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bnet

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bnet last won the day on May 21 2019

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  1. My understanding is that IntelliConnect is controlled via an app. What I don't know is if it will take commands via its serial connection. Would be easy to find out... IntelliConnect does have 2 RS485 serial connections per the diagram - it can connect to a pump and an iChem. At a minimum, you could use bPentair not for control but to display PH/ORP/Salt via my bIcons driver - it displays icons based on a system variable or another driver's variable. PH/ORP/Salt are all public variables of bPentair and I've added PH/ORP/Salt icon sets to the bIcons driver. probably not what your looking for, but something...
  2. Can't believe this post is over a year old but... bPentair is ready to see the sunshine. I have been using bPentair as my primary pool controller for several months and am ready to release it to a few testers who have an IntelliTouch. Based on packet captures, I *believe* bPentair will also work with an IntelliCenter and EasyTouch but this is not confirmed. Here are the highlights: -Standard C4 Pool Proxy UI -Direct serial connection to Pentair - no iLink ($500+) and no ScreenLogic ($600+) -Aux circuits auto populate/name (supports up to 19) -Command resend logic -Aux state conditionals for programming logic -iChem: PH (setpoint/actual/alarm), ORP (setpoint/actual/alarm), LSI (actual/alarm), Salt (actual/alarm) -Intellibright / Intelliglow support via Aux -Pump status: RPMs and watts (read-only) -Events: (1) PH/ORP/Salt/LSI (plus/minus user config setting via aux) (2) no flow -History Agent: (1) alarm events (2) 'End of Cycle' PH/ORP/Salt actuals You will need an rs485 to rs232 protocol adapter. I am using this ($23): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EAE23H4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 If your controller has 3.5mm IR ports, you will also need a DB9 adapter. For my EA1, I used this ($15): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006QSQVBM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Still working on the formal documentation. Driver price is TBD (but of course complimentary for the 'contributing' testers). You can run your existing pool driver of choice and bPentair side-by-side if you don't want to jump in with 2 feet. I suggest bSerialSplit to virtually split the input serial connection between multiple drivers on the same system and/or bSerialProxy to "remote" a serial connection to another controller. Both were actually written to support bPentair's development. Lastly, I am absolutely terrible with these forums - if you ever need to get in touch with me quickly (or at all) please email blucas@bnet4solutions.com Thanks! -b
  3. want to add panic / emergency button to my system and security panel driver seem to be where that should live. unfortunately, it is disabled on my old driver (hsim_security_panel_honeywell.c4z), replacement driver (securitypanel_hsim_honeywell.c4z) and direct connection driver (Honeywell 4232CBM (Residential).c4z). and by disabled, i mean not just grayed out but all 3 drivers have has_fire, has_medical, has_police and has_panic set to false in their driver.xml. is there another driver i should be looking at? another approach? Not excited about an experience button ... thanks! -b
  4. seen 3.2.1.586045-res in some of my driver logs. release notes on dealer portal go up to 3.1.3. composer update goes up to 3.1.3. didn’t find anything on this forum or google. anyone else seen a 3.2.x?
  5. hmm, heat and aux control seem like pool 101 stuff. does the jandy driver have conditionals for the aux relays? pentair does not - drives me crazy i can't query the driver for an aux state.
  6. there is enough head scratching for all the players here but generally, my issues with c4 relate more to functionality: -aside from a few bugs, the pool proxy generally needs updating. variable speed pumps, specialized lighting, chlorinators and chemical samplers are not that uncommon but not naturally supported by the proxy. an update to thermostat_v2 style extra would be nice step in the right direction. -the c4 driver has some questionable implementation. 15+ query commands cycling every 30is seconds is probably not necessary (in fairness, not all of these make it to the bus as the iLink gobbles some up). no retry when a command fails (there are ACK and interface busy replies that could, but are not, used keep a msg from going into a black hole). -as much as i want to fault the iLink, i'm not so sure. i have not seen a command go out successfully that wasn't acted on by Pentair. iLink's primary issue is that in an effort to simplify inner-connectivity, it has lost all but the most basic functionality. -the Pentair bus is busy and a mess. there is clearly 3rd party hardware branded as Pentair that speak their own language and have their own packet structure mixed in with native Pentair packets. but again, i have yet to turn on a pump or flip a aux/relay on my intellitouch and have the system not act on it. the overall issue seems to be that when you layer abstraction on abstraction on abstraction, something will get dropped.
  7. my current pentair integration is probably the weakest and least reliable component in my setup. part of the issue is the c4 pentair driver (functionality and including an issue or two i have with the c4 pool proxy) and part the pentair iLink. this is what you do, or more specifically, what i'm doing: i wrote a pool proxy driver "bPentair" (not released) with the ability to directly read/write to the Pentair serial bus. disclaimer is that i have an intellitouch, not an intelliconect, but the intelliconect uses the same serial connection to talk to other pentair equipment. by going direct, you can bypass MQTT (your entire network really) and not get caught by a change in pentair's MQTT interface and not require a separate box as noted above. of course, you will need a serial connection between your c4 controller and pentiar but everyone added that during construction, right! also would need a $10 rs485<->rs232 protocol adapter and because i'm running this on my development ea1, i needed a $15 3.5mm to rs232 adapter. also, as noted above, a direct connection gives you access to everything on the bus - iChem, iChlor, detail pump info, etc. you can not get this info from iLink ($200) but can via pentair's screenlogic2 ($500+). but even then i'm not sure you can get the info into/do anything about it in C4. as an example, the screenshot is real/live data. perhaps when bPentair get a little further along, i can look at the differences between intellitouch and intellicenter and intelliconect.
  8. @alanchow - thanks for info. technically it checks (obviously, your doing it) but it does not seem to pass my sanity check: i'll add some profiling code but best guess is that 80%+ of the processing time on my main page is in/on C4:GetProjectItems() - even passing all the filter flags i can it is an expensive call. i'm not serving rich content or streaming anything - just generated html with a style sheet and javascript. there are no static pages or content i've stashed on the controller. even the icons are served by ngnix, not the driver. no matter where the html is generated, i will still need to call GetProjectItems so the above "negotiated settlement" is a work-around for a negligible portion of the processing load. in fact, there is likely an extra step - encoding GetProjectItems's output before shipping to client - no one should have to deal with that xml directly. so when the dust settles, i'll still have a process (same driver), listening on the controller (same port), serving content (maybe begins with a "{" instead of "<html>"), talking to a client (same browser, javascript/ws vs http get). i haven't implemented it so i could be very wrong (am i?), but the before looks very similar to the after. but, if this is where they have drawn the line, so be it - on to v2
  9. hmm, where to start... should i give an example of another driver listening on a server port? multi-x rf repeater, virtually any ip-based driver... or should i list some C4 network APIs that are provided specifically create client/server interactions? C4:CreateNetworkConnection(), C4:GetNetworkConnections(), C4:ReceivedFromNetwork() or about 15 others or should i copy/paste the server sockets example directly from C4's API documentation... so many options
  10. yup - hacked. so hacked i even added C4:RenameDevice() to their documentation while i was in there so everyone else can hack. that's the actual API call if you want me to look it up for you.
  11. by my read, does not violate the licensing agreement
  12. Rename your Control4 devices without Composer… or programming! Use bRename’s internal web server to view your devices, rename them and refresh your navigators. Accessible from a standard browser or a touchscreen navigator. Installers - perfect for clients who have changed the spelling of their children's names 3 times. It was a "Bathroom", a "Vanity", a "Toilet" and now it’s a "Powder Room"? Homeowners - change that "Bedroom" to an "Exercise Room”, then change it again and again and the next one again and again – all without involving your dealer. It is your system, make it perfect. https://bnet4solutions.com/brename/ Was $50, is $50, will be $50
  13. You can commit or hedge but can’t do both. Otherwise, it is really a payment plan not a subscription.
  14. in january, i started offering license subscriptions for bMyQ and bRoomba. each are currently priced at $12.50 per 3 months if a software/driver solution is the route you want to take. copy from my site's FAQs: What Are License Subscriptions? BNet Solutions now offers the bRoomba and bMyQ drivers on a subscription basis. Instead of a one-time purchase, you are billed at a regular interval (usually quarterly) for the use of these drivers. All billing transactions are handled by PayPal and are “friction-less”. You may choose to continue the subscription for as long as you like for cancel it at anytime. Once cancelled, the driver will continue to function until the expiration of the current subscription period and then will be deactivated. Why Only Offer Subscriptions for bRoomba and bMyQ? The rebuke to these drivers is that they rely on unsupported cloud services / APIs to function and that a change to that infrastructure could cripple the functionality of these drivers. If you are a “Dumpster Fire” prophet, do not buy these drivers. I wish you well on your integration efforts but know that there are NO official APIs available for 3rd party integrations. If you want to integrate MyQ or Roomba hardware into your automated home, but want to hedge on a full license purchase, perhaps a subscription is right for you. See the bRoomba and bMyQ product pages for more details on pricing and terms.
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