Fixing to start my first B&K and RTI Combo. 3 CT600.1's and 2 HD6's controlled by 2 T4's, 8 T3's, 1 RK4, 3 RK3's and several rk1's. Hope to get some XP8's in time but may have to use RP6's at first.

Just looking for any tips, hints, or things to watch out for. A excel spreadsheet with rs232 commands would be awesome if anyone is feeling generous. Fixing to start messing with it over the next few days so any help is appreciated.

Thanks

B&K and RTI are almost a match made in heaven. Just make sure that you make the zones like this. 1st CT600 make it zones 10-16. 2nd CT600 zones 20-26 3rd CT600 zones 30-36. Why are you using 2 HD6's? Do you have 6 video zones?

Thanks for the tip, but do you mind explaining the reason for doing this?

Yes, there are actually 11 zones of audio with HD video and 4 or 5 more zones of audio only.

Thanks

I can explain his logic for numbering the zones 10-16 instead of 11-17 as is the default.

10 (decimal) = A (hex).

Since the outputs are labeled A, B, C, D, E, F... it makes it much easier if you change the numbering (decimal) so that the hex lines up with whats written on the unit.

By default, zone A is HEX B, zone B is HEX C, etc.... which can make it a bit confusing.

The first thing I recommend doing is writing all of the macros for each zone, to turn it on, and set it to each input.

Macro 1: Turn on zone A, set zone A to input 1
Macro 2: Turn on zone A, set zone A to input 2
etc.

I used a little trick when doing this, just to make for less editing....but its a bit complicated to explain, and I'm tired.

Another tip:

Set the power ON input for each zone to the DEDICATED zone input.

If you send the power on command, and then send the input command immediately after, there is still a very short delay, and you'll hear whatever source the zone was last set to for a "blip" prior to changing inputs.

I don't typically use the Dedicated zone inputs, so by setting the zones to turn on with this input set, I guarantee that there won't be any sound from the speakers prior to me selecting the input.

B&K has a full protocol available.

Some more tips:

To turn ON a zone, don't use the 232 version of the IR command. Instead use the Execute command: (0,X,2,A=1;) would turn on zone A
(0,X,2,A=0;) to turn off zone A.

For input selection however, I use the IR commands.
to set zone A to input 4: (0,S,I,A=B0;)

Spend time in B&K Suite setting up the CT unit(s) properly. With practice, there are lots of neat things you can do here. Also, I recommend creating a preset file for radio stations. I create 10 presets, 0-9, and set them to "favourites" for all zones. If you typically work in one region, you can reuse these presets on every job (unless your clients want more/different presets)

Great tips Fluid! I'm getting ready to do my first B&K + RTI job as well...

Thanks for the explanation and the tips. Getting ready to install one at my home today to get some practice. Getting excited to see the possibilities.

Definately ALWAYS use the dedicated zone on, it will save headaches later.

Corey,

I can not provide anything specific to B&K, however, when controlling a larger distributed system there are a couple of things I do to make my systems more flexible, stable, predictable, transferrable and easier to troubleshoot. If done correctly, you will be able to use processor and remote layouts over and over again with little modification.

Before I do anything else, I set up the processor in a very organized manner.

I use what I call "root level" programming where I create many small single command macros and then call those macros in larger activity macros.

Obviously these steps may be approached differently for different equipment so take this all with a grain of salt...

For example, I will create individual single command macros for zone power on, power off, mute on, mute off, and all of the available source input commands. In these single command macros I will also set or clear a status flag to indicate the power, mute or input state. I need to mention at this time that I will have already named flags on the processor for these states. I will have also created a macro for each zone that clears all input source flags. This macro will be called in every single command input source macro before I issue the command and set a flag for a particular source. Here is what this may look like...

Zone1 Source1 selection macro:

System Macro, Zone1 clear all input flags
232 command, (select source1 on zone1)
Set Flag, Zone1 Source1


When I finish all of my single command zone macros I then build my activity macros by calling (or nesting) the single zone "system macros" that I require for a given activity. This often will include single command system macros for TV on, DVD on, zone on, zone input, TV input etc... and any required delays. Here is what an activity macro may look like...

Zone1 Source1 Activity macro:

System Macro, TV On
System Macro, DVD On
System Macro, Zone1 On
System Macro, Zone1 Source1
delay 4.0 seconds
System Macro, TV Video4
System Macro, DVD Play

The advantages to this will be that...

**You will only have to enter each 232 or IR command once (this is a great help when using 232 because there is no search and replace for 232).
**If you build for all of your zone possibilities eventhough you are not using them all, you can easily "grab" the commands you will need for activity macros on new or expanded jobs without having to create them command by command.
**You can easily copy and paste more complex macros and only change/edit some of the steps... for example, if you create an activity macro for watching source 1 in zone 1, you can copy the macro into the source 2 zone 1 activity macro and then just swap out the source single command macro that you have already created.
**If you set or clear flags along with the individual single command macros, they are automatically imbedded in the larger activity macros and you will only have to look in one place to see if the flag status has been set correctly.
**If the flags have been set at the root level, they will be there for future use even if you do not see a use for them now and it can be a real pain to go back and start setting, clearing and testing flags once all of this is done.
**When you have nested macros within another macro, the processor will run them in sequential order so the only delays you will need to worry about are the power cycle delays associated with your various components.

Regarding the flags... I will often use flags for the following scenarios:

I can test the power status of a zone before a command or macro is called to determine if I should set the initial startup volume or not.

I can test the power status of a zone to see if I need to issue a power cycle delay between zone power and input selection (useful with multi-zone AV receivers).

On a recent job I had 1 video zone and 2 audio zones adjacent to eachother in an open area. We wanted individual volume control for each zone and a way to simply add one or both of the audio zones when watching certain programs. I created one page accessed with the right arrow hard button from any of the video source control pages that had On, Off, Mute, and volume commands for the two audio zones (the video zone volume remained on the hard buttons). When an On button was pressed, I tested for each video zone source flag, issued the proper macro for turning on the audio zone to the same current source in the video zone depending on which flag was "true" and then issued a stop running macro command. This was very easy to do after the fact because I had imbedded the flags already.

I can move this one "off the air" if you want to discuss any of it in detail.

Thanks for the suggestions. I probably will give you a shout to make sure i understand everything correct. I definitely want to get this right from the start as I doubt I will getting anywhere above this anytime soon.

Wish we could have had a couple more drinking sessions, probably would have learned even more. Thanks

Thanks to everyone for the tips. Keep them coming. Going to begin digging in tomorrow. Almost finished wiring up a system in my house to start testing.

When I said, "I used a little trick when doing this, just to make for less editing....but its a bit complicated to explain, and I'm tired" in my first post, I was referring to the type of structured programming that tgrugett was describing.

I do things a bit differently, but with the same results. I'm pretty sure that with my method I have streamlined it down to the fewest possible macros, and the fewest places to enter/change RS232.

Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm not prepared to give out all the work I spent hours on. But once you get into a bit, I'd be happy to compare our methods.

As for tgrugett, since I know we have worked on similar type of programming, and with similar systems, I'd be willing to compare methods right away if you are interested. My email should be in my profile.

Never. I completely understand that this is how we all make money. I appreciate whatever people are willing to share and appreciate your input.

Thanks

Are you guys running your keypads through a CB4 and into the rp6 to control the CT600?

Peter from B&K recommended running directly into ct keypad ports so that it can multitask. Makes sense, especially for larger jobs until we get this XP8 which is supposed to multitask as well.

Also, for those using rs232 to control the ct, why? What are the advantages of rs232 on this unit? IR commands are solid and no delay needed between codes.

Thanks again.

I use the CB4 method... and RS232.

I find the RS232 to be much quicker than the IR, and the volume ramps smoother. Also, there is a bunch of protocol only available via RS232, that I use from time to time.

I did one system using the IR in ports on the CT.... and it worked, but I ran into a couple of minor snags:

1. If I'm using RTI touchpanels, I could run the IR direct from the t/p into the CT. However, I also need to POWER the touchpanel, and the CT does not have enough juice to reliably power an array of touchpanels/keypads. With the CB4, I get a nice RJ45 connection on each end of my cables, and the single cable does control and power.

2. Since I'm using RTI, I often want to use the features of the processor. For example, in addition to controlling the B&K, I will offer an ALL OFF feature that will turn off all the electronics in the home, including TVs etc. As soon as I want to do that, I need to get an IR signal from the touchpanels to the RP6 anyways. So, I either have to split the IR, and run it to the CT and the RP6 (messy), or I need to route my IR THROUGH the RP6 and then to the CT. If I'm going through the RP6, the single tasking nature of the RP6 defeats any multitasking advantage of the CT.

3. Since I'm using the RP6, I might as well use RS232. Its quicker, more reliable, and has more features. ALSO, its a single connection from the RP6 to the CT, and I can control 6 zones....

Note: In systems with multiple CTs and/or HD6 units, each one gets a separate CM232 connection. I never link the CTs in anyway.

Do you mean you never link the 232 ports of the CTs? Or source inputs? Both?

I understand not linking the 232 ports, but how do you cleanly handle splitting the sources up between multiple CT units?

I definately link the audio/video inputs..... just not the control side