AdvantageAir integration with C-Bus

Has anyone tried to integrate Advantage Air's Control Air Platinum (http://www.advantageair.com.au/products/platinum/) system with C-Bus? The idea of temperature control in every room is neat and being able to adjust the settings via C-Bus would be just perfect.

 

HI Matthew,

I had a good read through all the technical documents related to the AdvantageAir system, and the only method of directly interfacing with the system is through RF. From the looks of things, this RF signal is a proprietary system, and to interface it with C-Bus would be a huge, time-consuming, and rather expensive job.

If the system used InfraRed remotes, then things might be a little easier, but from what I can see, they dont.

I'm assuming you already have the full system installed, which means that you're not really in luck here. If you are still in the design/construction phase, you might be able to do things another way, by ditching the AdvantageAir control system, installing C-Bus temperature sensors into each zone, and using C-Bus relays to control each zone with PAC or other logic-capable device in the system.

In short, I dont see an easy or readily-feasible way to interface the AdvantageAir system and C-Bus.

If you post more specific details about your system, including model numbers, etc, and what components you are using or are looking to use, I or someone else on here may be able to suggest something else, but at this point, it doesnt look promising.

You could always contact AdvantageAir and ask if they have any ideas, suggestions, or tips on the matter, but looking at their own schematics, again, it doesnt look promising.


Best of luck,

Darpa

 

Advantage Air have RS232 interface

Finally spoke with a sales rep from Advantage Air this morning. He informed me that they have just release a control module with an rs232 interface which enables full control of the system.

He promised to forward a copy of the manual when he receives it so I can satisfy myself that it will work.

Edit: rj45 interface doesn't exist

 

They are going C-Bus now!!

Gents,

Here is the reply I got from AdvantageAir, they are testing the C-Bus interface at the moment. I hope is soon, cause I'm freezing here while waiting for a proper A/C & heating control....

---------------------------------

Thank you for your interest in our Gen III product. Before I begin to
answer your questions I must make it clear that the module that connects
our Gen III system to C-bus has not been released yet and is still being
beta tested, therefore the information I provide here may change prior
to the release of the product.

1. The first release of the product will use an RS 232 interface with
C-bus.

2. Through the C-Bus user interface you will be able to (subject to
the C-bus integrator programming all these function):
- Switch A/C unit on and off
- See and change A/C unit fan speed
- See and change zone temperature set points
- View actual zone temperatures
- See and change mode (heat, cool, vent, auto)
- See and change filter and fresh air settings (these are future
additions which are not yet available)

4. From the Advantage Air side you will not see any C-Bus functions
addresses etc. You can use a touch screen but it only looks at the A/C
control system. If using C-bus we would recommend that you only have a
c-bus user interface as it could cause confusion (i.e. setting a
schedule using c-bus to switch on the a/c and then having a differnt
schedule using the AA interface)

5. At the moment we do not have any documentation that is available for
release to the public as it is not final. Similarly we do not have any
show room where it is plugged into a c-bus system.

We hope to have the module available in July / August depending on the
beta testing currently being conducted.

-----------------------------------------------------

CS

 

Fantastic, sounds like the perfect solution

I hope they release it soon for you, so you dont freeze your butt off, lol

Darpa

 

Interface available if you sign NDA

If you ask really nicely and sign an NDA, they might send you the docs for the RS232 interface and it is likely to bring a smile to your face.

 

Gen III and C-Bus Integration

Hi All,

I have C-Bus installed at my house which I use to control mainly lighting and AV. I am putting in Advatange Airs Gen III system and its planned to be commisioned in about one week.

I use Homesite to control C-Bus from a PC and LCD TV. The PC is on my home network and I have a CNI to connect the networks.

I have purchased the HAU RS232 interface from Advantage as part ofthe whole installation deal, but all they have given me is the protocols.

At the moment C-Bus and Advantage are both saying its not their responsibility to integrate the two and will not provide me with instructions on how to do it. (they say they dont have instructions even though they promote that their systems will integrate successfully)

Has anyone experienced this? Can anyone provide any suggested approaches to program homesite/c-bus to integrate with the Gen III system so I can control it from homesite.

cheers

 

Do you mean HomeGate?

 

You can use a PAC to send serial commands to the HAU to get C-bus to "control" the A/C. You need the protocol documentation from AA to know what commands to send. It is a two way interface so you need to work out how to get the PAC to do what you want when it gets a resposnse.

I have both systems, but I use a product called CQC from Charmed Quark which has a fully developed driver for both C-Bus and Advantage Air Gen III.

Don't hold your breath on the C-Bus interface. They blame Clipsal, but I suspect that they have done nothing with it yet. I keep asking about it and my last e-mail was deleted without being read. As you can see this thread was started on 06 so its over two years old.

Also the protocol is not entirely correct, there are some errors that dont give you full control over the fresh air system.

Mick