Matt-
And to any other SG user who is considering HS-
As Matt is finding out, HS is not a quick drop-in solution for the loss of the SG IVR/Phone board - nor is it a replacement for your SG schedule. HS is a pretty different animal all together. Think of HS as an add-on to SG, not necessarily as a way to replace SG functions. That said, HS can replace many of the things that the IVR/Phone board could do, but not all (i.e., no intercom). If that's what you're looking for, you'll need HS, HSPhone, the Way2Call and the JDS plugin - yes, it adds up. As has been said many times on this forum - leave your SG system and schedule alone at first - just slowly add new functionality and replace old functionality via HS as you learn.
The main limitation of the SG/HS combination is the SG communication protocol. SG does not make all information available to the COM link. If it doesn't go down the COM link, then HS (or any other PC interface) doesn't know about it. One example of that is SG's RS-485 bus.
As for thermostats, you have two choices. 1) Leave them attached to SG as always, or 2) buy a separate HS plugin and attach them to the HS PC. If it already works attached to SG, then why mess with it? As you learn how SG and HS work together, you'll find ways for HS to control the thermostats attached to SG (via flags and/or variables).
Matt - as far as your on-board relays not working - turn on all the debugging, try the relays a few times and send the resulting logs to RJ. The relays are working for most of us - hopefully he can find out why it isn't working for you.
I have been successfully using HS 1.7 and the previous JDS plugin for years. Clearly we are in the midst of growing pains as a result of HS 2.0 and RJ's update of the plugin. HS takes a little getting used to, but once you get into it, I'm pretty sure you'll find it was worth the effort because of all the other things that HS can do for you.
Mark
And to any other SG user who is considering HS-
As Matt is finding out, HS is not a quick drop-in solution for the loss of the SG IVR/Phone board - nor is it a replacement for your SG schedule. HS is a pretty different animal all together. Think of HS as an add-on to SG, not necessarily as a way to replace SG functions. That said, HS can replace many of the things that the IVR/Phone board could do, but not all (i.e., no intercom). If that's what you're looking for, you'll need HS, HSPhone, the Way2Call and the JDS plugin - yes, it adds up. As has been said many times on this forum - leave your SG system and schedule alone at first - just slowly add new functionality and replace old functionality via HS as you learn.
The main limitation of the SG/HS combination is the SG communication protocol. SG does not make all information available to the COM link. If it doesn't go down the COM link, then HS (or any other PC interface) doesn't know about it. One example of that is SG's RS-485 bus.
As for thermostats, you have two choices. 1) Leave them attached to SG as always, or 2) buy a separate HS plugin and attach them to the HS PC. If it already works attached to SG, then why mess with it? As you learn how SG and HS work together, you'll find ways for HS to control the thermostats attached to SG (via flags and/or variables).
Matt - as far as your on-board relays not working - turn on all the debugging, try the relays a few times and send the resulting logs to RJ. The relays are working for most of us - hopefully he can find out why it isn't working for you.
I have been successfully using HS 1.7 and the previous JDS plugin for years. Clearly we are in the midst of growing pains as a result of HS 2.0 and RJ's update of the plugin. HS takes a little getting used to, but once you get into it, I'm pretty sure you'll find it was worth the effort because of all the other things that HS can do for you.
Mark
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