Monoprice 6 zone amplifier plugin

[happnatious1]

Well I got it running after trying about a dozen Virtual Serial port emulators. The one that I got working first costs $250USD ouch. I got it working via VSPE next, but haven't looked into the license cost yet. I already have a license for VirtualUSB for my HTC Vive/TPCast so I will look into whether I can set that up or not, or if my license is valid for other purposes.

What this does is present a new issue. I will need to set up HomeSeer as a Service with autostart, and somehow do the same for whatever VirtualUSB server I chose to go with. What forum would you recommend for hashing out those issues?

Cheers, and thanks for the plug-in! Working 100% now.

Originally I had it hooked up using one of the antaira device shown above. They are $99 and come with the virtual com software for free. This made it easy to switch back and forth between my live homeseer and a development one. now it's hooked up to one of these http://www.antaira.com/products/USB-to-Serial/UTS-404A which is plugged into my ESXI server and connected to a Ubuntu based virtual machine running Homeseer. There are some posts on this BBS about running Homeseer as a service and the problems it creates.

[Lee_L]

Originally I had it hooked up using one of the antaira device shown above. They are $99 and come with the virtual com software for free. This made it easy to switch back and forth between my live homeseer and a development one. now it's hooked up to one of these http://www.antaira.com/products/USB-to-Serial/UTS-404A which is plugged into my ESXI server and connected to a Ubuntu based virtual machine running Homeseer. There are some posts on this BBS about running Homeseer as a service and the problems it creates.

I'm running ESXI with HS3 on Ubuntu as well. Just downloaded your plugin. Where does the zip file need to be unzipped to? Do you have any documentation as to what files go where?

[happnatious1]

I'm running ESXI with HS3 on Ubuntu as well. Just downloaded your plugin. Where does the zip file need to be unzipped to? Do you have any documentation as to what files go where?

Open the zip file and look at readme.txt.

[DaveW42]

Dear Happnatious,

Thanks so much for creating the Monoprice plugin!! It works really well, is simple to use, and is highly reliable. I've never had any problems with it.

Do you think at some point in time you might have an opportunity to extend the plugin, so it could handle more Monoprice units? I have three (one main and two slave units). I'm not a programmer, but I would be happy to assist in any way that I could in helping test and troubleshoot things. Please let me know your thoughts on this ...

Thanks again!

Dave

[happnatious1]

My plan is to rebuild the plug-in two more times with different names, that way you could run 3 different instances of the plug-in and run your three amps separately. Not ideal because you would probabrly have to split sources for consistency and burn up 3 com ports but it will be quick easy and free.

I then want to work on a paid version that will do 3 amps as the manufacturer intended plus have triggers so you can run homeseer events from the keypads. I really hope I can get a multi tap feature working from the keypad for consistency with the new homeseer z wave switches, that would be cool.

Don't know if it's possible but an example would be hit power and it starts playing heavy metal, hit power 3 times quickly and it starts playing smooth jazz. Hit power, vol up, left, right, left and it starts playing country music. I hate country music.

[DaveW42]

Dear Happnatious,

It's great to hear your plans for further development of this plugin! For my part, once I learned your plugin was available, I decided against physically installing any of the Monoprice keypads. In my home, I just finished removing a Whole House Audio system that was installed in 1990 (complete with tape deck), and was happy to have a new solution that didn't involve cutting into drywall and installing the required ethernet in 18 locations! For this reason, I think the new functionality you describe probably would not be available in my circumstance. However, it certainly could be attractive for others who have installed the keypads.

My needs for your plugin would be very simple, just duplicating the existing functionality in your plugin and extending things so that all 18 locations can utilize the six sources. I would definitely be willing to pay for your plugin with just this feature alone.

In terms of features beyond this, the one that I would be interested in the most involves the concept of tying Monoprice zones together. In other words, if zones 1-4 are on the first floor, then have ANY source or volume control for zones 1-4 control all four locations at the same time. Another application involves having two zones in the same room tied to the same source, with one zone feeding a subwoofer to help improve the bass as compared to relying solely on in-wall speakers. Sometimes it's also nice to yoke together zones like this but maintain fixed volume differences as needed (e.g., speakers in the kitchen are -2db compared to everywhere else, since people sit closer to the speakers in the kitchen as compared to elsewhere). I was starting to think about how I would program the above functionality using HS events, but I thought you might be interested to hear it for your purposes as well.

Do you have a sense of the timeframes for your development?

Thanks again for all your work on this!

Dave

[Monk]

Thinking about Monoprice amplifiers

I'm looking for new amplifiers to replace my two aging Russounds. Thus far the Monoprice and the Happnatious plug-in looks to be the only combination that is working well.
Was looking at the HTD's which is probably a good choice but plug-in support is not great. I want it to be controlled by HS - not the manufacturers phone app!

Can anyone tell me what these amps draw (power) when not in use?

[happnatious1]

[happnatious1]

I uploaded the 3 separate amps version at the beginning of this thread. I have no way to test running all 3 plugins at the same time as I only own one amp. If you want to try it please be aware that there is no physical connection between the amps. They are completely separate. You would probably want to wire your sources using audio splitters/splitting cables. Unless someone finds something horribly wrong with these I will move on to developing the HSPI_Marquis_Monoprice_Amp.exe plugin which will be a paid plugin in the homeseer updater. The free versions will remain here.

Dear Happnatious,

It's great to hear your plans for further development of this plugin! For my part, once I learned your plugin was available, I decided against physically installing any of the Monoprice keypads. In my home, I just finished removing a Whole House Audio system that was installed in 1990 (complete with tape deck), and was happy to have a new solution that didn't involve cutting into drywall and installing the required ethernet in 18 locations! For this reason, I think the new functionality you describe probably would not be available in my circumstance. However, it certainly could be attractive for others who have installed the keypads.

My needs for your plugin would be very simple, just duplicating the existing functionality in your plugin and extending things so that all 18 locations can utilize the six sources. I would definitely be willing to pay for your plugin with just this feature alone.

In terms of features beyond this, the one that I would be interested in the most involves the concept of tying Monoprice zones together. In other words, if zones 1-4 are on the first floor, then have ANY source or volume control for zones 1-4 control all four locations at the same time. Another application involves having two zones in the same room tied to the same source, with one zone feeding a subwoofer to help improve the bass as compared to relying solely on in-wall speakers. Sometimes it's also nice to yoke together zones like this but maintain fixed volume differences as needed (e.g., speakers in the kitchen are -2db compared to everywhere else, since people sit closer to the speakers in the kitchen as compared to elsewhere). I was starting to think about how I would program the above functionality using HS events, but I thought you might be interested to hear it for your purposes as well.

Do you have a sense of the timeframes for your development?

Thanks again for all your work on this!

Dave

[mterry63]

I'm looking for new amplifiers to replace my two aging Russounds. Thus far the Monoprice and the Happnatious plug-in looks to be the only combination that is working well.
Was looking at the HTD's which is probably a good choice but plug-in support is not great. I want it to be controlled by HS - not the manufacturers phone app!

Can anyone tell me what these amps draw (power) when not in use?

I have an appliance module on mine and events that track the zone on/off to power off the amp. I can power it on by a virtual device or by playing something on the Plex zones tied to the amp using Blade's Plex plug-in.

I'm using the Monoprice Amp plugin posted elsewhere on the board.


Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[Monk]

Thanks for that Happnatious - my Russounds draw 40W each - with no zones turned on.
Good to know the Monoprice draws considerably less. If only there was a way to control my Russound XM Tuner via the MP keypads. That part I will miss.

[upstatemike]

I uploaded the 3 separate amps version at the beginning of this thread. I have no way to test running all 3 plugins at the same time as I only own one amp. If you want to try it please be aware that there is no physical connection between the amps. They are completely separate. You would probably want to wire your sources using audio splitters/splitting cables. Unless someone finds something horribly wrong with these I will move on to developing the HSPI_Marquis_Monoprice_Amp.exe plugin which will be a paid plugin in the homeseer updater. The free versions will remain here.

I'm wondering if the audio splitters would really be needed? Doesn't the ribbon cable that connects the amps together handle the replication of inputs across the three units?

[happnatious1]

I'm wondering if the audio splitters would really be needed? Doesn't the ribbon cable that connects the amps together handle the replication of inputs across the three units?

Good point, they might. Unfortunately I have no way of testing.

[upstatemike]

Good point, they might. Unfortunately I have no way of testing.

I'm assuming if both units are set as Master but the ribbon cable is connected that you would get the shared audio but would use separate RS232 connections communicate between each unit and Homeseer. Would be great if somebody who has 2 units could try it.

[DaveW42]

Sorry, it's been awhile since I have had free time to make any changes to my setup!

I have three Monoprice units. I removed the prior version of this plugin (disabled it and then removed the corresponding files), and then installed the updated plugin (v1.3) following the instructions in the readme file. I saw the three MP amps in the plugin management page (hereafter referred to as MP Amp 1, MP Amp 2, MP Amp 3), and then set all 3 to Enabled. The status for each is listed as "Ok" (green). MP Amp 1 is set on the MP unit itself as Master, MP Amp 2 is set to Slave 1, MP Amp 3 is set to Slave 2. Master Power on these 3 amps was on, off, off, respectively. I turned MP Amp 2 on. I set MP Amp 2 to the same Com port as the original Master MP unit (MP Amp 1). Without changing anything else, I tried to Power On Source 6 on MP Amp 2 using the HS Device Management web page. Nothing happened on MP Amp 2, but Source 6 on MP Amp 1 turned on.

I bought a second USB to serial cable (manufacturer is QVS) and attached it to MP Amp 2. I selected Slave1 on MP Amp 2. Its not quite clear to me which Com port was associated with the new cable. There were no changes in Win 10 device manager after attaching the cable, but Com 1, 4, 7, 8, and 9 were already all present (Com7 is currently used for MP Amp 1). I tried each Com port on the plugin management page. In all cases, whenever I tried to Power On Source 6 on MP Amp 2, it always controls the power to MP Amp 1 (no changes were ever apparent on MP Amp 2). Note that I didn't reboot my Windows machine when doing all this (not sure if that would have made any difference).

Also, for future reference as we are discussing this, here is the manual for the MP system:
https://downloads.monoprice.com/file...ual_141028.pdf

Here is the USB to serial cable:
http://www.shopqvs.com/store/p/3871.aspx

I haven't tried updating the drivers for the serial cable. The drivers on QVS site appear to be Prolific. In Device Manager on my PC, Com7 and Com9 are both indicated as Prolific USB to serial ports. A side note: others in the past have reported issues with FTID USB to serial drivers bricking fake FTID chips (https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/53...ial-converters).

Thanks,
Dave