BarioNet Controller

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the forum, and I'm hoping that some of you can give me some direction.

I've been researching some ways to do a number of automation projects around my home and I ran across a controller called the 'BarioNet', made by Barix. It is a programmable controller with a built-in webserver and various i/o interfaces such as rs232, rs485, some digital ins/outs, analog ins, and a couple of relays. It looks pretty promising, but I'm just wondering if any of you have used it in your home before.

I talked to a company in the U.S. called DataNab that sells it and they said that it works well for home automation (what else would they say), but I would feel better about buying one if some of you could give me some real feedback... It is only something like $270, but I don't want to drop $270 on something that won't do the things that I need it to.

Thanks!
-rookie
 
but I don't want to drop $270 on something that won't do the things that I need it to.

Welcome to Cocoontech.
Can you tell us what your wanting to accomplish and maybe we can offer some suggestions.
 
Hi, welcome to CocoonTech!

I just checked out that device, and I have to admit it looks pretty interesting. It is very similar to what the Ocelot (http://www.automatedoutlet.com/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=6) does, but it looks like this one even supports 1-wire temp sensors. The only downside I see here is that it doesn't directly support X-10 or any of the other popular HA protocols. Also keep in mind that this device is probably not supported by most HA applications, but it looks like these are easy to interface, so that shouldn't be a showstopper.

Hopefully someone else can chime in, but I am definitely intrigued by this unit.

Btw, SmartHome sells this unit as well (http://www.smarthome.com/1151.html), and maybe Martin at AutomatedOutlet (or any other dealers watching this board) might be able to offer it as well.
 
Thanks for the quick responses guys. I would like to be able to monitor some temperatures, remotely trigger some flood lights, and do some simple access control with a prox reader or card swipe.

Since my first post I actually got an email back from DataNab. They told me that the BarioNet supports up to 8 dallas 1-wire temperature sensors for my temperature monitoring and it also has a wiegand card access interface so that I could control up to two doors with one controller. For the lights they said the 2 built-in relays should work fine, and if I need more they have a relay ext module for $130 that adds 6 more relay channels rated for 16A.

Something else they mentioned that I probably wouldn't use, but you guys might be interested in is that the BarioNet can control a simple RS232 to 1-wire convertor and add support for all of the other 1-wire devices. I guess you could actually have something like 50 temp sensors being brought back to a single BarioNet using that converter deal. The most interesting thing for me though is the fact that it has a built-in webserver so I can sit at my desk at work and view the temperatures and such through a web browser.

$270 seems like a great deal. I will probably end up buying a couple. I would still be interested in hearing from someone that has actually used the product in their house though...
 
So you are going to wire the lights directly into the relays somehow? I haven't met one person yet who uses this device, but I look forward to the results for sure. Are you planning on doing any home automation using any of the popular protocols?
 
Hi Willing,

I actually have used the barionet. I am more of a Heating & Cooling guy, but I used one in my house to get remote access control of my furnace. I was testing it out and it works great. A few friends of mine have cabins and they wanted a way to alarm if the temperature got to low as well as monitor for water leaks. I have not installed one at my friends cabin yet - but that will be next.

Does anyone have more information on the Dallas 1-wire stuff - maybe a good link I can check out?

Klause
 
Thanks for the input guys. I got one of the controllers and so far everything looks good. I am already able to control a light from my web browser at work as well as view the temp sensors remotely!

electron: I am going to wire the line of the necessary lighting circuits directly through the barionet relays, in series with the switches that are already there. I think that I am going to end up ordering one of the 6ch relay extension modules that datanab was telling me about as well. I have about 5 different lights that I want to control, and the barionet only has the 2 built-in relays. That way instead of ordering another controller, I can just add to the capabilities of the one and control everything through one ip address. As far as protocols: I do not have any of the home control software and I don't really need it I think. I will just be doing control via ethernet using tcp/ip and using a standard web browser. The barionet is configurable enough that I can create my own interfaces, graphics pages, etc, and that is really all i was looking for.

tradesman: I have used the 1-wire stuff before. The sensors are inexpensive and are all just dropped off of a single network, with one line for data/power and another line for the common. You can buy them directly from Dallas or you can get a packaged style sensor from a few places around the U.S. (embedded data systems, ibuttonlink, and rds distributing are a few that I have found) Actually DataNab sells a simple low cost molded & wired version of the high res 1-wire temp sensor for $10. I bought a couple of them and I'm planning on using them in my basement.

One other interesting item: when I told them that I was interested in home automation, datanab told me that it would be possible to write an X10 interface into the barionet to talk to x10 stuff via the rs232 port. I haven't actually done much with the x10 stuff besides a couple of light switches about 2 years ago, but that was something that I thought some of the more experienced people on the forum might be interested in...

Thanks again guys. I will plan on updating the post when I get more done. If anyone wants to see the interface I created, I can put everything on a temporary open IP address to give you access. It is pretty sweet!
 
I guess that unit is pretty flexible if it allows you to send/receive custom messages. A device like this would be perfect with a home automation server, so the server can be the home automation interface, and many other things. Do you have an example of the programming language?
 
Well, so far all that I've done is create a web page that allows me to switch the relays and view the temperature values that are coming into the controller. So I haven't done any actual programming on the controller yet.

However, I was thinking about hooking up a couple of motion sensors to the inputs and then writing a program that would switch the relays based on the status of the inputs. I found some example code at the bottom of the support section of datanab's web site that deals with that:
http://www.datanab.com/support/support.htm

I don't see anything there that talks about communicating through the serial port, but you could probably email their support. Otherwise, the programming manual is at:
http://www.datanab.com/docs/barionet/manua...46_20041012.pdf

From looking through their examples and the manual, it looks to me like you could also send emails directly from this thing if you wanted to... I may try to do that as well if one of my temp sensors goes out of range or something. I will probably use this to monitor my freezer if it works!
 
willing_to_learn said:
I don't see anything there that talks about communicating through the serial port, but you could probably email their support. Otherwise, the programming manual is at:
http://www.datanab.com/docs/barionet/manua...46_20041012.pdf
From the linked manual,

You can open a stream to a serial port using the "OPEN COM" statement (p. 27). You can then write to the stream using a "WRITE" command (p. 30).

Should be pretty straightforward.
 
The examples look interesting, very 'basic', but looks like it is pretty flexible as well.
 
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