Heya folks - recent Vera user (VeraEdge UI7) and new to z-wave, but not to home automation. I’ve been dabbling in X10 automation and distributed AV/IR for years and have a pretty mature setup in my house now, but am looking to move off of the unreliable X10 tech as well as explore retiring a portion of my control system that relies on obsolete devices.
The core of my distributed AV system is two-fold - I have an Extron Matrix 50 12x8 component video + audio matrix switch and an IR distribution system (Xantech) with custom software that uses a Slink-e (nirvis systems) as the core of the IR engine for custom IR event handling. The AV/IR distribution will stay the same physically,but what I’m considering new solutions for is how the IR events are processed to control the Extron matrix switch. Essentially each room has a set of IR commands that are unique (output room) and set the input for the room. Any of the 12 inputs can be watched in any of the 8 rooms in any combination - each of these I+O tags having a unique IR code.
I ordered a KIRA IR device, and have started exploring serial control via Vera. I was successful implementing mcvflorin’s simple serial plugin
http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php?topic=8571.msg55025#msg55025
and successfully sending commands to the Extron and following response codes.
My main questions are -
- is this even something I should consider with Vera? It’s 96 input → output combinations
- what’s the best approach? Should I write a custom app / device for the Extron switch, making each Input / Output tie an action and use scenes?
- is there a more streamlined way to add Input events → response events other than the UI?
I’ve read through the entire manually creating a plugin writeup, the somfy example, etc. I’m a js/C#/C/.NET/perl developer so I think I can deal with the programming side, but I’m really more interested in the ‘should I’ and the ‘what would you do’ side of things since I’m new to Vera/Mios/Lua
Sorry for the long read and I appreciate any input. I’ve tried to do as much homework as possible prior to posting this
Thanks in advance!
An 8x8 would be easy to put together … 8 Multi-Switches, one fore each room, each multi-switch has 8 options (1-8) inputs.
Then PLEG for the logic.
Extending to 12 … will be much more challenging.
You could always do this as a two step process. Two Multi-Switches for Input-Selector, and One Multi-Switch for an Output selector.
The second Multi-Switch will have 4 extra buttons … use one to save “Send Command” witch would be based on the currently selected Input and Output.
I could probably limit it to 8x8…I think I’m current only using six inputs with no plans to massively expand…
Just a heads-up… The Xantech IR distribution system is NOT electrically compatible with the KIRA… The Xantech uses 12V signals while the KIRA uses 5V…
What you want instead of the KIRA is the Xantech XL-IP series… They are OEM versions of the KIRA series that will work with your existing IR distribution system. The XL-IP series devices work with the KIRA plugin for Vera.
Just a heads-up… The Xantech IR distribution system is NOT electrically compatible with the KIRA… The Xantech uses 12V signals while the KIRA uses 5V…
What you want instead of the KIRA is the Xantech XL-IP series… They are OEM versions of the KIRA series that will work with your existing IR distribution system. The XL-IP series devices work with the KIRA plugin for Vera.[/quote]
Thanks - I realized the voltage difference after I had already ordered the KIRA unit. I think I will give it a try, but might swap for a less messy solution with the Xantech OEM unit. I guess I could always buy the Xantech unit and offer the KIRA up to a forum member that is interested in IR but doesn’t care if its xantech or other brand…
Got the KIRA last night and it works great - put a Xantech emitter over the IR port on the KIRA and IR is working just fine.
Been giving some thought to implentation - I don’t need any UI elements to control the matrix since it’s all done via IR. I think PLEG is going to be the best tool to implement the IR trigger → serial event action. I’ve already started mapping things out and have a good line of sight on how to get all 96 IR–>serial commands properly mapped.
Getting all of the IR codes learned by KIRA is going to be a chore. :