]

Bill,

Are you able to manually change the DeviceString of the A/B switch? Something like this...

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">
devc = hs.GetDeviceCode("WAF AB8SS Speaker Switcher Input A/B")
hs.SetDeviceString devc, "Test"
</pre>

--David

[stevene]

David,

I removed the devices from the plugin, I removed the plugin.
I stopped HS removed the plug-in files. Re-started the HS,
download the plug-in again from the updater, recreated the
devices restarted homeseer.

This time the devices were created on House Code '#' where
all the previous times it was '$'

And finally this works
devc = hs.GetDeviceCode("WAF AB8SS Speaker Switcher All Speakers")
hs.ExecX10 devc, "off"
or
hs.ExecX10 "#10","off"

I am having the same problem as bill where I can control
A/B but HS shows it always as INPUT A

StevenE

[dkindred]

Gosh, that's so odd. I'm glad that two of you are experiencing it, though, as it takes suspicion away from a particular computer. Steven, would you mind trying the code from the note just above yours to see if you can modify the device string directly?

Thanks,

--David

[stevene]

David,

Yes the script

devc = hs.GetDeviceCode("WAF AB8SS Speaker Switcher Input A/B")
hs.SetDeviceString devc, "Test"

changes it to say 'Test'

Turning on or off the A/B does not return it to normal it just
stays Test.

StevenE

[bdickhaus]

David,

I get identical results. If I set it to "Test" or "" it does not change when I turn the device on and off (but the command is sent to the AB8SS correctly).

If I restart HomeSeer, it goes back to "Input A active". But it does not change.

Bill

[dkindred]

StevenE and Bill,

Thanks for running the test; I appreciate it. That provides me with a bit more information. It looks as if some of my code isn't getting run. I think I'll compile a version of the OCX with a series of msgboxes in that area of code and send to you two to see if we can narrow down *exactly* where the trouble is. Is anyone else seeing this behavior?

Thanks again, guys.

--David

[JimCirillo]

David,

Same here - text is stuck on input A, but unit switches fine.

Everything else works nicely - especially like the way the all on / off tracks the number of active outputs.

I haven't hooked up the second unit yet, but I will be bugging you for the '2nd unit' version by the fall...


Jim

[eaba]

I am very interessted on the AB8SS and will buy two of the devices.

So I went to Ray`s Side and check the UPS-delivery costs to Germany....

And I must sit down imediatly. They ask about 180.-$ shipping costs !!

So I have to look for another way to get those things to Germany.

Have anyone an idea how I can get the delivery cheaper ?

DAVID:
======
I want to switch 12 100 Volt-speakers with this device, so I have no impedance-problems.

As I purchase the Plug-in: Could I have two different copies for the 2 AB8SS also?

--------------------

Greetings from Germany and sorry for my bad english.

Eric

[Pete]

Eric, I get a large discount for international shipping. A guesstimate would be less than $50.00 USD. Let me know what you want to do.

[dkindred]

Hi, Eric.

I think your English is terrific!

I had an IM chat with Ray yesterday in Thailand. He should be back in the States tomorrow. Anyway, he said that the switcher would work fine for your 100V speaker switching application. It's robust enough.

He said that for shipping overseas, he often uses EMS, for they are very reasonable. He went to their website and came up with this estimate for shipping to you. $38 for 3-5 days. That's not too bad.

He didn't have any 240VAC/50 to 12VDC power adapters, so he said that he'd discount the price of the switcher by $5 for you, if you provided your own.

Tchuß,

--David

[bdickhaus]

David,

Any progress on the three problems I'm still encountering?

- the eventual lockup of the plug-in requiring an HS restart

- these errors:
8/31/2003 6:49:57 PM~!~AB8SS Plug-in Diagnostic~!~ Routine: tmrExecuteCommands_Timer() Error (13): Type mismatch

- and the problem with the A/B setting always saying its on A even though its been switched to B?

If it was just me I might think it was something to do with my setup, but others have reported all three problems.

Bill

[eaba]

Thanks Pete and David.

PETE:

I think the EMS had the better price for me.

Anyway: thanks a lot for your offer.


David:

Thank you for this information.

Do you know, can I pay with my AmericanExpressCard or Visa by Ray ?

Eric

[dkindred]

Bill,

I have been working on the plug-in, but I do not know if I have definitively determined what the lockup problem is yet. What I have done is made a debug mode which places information in the log which may help us track it down. One of the items that is written to the log is when a poll of the unit is attempted. The type mismatch error you've seen occurred, I believe, when the date/time was being placed in a variable that had been defined as variant, instead of date. That variable kept track of the last polling event. It's possible that, if the variable did not contain the proper date/time, the polling routine would not be called, and caused the lockup. I'm not certain. But, with the debug version enabled, at least we'll be able to tell when an attempt is being made. That will provide us one clue. What I am holding off implementing immediately is a fail-safe that will close then reopen the COM port. I'd rather find what is causing the problem (if it's the plug-in vs. the switcher) rather than apply a panacea where it's not necessary.

I've changed the code around a bit for changing the status text, so it may work on your machine, now.

If you're up for it, contact me directly, and I'll send you the current build to test.

Thanks,

--David

[dkindred]

Eric,

I believe he accepts PayPal.

--David