Russound ST2S

davieo

Hello,

Has anyone tried using the Russound ST2 module with the new ST2S Sirus Tuner? I am looking at possibly installing on, and already have a ST2XM installed. If this module will not work with the tuner, will AMX be releasing a module for this unit soon?

Thanks,
Dave

DHawthorne

I've used it with no issues with the XM tuner. I can't imagine it's all that different for Sirius. I did not use the AMX UI module (rarely do), just the comm module. It has a passthru command for whatever Sirius-specific stuff you may have.

davieo

Thanks

Dave,

I never use the UI modules either. My concern is more with the feedback from the Sirius - I don't know if the module will process it for me - and if so, will it return it correctly.

Thanks,
Dave

DHawthorne

In the last two months, I've done a half-dozen or so satellite radio controls, and with a different receiver each time (well, exactly one repeat, but in one case we used IR - old Axcess system - , and another RS-232, so it was a completely different control experience). I can't say I have finished and polished any of them to what I would like them to be when I am done. It always makes for fun stuff when somethjing new comes down the pipe, and neither manufacturers nor sales teams can settle on something.

But from what I've seen in how various manufacturers handle XM and Sirius, there seems to be little difference. The Russound device requires you to poll it (probably once a day is fine to check if station lineups have changed), so the only variaton should be the data content, not the actual format.

davieo

Thanks

Dave,

We are currently using a Kenwood DT7000S for Sirius at this job, and I have control to it - but I created a buffer for the port, and I get no strings out of the device, which is kind of useless to me because the reason I wanted a RS232 controllable system was for the feedback. The reason I was looking at the Russound is we are using a ST2-XM and it works very well with the AMX Comm module, I just don't know if the current module will ignore Sirius feedback, or mistakenly label it as XM, or what.

Dave

Kaptain Kaos

Kenwood DT7000S Feedback

I use this tuner and it has great feedback strings.

Rex

davieo

Kenwood

Rex,

When did you get the tuner? - I have a suspicion that I ended up with an early version that does not return the strings. I cannot explain why I get no data out from it - it doesn't even trip the receive light on the NI! The problem is I bought the tuner through a distributor who is a Kenwood dealer, but we are not so support is very sparse.

Thanks,
Dave

Kaptain Kaos

Dt7000s

I have had this tuner at least a year. The serial cable takes 5 wires on this one, are you only using three?

Rex

davieo

Cable

Rex,

Actually I am using all nine pins - a molded rs232c cable with a null modem apadter - and I have tried to swap the cable for a rs232 null modem cable, and have the exact same results.

Dave

Chip Moody

davieo wrote:

Actually I am using all nine pins

That is more than likely your problem right there... Get it down to 2, 3, 5, 7 & 8. The additional pins are almost certainly screwing up your coms since you're sending unused RS232 signals from the device to the RS422/485 pins on your controller and sending it to confuse-o land.

- Chip

DHawthorne

It has always amused me, sometimes not pleasantly at all, how non-standard the RS-232 "standard" is.

Chip Moody

Nuh-nuh-no... RS-232 >IS< standard, but you have to remember - the com port on most controllers aren't just RS-232 ports! They have RS232/422 and 485 signals on them in a non-standard configuration, and the manufacturers say as much. The reasons they had for making them non-standard are valid - but a lot of people miss the fact that they are indeed, non-standard. If everyone kept in mind that these are hybrid RS232/422/485 connections, we probably wouldn't hear about cases like this anymore.

Put it this way - pins 2, 3, 5, 7 and 8 on most controllers do match up with the RS232 pin standard, so as long as people that are trying to connect RS232 devices don't use anything but those pins, things are good. Someone deemed somewhere that DTR/DSR (pins 4 & 6) could be done without, and I gotta say, I think I've seen one device in the past 10 years that had to be wired specially so that pin 4 or 6 on the device was connected to +12v to get the device woking properly. Otherwise, the worst you have to do (in RARE situations) is jumper pins 4 & 6 together on the device end. (There are a couple of even rare-er instances involving those pins and funky jumperings)

Pins 1 and 9 are for carrier detect and ring indication - which I don't think were ever used outside of old analog modems...

The control system manufacturers had to re-purpose four pins to allow for the RS422/485 standards, so 1, 4, 6 and 9 got chosen for those... Now when you have to wire for one of those standards (Like Sony-compitible RS422 transport controls) is when you see funky cross-pinning going on with cables.

Gee... I'm going to stop rambling, okay? I'm sure most people have already moved on at this point.

- Chip

DHawthorne wrote:

It has always amused me, sometimes not pleasantly at all, how non-standard the RS-232 "standard" is.

davieo

Thanks

I want to thank everyone who pitched in to hepl answer this question - unfortunately none of the solutions posted here helped.

I did however solve the problem, although I do not have a good reason for why it works...

Moved the DT7000S to Port 4 and the Russound ST2XM to port 5. Both devices now send and receive data normally. I have not figured out what difference there could be between the two ports, but that is the solution that worked!

If anyone has an idea why Port 5 would fail to receive data with the same configuration and cable as Port 4 when Port 4 works, I would be glad for the input!

Thanks Again,
Dave Ohlendorf
ACE Designer
ACE Programmer