HAI Omni II and IR control

kschorz

New Member
I am looking for a device that can be used with the HAI Omni controllers that will learn IR commands then allow you to use those commands in the Omni program and distribute them to an IR distribution system?

Something like the Stargate and IR Expander.

THank you!
 
The JDS IR expander has a serial port connection for use with other brands of controllers. It will probably work with the Omni Pro II if you have an available serial port. Check the specs at JDStechnologies.com
 
By the way... how do you like your Omni Pro II? Not many people have posted details about them here but a lot of folks are curious about that system. What all do you have connected to it?
 
upstatemike said:
By the way... how do you like your Omni Pro II? Not many people have posted details about them here but a lot of folks are curious about that system. What all do you have connected to it?
Hi Mike thanks for the answer. I currently have the Stargate and IR Expander however; JDS is discontinuing the support of the IVR (phone, CID, voice) functionality for the Stargate. I know HomeSeer is out there, in fact I use it but there is some phone and voice functions that I want to remain on the hardware side without using a PC.
The Omni IIe is my choice because of all the options it supports including UPB. However, I have yet to find how to incorporate IR control with the Omni.
That will be a real show stopper for me.

I am going to be installing these systems in custom homes and I do NOT want a PC in the equation for critical functionality.

I am kind of dismayed since Stargate met every one of my requirements for a hardware based controller, especially the phone control and the analog/digital I/O.
 
I would be very interested in seeing how the functionality you had with the Stargate will port over to the Omni Pro II platform. How are you going to do phone functions with the Omni Pro? How do the programming options match up between the two systems?
 
I am also very curious to learn about the Omni Pro II. There seem to be very few DIYer's that use it. So any information you can give us would be great!
 
upstatemike said:
I would be very interested in seeing how the functionality you had with the Stargate will port over to the Omni Pro II platform. How are you going to do phone functions with the Omni Pro? How do the programming options match up between the two systems?
Unfortunately the "porting" will be by hand, line by line.

From what I have found it looks like the Omni uses pre-built functions that you string together to create an event. Unlike the Stargate where you may need multiple lines of ladder type code to create an event. From the specs the Omni only supports 500 lines of code as stated:

500 lines of non-volatile ACP control program storage
• Commands (immediate and scheduled) include:
- on, off, dim, brighten, level, scene and ramp rate
- timed on, off, dim, bright
- activate a button (macro)
- Change system modes, zone status, flags, counters,
and timers.
- With options: change settings, mode, fan for one or all
thermostats, Say, display or place a call with a
message.

I haven't figured it all yet. Also, from reading various forums, while the Omni II is a very versitile controller, it is geared more towards the professional installer which is why I am looking at it. If a customer wants a specific functionality, they will have to pay for the hardware, installation, and programming time.

I wish there was another tightly integrated phone and voice solution with the Stargate.
At this time it looks like the only solution is with a PC running HomeSeer and HomeSeer phone.
 
Maybe the answer is to stick with Stargate and find a substitute for the IVR board. It might be two separate devices, a phone interface and a hardware TTS box, or some similiar combination of hardware gizmos.

Of course you could go with the HST PRO 100 and add a USB hub with a bunch of USB to Serial adapters, and an RS-232 to RS-485 adapter for connecting thermostats and RCS keypads, and a Way-to-Call modem for phone functions, and an Ocelot for IR and hard-wired inputs, and an AB8SS for audio switching... and then you would have a system that can do some things almost as well as a Stargate for only about 7 times the price!
 
Actually I think I have come up with a device that will solve your IVR board dilemma. I call it the Upstate Messaging Appliance or “UMAâ€.

I noticed when I made the Top 10 list of hardware controllers that all the recent entries are based on ruggedized PCs, some of which are diskless and fanless. There must be a source for a generic box like this that could be the basis for a messaging appliance device. Because it is diskless and fanless, it should resolve your fears of using a PC based product, while at the same time permitting me to load AT&T voices and other cool software to enhance its voice messaging abilities.

I will install a Delta 410 or similar multi-channel card in the unit as well as some kind of phone card like you would use for an Asterisk phone system.

The system will accept ASCII input via serial or network connection and parse it into a text file inserting any variables into the message as required. The text file is then sent to a TTS engine like TextAloud that will turn it into a wav or mp3 file. I’ll somehow use a parameter in the original ASCII string to pick which voice should be used in the conversion. The new file will get queued up to be played by something like Media Center through 1 or more of the soundcard outputs. (Again, the routing information will be a parameter in the ASCII string).

I need to do some more research on asterisk and phone cards to determine the sequence of events for that piece, but I think there must be a way to handle the phone functions on a platform like this.
 
I've also made my own fully scriptable IVR system, built into my PC-PBX application. I created HA specific instructions cells such as say variable values coming from the Ocelot, send slave Leopard button presses (to the Ocelot, it looks like a slave Leopard on the bus). I modelled the IVR instruction cells to the original Voicetek "Generations" IVR system which I was quite familiar with and enjoyed programming. Nortel rebranded that product as "Nortel IVR". All the voicemail part is scripted from IVR scripts and is very configurable. This has been one very enjoyable part of my HA projects.
 
Guy Lavoie said:
I've also made my own fully scriptable IVR system, built into my PC-PBX application. I created HA specific instructions cells such as say variable values coming from the Ocelot, send slave Leopard button presses (to the Ocelot, it looks like a slave Leopard on the bus). I modelled the IVR instruction cells to the original Voicetek "Generations" IVR system which I was quite familiar with and enjoyed programming. Nortel rebranded that product as "Nortel IVR". All the voicemail part is scripted from IVR scripts and is very configurable. This has been one very enjoyable part of my HA projects.
Guy,
Were you speaking English in this response? ;)
 
Actually the IVR system connects to my HA system through an IP socket connection that it establishes to a Adnet module of my own design (which emulates a slave Leopard). This module sends and receives serial ASCII data so its quite easy to interface. The PC-PBX itself needs a special telephony card so it is not easily replicated. The card is a Pika Daytona card that supports 8 lines and 16 phones. The fun part was creating the IVR instruction set, allowing me to do menus, capturing user input, saying numbers, etc.

I thought that some of you might have worked with some commercial IVR systems before, of which Voicetek was an early leader. I really enjoyed working with it and had always wanted to get or make my own someday, which is what I ended up doing.
 
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