Raspberry PI & 5500pcu

Hi,

I am trying to set up C-Gate on the Raspberry PI, I have managed to install C-Gate on the PI and am able to connect using the C-Bus Toolkit on my PC. I however cannot find the network when scanning. I have a 5500pcu on the network and the Raspberry PI is connected to this via USB. Can anyone help me get toolkit to find the network or point me in the right direction?

I can see plenty of posts in regards to connecting via a serial connection but nothing in regards to setting this up with a 5500PCU.

 

Simple starting advice
Are you sure you are connected to a Remote C-Gate in Toolkit go to File and disconnect C-Gate then press connect to remote C-Gate, and ensure its configured correctly.
Again in Toolkit there is a button marked Find C-Bus networks try using that when you have confirmed you are connected to the remote C-Gate.
As soon as you press the Find C-Bus networks watch the LEDs on the PCU to see if there is any activity.

 

Hi thanks for the reply. Yes I'm connected to the remote c-gate. I have disconnected and reconnected and it shows the connected to remote IP in toolkit. Scanning does not find any network and the PCU shows no activity during scanning. It looks like the port that the pcu is in not being detected.

I'm wondering if it's a USB driver issue but can't figure out how to install the driver on the raspberry pim I have tried the Linux driver but it says the rpm file isn't compatible.

 

Hello Wayne
The USB CBus PC interface will need a driver.
CBus Toolkit software installs the drivers during installation on a Windows PC.
You can find them on your computer here.
C:\Program Files (x86)\Clipsal\Clipsal USB Driver Installer

With the info in those files you might be able to track down a USB driver for linux.
I believe it will then need to be compiled for the arm hardware.
I don't have any experience doing that.

When I did my CBus training RS232 was the standard PC interface.
The RS232 interface works well with an ethernet device server to get TCP access from the RPI to the CBus network.
Clipsals own CNI device will also work well for your task.
If you are thinking of buying either of those I would also have a look at the new SHAC/NAC and see if you might get some extra value.

Best wishes
Daryl

 

Thanks Daryl,

I have a Linux driver but don't know how to compile it for arm, I set up the raspberry to try and follow some of the tutorials to get voice control working. Its a shame that with all the technology out now that C-Bus don't have an affordable option to get this. Looking at the Shac/Nac its around £1000 so works out as an expensive option.

Does the Sha/Nac have the ability to be controlled by calling a web link so it could be linked into IFTT rather than subscribing to smart voice?

 

I havent used the SHAC/NAC but it's not a whole lot more expensive than a CNI for what you get.
Maybe have a look around for a second hand CNI or RS232PCI

 

Have you got voice contol going using CGate on a Windows PC and Homebridge on the RPI?
That will work fine until you sort out a driver or another interface.

 

I've not tried it on the windows PC, unless I can find a suitable workaround that dosn't cost the earth I might just scrap the idea. I am planning on moving in a year or so and was going to have C-Bus in my new house but am now thinking that Z-wave or an alternative might give the same / better results and is more flexible without costing the earth.

 

Seems like there are a few of us who would like voice control without going through a 3rd party.
Maybe it will come one
day

 

Yes its Crazy that C-Bus hasn't kept up with market trend, I have a techie come over the other week and I was showing him my system and he just said oh it's the precursor to a smart home like google. It was hard to justify why I paid all this money for C-Bus when a lot of the things were available using google or Z-Wave at a fraction of the price. They took great pleasure in saying I can do that to everything but with the added benefit of saying I just tell google to do it.

 

To provide an update on this. I have found an alternative solution to get this working. As I have a cytech comfort alarm. I was able to add a zwave module and link this to Samsung smart things. I can then create virtual z wave nodes and control the lights through Google home comfort will be releasing a raspberry pi module soon that plugs into comfort and can be set up with a direct link to smart things (they are looking into a direct link to Google using the sane interface)

Would be Google if cbus had something similar but going the comfort route I was set up for around £200 including the smart things hub. If.your looking for an alarm or already have the comfort alarm this is a good route to investigate.

 

Providing you have ethernet connectivity Apple stuff can be connected using https://github.com/nfarina/homebridge and the excellent https://github.com/anthonywebb/homebridge-cbus runs fine on a raspberry pi though I have moved it to a vm