I’m a newbie here and haven’t yet purchased a MiCasaVerde device yet but I have a Powermax Pro alarm system and was wondering how to connect them together. I’ve been a member of the forum for a while but didn’t spot this subject area for some reason until now.
I think I would also need an RS232 Powermax module (approx ?30). Would they both fit inside the Powermax and get power from there as well. So I would only need an ethernet cable to the Powermax?
Would I then be able to connect the ethernet to my router and access it from a Vera Lite?
Yes, works well with a USR-TCP232-T. You won’t even need the Visonic RS232 module, as the PowerMax IP interface has the TX/RX signals on 3.3V which you can connect directly. See this post. I only still need to update the plugin to communicate directly via IP (now it always expects a USB device). I’m planning to do that in the first upcoming release.
I’ve currently shifted attention to developing another plugin, so once that this done I will look the PowerMax plugin code again. The code has already undergone some major changes (e.g. added the option to edit panel settings from the plugin, backup & restore of panel settings). Hence it will need quite some testing. So hopefully around the Christmas holidays.
I recieved my USR-TCP232-E today and it works well :D. You only need to add the following to the lua file to make it work (put this before the comment ‘-- Check serial port connection’):
-- Check if connected via IP
local ip = luup.devices[pmPanelDev].ip
if (ip ~= "") then
local ipaddr, port = string.match(ip, "(.-):(.*)")
debug("IP = " .. ipaddr .. ", port = " .. port)
luup.io.open(pmPanelDev, ipaddr, tonumber(port))
end
You have a TTL->USB cable. What we’re discussing in this topic is TTL->Ethernet.
You have a PL2303 based TTL->USB. This should work, although I would recommend an FTDI based one.
You indeed need to connect RX->TX and TX->RX and GND. Pinout for a PowerMaster 30 is the same as the PC/IP on a PowerMax. A USB cable will get the power from the USB, so don’t connect the VCC to the PowerMax.
First of all thanks again for all your help. I received my RS232/Ethernet gadget mid November but I’ve been really busy at work and there aren’t enough hours in the day to do home projects. Until, that is, the holidays times come along!
And now for my confession, I have recently set up an HP N54L server as I now use Plex (https://www.plex.tv/) for my media. I bought the server when it had the ?100 cashback so couldn’t really refuse, it made it less than ?95 delivered. I also bought a Sony GS7 (for ?74) and that was my Vera pot of money used up. So, for the foreseeable future I’ve been investigating other options.
I came across HomeGenie (http://www.generoso.info/homegenie/) and I’m looking to maybe create a plugin for that. What I have done so far (today) is to look at your Lua code and generate simple Java code that connects to the TCP Server and provides very simple interaction with the alarm, nothing like the comprehensive capability of your script but it shows that I can interact with the alarm.
What I’d like to do is to convert your Lua (the bits that do the alarm interaction) to Java or C# and contribute it to the HomeGenie project.
But I will not do that unless I get your OK. I would of course reference your hard work at deciphering the codes etc.
The source code is available under GPL terms, so yes you can use it (taking the terms into consideration). HomeGenie looks interesting; maybe the excuse I was looking for to buy a Pi.
I already own a Visonic PowerMax Pro and just got a Veralite yesterday, I decided to get Veralite instead of Revolv because I saw this post. My powermax pro connect to home network via powerlin2. So, if I buy that RS232 to Ethernet adapter, do I still need to use my powerlink2?
Thanks for respond. I am pretty new to this forum so any helps are appreciated.
By using that adapter, still I be able to access my Visonic Powermax by using “My Visonic” app or I have to use MMS Vera app? I saw some user using USB to RS232 to connect Powermax to Vera, which one is the preferred method if I would like to be able to access my Powermax with my Visonic app or MMS Vera Plus be able to remote programming my Powermax from my PC?
You won’t be able to use the ‘My Visonic’ app, as that will need to communicate to a PowerLink module. I don’t know to what extend the MMS Vera app supports alarm panels, as I’m not on UI6. But you should be able to control the panel with the Vera app using scenes.
I am going the same route to connect my Visonic PowerMax and bought the USR-TCP232-T module which works very well with an external +5V power supply. I am now wondering if I can power the module directly from the Visonic. Looking at the Visonic connector it seems to provide 3.75V or 3.0V (in my case, actual measurements give respectively 3.56V and 3.10V). The module specs indicate either 4.5-5.5 for VDD, which doesn’t seem to be available easily on the PowerMax board, or 3.3V for VCC with tolerance 3.15V-3.45V.
Question: is it safe to use the 3.75V to power the module through VCC ? I know the difference is not that big with the max tolerance (0.1 to 0.3V) but I would not like to burn stupidely my module (it took me almost four weeks to get it from China !). Has anyone some experience to that respect?
[quote=“nlrb, post:5, topic:177481”]I recieved my USR-TCP232-E today and it works well :D. You only need to add the following to the lua file to make it work (put this before the comment ‘-- Check serial port connection’):
-- Check if connected via IP
local ip = luup.devices[pmPanelDev].ip
if (ip ~= "") then
local ipaddr, port = string.match(ip, "(.-):(.*)")
debug("IP = " .. ipaddr .. ", port = " .. port)
luup.io.open(pmPanelDev, ipaddr, tonumber(port))
end
Hi nlrb!
I used to connect my Powermax to Veralite vis USB to rs232 adapter. Since I moved my powermax panel, It is not allow me to use USB/RS232 anymore. Now I try to connect by using this adapter. Do I need to uninstall my powermax from my vera then re-install with new code? how can I enter these code? could you describe more detail? Thanks[/quote]
But for somehow my router could not get IP from that adapter. I got this message “PowerMax : Please set an IP address and port or select the serial interface for the PowerMax” any help appreciated.