Premise Lutron Homeworks - Maestro dimmers?

I've got a Lutron Homeworks system and was trying to use the Premise SYS Lutron driver to control it. This driver (spLutron.dll, ver 2.1.9.15117) seems to only support the older Vareo-style dimmers, where each H48 interface has 12 buses x 4 devices each. My system uses the newer Maestro dimmers, which are addressed as 6 buses x 8 devices each.

Do I need a newer Lutron driver? Is such a thing available? Or is there some workaround that will let me address all my Maestro dimmers? Thanks!

I don't know of a newer driver but there is a workaround that involves editing an XML file. You're limited to adding a variation of an existing configuration. So in addition to 12 buses x 4 devices you'd have 6 buses x 8 devices. You'll have to do some editing and experimentation. Are you willing to try that?

123 said:

I don't know of a newer driver but there is a workaround that involves editing an XML file. You're limited to adding a variation of an existing configuration. So in addition to 12 buses x 4 devices you'd have 6 buses x 8 devices. You'll have to do some editing and experimentation. Are you willing to try that?

Click to expand...

Sure - give me a hint in the right direction and I'll be happy to poke around & figure it out. It seems to me there's a reasonable chance one could manually edit the device properties and simply type in a device number > 4. Depends on where the data validation is done: design-time in the Builder, or at run-time in the DLL.

OK, I've provided at least two different ways to hack the driver and now I've discovered you don't need to do any of that. A lesson for both us!

1. Right-Click Devices > Lutron > HomeworksInteractive > Processor and select: New > H48Link
2. Right-click H48Link and select: New > H48Interface
3. You're done; you now have 6 buses with 8 devices per bus.

Read what's below this line only if you want to learn of two ways to modify the Lutron driver.
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I'll give you a summary of what's involved; let me know if you need detailed instructions.

• Make a backup copy of C:\Program Files\Premise\SYS\bin\devices\spLutron.dll
• Download XN Resource Editor.
• Download a copy of guidgen.exe or simply use http://www.guidgen.com/ to generate GUID codes.

1. Uninstall the Lutron driver.
2. Load the driver DLL into XN and examine the string found in the HTML node. It's in XML format and it defines all Lutron devices handled by the driver. Search for Homeworks, H48, and Vareo; study how the components are defined. You can either change the existing names, and alter the number of buses and devices, or add all new information.
   I don't believe XN lets you save edits to the existing HTML node. I think you have to:
3. Copy the XML to a text editor (I like Notepad++).
4. Make changes to the XML.
5. Delete the existing HTML node.
6. Create a new HTML node.
7. Finally, paste in the revised XML into the new HTML node.
8. Install the modified Lutron driver and test it.

ADDENDUM
Here's a giant time saver for you:
I browsed the driver's XML schema and discovered that it contains definitions for the D48 interface (12 buses x 4 devices) and the H48 interface (6 buses x 8 devices)!

Here's how to switch between the two interfaces without having to edit anything in the driver's XML:

1. Navigate to : Devices > Lutron > HomeworksInteractive > Processor > VareoLink
2. In the Properties window, find the Type property. CTRL+double-click the Type (it contains VareoLink).
3. The Explorer window now displays the VareoLink class.
4. In the Content Window, click D48Interface.
5. In the Properties window, find the LinkObject property (it contains D48Interface).
6. Click the Browse button (...) and navigate to: Lutron > HWI > H48Interface
7. Navigate to : Devices > Lutron > HomeworksInteractive > Processor > VareoLink
8. Right-click VareoLink and select: New > H48Interface
9. Ta-dah!

Basically, you've redefined a VareoLink's default interface (from D48 to H48). There's probably a way to tweak the XML so that both interfaces are readily available but I haven't explored this avenue. Be aware that this modification disappears if you uninstall/reinstall the Lutron driver.

Not trying to raise the dead here, but does this driver connect directly to the RS485 port on the Homeworks board?
 
Was that protocol documented anywhere?  I've been hacking about with some current RA2 gear.  I think I've discovered it's using 31250 baud, 8N1, in hex, between repeaters via RS485.  I don't "need" to use this interface but it'd be interesting seeing what the repeaters share between themselves.