Controlling a BetaBrite with an Omni

[ano]

I'm moving, and I am determined to simply my home automation in my new house.  In my current house I have an Omni Pro II with CQC which is very powerful, but including a PC in the mix adds to the power usage, and ultimately adds to the upkeep maintenance.
 
Going with just an Omni Pro II means that voice announcements won't be as nice, (which I can live with) and dumping my electronic signs, which the wife is not happy about.  Currently I have CQC controlling two electronic signs, a Betabrite in my garage and a giant 3 line unit in my kitchen.  These signs gave the time, and in the garage gave the temp, and alarm on/off info.  When we entered the garage, we would know if the alarm was on, and if our remote keyfob turned it off.  In the kitchen it gave weather, caller ID info, news headlines, and calendar events. 
 
I was searching for a replacement for my signs, or at least a way in the garage to indicate if the alarm is on or off, and I found this:
http://www.industrologic.com/ss51bbccdesc.htm
 
Its a simple protocol converter that can receive simple ASCII text to drive a BetaBrite. Since the Omni is pretty limited on its text creation over the serial port, this is the perfect solution.  I use one sign for the typical Alarm On/Alarm Off in the garage, with the time at other times, and maybe temps.  I will use an inside BetaBrite for messages like Garage 1 Open, etc.
 
You just send ASCII text to this converter and it converts it for the sign. It also supports many of the signs modes with simple escape characters.  If you have ever looked at the AlphaNet protocol the sign uses directly, you'd see this was MUCH simpler and something the Omni could easily handle.

 

[jgary]

I'm moving, and I am determined to simply my home automation in my new house.  In my current house I have an Omni Pro II with CQC which is very powerful, but including a PC in the mix adds to the power usage, and ultimately adds to the upkeep maintenance.
 
Going with just an Omni Pro II means that voice announcements won't be as nice, (which I can live with) and dumping my electronic signs, which the wife is not happy about.  Currently I have CQC controlling two electronic signs, a Betabrite in my garage and a giant 3 line unit in my kitchen.  These signs gave the time, and in the garage gave the temp, and alarm on/off info.  When we entered the garage, we would know if the alarm was on, and if our remote keyfob turned it off.  In the kitchen it gave weather, caller ID info, news headlines, and calendar events. 
 
I was searching for a replacement for my signs, or at least a way in the garage to indicate if the alarm is on or off, and I found this:
http://www.industrologic.com/ss51bbccdesc.htm
 
Its a simple protocol converter that can receive simple ASCII text to drive a BetaBrite. Since the Omni is pretty limited on its text creation over the serial port, this is the perfect solution.  I use one sign for the typical Alarm On/Alarm Off in the garage, with the time at other times, and maybe temps.  I will use an inside BetaBrite for messages like Garage 1 Open, etc.
 
You just send ASCII text to this converter and it converts it for the sign. It also supports many of the signs modes with simple escape characters.  If you have ever looked at the AlphaNet protocol the sign uses directly, you'd see this was MUCH simpler and something the Omni could easily handle.

 
So Are you saying, messages you create to display on the screen on one of your "Keypads" in the Omni Pro II would display on the BetaBrite ??

 

[ano]

It can.  The great thing about home automation is it monitors things, but unfortunately it only has limited ways to give you this info. You can use text-to-speech, but that has its limits. Keypads can flash and announce things, but you need to get up to read it. A sign is a great way to display status, info, doors open, etc. 
 
In my current home I had a three line Alpha color sign give headlines, caller ID, weather, appointments, but the problems was it took too long to cycle through these. In my new house it will be simple, and a one line sign for info is great. I use one in the garage also, to say "Alarm On," "Alarm Off," etc. When using a keyfob, its the only easy way to get alarm status.