Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

PLC-BUS 4 Scene Micro Module

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    PLC-BUS 4 Scene Micro Module

    Hi there,

    Firstly thankyou for such a fab PI !

    I've been using your previous PLC-BUS interface for many years without any problems so was really pleased to see you had done a new one enabling me to upgrade to HS3.

    I've managed to get everything up and running really quickly, however have one strange issue that I can't get fixed.

    I use a number of 4 scene micro modules in my system. They monitor contacts on other equipment to enable me to get inputs from other systems. As an example, I have a relay across my doorbell, which momentarily switches the input on the module sending an "OFF" signal to the HS system. I used to use the old HS2 setup to simply look for any "OFF" status sent to that address and would then trigger an event.

    So I figured it would work exactly the same with the new system, but am having an issue. I thought that as I only wanted to receive the status and store it (not send the device any status command) that I could select the module as either 1) PLCBUS Appliance Module Status or 2) PLCBUS Scene. If I do this however, the event does not trigger as it doesn't seem to see the OFF command that the module is sending.

    If I set the module to PLCBUS Appliance module, the event triggers perfectly. Unfortunately the issue that I get is that after the signal is received from the Micro Scene Module, it sets the HS3 status to "OFF", I believe it then sends the command back to the module - which then cannot not send an ACK in response. I then get a log error:

    Too long wait for Ack response to command: (255) A14 Off Data1:0 Data2:0 Tx:False AckReq:True Ack:False IDreq:False Id:False3PhReq:False RiscOK:False PlcBusOK:False

    I would be so grateful if you could tell me where I'm going wrong and would really appreciate any suggestions or advice you could give.

    Cheers,

    Jay

    #2
    You should create the HomeSeer device as a PlcBus Appliance Status device.

    The plugin should not send any data to a Status device. It should receive PlcBus and show status only.

    But there might be a bug...

    Please set the PlcBus plugin to "Debug mode", and post a log of the problem.
    --
    stipus

    Comment


      #3
      Thanks Stipus,

      I will try that .... for some reason both devices have stopped working altogether now .... not sure why but neither are even showing up as an address in use when I use the tool in PLCBUS settings.

      One quick question ... when I check the main log, I'm not getting the device names, I'm just getting the device codes ... Is this normal? I used to get the names in HS2. I don't seem to be getting status updates in the log for all devices when I switch them on at the device either - even when the devices are logged onto the system and I can switch them on from the HS interface. Something seems really weird.

      Cheers,

      Jay

      Comment


        #4
        PLCBUS 4 scene micro-modules never show-up as "in-use addresses', as they are PlcBus transmitters, not PlcBus receivers.

        If you switch a standard PlcBus switch ON/OFF locally, it doesn't transmit any PlcBus command that the PlcBus plugin could catch to update HomeSeer device status... If you want to get status updates for those switches, you have to setup PlcBus house Code polling.
        --
        stipus

        Comment


          #5
          Hi Stipus,

          Hmmmm ..... The devices were in place for several years using the HS2 interface and working. The confusing thing is that they were working perfectly ok on Friday when I programmed HS3 first. I'm really confused now. Surely if a scene module switch input is changed, the module sends a PLCBUS command ? And if it does I don't understand why the interface and PI wouldn't see the command and be able to act on it to trigger an event.

          With regards to the polling I can't for the life of me find a setting to change house polling.

          Thanks for helping me I really do appreciate your guidance.

          Jay

          Comment


            #6
            I never wrote that PLCBUS 4-scene micro modules need polling. These modules send one (or a set of) PLCBUS Commands, that should be catched by the Plugin if you have a PLCBUS Appliance Status HomeSeer device setup on the same code.

            I wrote that standard PLCBUS switches need polling IF switched ON/OFF locally. To activate polling for a HouseCode, you have to setup a HouseCode PLCBUS HomeSeer device.
            --
            stipus

            Comment


              #7
              Hi Stipus,

              Thanks for all the guidance. I've been playing with the different scenarios and testing today and understand what is happening now.

              I use one of the 4 input wires on the micro scene module to send a signal from my doorbell to the homeseer system. I have programmed this input by assigning it an address by sending an "off" command whilst in learn mode.

              When I switch the input wire it is for a breif pulse but the module sends the "off" command using the correct address. Obviously it is only sending one state - "off" and doesn't send an "on" ever.

              I have then set up an event that is looking for the device status to be set to "off".

              What I have established is that no matter what I do with the event trigger type, it will not trigger the event. It simply doesn't recognise the "off" signal being transmitted from the module.

              If I set the address status to "on" manually then switch the wire input the event triggers.

              So it seems the only way to trigger the event is to recognise a status change rather than simply a status being sent.

              My workaround was going to be to always set the address status to "on" at the end of the event. By doing this the next status being transmitted by the module - an "off", would always trigger a status change.

              The issue is that if I try and set the module type to appliance status only as suggested, it will not permit the status of the address to be set manually by an event. It will only give the option of a status poll rather than a status set.

              I have therefore had to set the device type to a full appliance - which obviously causes an ack error after setting the status each time. I have therefore had to switch the wait for ack function off to avoid having a log full of errors.

              So ... The event now works functionally, but I would welcome your views and opinions on how I have done it and how I perhaps could do it better.

              Best wishes and many thanks,

              Jay

              Comment


                #8
                Hi Stipus,

                Does it sound like what I'm doing is right or do you think I could change how I'm doing it so that I can turn the wait for ack back on ?

                I really appreciate you help.

                All the best,

                Jay

                Comment


                  #9
                  Could you program the scene module to send ON then OFF ?
                  --
                  stipus

                  Comment


                    #10
                    That's a great idea!

                    I will try it first thing in the morning

                    Thanks Stipus !

                    Comment

                    Working...
                    X