New user

Hi everyone,

Im in the process of getting to grips with Clipsal products and have completed my first 2 day training on C-Bus (intense would be an understatement)...

As this was the only section i have found for an introduction i hope it's the right place !

Initial impressions of the product range are good and im impressed at the apparent infinite flexibility of the products.

Im already being asked by my company to look at a few jobs to implement the C-Bus systems and im looking forward to the challenge if im honest.

Im not fortunate enough to have access to any of the equipment at present, and i would like to have some handy for me to test my programming on and fine tune my knowledge by trial and error (find this the best way to learn if time and money permit)
So that is in the process of being actioned as it can only help me and my company as i can get more experience faster.

Im currently working through the site and trying to answer all my questions via the search feature.

One im having issues with though is a virtual way of testing my programming of C-Bus units. is there a way to test i have it correct ?

Im setting a 4 channel Aux input unit to operate a few scenes via an 8 channel DSI output interface at present and would like to check it's working without having the hardware....

Anyway that is all for now and i hope you don't mind me asking questions and gaining knowledge from you, we all have to start somewhere.

Nick

 

Wow i find that very strange given the knowledge and programming skills that are on the forums.

I would have thought that it would be an invaluable fault finding and design aid.

Will have to talk nicely to the office then and get some stock ordered.

thanks for the help ashleigh.

I have been looking into this a little more on tool-kit.

When i view a group that is to be switched via a scene set on key 1 of my relay, I only see an output device in the dependency list. However if i set key 1 on my relay to on/off and select a group, I also see an input unit (my relay) in the dependency list.

Is that normal ?

 

For more complicated C-Bus products, such as Touchscreens, Wiser, PAC, etc these devices are programmed with the PICED software. This has a simulation mode that allows you to test out the logic and the way the user interface behaves.

For regular Toolkit-programmed devices there is no virtual model for these devices. The subtleties of the hundreds of types of units plus the subtleties of every possible firmware version would make creating such a model a massive undertaking. Even then the subtleties of bus timing would make a perfectly accurate simulation extremely difficult. The return on investment to create such a simulation has never stacked up.

The dependency checker within Toolkit does not go to the extent of checking the contents of Scenes stored within switches. It only goes as far as checking to see if a group is assigned to a block (logic unit) within a switch.

It's also worth getting your terminology right. A switch mounted on a wall is an input unit. A Relay unit is the unit that mounts in the switchboard and controls the electrical power to the load and is called an output unit. The key/button is the physical buttons on the switch that you press.

 

Hi Vidal
Welcome to CBus forum.
I can vouch that Cbus works and you won't need a simulator even if you think that you need one right now.
Assigning group address's and scenes to a unit with CBus Toolkit is a very simple task and I am sure that you will find that your biggest challenge will be to to dream up something which might be intuitive and useful for the customer.
As Newman says, for advanced funtionality you can run a simulation in Piced.

Maybe it's just me but I find motion sensors one of the most difficult things to integrate in a fashion which is easy for the customer to use.
And honestly I don't think you can test that with a simulator.
Good luck!

 

Ahh well when you put it like that i can now see the mammoth task would not be cost effective.

Im booked in on the PICED course for the end of next month, we looked at it briefly at the end of the last course and im really looking forward to getting into that software.

Thanks for that info, i was a little worried when one unit was displaying a logic unit and one was not, and now understand why.

Sorry i can see the confusion there. Im stuck in my ways at present and should have stated that the unit i was referring to was the 4 channel Aux input unit rather than call it a relay.

I have no concerns about the product working, Its more my current lack of experience with the product and trying out different programs before getting to site with it and finding i have it all wrong

Im thinking it's more complicated than it actually is and as a result doubting the small amount of knowledge i have been taught on my entry course.

I can see that the only solution to my problems is going to be gaining experience by using the product.

And im back to buying units again... will give the training centre a call tomorrow and see if they can sort me out a small package deal for me to use at home.