Driver RS-232 or Centralite

🧰 Built-In Apps and Drivers
1

I have a Centralite Elegance XL Lighting control system . There a 3 Automation ports, one I am using a Bitwise Controller that works fine. The limitation on the Bitwise system is that it does not support anything outside a LAN

I am looking for a way for the Hubitat system to talk to a RS-232 port so I can write a driver to control the lighting system. I have all the control codes.

Any ideas?

1 Like
2

Welcome @patchski !

I don't know of anything that will definitely meet your need. I did a quick search and found a few z-wave devices that support an rs232 interface. This is a good place to begin searches for z-wave devices. Catalog of Certified Z-Wave Products for U.S. / Canada / Mexico The devices I did find are in the Computer Controller Interfaces category. Warning, they all seem to include as secondary controllers, so I am not sure what complexities this might add.

Good luck, and keep us informed of your progress.

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3

Thanks for your response. I am hoping that you would consider interfacing to a IP/232 converter like the a SENA LS100 or a Wiznet WIZ110. That way it's only mapping a ASCII string to a button and you have half of it done. The telemetry return data (lamp level, etc) is a bit trickier, but do-able.
There are a lot of 232 devices out there , and they all need to be spoken to. Folks like AMX and Crestron do it, but they are very protective of their sources and products.

Joe

4

If you're writing the driver, then HE can talk to a wiznet/110 (or similar Ethernet <-> RS-232 adapter) using telnetConnect (and friends) in the Groovy code of the Driver.

I do this to talk to my Alarm system. In my case it ends up looking something like:

S
W ---TCP--- [WizNet] ***Serial/RS232*** [ParadoxPRT3] ###COMBUS### [Alarm Panel]
I
T
C --- [HE]
H

My driver uses telnetConnect to establish the link to the Wiznet and then I use ASCII commands that (in my case) the PRT3 converts to talk to the Alarm system (BiDi)

For the WizNet, I do the initial setup (Baud, Bits, Parity etc) out of band of the driver itself, since it's a one-time setup.

5

Apparently a way to use an RS232 adapter here. Different use case, but maybe you can get what you need?

6

It seems like you should be able write a driver/app for the global cache up to serial devices.

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@patchski I have developed for AMX systems before, and even with access to the developer resources, they are rather stingy with detailed information.

8

Agreed, Do you know how is this product compared to Vera? It looks better, but looks aren't everything.

9

Thanks for all of your input, folks.

I'm thinking of cutting from Vera and moving over here. Vera is very slow on drivers for zwave product, even Aeotec.

10

@patchski I Don't have any experience with Vera. I do know the success of HE is its vibrant community. The HE staff can't keep up with the flood of new devices that have very nuanced interpretations of the Z-wave specification. That is where this phenomenal community comes in and provides support through new drivers, apps, and stories of their experiences with the devices.

Welcome to the light! :sunny: :beverage_box: :sunglasses: (Yes, I have taken a big swig of the Kool-Aid. :blush:)

11

We have been using LAN TCP/IP to RS232 converters successfully for some audio control programs to access RS232 over web. The RS232 come with a simply webserver that lets you set the most basic parameters of the connection. However, you would still have to write a LAN driver.