Bromic Patio Heater Integration

[DLite]

Has anyone ever integrated a Bromic Patio Heater into C4?  See, for instance, their electric models.  

Thanks

[chopedogg88]

Looks like I'm getting an ID > 2000 error coming back from the Bromic device.  Even tried with an EA5 with direct DB9 connection - no difference.  Contacted Bromic support, they are telling me they don't support the Teleco drivers!

@DLite, do you recall if you used a Teleco branded device vs. a Bromic branded "home automation link"?  I am using the Bromic one.

[DLite]

12 minutes ago, chopedogg88 said:

Looks like I'm getting an ID > 2000 error coming back from the Bromic device.  Even tried with an EA5 with direct DB9 connection - no difference.  Contacted Bromic support, they are telling me they don't support the Teleco drivers!

@DLite, do you recall if you used a Teleco branded device vs. a Bromic branded "home automation link"?  I am using the Bromic one.

Regarding C4 integration, Bromic support was less than useless throughout the whole process.  They alternated between knowing nothing and providing information that made no sense.

I am using the Bromic branded home automation link too.  This is the unit I bought.  I am also using two Bromic Dimmer Control units, each paired with its own Bromic wireless remote (Model BH3130011-1). 

[chopedogg88]

Hah!  Yes that describes the support I've been getting (from Alex Elder at Bromic) perfectly!  He is copy/pasting a bunch of useless nonsense from other tickets, referencing RTI etc...probably the same stuff he sent you.

Not sure where to go from here...they tout Control4 integration capability in all their brochure-ware, but yet they have no Control4 drivers and say they don't actually support the one driver that was built for the hardware they are using.

I wonder if your hardware is running a different firmware than mine or something?

[chopedogg88]

mine says v 1.0 on it

[DLite]

7 minutes ago, chopedogg88 said:

mine says v 1.0 on it

Good question.  Mine is currently sitting at the back of my rack, but let me see if I can somehow glimpse the firmware version on it.

[chopedogg88]

thanks for all of your help.  You didn't have to put the Bromic controller into learn mode at any point in this process, did you?  I'm simply learning the commands from the remote and then trying to execute them from the driver.

[DLite]

14 minutes ago, chopedogg88 said:

thanks for all of your help.  You didn't have to put the Bromic controller into learn mode at any point in this process, did you?  I'm simply learning the commands from the remote and then trying to execute them from the driver.

I don't think so.  We just mindlessly followed the directions in the driver documentation, and it seemed to work. So, to learn each button on the Bromic remotes, we just hit the "memorize channel" button within the Teleco device driver for the relevant heater, hit the relevant button on the Bromic remote for that heater, and the button was learned.  That process was pretty smooth.  I still have no idea why using the original Bromic remotes does not update the C4 state, but I feel lucky that my unit is transmitting commands correctly, in light of all the issues others are having.

I do wonder if there are hardware reliability issues, especially because the build quality on my unit looks like it was the result of an 8th grade science fair project.

 

 

[chopedogg88]

I did finally get it working, with some help from Bromic engineering (in Australia), who was very helpful (he even called me on a Saturday 7am his time...).   Basically I had to learn the Teleco driver commands to remote IDs 1,2,3,4,5.  When I try to learn them with ID 201-205, I get the ID > 2000 error.  So unfortunately the 2-way feedback doesn't work for me either, because the driver only seems to respond to the factory remotes when I have them linked to one of the driver-generated IDs (201-n).  The step that I was missing when I was learning the heater controllers to ID 1-5 was that after pressing the button on the back of the remote, I had to then press the button on the front of the remote for the channel I wanted to learn, and then send the corresponding command from the Teleco driver/automation link...then it learned them in successfully.

I also had to manually program a custom button to turn them all on/off...with a 1 second delay between each command...otherwise only the first one in the sequence responded.  I was also not able to add the lights to a Control4 lighting scene because of the same issue (need time between issuing the command for each light).

The only other thing to note is that the heaters I was integrating are the new "Eclipse" heaters, with integrated lights.  The remotes for those heaters only have heater settings of 0, 33,66, and 100%.  And light settings of 0, 50, and 100%.  So the pre-defined percentages in the Teleco driver don't match up, because it has 4 heat levels (25,50,75,100).  Not a big deal, I just set it up so that heat levels 3 and 4 both just send the same command for 100%.  But would be nice if the driver could be updated to work with the Eclipse heaters in the future...with 2-way feedback!

[DLite]

6 hours ago, chopedogg88 said:

I did finally get it working, with some help from Bromic engineering (in Australia), who was very helpful (he even called me on a Saturday 7am his time...).   Basically I had to learn the Teleco driver commands to remote IDs 1,2,3,4,5.  When I try to learn them with ID 201-205, I get the ID > 2000 error.  So unfortunately the 2-way feedback doesn't work for me either, because the driver only seems to respond to the factory remotes when I have them linked to one of the driver-generated IDs (201-n).  The step that I was missing when I was learning the heater controllers to ID 1-5 was that after pressing the button on the back of the remote, I had to then press the button on the front of the remote for the channel I wanted to learn, and then send the corresponding command from the Teleco driver/automation link...then it learned them in successfully.

I also had to manually program a custom button to turn them all on/off...with a 1 second delay between each command...otherwise only the first one in the sequence responded.  I was also not able to add the lights to a Control4 lighting scene because of the same issue (need time between issuing the command for each light).

The only other thing to note is that the heaters I was integrating are the new "Eclipse" heaters, with integrated lights.  The remotes for those heaters only have heater settings of 0, 33,66, and 100%.  And light settings of 0, 50, and 100%.  So the pre-defined percentages in the Teleco driver don't match up, because it has 4 heat levels (25,50,75,100).  Not a big deal, I just set it up so that heat levels 3 and 4 both just send the same command for 100%.  But would be nice if the driver could be updated to work with the Eclipse heaters in the future...with 2-way feedback!

That is great news.

I had a similar problem getting both heaters to respond to programmatic commands.  I am going to give that one-second delay a shot! 

[Midnight1982]

I'm doing a bromic job atm and have to return at some point to get them working, documentation isn't great on the topic.

 

The job has had other head aches that have been more important. 

 

I have Mark from bromic contact also now whom will help when i return  - using the rs232 control to 3.5 mm jack on EA3 controller, does anyone know if "null modem" needs to be enabled?

 

cheers

 

 

 

 

 

[One True]

Hey all. I've been fighting with this as well and thanks to a helpful pointer from @chopedogg88, I've got it working. I'm going to walk through the steps I took so that others can benefit from my experience.

First of all, here's what I've got:

1. Bromic Wireless Dimmer Control:
   1. spec doc: https://pim.bromic.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Smart-Heat-Electric-Dimmer-Control-Product-Brief-US.pdf
   2. user manual: https://pim.bromic.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Dimmer-Controller-Installation-Manual-US.pdf
2. a 7 button remote: http://teamwpd.com/images/servicemanuals/Bromic Controller Remote Manual.pdf
3. A Bromic Smart-Heat Link Home Automation device: https://www.bromic.com/product/smart-heat-link-home-automation-plugin/

The manual for the Smart-Heat Link is... not great. I followed their directions and used DockLight to try to program the remote control to memorize channel 500, then tried to transmit on that channel to the Bromic Controller. However, no matter what I did- this always resulted in an "ID > 2000" error when I tried to transmit on that channel. I believe that this is an issue with the firmware in the Smart-Heat Link. I also tried programming ids less than 201 and that resulted in an "ID < 201" error. So I can program 201 and up, but I can't use it. Or I can use IDs 1-200, but I can't program them. Argh.

I'm outlining the sequence of steps I took below. Don't be dismayed by the length- once you understand it, the whole process takes about 2 minutes. 

1. Set up and connect the drivesr
   1. Install the Teleco TVLINK TVTRX232-916 device driver from their website
   2. Install a TVLINK driver. I'm using "TVLINK Generic" because I just want on and off, but you can install whichever one you want.
   3. Plug the Smart-Heat Link into your Control4 Controller. I plugged it Serial port 1 using a DB-9 cable.
   4. In System Design go to the Properties pane on your TVLINK TVTRX232-916 and set the "Number of physical transmitters" to 1 and hit "Set". Setting the number of physical transmitters creates new connections starting at 201. So if you set it to 1, you get "TRANSMITTER ID 201" in your connections list. Somewhere along the line when I was doing this, I created a TRANSMITTER ID 202 in my list and for some reason my system now thinks that my remote is 202, so for the rest of this example I'll use 202. But you should try using 201 first.
   5. Now go to Connections for your TVLINK TVTRX232-916 and
      1. Connect its Serial RS-232 Control Input to the right port. In my case that's "EA5->SERIAL 1 (DB-9)"
      2. Connect "TRANSMITTER ID 202" to your device, in my case that's "Generic TVLINK Device->TRANSMITTER"
   6. Go to the Properties panes of both TVLINK devices and set "Debug Mode" to "Print". This will be helpful for you to see that it's working correctly.
   7. In the "Actions" for the TVLINK TVTRX232-916 try doing "Delete all memory" and you should see it say:

      Quote

      21/10/2022 15:13:33 - SENDING: 44 45 4C 45 54 45 20 41 4C 4C AC
      21/10/2022 15:13:41 - RECEIVED: 43 06 49
      21/10/2022 15:13:41 - Successfully deleted memory location

      That means that you've got your serial connection set up correctly (good job) and that the device is working nominally. You'll probably have to set the number of physical transmitters back to 1 (or 2, or whatever) after you do this since that'll get wiped out- but it's a good way to verify that you've completed this part of the process.

2. Configure the Generic TVLINK Device to be able to transmit
   1. Go to your GENERIC TVLINK device Actions panel and click "Memorize channel". Then go back to Properties and click the "OFF CHANNEL" label. It'll get a blue line underneath it letting you know it's ready.
   2. Click the "off" button on your physical remote once. You'll see it say something like "memorized" in the "Last update" field.
   3. Click the "off" button a second time and it should say "Received Channel 8".
   4. Do the same for the On channel. And any other button you want to program.
   5. Then go to the LUA tab and you should see this in the debug output when you hit the various buttons:

      Quote

      21/10/2022 15:17:47 - ReceivedFromProxy [1] : RECEIVED_TRANSMISSION
      21/10/2022 15:17:47 - CHANNEL
          8

      That means that your proxy is attuned to your remote (good!). If you click the button in your app, you should see something like this:
       

      Quote

      21/10/2022 15:19:09 - Room
          49
      21/10/2022 15:19:09 - Menu
          comfort
      21/10/2022 15:19:09 - deviceId
          -1

      That's a good sign too- it means that your button is hooked up correctly.

3. BUT NOT SO FAST! This is where the Bromic Smart-Heat Link is not working the way I'd expect it to.

   1. If I go to the TVLINK TVTRX232-916 debug Lua panel, when I click the "turn on the heat" button in the app I see this:
       

      Quote

      21/10/2022 15:20:02 - ReceivedFromProxy [202] : TRANSMIT
      21/10/2022 15:20:02 - CHANNEL
          1
      21/10/2022 15:20:02 - SENDING: 54 00 CA 00 01 1F
      21/10/2022 15:20:02 - RECEIVED: 45 04 49
      21/10/2022 15:20:02 - ERROR: ID > 2000 error

      This means (a) the proxy button sent a request for signal 1 (that's my "high power" setting). It then sent a message to the Bromic Smart-Heat Link saying "54" (transmit) "00 CA" (on channel 202) "00 01" (high power) and "1F" (checksum to make sure that we didn't f' up the command). 
      
      But the system responds with the very frustrating "ID > 2000" error. Which makes no sense to me because... the ID is 201. But, ok.

4. So alternatively, let's take that data that we just memorized, and tell Control4 to broadcast it on channel 1 instead of channel 202

   1. Go back to your TVLINK TVTRX232-916 Connections tab and switch the connection to "TRANSMITTER ID 001".

   2. Now try tapping the heat button in your app and look at the debug output. You'll see

      Quote

      21/10/2022 15:25:12 - ReceivedFromProxy [1] : TRANSMIT
      21/10/2022 15:25:12 - CHANNEL
          8
      21/10/2022 15:25:12 - SENDING: 54 00 01 00 08 5D
      21/10/2022 15:25:12 - RECEIVED: 54 06 5A

      
      Alright! Notice that it's sending now on channel "00 01" (and this time I'm sending the power off signal which is "00 08"). The response code is "54" (received transmission) "06" (acknowledged). We are in business! Except that... the heater didn't turn on. Why is that? It's because we need to tell it to listen.

5. So now we have to program the Controller to listen to channel 1.

   1. This is very straightforward. You're going to follow page 8 of this manual: https://pim.bromic.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Dimmer-Controller-Installation-Manual-US.pdf

   2. Open up your remote control to find the hidden P3 button. Press the button and you'll hear your Controller make a continuous tone.

   3. Press a button on the front of the remote control and your controller will pause, then re-issue the tone.

   4. Press one of the heat buttons on your app (turn it on or off, doesn't matter) and you'll here a beeping tone from the controller.

   5. Now your Bromic Heat Controller is listening to your Control4 app.

 

Share and enjoy!

[neil12011]

Been following these steps to the letter.  I'm hitting a roadblock at:

 

21/10/2022 15:13:33 - SENDING: 44 45 4C 45 54 45 20 41 4C 4C AC
21/10/2022 15:13:41 - RECEIVED: 43 06 49
21/10/2022 15:13:41 - Successfully deleted memory location

 

Instead of the above, I get this Lua Error.  Any ideas?

03/01/2024 14:54:52 - SENDING: 44 45 4C 45 54 45 20 41 4C 4C AC
LUA_ERROR [id: 362][name: Patio Heaters TVLINK TVTRX232-916][file: driverworks_Teleco_TVTRX232-916.c4z][method: ExecuteCommand]: Restricted path specified: /var/log/.
 

[Andrew luecke]

6 minutes ago, neil12011 said:

Been following these steps to the letter.  I'm hitting a roadblock at:

 

21/10/2022 15:13:33 - SENDING: 44 45 4C 45 54 45 20 41 4C 4C AC
21/10/2022 15:13:41 - RECEIVED: 43 06 49
21/10/2022 15:13:41 - Successfully deleted memory location

 

Instead of the above, I get this Lua Error.  Any ideas?

03/01/2024 14:54:52 - SENDING: 44 45 4C 45 54 45 20 41 4C 4C AC
LUA_ERROR [id: 362][name: Patio Heaters TVLINK TVTRX232-916][file: driverworks_Teleco_TVTRX232-916.c4z][method: ExecuteCommand]: Restricted path specified: /var/log/.
 

Turn off DEBUG, Log to File.. Only print

[neil12011]

Just now, Andrew luecke said:

Turn off DEBUG, Log to File.. Only print

Thank you Andrew.  Is that the source of the error?

[Andrew luecke]

42 minutes ago, neil12011 said:

Thank you Andrew.  Is that the source of the error?

In that case, yes. In OS3.3.0, log to file may trigger a lua error in some drivers due to the new restrictions. Turning it off will prevent the error from happening.

 

Andy