Can't get my HAI Omnistat 2s to communicate to Elk M1G

[SIMKO]

I recently installed two HAI Omnistat2 and connected them to a Elk M1XSP which is connected to my Elk M1G. The thermostats work fine as stand-alone units but will not communicate with the ELK no matter what I try

Below is a summary of what I have done so far to try and get it to work. I have read through both manuals many times and did extensive searches on the forum here to see what I might be missing, but I can't seem to figure it out.

Any help on how to troubleshoot what might be the problem would be very appreciated.

ELK M1XSP
1) M1XSP has address DIP switch set to 1, Mode set to 1010, Baud set to 110 (2400), JP3 is set to 232, JP1/JP2 are not jumpered, JP5 is jumpered
2) M1XSP shows up properly in Enroll/Update screen and has the firmware updated to 70.0.2
3) The ELK-WO46A serial cable is connected to a terminal block
4) Made sure that A and B wires for connection to M1DBH are correct (I don't think it would enroll properly if they were swapped)
5) I only have one M1XSP and it is set to address 1. The only other item set to address 1 is a keypad, but that shouldn't be an issue because it is a different type of device and the Elk manual states that different devices can have the same address
6) Thermostats show up on keypad and T01:Not Enabled and T02:Not Enabled
7) The only weird thing is that when I updated the M1XSP to 70.0.2, the 'Check For Updates' screen said the HAI Omnistat firmware was 30.0.2, but the description said it was 70.0.2 and shows up as 70.0.2 after the update

Omnistat2
1) Comm jumper J8 is removed from the back of the Omnistat 2
2) Omnistats are homerunned to the terminal strip that the serial cable is connected to using four conductors of a CAT5 cable (blue, brown, green, orange)
3) Made sure that 'black' and 'red' wires are correctly placed in Omnistat
4) Addressed as 1 and 2
5) Communication Mode-Serial, System Baud-2400, Expansion Baud-2400

ElkM1G
1) I was going to update to the latest Firmware 5.2.10 but it says that it is a newer firmware than my version of ElkRP recognizes?!? It will let me install, but says that some functionality may not be available with the version of ElkRP that I am using.
2) I updated ElkRP to 2.0.16 and it still says that the firmware is not recognized by ElkRP. Tried rebooting computer and got the same thing

Does anyone have any ideas of what I could try to get these thermostats communicating?

Thanks!

 

[SIMKO]

Overview of wiring

 

[SIMKO]

M1XSP Wiring

 

[SIMKO]

Homerun wiring to serial cable

 

[SIMKO]

Omnistat2 wiring

 

[SIMKO]

I just spent alot of time double checking every wire and it all checked out fine. I decided to start changing the baud settings to ones other than what the M1XSP instructions say it should be.

Can anyone think of any reason that it would work fine at 300 baud but not at 2400 like the M1XSP instructions say it should?

Homerun #1 is 15'
Homerun #2 is 30'

Right now I am using the solid color conductors in a CAT5 cable. Would it be worth stripping the striped conductors and adding them (blue/bluewhite together, orange/orangewhite together, etc) or should the single conductor be sufficient?

 

[mike31360]

I have one Omnistat2 installed with my Elk and have the same symptoms. It works fine at 300 baud but will not communicate at all set to 2400. I too used the solid colors of Cat5 and when that didn’t work, I added the tracer color to each, thinking I had a noise issue somehow. My last resort was to re-run a 4 conductor cable with a shield. This had no effect. My RS-232 cable length is only 10 foot. I have spent hours, checking and rechecking every setting..... very frustrating

 

[mike31360]

I emailed HAI's support department of my inability to get the Omnistat to function at 2400 baud and here is their reply...

"[font="Arial""]HAI does not have any intimate knowledge of the ELK automation controller, so we would have no comment or information for connecting an HAI tstat to it at a “listed” 2400 baud. In HAI documentation, the recommended baud rate for connection with an HAI controller is 100."[/font]

It's interesting that they connect to the tstat at 100 baud.... Can anyone report that their Omnistat2 functions properly at the ELK's suggested baud rate of 2400?

 

[fcwilt]

You say it works fine at 300 baud?

If so just go with that. The amount of information being transferred is tiny and the speed of the link is of no real importance.

 

[mike31360]

Frederick... I completely agree with your statement, however, since the documentation clearly states it should work at this speed, and it has been reported by others here that it will work at 2400, I felt I was masking a "real" problem and eventually, it would poke it's ugly head. I contacted Elk tech support and got the following response...

"In tech support, we have observed the same with the Omnistat2 (by HAI). As our documentation notes, 300 baud is an acceptable setting for Omni2. At some point HAI made a change to the thermostats that seems to have affected our ability to communicate at higher baud rates, but we have had no issues with communication at 300 baud. Our recommendation for all HAI Omnistats (1 & 2) integration is to set the baud rate to 300. We will be updating our documentation to reflect this change"

 

[SIMKO]

I have had communication issues two of the last three days

I have rules set up to turn the temp down when the alarm is armed and back up when it is disarmed. Sometimes the rule works and sometimes it doesn't.

 

[SIMKO]

Is it a problem that the rule is changing both thermostats at pretty much the same time. Maybe it would be better if I put a counter between the calls to change the temp.

I could also write it to send the command a second time after a period of time but I really hope that this system doesn't require me to do stuff like that.

 

[fcwilt]

Can't help you here. My ELK system has no thermostats connected whereas my HAI thermostats are connected to an HAI system.

When in doubt experiment. Try adding a delay between commanding each t-stat. Try sending the command twice. Whatever works.

 

[forJO]

Is it a problem that the rule is changing both thermostats at pretty much the same time. Maybe it would be better if I put a counter between the calls to change the temp.

I could also write it to send the command a second time after a period of time but I really hope that this system doesn't require me to do stuff like that.

I have installed a few of the Elk systems with HAI tstats and you are correct you need to put some type of pause in between sending the commands because the baud rate is so slow. The first system I did like this was before the counter was included in RP so I had to Turn an unused output on for 1 Sec, then WHENEVER that output closed start the next step. So there were a lot of outputs to cycle through. You will get odd intermitent responses from the thermostats where they respond correctly sometimes but not everytime. Makes programming a long process but not the end of the world. I have a couple of systems with 7-10 tstats and this was a pain to figure out.

I would also recommend doing everything you can to "dummy proof" your rules because if someone puts the sytem in hold it won't change. So I send the following three commands to change the heat. Once you complete one rule you can start copying and pasting and it starts to go pretty fast.

1. Set tstat TO HEAT
   
2. Turn tstat HOLD TO OFF
   
3. Then SET tstat temp to desired temp.

So in reality that looks like this

3
WHENEVER Comfort Mode (Task 2) IS ACTIVATED
		 THEN SET Master Bed (Tstat 1) TO HEAT
		 THEN TURN Output 131 ON FOR 1 SEC
4
WHENEVER Output 131 STATE IS TURNED OFF
		 THEN SET Master Bed (Tstat 1) HOLD TO OFF
		 THEN TURN Output 132 ON FOR 1 SEC
5
WHENEVER Output 132 STATE IS TURNED OFF
		 THEN SET Master Bed (Tstat 1) HEATING DESIRED TEMP TO 65 DEG. F. (18 DEG. C.)
		 THEN TURN Output 133 ON FOR 2 SECS
6
WHENEVER Output 133 STATE IS TURNED OFF
		 THEN SET Lakeside Bed (Tstat 2) TO HEAT
		 THEN TURN Output 134 ON FOR 1 SEC
7
WHENEVER Output 134 STATE IS TURNED OFF
		 THEN SET Lakeside Bed (Tstat 2) HOLD TO OFF
		 THEN TURN Output 135 ON FOR 1 SEC
8
WHENEVER Output 135 STATE IS TURNED OFF
		 THEN SET Lakeside Bed (Tstat 2) HEATING DESIRED TEMP TO 65 DEG. F. (18 DEG. C.)
		 THEN TURN Output 136 ON FOR 2 SECS

I hope this helps someone since I spent a long while trying to figure out the problem one day.