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    Is this plug-in dead?

    In the interest of getting off of the old ADI Ocelot plug-in from Michael McSharry I decided to move to this .NET plug-in. Several things seem to not work, and I don't know if there is something I am doing wrong. My gut tells me that if something really doesn't work, there is no hope of getting HST to fix it at this point. Here's the things I'm seeing:
    1. I have a watchdog CMAX snippet that does a periodic (every 10 minutes) handshake with HS. It sets a variable to 1, and I have an event that is triggered by that value. The event then sets the value to 9, which tells the Ocelot that HS is up and running. It will then set it back to 1 after 10 minutes. If after 10 minutes it doesn't see the 9, the Ocelot turns a relay ON and then back OFF that is connected to the reset button on the computer. I can see that the event properly sets the value of the device to 9, but as far as I can tell that value is never set to the Ocelot. I can't interpret the debug output from the plug-in.
    2. The debug log indicates that all 8 of my RLY8 relays are off. Well, actually it says that all the relays from '/9' through '/16' are OFF, and my relay devices that the plug-in created are actually '/1' through '/8', and two of them are almost always ON. Turning them ON and OFF from the HS status page seems to work, but the debug log would seem to indicate that the plug-in doesn't see the correct status from the Ocelot.
    3. I have a couple of scripts that used the cpuxa.SetVar() method. I added the stuff that the .NET plug-in requires to set the cpuxa object to point to the plug-in, but as far as I can tell it doesn't actually do anything.
    The 3 ADI modules I have are pretty critical to my set-up, but getting the other plug-in to work under Windows 7 was a nightmare (and gave me no access to a config page). I really need to be able to get this to work. Anyone have similar issues and (hopefully) some ways to fix them?

    Steve
    Last edited by stevea; January 11, 2012, 11:11 AM. Reason: Typo

    #2
    Steve,

    I still use this plugin.

    From what I can remember, SetVar did not work, however at the time my Ocelot Watchdog used X10 as the means to set flags within CMAX so it was never an issue for me.

    I can confirm that Homeseer sets inputs and outputs correctly and this is reflected when running CMAX to monitor the status of the Ocelot.

    PlayRemoteIR also works on my system.
    Jon

    Comment


      #3
      Jon,

      Thanks for that. I have confirmed (just forgot to mention in my previous note) that my IR CMAX code and my PlayIR P-I methods do seem to work. I don't currently have an X10 I/F hooked up to the Ocelot, but I think I probably have one laying around. I assume the way this would work is that you don't enble the Ocelot P-I for X10 in HS, and simply use an X10 device code as the handshake, controlling it within CMAX and then sensing the change within HS, right?

      If I thought that the Comms were working, I can use DeviceValue instead of SetVar, but neither seems to be visable to CMAX. Since it worked with the old non-.NET plugin, I know it is not the device. Sigh...

      I guess this means I need to dust off the brain cells on CMAX again....

      Steve

      Comment


        #4
        Steve,

        Here is my post on the Addicon forum from early 2003!

        Hi,

        My Homeseer Watchdog is even simpler. As I had not connected my SECU-16 at the time, I used X10.

        I have modified my HomeSeer PC with a dual pole 12V relay which shorts out BOTH the reset and power switches.

        I have a 12V supply in series with the relay and universal module set to timed. Homeseer sends out a heartbeat every 15 mins which the Ocelot receives and resets its timers. If it misses more than 2 heartbeats (actually 4 on-off,on-off), it sends out an X10 command to the universal module.

        The system works very well both with a power failure and if Homeseer stops responding. As the universal module only trips for about 1-2secs, it does not turn the ATX power supply off, but resets the PC. Likewise, if the machine gets turned off or fails to self start after a power failure, the universal module will pulse the power switch.

        The PC does not mind if both buttons are pressed together at the same time.

        The system has never failed since this was installed!

        Here is the C-Max code:

        0001 If Timer#0 is = 0 //Start timer 0
        0002 Then Timer#0 is = 1 //Start timer 0
        0003 If X10 P/1 is received //X10 heartbeat from Homeseer PC
        0004 Then Timer#0 is = 1 //Reset timer
        0005 If Timer#0 becomes > 1800 //No heartbeat received for 30mins
        0006 Then turnX10 P/2 ON //Universal module P2 on
        0007 Then Timer#0 is =1 //Reset timer 0
        0008 End of Program

        Remember that when a Universal module is in timed mode it only responds to a 'on' command.

        Using this code, you can just also use an appliance module on the PC's supply so long as you have the bios set to 'start on power failure'

        0001 If Timer#0 is = 0 //Start timer 0
        0002 Then Timer#0 is = 1 //Start timer 0
        0003 If X10 P/1 is received //X10 heartbeat from Homeseer PC
        0004 Then Timer#0 is = 1 //Reset timer
        0005 If Timer#0 becomes > 1800 //No heartbeat received for 30mins
        0006 Then turnX10 P/2 OFF //Appliance module P2 off
        0007 Then Timer#1 is =1 //Start timer 1
        0008 Then Timer#0 is =1 //Reset timer 0
        0009 If Timer#1 becomes > 1 // After 1 second
        0010 Then turnX10 P/2 on //Appliance module P2 on
        0011 Then Timer#1 is = 0 //Stop Timer 1
        0012 End of Program

        Jon
        Jon

        Comment


          #5
          Wow Jon! I can't remember stuff I posted her three months ago!

          I'll give it a look. I used to like my old Watchdog setup, but since I did a new i5/Win7 build for HS I haven't hooked up the reset lines: Good thing given the issues I'm having with the .NET plug-in. Your CMAX should provide me a good starting point, so thank you very much.

          Steve

          Comment


            #6
            Well, I didn't end up using Jon's code but replaced the existing variable handshake with two X10 devices, one turned ON and OFF by the Ocelot and the other by HS. I ran it all day Sunday and it appears to work well.

            In the process of working with this I seem to have gotten more specific info on what works and what doesn't work, and I'm not sure I understand. I had been using an immediate script statement in the event to try and set the device value in my old watchdog script. Similary, I used immediate script statements to reset either the "Successful Heartbeat" count or the "Watchdog Reboots" count. My startup script was also setting the "Watchdog Enable" variable to 1 to start the timer. None of these seemed to be picked up by the Ocelot. If the heartbeat count was up to say 100 when I did the reset, after a few minutes it would show up in the status page as 101. More troubling, the startup script setting the enable to one wasn't picked up, so the watchdog was not even starting.

            On a hunch, I started changing some of the immediate script statements in events to device actions, since one of the options is to set a device value. I did this with all of the above items, and it seems to work fine. So I don't understand it, but script statements (hs.SetDeviceValueByName()) don't work, but the device action does. Does anyone else use script statements to set device values on the Ocelot variables?

            Sad thing is, if I knew this I could have left my watchdog script the way it was, and not have to depend on X10. Oh well!

            Steve

            Comment


              #7
              I use hs.setdevicevalues on the ocelot variables all the time, but i am not on this plugin, I am on the MCS? (ADIOcelot) i thnk its called.. I will set a value to 100 for on and 0 for off.. then in my ocelot i look for the variable to change and operate on it accordingly...

              so say for my HVAC zone dampers i will say hs.setdevicevalue "$47",100

              and in CMAX when i see that variable number go to 100 i close the relay...

              I have a watchdog type thing running as well.. I have a timer in the ocelot.. and if a variable doesnt get reset to 0 before a timer expires then the ocelot goes into a fail-safe mode for HVAC systems...

              example of how I talk to ocelot
              Code:
                  If heatpumpenable = True Then           ' heat pumps are enabled
                      If hs.DeviceValue("$50") = 0 Then   'tell ocelot to disable the gas heat
                          hs.SetDeviceValue "$50", 100
                      End If
                      
                  Else                                        'heat pumps are disabled
                      If hs.DeviceValue("$50") = 100 Then     'tell ocelot to enable gas heat
                          hs.SetDeviceValue "$50", 0
                      End If
                  End If
              PerfecTemp - the Most advanced HVAC system I've ever Built - and its in my House

              Comment


                #8
                Cadillackid,

                Thanks for that. I was using the older ADIOcelot non-.NET plug-in until recently, and the hs.SetDeviceValue() worked fine. Upon "upgrading" to the .NET version from HST it quit working.

                I'm thinking about switching back to my previous CMAX code now that I know the device action seems to work, just to let it run and see how the watchdog goes.

                Steve

                Comment


                  #9
                  what is HST recommended method to set variables headed down to the ocelot? is it something not supported in the .NET plugin or is it just broken?

                  I'd Like to be on the .NET plugin as well.. I feel like COM plugins will be a thing of the past with HS3 esp the linux version that id like to be able to run...
                  -Christopher
                  PerfecTemp - the Most advanced HVAC system I've ever Built - and its in my House

                  Comment


                    #10
                    I thought ALL the existing plugins were a thing of the past with HS3, and that all plugin providers would have to compile new versions when HS3 comes out. That is to say, no existing plugin will work without change with HS3. Am I mistaken?

                    Comment


                      #11
                      I stand corrected. According to Rich on this post (http://board.homeseer.com/showpost.p...4&postcount=18) only the linux versions should require changes. That's assuming this is still true.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Originally posted by cadillackid View Post
                        what is HST recommended method to set variables headed down to the ocelot? is it something not supported in the .NET plugin or is it just broken?

                        I'd Like to be on the .NET plugin as well.. I feel like COM plugins will be a thing of the past with HS3 esp the linux version that id like to be able to run...
                        -Christopher
                        I hate to say it, but you probably should verify it for yourself rather than accept my experience as proof. Although I don't know how it could happen, it may be that you find you can update variables. It may be just me, or something else in my system.

                        Steve

                        Comment


                          #13
                          I hope the Ocelot is compatable with HS3 also.... Im using it here and it works great...

                          Comment

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