mcsTemperature Version 6

[PhoenixUK]

Error initialising when HS restarts ...

Hi,

I use your plugin for monitoring temperatures.

If HSPro decides to restart, the com port always fails to initialise.

I have to unplug the rs232 lead, restart the actual PC, start homeseer, and only after it has sucessfully initiated the com port for mcstemperature, can i plug in the rs232 and all works fine, until HSPro restarts again!

Any idea how i can get round this, or at least be able to avoid a physical reboot?

I use the Quasar temp kit, and a blackbox 4 port rs232-usb hub.

Thank You.

P.S. The error i het in HS in "Error opening com port" then something about it being in use.

[Michael McSharry]

I suspect the issue you are having is that mcsTemperature is an .exe and Homeseer has issues with shutting down the .exe plugins. Rich's solution that he shared is for the plugin to terminate itself after a timeout. mcsTemperature uses a 15 second timeout.

When HS requests mcsTemperature to shutdown then mcsTemperature waits for up to 15 seconds for any device polling to complete, closes any open ports that it is using, destroys the objects, sets a 15 second timer and then returns to HS. At the return it will write to the HS log "Return to HS following Shutdown". For the 3145 the polling cycle between the first and last sensor is well under 15 seconds.

If HS does not shutdown mcsTemperature within 15 seconds after the pending shutdown notification then mcsTemperature will terminate itself based upon its timer.

First thing I would look for is the shutdown acknowledge from mcsTemperature. If that does not exists, then Homeseer is not telling mcsTemperature about the shutdown.

[phillb]

The segment of code that processes this information is below. The "iniValue" will be null when the checkbox is blank. If you have the setup to remember settings by IP then this will affect the result. What is in your mcsTemperature.ini file in the [ASP] group? Are you setup to retain setting by IP?

5270                  key = Replace(ors.fields("Location"), " ", "")
5310                  If SettingsByClient Then
5320                      iniKey = key & currentIP
5330                  Else
5340                      iniKey = key
5350                  End If
5360                  iniValue = hs.GetIniSetting("ASP", iniKey, "", TemperatureIniFile)

Just tried 6.1.0.2 same behavour as before. also same regardless of retain IP setting. enclosed are the first few lines of the ini file which I think reffer to the local machine which also exhibits this issue.

Phill

[steveinman]

DS2408 Not working in ver 6.07 Worked on 5.12.7

I have a DS2408 8 port switch/relay board that was working on release 5.12.7 of MCSTemp and it quit working after I upgraded to 6.07. I can get it to work with OneWireViewer but not MCSTemp. I have attached the log and ini file. Any help would be appreciated. It operates a zone damper in my office and it's getting pretty inconvienient to shutdown homeseer and open/close the damper with OneWireViewer.

Thanks,
Steve

[Michael McSharry]

I'm traveling now, but still should be able to get access to the source for V5 and see what changed in the handling of the DS2408 between the two versions.

[steveinman]

Thanks.

[mfisher]

While I could not exactly replicate what you are seeing I did see an issue and has been fixed in 6.1.2.

6.1.2 appears to have rectified the 'no chart draw' issue - thanks!

There is still an issue on the Edit page with what data is in which column.
The RGB value is repeated in the DC column and the DC, Sensor Name and 1-Wire Addr are all shifted 1 column to the right.

Thanks again for your help!

[Michael McSharry]

I have a DS2408 8 port switch/relay board that was working on release 5.12.7 of MCSTemp and it quit working after I upgraded to 6.07. I can get it to work with OneWireViewer but not MCSTemp. I have attached the log and ini file. Any help would be appreciated. It operates a zone damper in my office and it's getting pretty inconvienient to shutdown homeseer and open/close the damper with OneWireViewer.

There is still an issue on the Edit page with what data is in which column.
The RGB value is repeated in the DC column and the DC, Sensor Name and 1-Wire Addr are all shifted 1 column to the right.

The above two were addressed in V6.1.3. For the DS2408 the changes were based upon a change comparison of V5 vs V6. Likely will solve the problem, but no means to test.

[mfisher]

There is still an issue on the Edit page with what data is in which column.
The RGB value is repeated in the DC column and the DC, Sensor Name and 1-Wire Addr are all shifted 1 column to the right.

The above two were addressed in V6.1.3.

Thank you very much!

[mfisher]

'No charting' issue continued...

v6.1.3, same 'no charting' issue as before, but now it's related to which device is selected. Possibly an index offset problem when charting?

"Last device" in 'edit' list selected for charting
Four devices selected for this chart. Last device of the four is the only one selected to be displayed.



-> Update Rain
-> INI entry: Rain="None","All","W20"0+1,"W21"0+0,"W24"0+0,"W25"0+0 (This ini entry appears to be correct as it follows what was entered on the edit page)
-> To Graphs


Oops, no graph for the selected device!


"Second-to-last" device selected
Then I selected the 'second to last' device of the four.



-> Update Rain
-> INI entry: Rain="None","All","W20"0+0,"W21"0+1,"W24"0+0,"W25"0+0 (Again, this ini entry appears to be correct as it follows what was entered on the edit page)
-> To Graphs


Oops, the wrong device is being graphed.

Unfortunately, this does not occur for every group (wind, baro, indoor, outdoor, etc.), so I'll do some more digging when I get a chance...

[steveinman]

The above two were addressed in V6.1.3. For the DS2408 the changes were based upon a change comparison of V5 vs V6. Likely will solve the problem, but no means to test.

Just tried v6.1.0.3 and it still is not allowing me to turn on/off a DS2408 Relay. I also noted that even though the setup/interfaces page says I have 6.1.0.3 installed the top of any mcstemp page says v6.0.7.

[Michael McSharry]

You may have a registration problem with the .ocx. You should have the same version in both places as shown in the attached.

[mfisher]

I can confirm that what's on the web is 6.1.3.

[steveinman]

You may have a registration problem with the .ocx. You should have the same version in both places as shown in the attached.

I searched the entire PC for the OCX file and it does not exist.
The zip file I downloaded from the mcsTemp V6 forum only contained an EXE file.
I ran updater and it shows me as having the newer version and only provides the option of going back to 6.0.7.
I have searched the forums for a file that contains the hspi_mcstemperature.ocx and could not find it.
Help...I'm at a loss.

[RAM]

Problem with graphs

With a blizzard upon us today I was checking on one of my graphs that monitors my furnace operation and found that the graph didn't show a line for my thermostat actual temp. I checked the 'groups' screen and it was still selected along with the other devices I have selected for this particular graph. On the graph screen I selected 'Table' for my graph type and found that my thermostat actual temp was there but the checkbox for it was not selected. When I selected it and went back to the line graph everything showed properly. On any chart that has multiple devices being charted, whichever device is first in order on the 'group' screen for that group does not display (just like my furnace chart).
On several other graphs I have where I only chart 1 device, I get the 'No items selected for line graph' message.
I spotted this first on 6.1.0.2, but am still seeing it now after updating to 6.1.0.3.