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Casio Projectors

regallionregallion Junior Member
in AMX Technical Discussion
Anyone had any experience with Casio LED projectors? I'm working on a project with two Casio XJH1700s.

The protocol is dead simple (e.g. "(PWR1)" to turn on), but we're experiencing really sporadic reliability. The projectors seem to ignore about commands sent to it 75% of the time.

AMX aside, we've also seen this with direct hyperterminal comms from our laptops.

It's not just the power commands either, it's all of them. I can send a Blank On request which it will perform, then it will systematically ignore subsequent Blank Offs. Same for get lamp life, same for get power status.

- Comms settings are as per the manual (19200, 8, n, 1).
- I've waiting from 5 seconds to 5 minutes between each command so I don't believe it's "still processing the last command".
- Cables are fine. I've tested using 3 different serial cables (including my old faithful never fails cable I always carry with me!)

I've logged a call with Casio tech support who are still investigating, but we've installed two of these things on a client site today and due to finish up in two days.

I'm wondering if these things are still quite new tech, so they've got some odd comms problems in the firmware that no-one has found yet.

Wondering if anyone here has used these over RS-232 successfully? (This particular model doesn't have ethernet alas).

Thanks in advance chaps!
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Comments

  • a_riot42a_riot42 AMX Wizard
    I've seen similar behavior with other devices, and typically it ends up being the end of line character or some other signalling character. Perhaps its waiting for that to be sent, and then times out after some period. The other thing to make sure of is the wiring. If you are only needing 2, 3, and 5 pins, make sure all others are disconnected at both ends, or you will put the comm port in RS422 mode.
    Paul
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  • regallionregallion Junior Member
    The cables we've tried include just the 3 pins and fully wired up.

    Well the manual doesn't specify a CR or such, but I did try it to to avail. I must agree with you though - the behaviour is just like as you describe. It's as if it is waiting for a terminator of some kind.
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  • a_riot42a_riot42 AMX Wizard
    regallion wrote: »
    The cables we've tried include just the 3 pins and fully wired up.

    Well the manual doesn't specify a CR or such, but I did try it to to avail. I must agree with you though - the behaviour is just like as you describe. It's as if it is waiting for a terminator of some kind.

    Then you may need the the CTS/RTS wires, it will depend on the pinout. Typically I check for correct wiring, then the command protocol, then the device firmware, and if all that doesn't work, I throw the device at the nearest installation technician :)
    Paul
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  • regallionregallion Junior Member
    Well like I said, I've tried fully wired CTS/RTS cable as well as just 3 pins. The manual actually does say no flow control though, so it's all very confusing.

    Time to throw the device at the installation engineer!
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  • AuserAuser Junior Member
    If you're pasting into Hyperterminal and not just typing character by character, I would try increasing the delay between transmitted characters using the CHARDM send_command to the serial port. See the manual for the control system you are using for instructions on using the CHARDM command.
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  • a_riot42a_riot42 AMX Wizard
    Auser wrote: »
    If you're pasting into Hyperterminal and not just typing character by character, I would try increasing the delay between transmitted characters using the CHARDM send_command to the serial port. See the manual for the control system you are using for instructions on using the CHARDM command.

    That is certainly something to always attempt, although I can't say I've ever needed to use it. I've used it and then realized the problem was elsewhere and undid it. I've seen it solve problems in an incidental way, because the programmer was not buffering commands properly so slowing down the characters helped, but it was the right solution for the wrong problem. If the manual says no hardware flow control then you won't need CTS/RTS wires. Why don't you post how you are initializing the comm port? Perhaps there is an issue there. I suspect wiring though.
    Paul
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  • regallionregallion Junior Member
    Nothing funky in the init:
    SEND_COMMAND dvProjector1, "'SET BAUD 19200,N,8,1 485 DISABLE'"
SEND_COMMAND dvProjector1, "'HSOFF'"				// Disable hardware handshaking

    And it behaves the same way with my laptop - I'm actually using a program called "DockLight" which has more features than hyperterminal.

    I'm going to mess with flow control today - manuals can be wrong!
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