Netlinx and Axcess Masters together - is it possible?

Rabbie13

Hi,

I have a dilema that needs advice.
I wondered if it is possible to connect an Axcess Pro 3 Master to a Netlinx 2100 by way of the Axlink port and be able to address the Axcess Pro's ports somehow in code.

I have an Axcess Pro 3 lying around doing nothing, but I need a few more control ports in my system as the Netlinx 2100 is lacking.

Sorry peeps, looking for a very cheap cop out to expand the control ports I need rather than buy NetModules or more Netlinx masters.

Miserable sod that I am.

Danny Campbell

Yes, it can be done. It has been a couple of months since I did one, so naturally I have forgotten all of the details. Basically you set the Accent3 into slave mode and assign it an axlink address. I think when you give it an address other than 0 it goes into slave mode. Then just hook them up via axlink and off you go. Just be sure that if you use a power supply directly to each controller that you don't connect the power on the axlink.

There is a thread around here somewhere that goes into the details, but if you just use terminal to get into the Accent3 and give it the old ? it should tell you how. It seems to me that the command was something like SET BASE DEVICE NUMBER nn. I think the nn can start at 1 and it stops somewhere short of 255. I suspect the max starting number is something like 255 - #ports in the Accent3.

The only odd thing is that the addressing looks kind of strange. If you set the base device as 1, the first RS232 port is 1:1:0, the second is 2:1:0 and so on. (If I remember it correctly - it is late and I am old).

Hedberg

Yes, it's very easy. Just look at tech note #158.

NMarkRoberts

Just to clarify, when you slave an Axcent it is no longer a master and no longer runs code itself. Slaving works very well - I have just proposed it to a client with confidence - buying an NI700 new and an Axcent 3 on eBay is much cheaper than the alternatives.

annuello

Just remember that if you have any chatty serial devices, try to put them on the NI rather than the Axcent3. The AXlink connection can bottleneck data a little bit.

Roger McLean
Swinburne University

Rabbie13

Thanks guys, hooked it up tonight and it works a treat.

Cheers

staticattic

Just out of curiosity, if I use an NI-700 as the master for an older Axcess system, what about the TP? If the TP is also old and connected via Axlink to the old system and I use the Axlink port on the NI-700 to connect to the Axcess system, what then? I haven't actually seen the system yet, so I may be able to answer my own question once I see it. I am leaving Qatar and headed for Afghanistan tomorrow, where the faulty system is located.

staticattic

I think I have already answered my own question. They have an Axcess Master card frame and according to AMX's product description, that thing by default sports three AxLink ports. I am assuming then that the TP will be seen as just another device, therefore, any button pushes will go back to the Master, the new NI-700, which will then take care of the action needed. Is that right? I have already written code for Tandberg 8000's that use NI-3100's. My guess is that I can use that same code, with the devices addressed properly of course, do a function show on the TP for channel assignments, make my events match the channels, and everything should be five by five. Having never done any type of master to master communications or used an NI-700 as a master for a slaved Axcess master card frame, this is the thought process I am having right now. Once I actually get to Afghanistan and can actually see the troubled unit, my thought process may change.

Scottpulman

I actually use this sort of configuration in my house as my test system.. I have an NI-700 with an axcess card frame connected via AXLINK. I pulled the master card's out of the AXCESS frame and just use the CARD-SERVER card. This means that I can really easily change out Voltage cards, Vol Cards, 232 Cards etc etc and test stupid problems. The axcess parts are so cheap on EBAY at the moment that its a really awesome solution for problem solving..

Okay I might not use these things on a job site but they have got me out of a couple of jams in the last few months when "real" product was not available from AMX... Its also really awesome to be able to try and "recreate" clients problems at home and find solutions instead of being onsite in typically crappy conditions.

Darkside

staticattic wrote:

I think I have already answered my own question. They have an Axcess Master card frame and according to AMX's product description, that thing by default sports three AxLink ports. I am assuming then that the TP will be seen as just another device, therefore, any button pushes will go back to the Master, the new NI-700, which will then take care of the action needed. Is that right? I have already written code for Tandberg 8000's that use NI-3100's. My guess is that I can use that same code, with the devices addressed properly of course, do a function show on the TP for channel assignments, make my events match the channels, and everything should be five by five. Having never done any type of master to master communications or used an NI-700 as a master for a slaved Axcess master card frame, this is the thought process I am having right now. Once I actually get to Afghanistan and can actually see the troubled unit, my thought process may change.

These (and any) AXlink ports are simply to make your wiring easy. They are not addressed differently from each other or anything clever like that. The 3 sockets are simply paralleled on the PCB.

It is quite normal to parallel up multiple devices to any AXlink socket. You could even loop off the back of your touch panel if you want.

The sheer beauty of AXlink. Long live AXlink!

:-)

Be mindful that the power supply needs to have enough headroom to cope with the additional load though...

Also, from one of your comments it does look like you are aware, but AXcess does not support button events etc, so your code really should be re-modelled to remove ALL of the pushes from mainline and made into button_events.....not just for the Tandberg box.

DHawthorne

Axlink is a very robust implementation of RS-485, and carries all the inherent advantages, as well as the disadvantages. It is, however, very rare that that those disadvantages rise up and bite you. One of them, however, is if you have a bad device it can take the whole buss down; likewise, a faulty connection somewhere along the line. But it has long been the workhorse of AMX communications, and many times I have longed for it's simplicity when dealing with some royally goofed up network.

staticattic

Here's the deal now that they have sent me all the way to Afghanistan from Tampa to fix this "problem". They have an older Tandberg 8000 suite that originally sported two Pioneer PDP-503's. This was installed and programmed during the early months of 2001. A few weeks ago, one of the 503's finally died. The fix was a new PDP-505 since the 503's are no longer made. The VTC portion of the system works just fine. However, when they go into local mode, the new 505 does not change inputs per the serial commands like it should. Ultimately, there needs to be some command strings added for the 505. My original plan was to reprogram the old Axcess card frame, but then I was lucky enough to stumble across an NI-700. I would like to use that as the master and turn the Axcess card frame into just that, a card frame. If I am understanding everything properly, all I need to do is remove the Master card from the Axcess, connect the NI-700 via AxLink, and the NI-700 should then become the "new" master. From there, I can load the cloaned 8000 code I have written for the new 8000's, change around the port numbers to match the cards, and they should be up and rocking. Right? I hope so. I have a VERY agitated Colonel out here that is looking to roll heads concerning this. I have been given 2 12 hour blocks to competely get this thing fixed.

staticattic

Stephen Bolton wrote:

Also, from one of your comments it does look like you are aware, but AXcess does not support button events etc, so your code really should be re-modelled to remove ALL of the pushes from mainline and made into button_events.....not just for the Tandberg box.

Sorry. I should have made that more clear. When I was referring to the Tandberg 8000, I meant the entire setup to include the plasmas, Extron switches, codec, etc.

Jeff

Yea, that's pretty much right. The AXC-S Card has dip switches on it that correspond to the device numbers in the frame. You set the first number (so if you set the dipswitch to 240, your 16 slots will be 240-255). You can probably leave things like they were without a problem, I just wanted to mention where that change was since it isn't done in Device Addressing like in Netlinx.

Are you powering the NI700 and cardframe separately or are you powering one over AXlink? Make sure you do the power calculations, if you've got a psn2.8 on there and a touchpanel you might be getting up near the top of its capacity.

Also . . seriously . . . how many Jeffs are there on this board now? What is it about Jeffs that makes us programmers?

J

staticattic

Jeff wrote:

Are you powering the NI700 and cardframe separately or are you powering one over AXlink? Make sure you do the power calculations, if you've got a psn2.8 on there and a touchpanel you might be getting up near the top of its capacity.

OOOOO, that's a good one. I had not really given that aspect much thought. I was smart enough though (or lucky enough ) to grab up the power supply for the NI-700. I can power that seperatly. I seem to remember reading somewhere that I can still make the Axlink connection, but I need to remove the power leads first. I am actually excited about doing this as it is something new and different compared to the cookie cutter stuff that I had been doing.

Scottpulman

Jeff..

You are correct, IF you supply power to both the Card Frame and the Ni-700 you need to drop the power lead in AXLINK... I would say that this is the preferred method for powering the master and card frame in this configuration, it means that there that is no load on the AXLINK bus and all that power availability can be available for other AXLINK devices.

huttencm

Jeff,

just did 7 of those, did not even have to rewrite the code just compile to netlinx load to ni-700 and pull master card on card frame. the tp they are using is the old VP with an ir/s card in the card frame.


michael

hardware guy being pulled kicking screaming to write code

staticattic

as of late, i ahev been a programming machine. The easy part has been using the NI-700 as the new master for the Axcess card frame. I have gotten most everything working like it was before the "incident". The hard part is, I don't have a copy of the original source code, so I am having to dink around and do lots more trial and error than I normally do. I did not want to change around the TP, an old AXT-CV10 (or something like that) so I have been writing my code trying to make it fit with the TP. Funny thing, the original programmer, even though he said Axcess cards are "write once", was only going to charge $1000 to change the few command lines between the different model plasmas. Instead, my company decided to stick me on a plane and fly me to Afghanistan to fix it ourselves. Don't really understand the logic behind that one. Maybe they are trying to "stick it to the man", only they are the man. Whatever. I know I am getting P-A-I-D for being out here, so it is worth it.