need help on Universal Power Bus

aldous Junior Member

July 2006 in AMX Applications and Solutions

Hi,

I am just doing my research on controlling UPB (Universal Power Bus) devices from AMX (NXI controller). I have a few questions:

1. Can I use a normal RS232 port to controls UPB's? OR I need something different. (I saw AMX has a X10 card for X10 control but nothing about UPB)

2. Is all the UPB devices using the same serial commands for control? (i.e. can I connect different manufactures devices and control with the same serial commands)

3. Any one here has experience controlling UPB with AMX? Where can I find the commands for serial control?

Thanks very much,
Aldous

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GSLogic Junior Member

July 2006

Aldous

1. UPB can be controlled by communication to the PIM/CIM RS232.
2. All UPB devices use the same protocol.

The protocol is very confusing as it is written in a style like machine language (literal hex strings).

GSLogic has a module for sale which has two-way communication to all devices, loading device name/location, used defined Groups/Links (scenes), and user defined on/off/sunset/sunrise.

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vining X Member

July 2006

Here's a link to the java upb api.

http://www.xpl4java.org/UPB4Java/UPB4Java/docs/api/

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vining X Member

July 2006

This link has other useful links.

http://www.xpl4java.org/UPB4Java/

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joelw Junior Member

July 2006

Yes you could adapt this for Duet use.

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TurnipTruck Junior Member

October 2006

This may be a bit late, but UPB is very controllable from Netlix via serial commands. It took a while to get the hang of the protocol, but is is quite good once you get it. It gets more complicated if you want to track actual lighting levels.

You will need a transmit queue for outgoing commands.

I wrote CALLs for various functions like device or link level changes, status reads etc.

Prepare to use the FORMAT statement when writing your strings.

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TurnipTruck Junior Member

October 2006
Here is an example call for sending a link to a certain level:
DEFINE_CALL 'UPB LINK GOTO'(nLINK,nLEVEL) { SEND_COMMAND vdvUPB_Q,"$14,'8800',FORMAT('%02X',nUPB_NID),FORMAT('%02X',nLINK),'FF22',FORMAT('%02X',nLEVEL),FORMAT('%02X',256-((nUPB_NID+nLINK+425+nLEVEL) BAND $FF)),$0D" }

I am sending the commands to a queue (vdvUPB_Q), not directly to the PIM module.

nLINK is the link I want to change and nLEVEL is the level I want it to go to.
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vining X Member

October 2006

Which protocol reference are you using?

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TurnipTruck Junior Member

October 2006

See attached....

UPB Description V1_2.pdf 804.3K

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vining X Member

October 2006

That will definitely take some time to digest!

What's the comm set up and pin out for the PIM?

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TurnipTruck Junior Member

October 2006

9600,N,8,1 straight cable

One pin of the pim has to be held high for it to transmit to you.

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need help on Universal Power Bus

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