Ipad/iPOD apps for CBus

Has anyone here tried the CF iViewer (from Command Fusion) needs a fair bit of work by the user but free

or

The EKeypad Pro - ($99)

to connect up to the CNI

 

As far as I am aware the CF Iviewer does not support Cbus and is intended for Crestron.

It is also not free except for a one page version. You have to buy a licence from their website. From memory it is around $150

Ekeypad pro supports the Ness M1 gold. If you have a Cbus module in the M1 gold it can control Cbus as well. It is a very nice app for that configuration

There is an Ekeypad M1 at half the price that will probably do all you need

 

Thanks Nick,

I wish someone had told me that earlier. The CNI is on its way. My electrician will be annoyed with me if I can cancel.

He had installed a Colour Touchscreen without me or the builder knowing too much about CBus (too long a story here) - so I am trying to get the Touchscreen returned. Its taken about 2 months to get this sorted. When the dust settles - I may just get a BW screen.

I'd love to do the CBus course in Sydney but I just can't get the time off at the moment. Is it possible to learn from manuals, etc. and perhaps some hand holding from knowledgeable people?

I thought the WISER was just a CNI with a router? I already have a router and WiFi and all the Cbus desktop applications.

 

You are essentially correct hardware wise, but the Wiser Router has the Wiser software incorporated into it, something you don't get with off the shelf routers.

Cheers
Pat.

 

Nick, Is there anyone else as knowledgeable as you that I can telephone- I seemed to have found out more in this forum than anyone else that I have spoken to so far.

 

The forum is an absolute gold mine of information about C-Bus. Many of the C-Bus development team hang out here and freely volunteer their own time and effort to helping people get the most out of their C-Bus system. You can learn so much just from reading other people's threads.

As a C-Bus kick-start, the training materials are available for free download from the Clipsal website. They're a great introduction and will answer a lot of basic questions.
http://www2.clipsal.com/cis/technical/technical_support/training2/cbus_control_and_management_system

 

commandfusion

Hi there, yes i have been using commandfusion on my ipad and have cbus control running on it, it is a good system BUT if your after something user friendly and easy to work with this is not for you.
It is great once up and running but it takes alot of work to get there with design / setup etc. Once you have your design done the main problem is you then need to understand regex, it is easy turning lights etc on and off and set scenes (thanx to clipsal releasing detailed notes and also hyperterminal) but the hard part is if you want to do it properly getting feedback from the cni to actually turn the visual state of the buttons depending if its on or off as confirmation.
I would have to say go done this path if your right into your complete home automation and want to use ip to control & get feedback for everything e.g. tivo, mac, wmc, amps, tv, camera, foxtel etc and if you cant get ip codes or ip access as not all tvs, dvds, amps have ip access or control, you can use global cache box to convert ip codes to ir. In short great system but expect to spend many many sleepless nights working on it and trying to work out regex to make it work.
As it was mentioned in an earlier post prob the labour / licence / cni cost is far more than just using wiser, which i believe from the investigation i have done on it is very user friendly, but in the post they were incorrect in saying wiser can do much more. CF is a very powerful gui and can do anything with it, its just not for the everyday user who wants to get something done quickly and easy and not have to worry about the behind the scenes workings. I am definatley not pushing CF or global cache, or trying to scare people off from using it, just offering some advice for people who may want to go down this path for cbus control.

 

I will chip in my small amount of information.

At the moment, via the PACA, Wiser, DMX Gateway or bus coupler any external product in the world has access to C-Bus. however, the problem appears that not every possible combination of control software exist on every interface. Some people have it working on laptop, some on Android and some on iPhone but no person has it working on everything*.

* Be aware that a number of private developers protect their solutions in order to promote their own business. It is not that the systems are limited but rather the experts preserve their own intellectual property for future revenue.

I do not see anything that can not be done externally. The main task appears to be whether it needs to come from clipsal or, in the case of iPhone, starts as a iPhone controller package and then reverse engineer how to interface with a C-Bus.

I am quite certain it has been done many times.

 

cbus and commandfusion

I just re-read that original post and relised what you meant, lmao. I totally agree wiser is deft the way to go with cbus for cbus functionality without the heartache.
I am using CF as it is controlling rest of house (mainly media reasons) via ip but is a whole lot of work to try to get it running properly with feedback from items and it seems even more work to get to wiser standard for cbus control and button feedback.
On a further note if anyone is interested going down the CF path I have read every little bit of literature to try to get CF and cbus working properly, im there in controlling it but getting feedback from the cni has not been completely successful (only succesfull full feedback if button is actually pressed from cbus) as i believe that i need to send out more in the command from CF not just a letter before the <cr> to get a more detailed feedback. I got to admit that clipsals release of interfacing literature is very detailed (just a little confusing in parts thatys why im not quite there yet), Ive still got a bit of work to do with it to get button feedback on CF properly I know it can be done as there are items on the market that control and get feedback via the cni. If anyone does want to go down this path and needs some info on what i have so far or wants to share some info with me to get me further along with my little project just PM me. please note i am not selling anything and have no intention of selling anything this is for private use only so any info supplied to or from me will be free, lol (not that i have much info to share, lmao)