Chromoflex RGB controller (Lite DMX Alternative)

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Esteban
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Chromoflex RGB controller (Lite DMX Alternative)

Post by Esteban »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by agepab</i>
<br />I think you have to use a USB monitor instead of the portmonitor that only monitor serial and parallel ports. I'll try to find a free USB monitor to see if I get out some data from CF3. I'll post the results. I'am not so familiar with VB, so I need someone to direct me how to call the USB port.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">The wireless option, is new I think, I didn't encounter anything about when I researched it, so I can't tell you too much about it. But it looks like you need to buy
the chromoflex RC and the usb dongle to send commands. It's probably the same as connecting the chromoflex with a serial cable, it's just wireless.

I have never eavesdropped on a usb device, but I'm pretty sure that that usb device will be an emulated serial port, so if i'm not mistaken you should be able to eavesdrop on it, like any other serial port using something like portmon. Just tune in to the com-port it's emulating.

Another thing to keep in mind is that for the price of one wireless CF you can buy 3 wired ones. Depending on your needs that is somethig to consider as well since most of the time these devices will be hidden anyway.

Good luck

PS: The CF-RC functions in the same spectrum as Z-wave, so if you have z-wave keep that in mind.
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Chromoflex RGB controller (Lite DMX Alternative)

Post by Bwired »

Esteban,

Strange questions perhaps but is it possible to dim the LEDs with the chromoflex controller. Cant seem to find anything within the software.
Should be a standard function I guess.
Any News on the Chromoflex III RC yet, Is it possible to control it with the USB Dongle using your custom software?
Thanks Pieter
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DMB
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Chromoflex RGB controller (Lite DMX Alternative)

Post by DMB »

Maybe a bit off topic but we use the dvc usb controller from www.daslight.com to convert DMX input signals from a DMX mixpanel in combination with the virtual 3 D simulator software (free) to programm light shows for a musicband and for a theater production.
When you e.g. move a fader for the color RED on the DMX mixpanel the color of the lamp changes realtime on your screen.

We use e.g. the CLS Led-par56 V3 on stage to get different colors out of one par56.(www.cls-led.com)

You can define your stage, curtains, music instruments, artist and all the different types of DMX activated light e.g. scanners, movingheads etc. in the virtual 3 D simulator.

I've never tried but you can also define your livingroom with furniture and simulate the different colors etc.

Just an idea.

DMB
Esteban
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Chromoflex RGB controller (Lite DMX Alternative)

Post by Esteban »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Bwired</i>
...is it possible to dim the LEDs with the chromoflex controller. Cant seem to find anything within the software.
Should be a standard function I guess.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Hi Pieter,

The easiest way to dim is by literally raising/lowering the color value of all 3 colors (RGB) by the same amount.

I sniffed some of the data-traffic sent to the CF by the original 'CF Edit' (xd.exe) program when using the dim slider in it. It look like that's the way they do it as well.

So in short, you could do dimming but only if you write your own app for it.
-It would need to remember what you last set the Chromoflex to.
-Lower the color values on that last command to the amount of dimming you wish and send it to the chromoflex.
-Your app will also need to be able to generate the correct CRC16 before you can send your string to the CF.

PS: In the string sent to the CF, the byte after the three color values (R G B) has something to do with the level, but I'm not quite sure how it is used. Have a look in 'Usp3_com.pdf, page 4. Maybe that you can figure it out from there. Reading it, to me it looks like they didn't implement the 'X' function, only R G and B.

Ciao,
Esteban
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Chromoflex RGB controller (Lite DMX Alternative)

Post by Bwired »

I have a Chromoflex now wit 5 meter RGB led lights so soon the programming starts :-)
Any News on the Chromoflex III RC yet, Is it possible to control it with the USB Dongle using your custom software?
The device looks interesting, specially for those places hard to reach
Thanks for the info
Regards Pieter
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Post by r_255 »

Thanks a lot Esteban for making things clear,

I did follow your instructions and while sniffing the comport it seems to me that the original software puts out three lines for every slider change.

In the second line is the colour info as you stated. But when i just change the rgb values by hand in the code it did not do the complete trick here and i had to snif all colours seperate.

The documentation is not really clear to me but maybey the quarter falls tonight ;) as i still got to snif some more chromoflex.

But for now atleast i can change my colours thru a array of buttons in hstouch and i got to thank you for that. Thanx mate!

Your example gave me hope as a designer, and maybey we can team up in this topic as i am more than willing to do something back wich is with in reach of my knowledgement.

Thanx for sharing again and i hope to contribute something in the near future to this topic.

Robin
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Chromoflex RGB controller (Lite DMX Alternative)

Post by Esteban »

@Bwired: I have no experience with the wireless version of the Chromoflex.
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by r_255</i>
<br />Thanks a lot Esteban for making things clear,<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Hi Robin, you're welcome. Good to hear it helped you get your own project going!

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">In the second line is the colour info as you stated. But when i just change the rgb values by hand in the code it did not do the complete trick here and i had to snif all colours seperate.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">True, you can't just change the value by hand without the correct CRC16. If you want to have on the fly input, you'll have to write some code that calculates the CRC16 (e.g. via a 'table') of the values you entered. So the solution you used, choosing a colors with the orginal software and then sniffing the output, was the right choice.

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Your example gave me hope as a designer, and maybey we can team up in this topic as i am more than willing to do something back wich is with in reach of my knowledgement.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Thanks for the offer [:)] but for now I don't really have any new lans. I have it doing what I want and integrated with Homeseer, so I'm a happy camper. If by any chance anybody comes up with some code to calculate the CRC16 on the fly that would be cool but other than that.

Cheers,
Esteban
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Chromoflex RGB controller (Lite DMX Alternative)

Post by Dutchqt »

Who can help me. I have bought Chromoflex II and would love to have a moodlight (RGB*)with a duty cycle of at least 3 hours! I tried to program the Chromoflex but it seems to be a Virtual Machine language I can't find any documentation on.
I know some basic. That's all.
I would love some help on this issue. Preferable to use the *.eff file or by using my laptop.
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Chromoflex RGB controller (Lite DMX Alternative)

Post by r_255 »

Esteban, I found out that the crc16 is modbus type this wich might help us a bit further to do crc on the fly :

Assuming your source message is stored in a byte array, you can calculate the CRC16 using the following function.

Function CRC16(Message() As Byte) As Integer
Dim I As Long, J As Long, Odd As Boolean
CRC16 = -1
For I = 0 To UBound(Message)
CRC16 = (CRC16 And &HFF00) Or ((CRC16 And 255) Xor Message(I))
For J = 1 To 8
Odd = CRC16 And 1
CRC16 = ((CRC16 And &HFFFE) \ 2) And &H7FFF 'shift right
If Odd Then CRC16 = &HA001 Xor CRC16
Next
Next
End Function
---

You shall use this function like this.
intCRC16 = CRC16(Buffer())
where Buffer() represents a byte array.


If your source message is stored in a string, instead of a byte array, you can still use this function converting the string message into a byte array on-the-fly...

intCRC16 = CRC16(StrConv(SourceString$, vbFromUnicode))

StrConv function returns a byte array based on source string and passes it to CRC16 function.

( source : http://www.control.com/thread/1026225391 )
Esteban
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Post by Esteban »

Thanks niknik and r_255 you for the information and you finally inspired me to pick this up again to do a little rehaul.

So I present to you:

<s><b><font size="3">CCCP</font id="size3"> v0.0.0.1 - (Chromoflex Command-line Control Program)</b></s>

<b><font size="3">CCCP</font id="size3"> v0.0.0.2 - (Chromoflex Command-line Control Program)</b>
<font size="1">Changes: - COM-port can now be specified</font id="size1">

uploaded/Esteban/200948214918_CCCP 0.0.0.2.zip

The tool has been rewritten with my crap skills from the bottom up and now has almost all the Chromoflex can do implemented. This means you can now dial in any color you want on the fly, address any separate Chromoflex unit you want (untested), Change the increment and the speed at which the increment happens along with some more stuff. One important thing to remember is that I didn't implement error correction on the parameters, so if you give it the wrong parameters: nobody's checking ;)
So if you get errors, it's probably because the parameters don't comply.

Please read the manual for some examples and explanations of all the options.

Good luck


Ciao,
Esteban
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Post by r_255 »

Hey, thats kewl... ! was reading this post in the bus on my way home and gonna read/install it with my coat still on :)
thanx, and ill bet your skills are not that crapy as mine...

Nice and clear documented to, but only one problem... i blew the moon as there is no com2 here ;)

Could you please add a com# port parameter
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Post by Esteban »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by r_255</i>
<br />was reading this post in the bus on my way home and gonna read/install it with my coat still on :)
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Lol mixing devices up? ;)
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Nice and clear documented to, but only one problem... i blew the moon as there is no com2 here ;)
Could you please add a com# port parameter<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Duh! hehe, yeah that might be handy, let me fix that. *FIXED NOW*
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Post by Esteban »

OK, I've just posted a new version of CCCP (0.0.0.2) that allows you to select your own COM-port. I have updated the manual accordingly as well. Hopefully I didn't forget anything. I'll add a little more explanation on the COM-port option to the manual later. For now when you see CFCOM mentioned in the manual that's the COM-port.

Ciao,
Esteban
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Chromoflex RGB controller (Lite DMX Alternative)

Post by Niknik »

Nice to hear you've got it working.
I've been kind of away - lots of personal stuff going on (don't ask!) but I'm still around and reading whenever possible.

This will come in handy, as I'll soon need to replace my kitchen "under-furniture" lights, and want to use leds.
(Also, still need to send my temperature data to the Bwired webservice! :)
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Post by r_255 »

Well i am happy to say that i got my coat hanging on the wall :o)

The com port and adress option is working fine on all of my active controllers here....
Even Dave said hello ;) due to my stupidity.

Nice, really nice..... i guess i dont have to tell you how much work that saves me with multiple chromoflexes!
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