I am about to get into an rs-232 controlled Lutron lighting system and aprilaire hvac sysyem. They are going to be controlled with a B&K ct610 with rs-232 macros triggered by b&k ir commands . Is there any suggestions as to where to start learning about the programming. I have looked at at the Luntron protocol guide and the ct610 rs-232 guide but my knowledge is lacking. Any help would be great. This is not quite as easy as programming an mx-850!
:)
jc

Actually, at least the Lutron part of it is not very difficult but, yes, programming requires a bit more then just learning an IR code into a remote or dragging and dropping a remote code in some GUI program. Look at the command set for a keypad button press. It should have the syntax of processor#, Link#,Keypad#,Button#. Sending one way serial codes is not very complicated. The Lutron protocol is well documented, ASCII based ( so you will not need to learn Hex, binary, demimal, octal or some other numberic scheme ) and does not include any tricky calculations or check sums. Yes, I could write the string for you but see if you cannot manage it yourself. Oh, yes, make sure you have defined the keypad in the Lutron database before sending the string to the processor.

I do not know much about the Aprilaire protocol so perhaps Impacq will step in here.

Almost forgot: If you get stuck open the terminal emulator in the progamming utility and press a keypad in the system. Copy the string and try to send it via your control system.

Alan

Scheme? That seems a little nefarious.;-)

Aprilaire............ Hmmm..... One Way HVAC control......... THis is interesting...

THe Enerzone system uses a pretty straight forward protocal from what I remeber... If you dont have the Protocol, email me and I'll dig it up for ya.

I havent done a CT610 in a while (We have another programmer that takes care of those) so I cant comment much on the interfacing with B&K. I've controlled the B&K CT series with an AMX system before... Thats about the extent of it....

What I do know is that there is no way to parse info coming from the Lutron or Aprilaire brains. This is going to extremely limit the useability of the system.

THe B&K RS232 manual is not something thats going to help you. you just need to send strings OUT of the B&K, your not sending anything to it to control it.

Aprilaire has great tech support. 1-888-782-8638

I've used the B&K 600/610 but not the IR or RS-232 control from it. The Crestron system always take care of other devices. I wouldn't even attempt in trying to decode temp with the B&K.

Dave

A good thing, that. The B&K sports one of the denser RS-232 protocols I've ever had the misfortune to need.

Your telling me...... 40 some odd pages and not one reference to Feedback for volume levels.......... Grrrr.. That was fun........

Well after all your fine suggestions and doing a little or a lot of digging I think I am going to try to force the system designer to put in some elan via panels, a pvia4 and an sc4 serial controler. This way I should be able to pipe 232 commands to the 2- 232 picies and the ir commands to the ct610. Now we just got to figure out how to fill the huge holes that were cut in for the xantech touch panels (I know don't ask how this system was designed (sigh)). Thanks all for your help.
jc

Be aware that the Elan and Aprilaire combo does not work too well without some MAJOR workarounds that add quite a bit of expense and complexity to the system...

The current SC-4 does not have a clock to reference, so you cannot do timed setback on your t-stat, which is the #1 most requested automation in HVAC since electronic stats were invented in the 80s.

We found a way around this, but only on a home that also included a Lutron HWI processor. We had to set up contact closures from the HWI proc to trigger the SR-1 relay controller that was now required (at $500+ MSRP).

Let me recap... a shortcoming of the Elan "control" system forced me to add a $500+ black box and re-write a ton of code to allow the $350+ thermostat to offer the same functionality as a $49 stat from the hardware store, but only if I am also using a $2500+ lighting control processor....

This is EXACTLY why Crestron is in business...use it or AMX, whatever.

Sounds like it wasn't:- )

Thank You!!!!

Reading this has concreted the conviction in sticking to my business plan of KISS.

Yes, the example I gave was the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak...

We are an AMX dealer now and I am sharing Impaqt's love of the NI controllers.

If you use a real control system, and either Crestron or AMX manufacture such products, then you can keep it simple and make automation reliable. Try this with you favorite non control system whether from xantek, Niles, Elan or Sonance/Speakercraft and welcome to the world of kludge and megakluge.

Alan