PCS and ELK

[DotNetDog]

BTW: At this point I may still go with the Elk. Since I already plan to run a PC 24/7 I'll just write a Windows service that will update the device status on the M1G.

I don't mean to pry, but given that you are going to use UPB, what is it about the Elk that would have you buying it over the OPII? I switched HA systems this year (not Elk) because I wanted 100% tracking of my UPB without having to write and maintain custom code for all of my devices and links. I think the OPII has some shortcomings in the area of serial port interfacing and variable handling, but I've been extremely happy with the UPB side of things.

Well, I feel that using the HAI/OmniPro would work great if I were using the HAI UPB switches. I'm not sure how well it integrates with non-HAI switchs. The HAI keypad switches have seriously fail the Wife-Factor....i.e.- they luck ugly!

The wife is OK with the PCS kaypads, although she prefers the SA keypads. I admin that I don't know how well the OmniProII works with non-HAI UPB switches. Do you have any experience here?

I have 55 non-HAI UPB devices installed. I do all my setup in Upstart and I have 100% status tracking.
Check out the links in this post for information on configuring HAI HLC mode on UPB devices.
http://www.cocoontech.com/forums/index.php...mp;#entry139457

I have no axe to grind with Elk, I was just curious why you would lean towards Elk when UPB was one of your criteria and it is well supported with HAI.

OK, I'm curious. However, out of respect for this thread (Elk and PCS) I'll send you a PM...

 

[JonW]

BTW: At this point I may still go with the Elk. Since I already plan to run a PC 24/7 I'll just write a Windows service that will update the device status on the M1G.

I don't mean to pry, but given that you are going to use UPB, what is it about the Elk that would have you buying it over the OPII? I switched HA systems this year (not Elk) because I wanted 100% tracking of my UPB without having to write and maintain custom code for all of my devices and links. I think the OPII has some shortcomings in the area of serial port interfacing and variable handling, but I've been extremely happy with the UPB side of things.

Well, I feel that using the HAI/OmniPro would work great if I were using the HAI UPB switches. I'm not sure how well it integrates with non-HAI switchs. The HAI keypad switches have seriously fail the Wife-Factor....i.e.- they luck ugly!

The wife is OK with the PCS kaypads, although she prefers the SA keypads. I admin that I don't know how well the OmniProII works with non-HAI UPB switches. Do you have any experience here?

I have 55 non-HAI UPB devices installed. I do all my setup in Upstart and I have 100% status tracking.
Check out the links in this post for information on configuring HAI HLC mode on UPB devices.
http://www.cocoontech.com/forums/index.php...mp;#entry139457

I have no axe to grind with Elk, I was just curious why you would lean towards Elk when UPB was one of your criteria and it is well supported with HAI.

OK, I'm curious. However, out of respect for this thread (Elk and PCS) I'll send you a PM...

I tried to reply to your PM, but the web server keeps generating an HTTP 501/HTTP 505 error. I'll try again later.

 

[Spanky]

Allow me to clarify the PCS Link status operation.

PCS does not send switch status from links. A controller must know what switches are included in a link and query the individual switches for their status after a link is fired. If link status is desired and the controller does not know which switches are included in the link, all switches must be queried. This could take up to 5 minutes. In the meantime the UPB network is swamped with traffic.

HAI has devised a method, called HLC, to know link status by dividing the lighting map into groups of rooms with up to 8 switches or keypads per room. That way when a link is fired in a room, only 8 switches have to be queried from the control to get the switch's on/off status in that link. Only about 16 seconds of network query time is required.

As a representative from PCS stated, it is not feasible for switches to send their status after a link command because the linked switch's transmissions would swamp the network and few if any transmissions would get through to the controller. The switches must be individually queried for their on/off status.

An individual switch can send its status when turned on or off because it is the only switch talking on the network.

PC based automation software stores the link list of switches to know which switch is in each link. Then the PC can query the individual switches for their on/off status after the link command is issued from the PC automation software. This link storage capability is a nice feature for future embedded automation controllers.

 

[fcwilt]

PC based automation software stores the link list of switches to know which switch is in each link. Then the PC can query the individual switches for their on/off status after the link command is issued from the PC automation software. This link storage capability is a nice feature for future embedded automation controllers.

Since this is easy to do and does not take a lot of storage why does ELK not do this? For that matter why does any HA system not do this?

UPStart can export a simple-to-parse file with all the needed information.

I would gladly pay extra for this feature.

 

[DotNetDog]

Allow me to clarify the PCS Link status operation.

PCS does not send switch status from links. A controller must know what switches are included in a link and query the individual switches for their status after a link is fired. If link status is desired and the controller does not know which switches are included in the link, all switches must be queried. This could take up to 5 minutes. In the meantime the UPB network is swamped with traffic.

HAI has devised a method, called HLC, to know link status by dividing the lighting map into groups of rooms with up to 8 switches or keypads per room. That way when a link is fired in a room, only 8 switches have to be queried from the control to get the switch's on/off status in that link. Only about 16 seconds of network query time is required.

As a representative from PCS stated, it is not feasible for switches to send their status after a link command because the linked switch's transmissions would swamp the network and few if any transmissions would get through to the controller. The switches must be individually queried for their on/off status.

An individual switch can send its status when turned on or off because it is the only switch talking on the network.

PC based automation software stores the link list of switches to know which switch is in each link. Then the PC can query the individual switches for their on/off status after the link command is issued from the PC automation software. This link storage capability is a nice feature for future embedded automation controllers.

I would argue that this is not a "nice" feature but rather a required feature. At least, for anyone using UPB-based lighting. ...just my 2 cents...

 

[DotNetDog]

BTW: At this point I may still go with the Elk. Since I already plan to run a PC 24/7 I'll just write a Windows service that will update the device status on the M1G.

I don't mean to pry, but given that you are going to use UPB, what is it about the Elk that would have you buying it over the OPII? I switched HA systems this year (not Elk) because I wanted 100% tracking of my UPB without having to write and maintain custom code for all of my devices and links. I think the OPII has some shortcomings in the area of serial port interfacing and variable handling, but I've been extremely happy with the UPB side of things.

Well, I feel that using the HAI/OmniPro would work great if I were using the HAI UPB switches. I'm not sure how well it integrates with non-HAI switchs. The HAI keypad switches have seriously fail the Wife-Factor....i.e.- they luck ugly!

The wife is OK with the PCS kaypads, although she prefers the SA keypads. I admin that I don't know how well the OmniProII works with non-HAI UPB switches. Do you have any experience here?

I have 55 non-HAI UPB devices installed. I do all my setup in Upstart and I have 100% status tracking.
Check out the links in this post for information on configuring HAI HLC mode on UPB devices.
http://www.cocoontech.com/forums/index.php...mp;#entry139457

I have no axe to grind with Elk, I was just curious why you would lean towards Elk when UPB was one of your criteria and it is well supported with HAI.

OK, I'm curious. However, out of respect for this thread (Elk and PCS) I'll send you a PM...

I tried to reply to your PM, but the web server keeps generating an HTTP 501/HTTP 505 error. I'll try again later.

You tried at midnight! The servers needed their beauty-sleep!

 

[JonW]

You tried at midnight! The servers needed their beauty-sleep!

Weird... I just tried replying to the PM again. I get the 501/505 errors when I try to send or preview a PM.