Novara ControlPads
mcotton
Posts: 38
I saw this product on the website. Does anyone have any more information about these?
http://amx.com/products/categoryNovaraControlPads.asp
http://amx.com/products/categoryNovaraControlPads.asp
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mcotton
Posts: 38
Comments
http://www.amx.com/newsroom/pressrelease-file.asp?release=2008.1.29.a
Gday all,
I've got two Novara kepad in my hands. It is the 8 button "portrait" model (SP-08-AX-US). First of all let me say a big thank you to AMX for listening to our request (and probably the request of others). It is the idea replacement in a classroom where robustness is a major consideration. It is also an excellent upgrade path from a basic room controller to a more sophisticated AMX master.
Now onto the "bad news". Be aware that the button numbering is different to the MSP8 and MioModero range. This makes it incompatible in an "emergency swap" situation, and also makes the replacement of our existing 40+ MioPrestigeS keypads quite a pain. Instead of being a part-for-part replacement, the current firmware (1.0?) requires us to reprogram every master just to cater for button remapping. This also means that there is no point in holding onto our existing stock of MioPrestigeS and MSP8 keypads for such emergencies. (FWIW, I dereference my buttons via an XML file, so I only have to change the XML rather than the code, but you see my point...) I presume that the button layout was established before AMX bought Novara.
If at all possible can AMX please push out a quick firmware update so that, when operating in AXlink mode, the keypad buttons follow the traditional AMX numbering? (This may require some "interpretation" for the 16 button varieties.) I'll try to put in an official feature request. In the mean time, here is the button mapping for all to be aware of.
I'm looking forward to some documentation that lets us know what commands to use to dim the lights in both their ON and OFF states.
Roger McLean
Swinburne Univeristy
An additional issue with the Novara Axlink keypads:
The Novara keypads don?t work with older masters. I have tried v1.01, the initial shipping version, with a NetLinx master, an Axcent 3, and an AXB-EM232. They work fine with the Netlinx and the Axcent 3, but they do not work with the AXB-EM232.
This doesn?t sound like much of an issue, but the AXB-EM232 is still a current product listed on the web site. Also, in applications similar to the one discussed in the above post, where a direct swap replacement for an MSP-8 is needed this is a rather large problem.
AxLink is AxLink, and if they are selling an AxLink master and an AxLink keypad they should work together. In fact, a simple AxLink device such as a keypad should be backwards compatible with all previous AxLink masters. It is not as if the internal push/release and channel on/off messages on the AxLink bus have changed over the years.
It seems that AMX could write a Novara firmware rev to fix both the button numbering issue raised in the above post and make the Novara work with any master processor, including legacy processors such as the AXB-EM232, the AXC-EM and Axcent 2
A true direct MSP-8 replacement is what is desperately needed and the Mio is not a viable option. We have a bunch of legacy systems that used older masters with keypads. The only option AMX can offer right now is to replace the master when you need to replace a keypad.
If the Novara Axlink version was truly a fully functional Axlink product that would:
1 - work with any Axlink master (AxLink products obviously should)
2 - have the same button numbering as all of the other current and legacy keypads AMX has ever made
then it would be a useful product.
My previous post was based on only having the Quick Start Guide at hand. I have since found the full manual, and a few more answers.
There are two brightness settings, one for backlight (OFF) and one for maximum brightness (ON). It is interesting that these are send_string functions rather than send_command. (Again, this makes me thing that the AXlink support is a bare-bones implementation.)
As for functionality, they currently do everything I need them to do. Due to their robustness, it is worth my while changing my code to suit, as well as initialising the brightness settings when it comes online. Thank you once again to AMX - I'm looking forward to when they are a more seamless product (send_command/button numbering/AXlink firmware upgradable). In the mean time they are still a great improvement over the Mio Modero keypads - so much so that we are actively replacing our Mio Moderos with Novaras. I expect our help calls to drop as a direct result.
Oh, something else that would be really useful (as the AXlink code is enhanced) would be the reporting of the model & serial number. Currently in RMS (v3.2.73) we get "unknown" for the model and "00000000000000" for the serial, which makes the results of a Device->Search a little frustrating when auditing equipment. I'm confident that these sorts of features will arrive in due course. In the mean time we have to remove them from the wall while we note the serials on paper.
Roger McLean
Swinburne University
One last small issue with the Novara. The units we received shipped with a 6 pin mini phoenix connector only. Of course the AxLink connection is 4 pin, so you have to supply your own connectors. Perhaps they could ship with both 6 and 4 pin connectors?
We initially had the same issue, but a quick call to our local AMX got it sorted out. New keypads are arriving with the full compliment of phoenix connectors.
Roger McLean
Swinburne University
How about using one of the four settings of that 2 position dip switch as a ?standard button order 1-8? layout? Changing the button numbering to 9-16, 17-24, or 25-32 sounds like it might be useful if you are using these as stand alone controllers daisy chained via the 232 connection, but doesn?t make much sense for the Axlink version. Each AxLink keypad will be a different device number, so there is no need to change the button numbering.
So how about using the "on-on" setting for buttons 1-8 counting vertically down from the top left button rather than 24-32?