XAP800 serial connection to one NI3000 works and doesn't on others??

sonny275

We have XAP800 connected to one NI-3000 and it works.
We installed same master firmware v3.12.332, NI firmware v1.00.118, and software module on other (two) NI-3000s and it doesn't work. XAP 800 doesn't respond to serial commands using same connectors and cable.

We researched the AMX forum and increased the Ni memory to 4 Meg, no difference.

Do you guys have any suggestions??

[Deleted User]

sonny275 wrote:

We have XAP800 connected to one NI-3000 and it works.
We installed same master firmware v3.12.332, NI firmware v1.00.118, and software module on other (two) NI-3000s and it doesn't work. XAP 800 doesn't respond to serial commands using same connectors and cable.

We researched the AMX forum and increased the Ni memory to 4 Meg, no difference.

Do you guys have any suggestions??

Is the "defective" NI-3000 running a program?
You need an blank program in all secondary Masters if not.

mediapilotinc

Make sure you didn't forget to configure your RS-232 port the same way on the AMX and on the XAP. The first NI-3000 may have had the RS-232 port set by a previous program while the second NI-300 is set differently. Also check the settings on the XAP (Baud rate and handshaking)

Hedberg

Is it the exact same XAP800 connected to different NI-3000s? If not, you might want to check hardware handshaking on the XAP800s that don't work. ClerOne defaults this to "ON", but you most probably want it off.

sonny275

We have RS 232 port configured exactly same on all Ni and we are testing one XAP.

sonny275

Thanks for the response guys.

Hedberg

The Clear One XAP800 (and other Clear One devices as well) is a pretty straight forward and simple device to set up and control using RS232. We've installed a lot of these things, sometimes multiple units on the same job networked together. If the RS232 is properly configured, they always, in my experience, communicate "right out of the box." Any problem in getting communications to work has always been, in my experience, either a wiring problem(or solder problem, etc), a port configuration problem, having the device connected to the "wrong" port on the master, or forgetting to turn hardware handshaking off on the Clear One device.

If you have a unit that is working with one NI-3000 but not with several others, chances are very high, in my opinion, that you have either a configuration problem or a hardware/wiring problem. I think it would be very rare to have three NI-3000s configured identically and only have one of them communicating properly with an XAP800.

First thing to check is if the serial port that you are connected to is receiving anything from the XAP800. Change something on the XAP800 (such as a channel mute status) using the XAP800 front panel and see if you get a yellow light flash on the NI-3000 front panel. If you don't, either the wiring is awry or your RS232 port is not configured properly. This has to be the case because you know the XAP800 is sending back a good string because it works on one of the NI-3000s. Also, you can check communications from the NI-3000 port all the way to the DB9 that plugs into the XAP800 by unplgging from the NI3000 and shorting pins 2 and 3 together. Send a string to the Unit and the same string should be received at the port -- both the red and yellow lights will flash.

Use diagnostics to check the string that the module is sending to the XAP800 and see if you get a red flash on the appropriate serial port.

If you're using a module, it's probably the AMX proprietary module. I've tried that module but for personal preference reasons never used it. Mostly because the Clear One RS232 protocol is so simple that it's about as easy to program from scratch (or create your own module or functions). Also because when I tried it it seemed that the unit was being queried excessively. So, you might try communicating without the module -- something simple like toggling a mute and watch for the red light, the yellow light, and an appropriate string being returned using either diagnostics or debug.

Darkside

If you configure the coms as 3 wire and no handshaking, you must remember to reconfig the xap via the front panel AFTER the XAP edit software has been used to download on the serial port.

It changes the com port handshaking settings every time and this may be your problem.

sonny275

Thank you guys for all the cool suggestions.

We finally isolated the problem. We were using default 'binary" serial connection instead of "Ascii"/text. We switched to text and it's working in all NIs.

I don't understand how it ever worked with some of the NIs with 'binary' srial connection???

Joe

It looks like the problem is solved, but I wanted to chime in here about the ClearOne line of products. We typically use 2 or more, connected together with the G-Link cable. One thing I found to be extremely useful is that once the units are linked, you can keep the AMX master in one Com port, while using the G-Ware software connected to the Com port on the other device. Any change on either the AMX or on G-Ware will automatically update the other. This is great for testing level settings, mute status, etc.
If only all equipment could have two 232 ports....