3 clock hardware & Netlinx interface

ROO

Hi all,
We're looking for options for clocks that interface through Netlinx, and have the ability to change the title and time from the touch-panels. I've seen a couple of clocks that have almost everything built in, but most of their controls are through a PC, not a Touch Panel.
Since most of our networks don't connect to the internet, much of the clocks functionality to sync with a time standard are waisted.

Does anyone know of a good clock display that has at least 3 time displays (ie. local, GMT, far VTC), that displays a variable location that we can program from the Netlinx easily?

Thanks
ROO

DHawthorne

If it can be controlled by a PC, it can be controlled by a NetLinx - as long as you can get your hands on the protocol. But it seems to me it would be easier just to make a page on the panel to display any time you like.

ROO

Hi Dave,
Thanks for the reply!

The military likes to see the different time-zones in the conference rooms we're setting up. We usually have a control-room that has our equipment separated from the operations (CR) rooms, where displays and video conferences occur. We are looking at options for a clock display(s) in the conference room areas that show local times, and the time at the far-end of the video conference, and usually zulu time (GMT) - thus the 3 clocks .

I've thought about just having a display panel (like the ProLite), that I could just put a time in. Then my user would need to determine the far-end time zone and any dalylight savings info. I've read on the i-TimeManager routines, and am considering their advantages too. Comments?

The clocks from BRG Precision Products I've been looking at seem great, especially to provide a standalone product, but might be overkill for our application.

In any case, I was looking for input on different solutions, especially if we already have a AMX interface. When I talked with tech-support, it didn't sound like we have much available.

Any suggestions on what I should consider would be appreciated.

ROO

vining

I would just use the Netlinx master to track the time. Use a seperate NI-700 and set your LAT/LONG in Time Manager to the Greenwich Mean Time and remove the code for daylight savings. Then possibly run another instance of the Time Manager module for local time with w/ local LAT/LONG and include the reference for day light savings. You'll have to change constants and Var names for the 2nd instance. Any other times zone you want to track would just be +- offsets to zulu time (GMT).

If time sync is critical get access to a military time server and use that in Time Manager.

For display use TPs or possibly the LED signs displays that have RS-232 for text input. Here a link from a google search w/ single line to multiple lines, clocks, etc and interfaces for IP comms. They make have direct RS-232/485/422 inputs but if these don't ohters do.

http://www.led-signs.com/displays/

ROO

Thanks Vav,
Is having a NI700 added a method to fully contain the solution, so we could modularize it as a product offering, just adding it into a system when we needed it or is there another advantage ?

I like the idea of using the Time Manager's LAT/LONG feature. Does anyone know if there is a correlation between phone area codes and Lat/Long, so I can just do a lookup table when they select a phone number? I guess creating country and city lookups is also a possibility. Automating the clock functions would be a lot easier if we could just plug a value into a routine, and get back the Lat/Long.

I still have an internal debate about having a LED sign, versus a "Clock" , since it will be more programming, but it should only be done once anyway. Thanks for the LED web site. If anyone else is interesed, the clock sites I've looked at are www.brgprecision.com and www.digitaldisplay.com.

ROO

vining

Is having a NI700 added a method to fully contain the solution, so we could modularize it as a product offering, just adding it into a system when we needed it or is there another advantage ?

Well in military application it's nice to be redundant and seperate. The more systems, devices or applications running on a single system the more chance of all systems going down on a single malfunction. Katrina comes to mind. So your back up systems should have a back up. If applications are on their own master when one goes down the other functions or applications are still operational plus you can shut down and work on the compartmentalized application you need to w/o affecting the rest. If this is a recruitment center no big deal but if we're talking Strategic Air command, Norad or COMPACFLT that's a big deal. You don't want to take the ICBM silos offline just to change a projector lamp (exaggeration).

I found this cross reference. Just write some code to parse this data into a Structure and you got the US done.

http://www.mmiworld.com/codelist.htm

vining

Here's a better link.
http://area-codes.1keydata.com/

You'll need to view the HTML source of each page and cut the sections of code that list the cross reference to build a complete file to parse.

This is a much simpler HTML source code for parsing.

ROO

Awsome !

You're absolutely correct on the need to keep the systems separate. Since we won't know the criticallity of the installations, pre-thinking the problems we may encounter are extremely importent. I apprecitate the input and forethought !

ROO