NX-584 connection

Plugins & Plugin Development Unmaintained
#1

I have connected my CADDX NX-8 and NX-584 board to my Veralite 3 (firmware version 1.6.641), and am unable to communicate. I have tried loading the files manually, and also using the standard install from Mios. The device seems to install correctly, but it displays a big red circle at the top left of the device. If I check the communication, it just checks forever, and never provides a response.

I have set the setting for the NX-584 as defined on this forum.

For my connection to the Veralite, I am using a Female to Female converter, and then a standard DB9 to USB cable (not a Null Cable), plugged directly into the USB port of the Veralite 3. The NX-584 is blinking, but there seems to be no communication with the Veralite.

Are there any settings on the CADDX NX-8 regarding communication or reporting, etc., that I should check?

Otherwise, any ideas what I should try?

Thank you for your time.

#2

I would follow the same advice that previous users in this situation have been given on the forum:

  • Think about whether you needed to swap the jumpers on the NX-584 board. In your case I think you do need to swap them.
  • Be sure you have the right baud rate and other serial parameters.
  • Plug the USB connector into a real computer and start up a terminal program and see what you get.
  • Use a powered USB hub to overcome the poor USB power that Vera supplies to its ports.
  • Enable verbose debugging in the plugin and catch a Luup log.

Follow that list from top to bottom. Notice how most of the problems are hardware-related and that you don’t get to work with the plugin till the last step. Historically hardware problems are more common (look for yourself on the forum), and unfortunately they are the ones I can help you with the least. The plugin reports most hardware faults the same, as a failure to receive any data from the NX-584. It isn’t in a position to know what the problem is until it can start seeing bytes from the serial port.

#3

Thank you for the reply.

I am a bit surprised by the response. Serial Communications are not random. Once the parameters are known, they should be very repeatable and reliable. I was hoping you would know all of the parameters for the serial communications, but apparently, you do not. Your suggestion to “think about whether I need to swap jumpers” and “be sure I have the right serial parameters” are not very helpful as I do not know the correct value of these parameters. There are many combinations of these parameters to be tested.

Specifically, I am looking for someone that already has a working connection, and is connecting from the NX-584 card directly to the Veralite via a DB-9 to USB Cable. With the same parameters you are using, I should also be able to establish a connection. If you have a working connection between your CADDX NX-8/NX-584 and your Veralite, can you please answer these questions:

Are you using a standard DB-9 to USB cable, or, is it a “null” DB-9 to USB cable? If you are using something else, such as a DB-9 to IP cable, please specify.

Using that cable, how have you set each of the 4 jumper points on the NX-584 card? The jumpers are J7, J8, J9, and J10. They can be set in either position “A” or position “B”. The default settings are:
J7=A
J8=B
J9=B
J10=A

How have you configured the memory Locations on the NX-584 card? There are 4 memory Locations that must be set. The default settings are:
Location 0=blank
Location 1=4 (9600 baud)
Location 2, Segment 1 = 2,7
Location 2, Segment 2 - 1,2
Location 3, Segment 1 = 2,4,5,6,7,8
Location 3, Segment 2 = 1,2,3,4,5
Location 3, Segment 3 = (none)
Location 3, Segment 4 = 4,7

“Eddie” has suggested the following settings:
Location 0=blank (binary)
Location 1=6 (38400 baud)
Location 2, Segment 1 = 2,5,6,7,8
Location 2, Segment 2 - 1,3,4
Location 3, Segment 1 = 2,4,5,6,7,8
Location 3, Segment 2 = 1,2,3,4,5
Location 3, Segment 3 = 1,2,3,5,7
Location 3, Segment 4 = 3,4,5,6,7,8

Are there any other settings on the NX-8 unit itself (not the NX-584 card); notifications, etc. that should be set???

What are the Serial communication settings you are using on the Veralite when you setup this device:
Baud?
Data Bits?
Parity?
Stop Bits?

Are there any other parameters or settings on the Veralite for this device?

Again, if we are all connecting our NX-584 to our Veralite, this should be a very consistent process if you know all of the parameters. Some of you have apparently figured out the correct combination of parameters. Please, please, please share them.

[quote=“futzle, post:2, topic:181301”]I would follow the same advice that previous users in this situation have been given on the forum:

  • Think about whether you needed to swap the jumpers on the NX-584 board. In your case I think you do need to swap them.
  • Be sure you have the right baud rate and other serial parameters.
  • Plug the USB connector into a real computer and start up a terminal program and see what you get.
  • Use a powered USB hub to overcome the poor USB power that Vera supplies to its ports.
  • Enable verbose debugging in the plugin and catch a Luup log.

Follow that list from top to bottom. Notice how most of the problems are hardware-related and that you don’t get to work with the plugin till the last step. Historically hardware problems are more common (look for yourself on the forum), and unfortunately they are the ones I can help you with the least. The plugin reports most hardware faults the same, as a failure to receive any data from the NX-584. It isn’t in a position to know what the problem is until it can start seeing bytes from the serial port.[/quote]

#4

Well I have a NX8E so my serial is on the board already.

I’m not sure how much of this applies since your is a bit different, but in my case I needed to use the keypad to first enable the serial port, then you need to set the buad rate to match what you have in vera, for me it was 3600 or something in that area.

I also used a NULL serial cable.

I would look at your instructions for the 584 and the nx8 and see what options you have and need to be set.

#5

Naturally, I do not. The serial parameters are for you to choose, and to configure both ends of the connection the same. You could start with the default (9600 bps, 8 data bits, no parity, 1 stop bit). I do not recall if that is what I use. But it should not matter what you choose as long as you configure the Vera and the NX-584 the same. As you rightly observe, serial communications are not random.

Your suggestion to "think about whether I need to swap jumpers" and "be sure I have the right serial parameters" are not very helpful as I do not know the correct value of these parameters.

That was a coded hint for you to read some of the previous discussions on this thread, which extensively cover exactly these points. Here are some of the more relevant ones: http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php?topic=14916.msg113277#msg113277 http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php?topic=14719.0 PhysicalConnection – GE Caddx Networx NX-584 NX-8E Alarm Plugin http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php?topic=22535.0

There are no locations to change on the main panel (NX-8 for you, NX-4 for me). I can’t give you a location-by-location table for my NX-584 because it is at home and I am typing this from my phone at work. But you should be able to combine the user documentation here (GE Caddx Networx NX-584 NX-8E Alarm Plugin) with the NX-584 installation manual (paper that came with the board) to see what locations need to be changed. Also read the links I posted above because some of them do spell it out in more detail.

Please, please do connect the USB cable to a real computer running a terminal program like PuTTY. That one test will immediately tell us if you have configured the panel pieces properly and have a viable end-to-end serial connection. If you read the conversations I linked to above then you can see how quickly they converged on a working setup after this test was done.

#6

Again. Thank you for the response.

I have just ordered a “Null” DB-9 to USB cable, and when it arrives in a day or two, I will give both of my cables (standard and Null) a try, standalone, and connected to a PC.

I will read the links, you provided.

As far as I can tell, the NX-584 allows only the baud rate to be set. No other Serial Communication parameters can be set. Also, as far as I can tell, the Veralite does allow me to set all of the Serial Communication parameters. The Veralite parameters need to match the NX-584 parameters, but I don’t know what the NX-584 parameters are, hence, my asking what people are using that works. 9600,8,N,1 would certainly be common.

#7

You are right, the other settings appear to be fixed. The NX-584 protocol is an eight-bit protocol so that forces 8 data bits and no parity. You’d have had to guess 1 or 2 stop bits since it’s not stated anywhere. Go with 1.

With the NX-584 protocol there is absolutely no benefit in choosing a fast baud rate. The longest message is something like 14 bytes. Choosing a slower speed like 9600 will give your connection a little more robustness in the face of serial line noise.

as far as I can tell, the Veralite does allow me to set all of the Serial Communication parameters.

Vera Lite has control over baud rate (but not a full superset of the rates of the NX-584), data bits (7 or 8), parity (E, O, N) and stop bits (1 or 2). On the UI5 (UI6 Advanced) interface it’s at Apps > Develop Apps > Serial Port Configuration. You can also do this from the alarm plugin on the Connect tab.

Do not bother with flow control or any other serial options. The NX-584 doesn’t honour them anyway, and it’s a pain to set them on Vera because you have to venture onto the command line. With such tiny message lengths you are not going to fill any buffers.

Edit: formatting