Velleman Velbus

Post by **Bwired** » Fri Aug 28, 2009 8:22 pm

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Jeffke
 Just checked, My order was shipped yesterday so I guess it will arive today

@Pieter I ordered it via www.dil.nl seems to be the cheapest. Also would it be wise to start a seperate thread as more people are trying the velbus stuff?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Thanks! If there are enough users a seperate forum will be made for the Velbus. Great is also that some some Velbus modules can replace the IPPower module.

<hr noshade size="1">Pieter Knuvers
http://www.bwired.nl Online House in the netherlands. Domotica, Home Automation.

Post by **Bwired** » Fri Aug 28, 2009 8:25 pm

@Andrew: Did you build you're code based on DOT.NET sample code made available by Velleman.
If so are you willing to share this project on this forum?
Regards.Pieter

Post by **rockhoppers1964** » Fri Aug 28, 2009 11:05 pm

The program is based on the dot.net code structure, but it is written from scratch. the only bit supplied by Velbus was the DLL.

I am certainly willing to share the project, but need to spend a bit more time on it before i would be happy to put my name to it and make it public.

Andrew

Post by **Esteban** » Sat Aug 29, 2009 1:12 am

I almost bought some of that stuff to play with some time ago this renewed interest is making my fingers itch again! [:D] Especially when I see those prices on DIL. Thanks for the tip Jeffke!

Ciao,
Esteban

Post by **Uriel** » Sat Aug 29, 2009 7:37 pm

Currently I have X10 for 10 month now and the disfunction is driving me crazy, so much money and working for 50%. I think Velleman wil work much better with the wire connections. Problem is I am no electrician and have no experience with programming. Althoug I willing to learn, the kits don't seem that hard to install. Leaves only the software part. I hope anyone has a basic program to control everyting under windows. I would problaby make the step then. Maybe I can go too some in Netherland that can show me some of the modules and explain a bit how it all works that would be great. I really want a systems that works better. Hope it the interrest grow on this forum and it gets it own forum.

Post by **Jeffke** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 1:50 pm

Received the modules on friday and created a test setup.
Started to write a simple program to communicate with the Bus (using the velleman Library) and within 1 hour I was able to switch the relays on/off and if I switched the relays locally I received the updates in my little programm. So far everything seems easy to understand. The only thing I'm not sure of is if I will continue using the velleman library or just write my own.

next enhanements for the programm:
- USB port searcher which Identifies which USB port the Kit is connected to.
- Create a database for the Devices
- Create a TCP port listener so other PC's and my remote can sent (ASCII) commands which in turn will execute commands to Velbus
- Create Macro's, Timers etc which will control the house when I'm not at home.
_ ....

Post by **Bwired** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 6:18 pm

Ok guys, interest is growing for the Velbus on this forum. I will be receiving some Velbus modules as well from velleman. If there are enough members using this product a seperate forum will be made. I'm looking forward combining my current domotica devices with the Velbus devices.
First I will be using the input/output and the relay modules.
If someone has allready a starting project in Dot.net which I can use to start that will be nice

BTW I will be using the RS232 module because I can easily hook it up to my RS232 To Ethernet controller and control it with TCPIP.
@Andrew take your time, thanks!

<hr noshade size="1">Pieter Knuvers
http://www.bwired.nl Online House in the netherlands. Domotica, Home Automation.

Post by **rockhoppers1964** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 1:13 am

Pieter. I think a seperate forum for velbus may be worth while to give the product some definition.
However you guys have a lot more experience than me of all the othr types of home automation products out there. my experience is limited to x10 and velbus. X10 for me was a disaster. But maybe I was just unlucky.

As a software developer ( but this is my first non industrail offering) I would be interested to know in an ideal /perfect world what people would like from their ideal home automation system. For me that would be very usefull in knowing if I can do it and if it is worthwhile as I suspect it would nor be possible to please everybody all the time. For ne the abillty to incorporate several different technologies by taking the best from what the market has to offer has major attraction.

Pieter, I had a good look at your web site and you appear to have a very advanced syste
that no doubt took many years and lots of money to put together, maybe you could start a poll with a few ideas about what is impotant.

Andrew

Post by **rockhoppers1964** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 1:22 am

Jeffie. I have a vb. Net routing that enumerates the ccom ports to find the USB interface. I can give you some help if you need it

the structure of my program is flexible so you can add any sensor and give it an adddress rather than picking from a list of known sensors.

The program then translates any input into a standard language for my program to deal with, it's a bit like having a translator between two people, but the tranlator can translate any input in to my own language. That way I can add in x10 modules and mix them with velbus if I want. That's the idea anyway, in practice it works but it is still being fully tested as there are some bugs !

Andrew

Post by **Jeffke** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 6:04 pm

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Jeffie. I have a vb. Net routing that enumerates the ccom ports to find the USB interface. I can give you some help if you need it
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"> Thanks Andrew. I think I managed to do what I want by identifying the VID/PID for each device connected to the USB ports. It does recognise the VMB1USB as well as my Xanura PMIX35 X10 controller. I didn't test if it is bullet proof yet

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">the structure of my program is flexible so you can add any sensor and give it an adddress rather than picking from a list of known sensors<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"> I think I did not write that down properly. I don't need to know the sensor. What I'm doing is insert a name into the database (e.g. Hallway lights and bedroom curtains) and assign an address to it. so it looks like:
Hallway lichts,02,01
bedroom curtains,A10

If I issue the command 'Hallway Lights On' , te programm will execute a Velbus command : address 02 (4 channel relay) relay 01 ON) If I issue 'Bedroom curtains Close' it will sent A10 Off to the powerline

I guess this is similar to what you are doing ?

Cheers

Jeff

Post by **Jeffke** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 6:11 pm

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">I hope anyone has a basic program to control everyting under windows. I would problaby make the step then. Maybe I can go too some in Netherland that can show me some of the modules and explain a bit how it all works that would be great.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"> @Uriel you're welcome to visit. I do live in Limburg so I'm not sure if it's to far for you. I think I will order new devices next week, and I hope I have the majority of the devices changed from marmitek/xanura to velbus before the end of September. I'm willing to share my programm (and the code) and adapt it if you require specific things.

Post by **rockhoppers1964** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 6:28 pm

Interested to see how you did it, it may be better than my way ?

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"> Thanks Andrew. I think I managed to do what I want by identifying the VID/PID for each device connected to the USB ports. It does recognise the VMB1USB as well as my Xanura PMIX35 X10 controller. I didn't test if it is bullet proof yet

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">

Post by **Jeffke** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 7:48 pm

I used the following lines of code (it's definately not mine, just found it on the internet). You have add a reference to the system.management class. The code below puts all the USB info into the listbox . I search the DeviceID for the VID/PID of the VMB1USB and the description tells me to which COM it's connected

ListBox1.Items.Clear()
Dim strDeviceName As String
Dim strQuotes As String
Dim arrDeviceNames As Array
Dim USBDevice As System.Management.ManagementObject
Dim objReturnCollection As System.Management.ManagementObjectCollection

Dim SearcherUSBDevicesCollection As New System.Management.ManagementObjectSearcher("Select * from Win32_USBControllerDevice")
Dim ReturnUSBDevicesCollection As System.Management.ManagementObjectCollection
ReturnUSBDevicesCollection = SearcherUSBDevicesCollection.Get

For Each USBDevice In ReturnUSBDevicesCollection
strDeviceName = USBDevice.Properties("Dependent").Value.ToString()
strQuotes = Chr(34)
strDeviceName = Replace(strDeviceName, strQuotes, "")
arrDeviceNames = Split(strDeviceName, "=")
strDeviceName = arrDeviceNames(1)

Dim objSearcher As New System.Management.ManagementObjectSearcher("Select * From Win32_PnPEntity Where DeviceID = '" & strDeviceName & "'")
objReturnCollection = objSearcher.Get()

Dim objReturn As System.Management.ManagementObject

For Each objReturn In objReturnCollection
Me.ListBox1.Items.Add("Description: " & objReturn("Name").ToString())
Me.ListBox1.Items.Add("DeviceID: " & objReturn("DeviceID").ToString())
Me.ListBox1.Items.Add("PNP: " & objReturn("PNPDeviceID").ToString())
Next
Next
End Sub

Post by **Uriel** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 8:57 am

@Jeffke

Thanks for your invitation but Limburg is a bit far for me.
Maybe you can pm me a list of the components you have ordered and the software you've created so I can start to order the components and experiment with it.

Thanks in advance for your help![:)]

Post by **Uriel** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 9:02 am

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by rockhoppers1964
 
http://www.rockhoppers.co.uk
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Hai Andrew, your software looks great and could exactly what I'm looking for.

Thanks for your good work[:)]

I will start with it as soon as I have recieved some velleman components.

What components do you use to work with this software?