Weeder I/O boards

[archived]

On your compatibility list I could't find any notice about the possibility to use Weeder digital I/O boards form Weeder Technologies with Pluto.

Those boards are plugged into serial ports and can drive up to 14 digital logic I/O channel. Moreover they can be cascaded.
Please have a look on their web site for more references (http://www.weedtech.com).
They can be used for a wide variety of purpouses (drive relays and triacs, decode small keypad, and more) and last but not least they are cheap.

Is there any existing template already available to use them with Pluto?

TIA

Marco

[archived]

Hello Marco,

We don't have a DCE device for that product.  However, we have lots of tools that make it easy to add new DCE devices--it's probably no more than a day's work.  In fact, it probably could be supported through our GSD device--in which case it may take only a couple hours and not even require real programming skills.  Take a look at our docs--there's even a "create your own DCE device in 5 minutes" tutorial.  If you run into trouble, let us know.  If the board is supported through GSD, it's automatically available to all pluto users.  If you need a C++ DCE Device, we can put the code in our svn repository so it's automatically built and included with each new release.

[archived]

Thanks Aaron for your reply

"a couple of hours with no real programming skill needed" sounds good ... :-)

I'm pretty a newbie with Pluto, so I guess that having a DCE device may be better in terms of performances, but just to start something probably a GSD could be good enough.

In the weekend I will test how long these "two hours" will actually last for me and I will let you know.

Thanks again and regards

Marco

[archived]

No problem.  If you get stuck, you can click on 'live help' from our website.  We can even have one of our programmers call you back on the phone.

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Hi,

I'm just wondering if there has been any progress on the weeder boards? Or else i'll have a look into it with my limited knowledge and give a whack at it. I intend to automate my entire house using these boards, I've got 9 of them and no X10 so my plan is to make use of them.

Thanks

[archived]

Hi

actually I followed the path suggested by Aaron, i.e. I created a Generic Serial Devices with some ruby lines to send proper commands to proper channel. I didn't made yet any test in reading inputs from the board.

I have to say that it is far to be complete and fully usable, it is something very basic that you have adapt by yourself but it is working and (most important) it made me understand some interesting things about pluto devices.

Doing a GSD it is not really a difficult task, the only point is that there are not so many info on the official docs and  the most difficult part (for me) was to gather all needed pieces and put them together to get a clear picture of what I was supposed to do.

If you search in this forum for GSD and/or Generic Serial Device and/or ruby you'll certainly find something useful as a starting point.

If you are interested  I may rearrange a bit my notes related to this (you have to be patient ...) and post them here.

Regards
Marco

[archived]

Thanks for the reply, i'll definitely start searching, i've got to have the basics up and running by december 1st. If you wouldn't mind posting what you've found i'd really appreciate that.

Thanks