Trying CQC, need help with buttons

[Dean Roddey]

Well, relay devices tend to be among the simplest. If you find one you think suits the need and it's controllable, let me know and I can take a look at it.

Are any of your relay needs near the GC-100s? They have 3 per and those are available via the GC-100 driver.

[Dean Roddey]

BTW, don't forget to disable the serial port server again, and probably go ahead and get rid of the port forward as well.

[Deane Johnson]

And what makes you so sure you won't need the port forward again?:-)

[Dean Roddey]

We may. And as long as the port server is disabled, it should be safe to leave it in place.

[Deane Johnson]

I did install the driver for the GC-100 and it showed being connected. I have to watch the video and do some study before messing with it further. My goal is to simply have a test button on the interface screen that will open and close my DVD player drawer. Once I can accomplish that, it's all redundancy moving forward.

I really am appreciative of the time you spent helping me today.

[batwater]

Glad to see you made some progress today!

[Deane Johnson]

Tomorrow will be a new day pleading for help as I attempt the GC-100.:-)

Actually, I'm busy with appointments in the morning, so it will be later before I get started.

[SomeWhatLost]

The relays will be the toughest because Carl doesn't always have some built up

that's not true... you could always just make your own...

I hate the thought of building these kits. I need 12 relays, so it takes 2 of them.

well, maybe a DiY option isn't the best choice for you then :-)
have you considered using a PLC?
PLC's have a certain amount of 'smarts' built into to them, so they can run semi autonomously giving you the most robust solution possible, ie even if your master control server/PC crashes and burns as PC's (or in my case Hard drives/SSD's) occasionally tend to do, whatever you have hooked up to the PLC will still have at least basic functionality...
the Koyo Click PLC is a pretty good value... starting at $70

and CQC already has a driver for it...

or another option is Weedtech (I just like their name...)... they have a couple different output modules
no current drivers for any of their stuff, but not to hard to make your own... I have their I/O module, works well...
although, it still hard to beat the over all value of the Koyo...

of course, at this point I would personally still just do something 100% DiY, just for fun... all it would take is a PIC (or arduino if you are into that sort of thing) and a bunch of relays...

[Dean Roddey]

Aren't those Rain8 guys effectively just 8 relays? I guess you will be paying for some irrigation type functionality you don't need though.

[Deane Johnson]

@SomeWhatLost

Those are interesting boxes you linked to, but I get lost to fast to deal with anything that requires modification. I like the serious look of them, but fear I'd get in trouble too fast.

@Dean

I believe the Relay8 version of the Rain8 has been discontinued. Luckily, I found a page that indicates the Carl's is now available in a built up version.

http://www.electronickits.com/kit/comple...ck1610.htm

The shades are two wire low voltage, nothing but the shade motor and a power supply. The shades have built in stops at the top and bottom. Reversing the DC power lead changes the direction.

Basically, it takes a DPDT relay for each shade. Since almost all of the available boards have SPST relays only, I use two relays per shade and effectively turn two relays into a single DPDT. Works fine, but requires a total of 12 relays instead of six, hence the need for two Carl's kits.

The fact that CQC has a v2 driver for these makes them attractive. When you use two kits, I assume each is connected to a separate serial port and two CQC drivers are used, each assigned to a different COM port.