Updating Comfort Zone Status To Cbus

This is a thread I posted on the Comfort (Minder Pro) forum but without any luck. Maybe I can get some help here.

http://www.comfortforums.com/view_topic.php?id=868&forum_id=11&jump_to=3329#p3329

To make a long story short, I need a way to update the zone states after a power failure on HomeGate/CGate. Minder sends status changes to CBus but I can't seem to force an update. My thinking was that I can force an update via the logic engine as soon as everything is up and running again. Below is my last post but for the complete story click on the url above.

"Looks like the Restore function doesn't quite work as I thought. I opened a window and a door and let HomeGate 'see' the status. I disconnected HomeGate from the network (C-Gate couldn't talk to my devices or Minder). I closed the window and reconnected HomeGate a few minutes later. The windows now shows open instead of closed and the door correctly shows open but it's just a coincidence. The problem is that I cannot get HomeGate to do a status update. I tried the different variations of of app 208 commands but none seem to work. I keep on getting a c-gate message like below:

1/27/2008 6:35:21 PM C-Gate : Rx "[4466] 401 Bad object or device ID: 254/208/160 (Invalid zone address)"

160 is just one of the different group addresses I tried, they all give the same error.

When I restart C-Gate/HomeGate all the states are gone. The open window shows closed - which is now correct, but the open door now also show closed. Only a system reset om Minder Pro updates the status.

1/27/2008 6:51:36 PM C-Gate : Rx "# security zone_unsealed //MIDSTRM/254/208/13 #sourceunit=18 OID="
1/27/2008 6:51:37 PM C-Gate : Rx "application ramp //MIDSTRM/254/1/13 255 4 #sourceunit=18 OID=95155010-ad6d-102a-91bf-93c208b747ad"
1/27/2008 6:51:37 PM C-Bus Rx : Ramp Security(1), Group 13 - Family Room Door On over 4s

Any suggestions?"

 

Does your CBus install include a PAC or a C Touch at all?

Im fairly new to the Minder Pro and I am currently in the middle of sorting out an install so I've been doing a lot of experimenting.

So far I get the status messages through no problem, I am using a Colour Touch and the built in system IO and functions for the security system. These are included in the latest PICED version which deletes the old application 208 cludge.

Would be interested to know your CBus setup and software/firmware versions to be able to help at all.

BTW - Im assuming its the CBus side not getting the messages rather than the Minder/Comfort not sending them.

 

Last night I tried again but still nothing. I am using HomeGate 3.9 connecting to Minder Pro via the CBus interface. Everything works fine, the zone status is sent to CBus and the Groups/Counter interaction works 100% The problem is that once HomeGate and CGate goes down (frequent power failures in SA) and Minder Pro stays up then it loses sync.

I again tried to activate the Panic alarm example in "cbusman.pdf" page 47. According to the manual you just have to set application D0 and use group address A4. The switch should be an ON switch only. Doing this on HomeGate doesn't work. The manual states that it's the c-touch to Minder Pro integration but I can't see why HomeGate won't work. I am sure if I get this right then I can send a Status Request message and the zones will update.

I just installed HomeGate 4.0 and tried the Panic Alarm special function and it works. I looked at the CGate message being sent but there is no mention of group A2 as per the manual. If someone can just tell me why in HomeGate 3.9 I can't get application 208 to do the same as Home Gate4.0's Security application - they are one in the same anyway. Also in HomeGate 4.0 I can't create application 208, 3.9 allows the creation and with that I can do much more than 4.x - if I can get it working properly. At this stage I am forced to use a group to pass messages between CBus and Minder Pro. An example is the reset function, I set a group on CBus and the corresponding counter on Minder Pro has a "System Reset" response. Whever the power fail, I have some initialization code in Logic that sets the group and voila, all the zone status' are back. This is a bit tacky but it seems to work.

 

ok, first up application 208 has been deleted. The reason for this seems to be that it was a coincidence that the lighting control codes just happened to match the Minder Pro control codes and so the cludge of using a lighting application for security just worked. This is ok until something changes and no other lighting codes work.

As far as I can tell, the new embedded security functions are not just a wrapper for the lighting controls. It should give an API that can be easily altered to implement other CBus enabled security systems.

Im not too sure why you have an issue with using initialisation code. The Minder will know when the power has been down and when it comes back, so it can clearly be programmed to reset its synch to CBus. In addition the CTouch and PAC can have code set to run on startup, which would execute when the power comes back on.

This in effect is no different to the lighting state recovery that occurs when the power starts up.

I would suggest you upgrade to the latest supported software and reimplement with the embedded security commands if you can. I doubt that the software team intend to leave it as is, so you may well get access to further extensions at a later date that will improve the system integration.

Its up to you but it sounds like you have solved it already with your startup code.

 

Thanks for the info. Just to clear things up a bit, the sync issues is ONLY when CBus goes down but Minder stays up. My "reset" code in Homegate works like a charm but I am sure it's not the best way of doing things. Luckily the reset doesn't affect the state of Minder, be it armed or disarmed - it stays the same even with a system reset and only takes around 10 seconds to sync up again.

 

I really dont see this as an issue. Having initialistion code on power up is not an odd thing. Its a n eat way to do a bit of housekeeping before the system is ready for use.