Din Pci

I have recently constructed a test board out of the gear obtained from doing the Clipsal intro course but do not seem to have any success communicating with the gear. I can see the lights on the PCI flashing as the PC attempts to talk to the network but it stops there. I have had no success with old 2.7 version software or the new toolkit 1.5. I ended up getting hold of another PCI which I connected to my network and had success initially, but after a while the new PCI was failing also. All cables and wiring seem to be in order. At first I thought I had a crook PCI, but it seems unusual that I would have sourced 2 crook PCIs. Has anyone got any ideas?

Cheers James

 

hmm.....

Do you have the Hardware Network Burden in place ?

Also have you set the clock yet?

 

Hardware network burden is installed on the PCI 2nd CBUS termination.
As for the clock I am unable to make any software changes as no network is recognised,

Cheers James

 

Entering Learn Mode on a Network will sort out any clock issues.

 

clock on pci is enabled by default I believe

 

Under the Default Interface Scan I get the following messages

Probing for Interface device(found)
Failed to identify Network Project Name.

Toolkit seems to be talking to the PCI aok but does not recognise anything beyond there. CBUS cord from PCI --> 8 channel dimmer seems aok,

Cheers James

 

more info required

I have seen no mention in previous postings as to how you physically connect to the PCI.

are you using......

1/ PCMCIA > RS232 adaptor card
2/ Serial port on the computer
3/ USB > RS232 adaptor

depending on the connection method the problem could lie there.

option 1 - has already been mentioned elsewhere as to compatibility
problems between toolkit and Quatech PCMCIA card.

option 2- normally works unless the comport is not setup properly
in device manager

option 3- works reliably if DONTRONICS unit listed on CIS website,
for other USB adaptors varying levels of success.

yuor mention of the PCI flashing abit indicates that something is seen there
but the comms fail, this could indicate device drivers or configuration problem.

if you provide more info as to which option you are using, specific advice should
be easier to provide.

 

PCMICA Quatech ssp-100???

I am experiencing the same trouble as indicated in the post.

Question - Why did the tutor in a CBus training course (Dec 2004) encourage me to purchase the Quatech USB adapter if there were known compatability issues?

It has worked O.K right until I moved to Toolkit 1.1.5

 

Quatech PCMCIA Serial Adaptor will NOT reliably work with Toolkit. If you've bought one at our recommendation please contact your local CIS Sales team and we'll look after you.

 

Unless they recommended to use it for NIRT programming in which case, if your laptop has no real com ports, it is still necessary.

I noticed "Switch Smart" mentioned the Quatech USB adapter to be clear the PCMCIA adapter is not compatiable with Toolkit. For USB we recommend the Dontronics unit. I assume you meant the PCMCIA unit rather than USB as I can't see a trainer recommending anything except Dontronics for USB.

 

Yes - PCMICA not USB

Apologies, yes I meant to say PCMICA not USB

 

I am using a serial port on the lap top which worked fine using Cbus V2.7.9 on the intro course. Neither Toolkit or the V2 seem to work.

Cheers James

 

OK I think I know what the issue is.. Toolkit is failing to identify the Project on the Network, it does this by looking at specific units and extracting the project name based on some business rules.. if this fails.. it doesnt give you the option of choosing a name, which we will change it to do.. V2 works because its a bit sloppier with the business rules it applies to determing the project name.

There's a work around...

Open Toolkit,
Ensure the Project Manager on the left is showing.
Click on the topmost Node.
Click on the Add Project button.
Name your project.
Answer yes to the question about whether you want to add a network..
Define your network on the screen that pops up, make sure you give it the correct COM Port.
After the network has created click "Open Network"..
After the network has opened (hopefully sucessfully) Click on the "Units" node in the project manager.. at the bottom of the screen click "Scan Network".

Phew! Hopefully you will then have a list of units up.

 

No Good.

Got right to the end and got message network failed to open followed by an error message Error 3051.

Cheers James

 

quatech query!HELP!!!

Just wondering if You guys in adelaide are going to address the problem with quatech cards not being compatible with tool kit sooner rather than later.Its a bit of a pain the The #*#* . When most new laptops dont come with a serial coms port so you either go with quatech card because the NIRT units can not be programmed with USB adaptors or USB adaptors and then you can not use NIRTs , . so i went with the pc card which was fine up to toolkit. But now i find im up **** creek with toolkit because of compatabilty problems.And by continuing to use V2 software im falling behind.Ive Heard On the grape vine that you can use a CNI and your ether net port to scan the net work is this true and where does the CNI Leave me with the NIRT Problem.Some profession guidance would be help beacause i have . Future projects about to start so i need to sort this out soon HELP! Please

 

As time permits we are attempting to find a solution, however, we are not confident that a solution will be forthcoming.

Currently that is the case, you need one of each.

The solution is to have a USB adpater as well as the PCMCIA one. Contact you local CIS sales guy and he will look after you.

You can use a CNI for communicating direct to C-bus, but ofcourse you will still need serial to program devices like C-Touch, CBTI and NIRT.

CNI can be a pain in the field if you need to use your laptop on multiple networks (e.g. Office Lan) as you may need to reconfigure you laptop LAN card to make it work (or reconfigure when returning to the office). Talk to your network administrator/ PC Support for guidence on what is required. For most people serial is still the most convenient way.

The best *current* solution is to have both a PCMCIA card for NIRT and the USB adapter for Toolkit.

 

OK. I don't have issues with a serial com port as I already have one that was proven ok in the course.

So any ideas as to why I still can't get past the PCI?

Cheers James

 

Sounds like a good time to contact tech support where they can work through a series of tests over the phone live to determine the problem.

Of course make sure you report back here what you find.

 

Resolved! I contacted Technical support & had resolved in minutes.

It would seem that no clock was enabled and therefore a Cbus network did not exist ie at least 1 clk & network burden etc.

Because I couldn't access the network via software to correct this it had to be done on local learn.

This was achieved by depressing button 1 & holding for approx 10 secs on the 8ch dimmer until load 1 turned on, then release immediately. The unit & C-bus light should turn on alternately, which means its in learn mode and will assign a clk & burden as required to make a C-bus network.

Let it do this for 30 secs and then depress button 1 again on dimmer unit until both unit & C-bus lights are on permanently.

After this I could create and access the C-bus network aok with the toolkit software,

Cheers James

 

Excellent to see this is fixed. Ducan suggested the above solution to you earlier (yesterday morning) but didn't provide the details on how to enter learn etc.. which probably would have got you all sorted.