Ethernet Connectivity to third party devices

[garym999]

With an incresing number of devices offering thier RS232 command set via IP control I think a relitivly simple change to Comforts Ethernet UCM could support quite a bit of kit.

I\'m thinking of a new command something like:-

SENDIP <IPAddress> <Your command here>

If you want full two-way connectivity then perhaps that is where the UCM/Universal could step in.

While on the matter of Ethernet connectivity who else would like to see a lot more functionality offered here?

NTP time syncronisation, emailing on certain events, auto emailing of event logs, remote control via email. etc. etc.

[tech07]

it is interesting
Is there a list of useful standard commands that can be used?

[juwi_uk]

I have created a comfortclient plugin that does this. Ingo wanted for something he\'s trying to control. It was only a few lines of code but linked to floorplan it could be useful maybe to people.

Julian

[garym999]

[user=2250]tech07[/user] wrote:

it is interesting
Is there a list of useful standard commands that can be used?

If you take many of the recent TVs and AVRs they simply reapply thier serial command set to the Ethernet port such that 192.168.1.20 PWRON might turn on the TV.

So quite simple to implement

[ident]

[user=876]juwi_uk[/user] wrote:

I have created a comfortclient plugin that does this. Ingo wanted for something he\'s trying to control. It was only a few lines of code but linked to floorplan it could be useful maybe to people.

Julian

The plug in does that through the PC and not the UCM/ethernet, right?

[juwi_uk]

Correct

[admin]

[user=103]garym999[/user] wrote:

With an incresing number of devices offering thier RS232 command set via IP control I think a relitivly simple change to Comforts Ethernet UCM could support quite a bit of kit.

I\'m thinking of a new command something like:-

SENDIP <IPAddress> <Your command here>

If you want full two-way connectivity then perhaps that is where the UCM/Universal could step in.

It is already possible to do this with the UCM/Ethernet or UCM/Universal with Ethernet, although it is not well known.

Use DS Manager, select the device and click on Settings

Go to Channel1 Tab as shown in the screenshot

By default the Routing Mode is set to 0 - Server (Slave). This means that the UCM accepts connections from any IP address (or it can be limited to the IP address specified in \"Accept Connections from \"

Change the Routing Mode to 1 - Server or Client (Master) or 2 - Client (Master)

This allows the UCM to open an outgoing connection to a specified IP address.

Hence when you send commands to the UCM, it will be sent to the IP address specified.

The Transport Protocol can be UDP or TCP

[admin]

Routing Mode defines whether the DS will accept incoming connections (passive opens) and/or establish outgoing connections (perform active opens):

0 (server)
Only incoming connections are accepted, the DS never attempts to establish an outgoing connection to the network host. There is no restriction on which network host can connect to the DS- connection from any IP-address will be accepted as long as the remote host is connecting to the correct Port Number (PN) using current Transport Protocol (TP) [setting/ parameter].

1 (server/client)
Both incoming and outgoing connections are allowed*. Outgoing connections are established with current Destination IP-address (DI) [setting/ parameter/ instruction] and current Destination Port (DP) [setting/ parameter/ instruction]. Exactly when the DS attempts to establish an outgoing connection is defined by the Connection Mode (CM) setting.

2 (client)
Only outgoing connections are allowed, the DS rejects all incoming connections. This is a newly implemented routing mode.
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Current Routing Mode of the DS is changed to 0 (server) if the DS enters the  error mode(the value of the Routing Mode setting itself remains intact).

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* Since the DS only allows for a single data connection at any given time this should be understood as \"whichever comes first\".

[Home]

A point worth highlighting here is that garym999 product is DIN rail mounted.

So could be mounted in a small consumer unit or similar with access( I presume ) from the front panel e.g.no need to take covers etc off to access / see if it is working (presumably flashing LED\'s etc).

[garym999]

Admin, so if I understand this correctly using the method you\'ve mentioned I can send plain/hex text to a single predefined IP address?

If so this is along the lines of what I\'m thinking about but made more accessible within comfigurator such that you can specifiy the IP address and there by control multiple devices from one UCM/Ethernet

For example we have built an IP gateway to Philips Dynalite so to send a message to the gateway might look like this:

SENDIP UCMNo IPADDRESS:SOCKET DATA

SENDIP 1 192.168.1.10:1234 1C,0A,64,00,00,00,FF,77 (Area 10 Preset 1)

For a TV it might be

SENDIP 1 192.168.1.11 PWRON

For a Video matrix it might be
SENDIP 1 192.168.1.23 S1Z2 (Source 1 to Zone2)

Internally within the firmware there would also need to be some code to open and close the socket with the comms data in the middle.

It certainly opens up connectivity and automation