Omni/Ocelot Integration

[myamigo]

Hi:

I've prewired my home for everything (network/video/audio/security/IR/automation). I'm now researching controllers and have questions on system integration.

I know that the Omni series wasn't designed to support IR directly (although I understand that capability could be implemented using the serial port connected to a dedicated IR contoller I'm not interested in doing this). I am considering using the ADI Ocelot for the IR functions and the Omni for security. I like that the Ocelot has 2048 lines of programming capability and am considering offloading some of the security functions and all of the automation to it.

I'm thinking of buying an OmniLT to get me basic security functionality and Stat control (only 100 programming lines but not a problem) and will add Ocelot expansion modules to provide additional security zones and outputs. To manage the exchange of security zone inputs from the Ocelot to the Omni I can use X10 or serial communication.

My goal is system reliability and ensuring integrity even when HS is down.

Questions:

I'd guess I'd need to use 2 COM ports on my PC to connect to both the Omni and the Ocelot and another serial connectrion between the Omni and the Ocelot. Has anyone done this sort of thing and how difficult might the Omni/Ocelot serial interface be to implement.

Page #44 of Worthingtons' catalog (http://www.worthdist.com/catalog/044.pdf) mentions part ADIBCHAI which is an "RS232 OmniLink connection for HAI computers". This sounds very relevant and interesting but I can't find any more informtion on it. Does anyone have anything on this? Can the interface be used to provide the comm path from the PC to the Ocelot thus avoiding the use of dedicated ports for both devices?

Would the X10 interface be reliable enough to exchange security and automation info? What kind of speed would it run at (response times).

Any issues with using the Omni plug-in with the Ocelot in the same system?

If the Omni is enabled for remote and local telephone (# or ring-twice/hangup/callback/#) how does HS know not to intercept the attention command (#) request? Can the attention button/tone (#) be changed on either the Omni or on HS Phone switch to eliminate the conflict?


This board is great! Thanks for the help!

[JLehnert]

Unfortunately, the HAI Bobcat is still vaporware. When it arrives it should provide connectivity from an HAI serial port to the ADI bus, thus bypassing the PC for HAI<->ADI communications. Hopefully the ADI guys will get it out for the EH expo later this month.

Assuming you have the Omni and Ocelot in the same general vicinity, X10 should be fairly reliable. The further apart they get, the more X10 bugs (interference, weak signals, etc.) crop up. I used X10 semaphores for HS/HAI communications until the HAI plugin arrived.

There was a minor issue with having both the Ocelot and HAI plugins installed, but GC resolved it. Look in the "polling interval" thread.

I tossed HSP, and never use the Omni telephone capabilities, so can't help you there.

My system is described in my profile.

[myamigo]

Do you know if the HAI Bobcat would allow Ocelot zones to be interpretted as Omni zones to provide for zone bypass detection and and other capabilities presently requiring Omni input zones?

It certainly would be good to get some more information on this device!

[myamigo]

I found a post on another site which mentions that the HAI Interface as coming way back in July-2000. So much for time to market concerns!

http://www.netbloc.com/ecs.misc/ecs-...msg00126.shtml

[GC]

Mr. Hurst,

The HAI Bobcat would not work at all with the HAI plugin as there is no such thing as an HAI Bobcat. The Bobcat modules are part of the Ocelot series by ADI (Applied Digital Inc.) and are totally unrelated. There is a way to make an ADI Ocelot talk to an HAI panel, but that is through a separate serial connection from what HomeSeer is using to talk to the HAI system.

If you can provide more detail on what you are seeking to do, I can probably provide an answer or a way to do it.

FYI... The plugin may have been discussed long ago, but it was only decided that one would be built this summer (2002) and then it took many, many months to get a panel to test with from HAI.

[myamigo]

I understand that ADI now has an RS232 module which will allow a one-way transfer of ASCII to any device... including an Omni (http://www.appdig.com/Bobcats/asciibob.pdf).

The HAI Bobcat doesn't exist yet but apparently it is being worked on. Until it does....

Do you know if the Omni could be setup to monitor virtual zones (i.e. zones that don't physicially exist in the Omni but are instead internal variables that are updated by a dump from the Ocelot to the Omni either by schedule or by event change)? These virtual zones could be bypassed just like physical ones if they are left open during system arming.

If the virtual zone concept is possible I would be able to use the OmniLT (not in a large home right now) and not be concerned about exhausting the limited number of security zones when I build a new home since the Ocelot could be expanded. This form of information exchange would be faster and more reliable than using X10 semaphores to update the zone status'.... especially if there are lots of virtual zones.

[JLehnert]

Hold up there GC with the "no such thing". The HAI Bobcat does exist, but ADI has not released it. Look at some of the links elsewhere in this thread. I'd provide a link to a more detailed post from the APPDIG mailing list, but unfortunately the archives for that list are not searchable. IIRC, ADI was holding off on releasing some of the Bobcats until V2.0 of their compiler is released. The compiler is in beta now, and hopefully will be out by the end of the month.

That said, my curiousity bump has emerged and I think I'll tickle said list to see what the status is.

My system is described in my profile.

[myamigo]

I had downloaded the entire 37MB archive from the APPDIG mailing list to search it(
http://lists.futurestandard.com/pipe...box/cpuxa.mbox) and found references every few months or so. Latest was around July this year and the message every time was that "it is coming".

I tried posting a query as to the current status date but the post didn't stick (I am receiving from the list now but perhaps I wasn't fully setup then). I hope you find something out... especially details on features and programming capabilities.

[This message was edited by Scott Hurst on Friday, 15 November 2002 at 10:13 AM.]