Lutron via TCP/IP

sonny

Anyone seen word on when the HomeWorks interface will be ported to TCP/IP? Anytime I can move a device from IR to Serial, or from Serial to IP, that is a reason to party!!

Thanks

Reese Jacobs

Lutron via TCP/IP

I assume you are referring to module support for IP control of the new P5 processors from Lutron. The P5 ethernet port currently supports project uploads but the current version of Illumination software does not support defining an external TCP/IP driver and assigning it to the ethernet port. It might be possible to use the current verion of Illumination for external control by emulating a telnet connection to the processor. Several people indicated in the forum that the terminal screen appears to use a telnet interface to upload/control using the ethernet port. General external control through TCP/IP using the driver model and presumably a TCP port dedicated for external control is not scheduled until 2Q/3Q of this year according to Lutron. As for when an AMX module will be available to support, I have not seen any information on that question. It would be trivial to modify the current HomeWorks module to support both RS232 and TCP control and dual support will be needed since the P4 series processors will be around for a long time and RS232 control will remain a viable option for control of both P4 & P5 processors.

I have been controlling P4 processors using TCP for some time (and others in the Forum have been as well) using my own custom module and the DigiOne SP serial-TCP device recommended by Lutron. I realize this is not an option if you use the AMX module currently but I did want to point out that TCP control of Lutron is possible today. AMX could modify the existing module for HomeWorks now to allow for native P5 TCP support in the future or P4/P5 support of TCP today using an RS232-TCP device. Extending the module interface to allow the specification of a Netlinx TCP device and a TCP Port or a Netlinx serial device and then related internal changes to interface to HomeWorks via TCP or RS232 is very straightforward.

Reese

HARMAN_icraigie

Rumour has it that there is an unpublished app note that you can get from Lutron Tech Support that has the information required for TCP/IP control.

DHawthorne

It's actually pretty trivial to make a module work with TCP that was designed for RS-232. The only real issue is that the RS-232 modules don't allow for holding data while connection is pending; they assume communications are always possible. If you have access to the source, it's just a matter of adding a few lines of code to maintain the connection and track the online state. If you don't have the source, you can maintain the connection outside the module, you just run the risk of losing data if the socket drops and needs to be re-established.

alexanbo

Ok I went ahead and called Lutron to see if that tech note actually existed. They said it didn't but that the engineers were working on it.

I was able to get the login through the telnet interface though.

At the login prompt type LutronGUI,jetski and you should get an LNET> prompt where you can send commands.

Now everytime you open a telnet session you need to tell it you want feedback using the KLMON command or similar.

Also the processor only accepts one telnet session at a time. If a second telnet session connects, the processor boots the first one.

So if you wrote a module to connect to the Lutron, you'd need to be able to turn off it's autoconnect while you're downloading over ethernet etc or else you'd connect with the Illumination software, it would boot your AMX connection and then your AMX would try to reconnect and that would boot your Illumination connection.

Chip Moody

Hopefully the lutron telnet "server" doesn't require any of the negotiation dialog that goes on between a telnet client and a regular telnet server between where you ask to connect to the particular address and where the user actually gets to interact - AMX's TCP/IP implementation doesn't handle these - and worse, doesn't pass them through to your program. The OS traps this dialog, preventing a programmer from fully emulating a telnet client...

- Chip

vincen

Would someone have news about current status of implementation by Lutron of control of Homeworks processor through TCP/IP ? Still on project or done ?

Thanks

Vinc