C-Bus access through Ethernet connection of Touchscreen

Hello,

I am an end user with an operational C-bus and Colour Touchscreen. The installer left a few things to be desired, and i wish to slightly modify my controls (Touchscreen and DLT) for the least possible cost.

I connected the Touchscreen by ethernet crossover cable to a laptop and through PICED easily modified a few details (position, shape and text of buttons...).

I also need to change the text that shows on some DLTs but for that it seems a connection to the C-Bus is required. I understand this connection could be done through a 5500CN but that costs above USD 400. I also understand that this could be done by a USB cable to the Touchscreen, which is quite inconvenient as the USB ports are behind the unit (ie, in the wall)

So my question is:

Isn't it possible to access the C-Bus (with Toolkit) by ethernet through the Touchscreen ?


Thank you for your help
Nicolas

 

Hello Nicolas

The Colour Touch can't be used as a PCI to program the network.

The following units can be used to program CBus.
USB PCI
RS232 PCI (also able to connect by TCP with a serial device server)
Wiser
CNI (my recommendation for a user who wants to connect often)


I understand you wanting to make changes yourself but it is probably a good idea to pay someone to get you going.
It couldn't hurt to ask your installer or put the word out on the forum.

I don't know exactly what you did with the Touch Screen but I hope you are not pulling it out of the wall to connect to your laptop if the house has a network.

 

In addition to the above, you may also connect to a C-Bus home automation network using Toolkit software on a PC via:
- C-Bus Spectrum colour touch screens (USB) or older B&W touch screens (Serial).
- C-Bus Pascal Automation Controller (USB)
- Now discontinued old C-Bus Telephone interfaces (Serial - have not tried this with the latest version of toolkit though)

 

Thank you both for the fast replies.

So the USB connection to the C-Bus would be possible on the Spectrum but not on the larger C-Touch despite being (i believe) more recent and expensive. That is disappointing. Any hope a firmware upgrade would solve that in the future ?


I did pull the screen out of the wall for several reasons:

- i want to have a permanent LAN cable from there to my network switch, through walls; i am still phishing for a way to achieve this (some very tricky turns required around masonry)

- at one point the Touchscreen went entirely dead and the reset button did not help; i thought maybe it was a power issue so i had to take the screen out; unplugging/replugging the power cord to the screen did nothing; however unplugging/replugging the mains power to the voltage adaptor did resurrect the screen - since then i relocated the adaptor from within the wall to a place i can more easily access

- i thought i'd reach the C-Bus with the USB port on the back of the screen but that is now proven wrong


The ethernet connection on the front of the C-Touch seems to require a cable with a very long connector, that i don't have, and would not be a permanent solution anyway - unless some sort of wireless adaptor could fit in there.


The CNI would do exactly what i need to access the C-Bus but the price is sort of prohibitive. Not being able to go through the C-Touch for that is irritating....

 

If it is a Version 3 C-Bus Colour Touch Screen that you are using, then according to the release notes it also has "Support for WiFi via a 3rd party USB dongle", in so far as the connection from it to your LAN is concerned.

Perhaps a Clipsal Engineer could confirm on this forum if such support currently exists on the released product, and if it does, what 3rd party USB WiFi dongle(s) are supported.

 

Thx all for your support. I bought myself a 5500PCU off eBay.

My installer left an ethernet cable, apparently patched or crossed-over (unsure, see the tape on the left). Would this be exactly what is required to connect the 5500PCU to my C-bus network ? Judging at where this cable is located, it looks like the installer had an interface there, and took it out when done, leaving just the cable. These are my (slightly) educated guesses, i could be wrong. Or does the 5500PCU always require two cables as shown on the official wiring instructions ?

 

Sounds like a good buy.

Just keep in mind the pink cable is CBus not Ethernet.
You don't want to be confusing the two or you could end up with some blown devices.

 

Standard CBus cables with RJ45 plugs are wired as a patch cable not a crossover.

I still recommend you get some assistance from a qualified person.

 

It shouldn't cost a fortune to get someone out to install the PCI, check the system over and get your PC connected to CBus.

Then you can go to town making program changes knowing the worst that can happen is your lights stop working.
Even in that case you will hopefully have a backup on hand to restore.

 

Fingers crossed, i connected the 5500PCU to the available pink cable (as pictured) and everything worked out. Thank you all for your valuable input.

I'll be posting next in the Toolkit section for further issues.

Are USB-ethernet adapters a viable solution for this application (ie, turning a 5500PCU into a de-facto 5500CN) ?

 

I don't know about a USB adapter but I've used serial device servers on the RS232 CBus interface for Ethernet connectivity.
It's a great option if you have an RS232 interface laying about.