Serial PCI and PAC - Connections?

I've been using a serial PCI module with a serial cable connected to the front DB9 port in order to program my c-bus install via the toolkit. The network is set up in toolkit as a serial connection on COM10. This is fine for now but going forward I'll have to remove the serial cable so I can close the cabinet!

I want to permanently connect to a PC for control of my c-bus devices via Charmed Quark home automation software, also I want to occasionally connect via the same PC to change the programming via the CBus toolkit, plus occasionally upload new logic via the PAC and I may even have direct connections in the future to a Comfort alarm via the comfort cbus UCM board.

So would this connection plan work:
1. Charmed Quark connected via a PCI RJ45 serial port
2. C-Bus tool kit connected via the other PCI RJ45 serial port
3. PAC uploads via the USB interface on the front of the PAC with the usb cable connected only when required
4. Comfort UCM connected via the PAC RJ45 port

I think this would leave me with the PCI front DB9 serial port free and one RJ45 serial port on the PAC module for future additions.

 

The PCI has a single RS232 input with 3 parallel sockets (2 RJ45 and one DB9). You can only use one at a time. You can connect the comfort RS232 UCM to the PAC RS232 port but would have to write logic to decode the comfort RS232 protocol. The PAC RS232 ports cannot act as a Cbus interface. You would be better of with the Comfort CBus UCM that connects directly to cbus. Also, if you are looking at a CNI (cbus network interface), be aware it also only accepts a single connection at a time. The Wiser can also act as a CBus interface, but while connected the wiser functionality is disabled so it is only of use in programming, not as a permanent connection. Basically you need a separate PCI (or CNI) for each active connection.

 

Right ok, I see what you mean about the parallel sockets on the PCI. I'll have to pause the driver in charmed quark to use the connection for the toolkit, then switch it back once done.

Just been to the comfort website to look at the UCM, so looks like it connects to the bus so that saves another serial port!? Also just noticed a UCM for Heatmiser too so will look into that for controlling my heating!!

Thanks for the help, much clearer now how I can proceed.

 

Just remember you can only have one port physically connected at a time since they are hardwired together internally (this is shown in the installation guide). If you connect 2 or more devices at once the transmit lines from the other devices will be shorted and potentially destroy their RS232 drivers even if you are not transmitting anything.