PC Interface & C-Bus Toolkit

Discussion in 'C-Bus Toolkit and C-Gate Software' started by hallsj, Jun 16, 2005.

  1. hallsj

    hallsj

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    Hi,

    As the current newest member I am also new to C-Bus.

    We have NEO's installed along with a PCI & Minder - Minder is still to be commissioned. I am running Windows XP on a desktop PC, with Norton Internet Security.

    I downloaded the C-Bus Toolkit & made a cable using pins 2,3 & 5 to hopefully allow me to see the C-Bus network from my PC & look at some of the NEO settings while waiting for our Installer to come back & finish comissioning.

    When I run "Search for Networks", I get the following:
    COM1 Scan Complete Port in Use
    COM3 Scan Complete PCI not found

    Have I missed out on something fundamental?

    Thanks in advance,
    Stephen :confused:
     
    hallsj, Jun 16, 2005
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  2. hallsj

    Richo

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    Hi Stephen,

    I'm not sure if 3 wire serial lead is enough. I have only every used off the shelf with all pins wired. But 3 may be OK, I don't know.

    So you have a serial lead from your PC to the PCI correct?

    What port of the PC is the lead connected to?

    If it's COM3 then not sure why it's not finding the PCI. If it's COM1 then it looks like another software application on your PC already has that com port in use. You will need to close that other application and rescan.
     
    Richo, Jun 16, 2005
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  3. hallsj

    hallsj

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    Thanks Richo,

    I'll connect the other wires & see how I go.

    Cheers,
    Stephen
     
    hallsj, Jun 16, 2005
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  4. hallsj

    Don

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    Don't bother connecting the other leads

    only three leads are required for the PC interface, these being TX data, RX data and common(GND)

    There are no other connections required.

    Don
     
    Don, Jun 17, 2005
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  5. hallsj

    hallsj

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    That being the case Don, then I have something else wrong on my PC connection since I can't see the PCI.

    At the risk of asking a dumb question, do you know how I can determine exactly which port my 9-pin serial socket on the PC is addressed as - COM1 or COM3 or COMx?

    Thanks,
    Stephen
     
    hallsj, Jun 17, 2005
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  6. hallsj

    ashleigh Moderator

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    If you are using XP, Win2K, or similar you only get com ports that are physically installed (unless you run some hideous com port emulator software but we won't go into that.)

    So... trial and error works quite well...

    When Toolkit talks to the PCI, make sure you have NO other things open on that com port. Make sure you have previously shut down any hyperterminals or similar. Make sure before starting Toolkit that you have shutdown any previous instances of Toolkit and the C-Gate java window.

    When probing the com ports, watch the lights on the cbus PCI. You should see one of the lights flash / blink a bit when it is being interrogated. That should tell you which port it is on.

    If that goes too fast, select the ports one at a time and try to open the network.

    Failing that, I'm at a bit of a loss....
     
    ashleigh, Jun 17, 2005
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  7. hallsj

    hallsj

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    Finally I have success!!!!! :)

    I went into Control Panel & disabled COM1 because I couldn't identify which program was trying to access it during start-up. I then re-booted the computer & enabled COM1 again. Next I ran C-BUS Toolkit & "lo & behold" it found a PCI on COM1.

    I have permanently fixed the problem, by re-assigning the COM port to COM2 & configuring Toolkit to use COM2.

    Thanks to everyone for their assistance,
    :) Stephen :)
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 20, 2005
    hallsj, Jun 20, 2005
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