Extra digital inputs for miniserver

[Yannick Kalokerinos]

I seem to have a need for a lot more digital inputs then those available on the miniserver. The Extension module adds 12 extra inputs but I don't need the outputs and it costs quite a lot.

Is there any way to increase the number of inputs without having to buy the Extension modules? I really like the idea of controlling lights and relays with the DMX protocol but a similar solution for inputs would be great. Thanks.

[Duncan]

there are a number of different ways of achieving this, some more complex than others

pi or arduino with i/o board and ethernet/virtual inputs to loxone miniserver
transfer some of your inputs to knx using knx switches or the abb concentrator (both expensive, but knx switches look pretty)
using 1-wire chips that replicate the presence/absence of an i-button

if you just need a few extra inputs for almost nothing, and these are in the same location such as a single switch location, you can use a resistor ladder or zenner diode ladder to create a series of voltages at the switch end from the 24v feed, and use an analog input connected to a state block, with the blocks output connected to a binary decoder - each input switch connects a different voltage to the input, and the state block works out which input is triggered based on a range of voltages - eg 1st input is 1v, and the state block has the first positive outpu

however, the cheapest is probably the pokeys57e, a 55 input/output ethernet board for 60 euros https://www.poscope.com/PoKeys57E

https://www.loxforum.com/forum/faqs-tutorials-howto-s/6674-pokeys-57e-%C3%BCber-modbus-tcp-mit-dem-miniserver-verbinden describes how to connect it to loxone
use google chrome to translate from german

[Duncan]

there are a number of different ways of achieving this, some more complex than others

pi or arduino with i/o board and ethernet/virtual inputs to loxone miniserver
transfer some of your inputs to knx using knx switches or the abb concentrator (both expensive, but knx switches look pretty)
using 1-wire chips that replicate the presence/absence of an i-button

if you just need a few extra inputs for almost nothing, and these are in the same location such as a single switch location, you can use a resistor ladder or zenner diode ladder to create a series of voltages at the switch end from the 24v feed, and use an analog input connected to a state block, with the blocks output connected to a binary decoder - each input switch connects a different voltage to the input, and the state block works out which input is triggered based on a range of voltages

[Yannick Kalokerinos]

Thanks alot! I really like the Pokey solution but also the Arduino one. Gonna order a Pokey and see if it fits my needs.

[Florian]

Hi Yannick,

If you don't need the analogue inputs you can also use them as digital inputs.

That way you would have 12 on the Minsierver and 16 on the Extension.

Regards,

Florian

[Michael]

Hi Duncan,

Can you elaborate a bit on this 1-Wire chip with iButton presence as digital input?

Sincerely
Michael

[Duncan]

http://hums-baublog.blogspot.com/2013/08/loxone-reedkontakte-und.html

[Andrew B]

My solution to this problem is the Elexol IO72 input board.  I have one of these and 9 simple breakout boards, which gives me 72 additional inputs for well under $500.  The Elexol talks UDP, and I wrote a picoC program for the Miniserver that manages the communication on the Loxone end.  Haven't deployed my full installation yet, but have been running a testbed since June and don't anticipate any problems scaling out to a full 80-button solution.  The simplest code would be to just map the IO72's messages to virtual inputs and then use the Loxone's built-in button handling, which is what I did originally.  I decided I don't like the Loxone button management, however, and thus have expanded my picoC substantially to provide the button logic and scene support that I want.

[Yannick Kalokerinos]

Hello Andrew.
You solution look promising as well. I looked into the Pokeys but this board does not seem to send messages over ethernet when a button is clicked. Instead the miniserver needs to query the board which is rather slow for button input.
Is the delay between the button click and the actual action acceptable for home use?
Could you send me an example of the script that turns the UDP message into virtual inputs?

Thanks!

[TomM]

Yannick,

I posted my current solution in another thread, but this seems a better one to post it into as it's more on topic.  My solution is 99% reliable, utlises IP comms and is very cost effective.  I've been runnign the solution for over 6 months now and no real issues:

I realised we could use a RS232 IO board for cheap inputs, such as the WTDIO 14 channel DIO board (http://www.audon.co.uk/rs232daq/wtdio.html £53 or ~£4 per input) however to connect to loxone you need RS232 extension (£147+del = £15 per input suddenly!).  Instead I bought an IP to RS232 adapter which then communicates with the miniserver via UDP virtual inputs (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221846102458 £12  ~£5 per input again).  This works great, multi-click functionality is fine, I haven't quite cracked long click functionality but its possible and reliability is almost perfect.

The great thing is you can daisy chain the WTDIO units for up to 448 inputs on a single RS232 port, so you're looking at around £4 per digital input in that scenario and no wastage at all.  You can also use the terminals as outputs too but I haven't had the requirement to do that yet.  We use this setup for keypad buttons that get used all day, everyday and we have multiple PIR sensors (Pyronix 12V) providing an normally closed input aswell which all works seemlessly.

I will say this is not for the faint hearted and took me a good few hours to setup and get working, but now that it is I only have to do a couple of steps after a power outage to get the board running correctly again but I intend to automate this process using the loxone when I have some more time.

If there's any interest in what I've done to achieve this setup please let me know and I'll try to post a how-to guide.

[Andrew Brownsword]

I hesitate to post code that has bugs, and my code in which I fixed the bugs is a lot more complex than just the basic functionality at this point. I'll see if I can dig up one of my early versions, but I did figure out a couple of issues over the past few months which wouldn't be reflected in the early version.

What I have now is robust and reliable, and very fast. Response times on the order of milliseconds through an Ethernet switch. The Elexol board can be set to send automatically on state changes, and this works well.

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[Yannick Kalokerinos]

Hello Tom, thanks for the suggestion. It is indeed a very cost effective solution. However the fact that multiple steps are needed when there is a power outage scares me a bit. My wife acceptance factor is very dependant on the reliability of the system :).

[TomM]

Yep, I have the same Wife Acceptance Factor issues, and to be fair the Loxone system is the first automation sustem that I've installed that hasn't required her to reset/restart/kick equipment on a regular basis (normally when I'm out of the country of course!).

Anyhoo - the reset process for the WTDIO is pretty straight forward and can be completed by the miniserver.  The great thing is that you can send the config on miniserver restart so thats easily automated and if there's an issue with the WTDIO it will send a error command to the miniserver so that the reset process can be kicked in too.  I haven't automated this yet as I need to order a spare WTDIO to play with and haven't got round to it yet.  When I do I'll report back here if it works well, effectively removing the manual reset requirement.

[Yannick Kalokerinos]

Hi all, a quick update. I just ordered the Elexol Ether IO72 board to convert digital inputs to UDP messages.

I already managed to test this mechanism with an arduino and ethernet shield and for a couple of buttons this works perfectly and without delay.

I was wondering whether the creation of a lot of UDP virtual inputs (say 100 or so) in Loxone could have a negative effect on performance. Does any of you have experience with that?

Andrew B or TomM, since you are also using UDP, do you have issues with delay or performance?

Thanks in advance and happy newyear :)

[Andrew Brownsword]

Haven't seen any problems with delay, but had to be a bit careful about how I coded the picoC.

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[TomM]

I haven't any issues with delay.  I have noticed that if you double/triple click a button VERY quickly, the miniserver sometimes doesn't receive the multiple clicks but that is very rare and the clicking has to be super-fast which is not as it is normally used in this house.

I'll be interested to hear your experience with the IO72 board as I may invest in one myself as it appears to be more cost effective than my solution on a per input basis.

[Yannick Kalokerinos]

Thanks for the feedback.

Andrew, could you tell me your motivation to go for the picoC program instead of the regular virtual UDP inputs?

[Andrew Brownsword]

I wanted to have custom logic for handling the button pushes anyhow, so direct parsing of the udp made more sense.  My code handles a few corner cases and can deal with things like dropped messages.  It also polls when a button goes down in case a button up is missed.  Seems to work well, but have yet to do house-scale testing.  That should happen in the next month or so!

On Jan 4, 2016, at 7:18 AM, Yannick Kalokerinos <yan...@zwok.be> wrote:

Thanks for the feedback.

Andrew, could you tell me your motivation to go for the picoC program instead of the regular virtual UDP inputs?

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[Yannick Kalokerinos]

Sounds great. Would be fantastic if you could keep us updated. I might come nagging again for the script you wrote in a month or two ;).

[Yannick Kalokerinos]

So a couple of days ago I had the change to try out the Elexol Ether 72IO board. It took some time to figure out the settings and configure the virtual inputs, but I'm very pleased with the results.

The module remembers the settings nicely when the power is cut off.

I tested with small 5v switches and it works stable without any noticeable delays so that's perfect. I also tried with 24 volt switches and a simple voltage divider and that also worked perfectly.

The only thing I didn't get working was a small cheap PIR sensor I bought. When trying to hook this up (also with a voltage divider) the input remained in the ON position, even when there was no motion and the voltage meter showed 0 volt. I'm guessing this is because the pins on the PIR sensor are not potential free. 

Any thoughts or suggestions on that would be very welcome.

The configuration in Loxone is very easy once you know how to configure the virtual inputs. Per 8 inputs you only need one analog virtual input. You can then use the binary decoder to convert these to 8 regular digital inputs.

So overal very pleased with the board and it will definately end up in my final home automation setup. Basically you have 72 input ports for 160 euro. There are also optocoupler input boards but these are 50 euro for 8 inputs which is rather expensive. I might build these myself for a fraction of the cost.

[TomM]

Very interesting Yannick, where did you purchase the board from in the end?

[Yannick Kalokerinos]

http://www.boecker-systemelektronik.de/epages/63381271.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/63381271/Products/13-30-1016

[Andrew Brownsword]

There are also cheaper breakout boards which aren't isolated... these work for simple wall switches and the like.

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[Dušan Zatkovský]

I will try this:

http://www.papouch.com/cz/shop/product/quido-rs-100-3-vstupy-a-rele-rs232-rs485/

(Sorry webpage is in czech, no en translation seems to be available yet for that product).

100 isolated inputs (contact or voltage 5-30V), ethernet or rs485 version, 300 euro.

It's 3 euro per input, I'll go with 485 version.

Dusan

Dne středa 28. října 2015 13:09:35 UTC+1 Yannick Kalokerinos napsal(a):

[Yannick Kalokerinos]

That one looks really interesting as well. I found the Quido RS 8/8 page in English and it seems to have auto sense as well.

I like the fact that is has 24 volt tolerant inputs.

Be sure to let us know your experience with the board :).

[Andrew Brownsword]

Looks pretty nice, even though I'm limited to English and google translate.  I'm glad to see alternatives as it provides fallbacks in case a vendor or product fails.  This is why sticking with standard kinds of interfaces is a huge win!

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[Dušan Zatkovský]

I am thinking about to buy loxone miniserver + modbus extension only, connect only very basic things of my house directly into miniserver and then:
- for another 60 inputs use "quido input" module
- for another power outputs use quido relay module(s) together with (12V driven) 16A DIN relays.

Quido module with 32 12V relays  -190 euro

12V driven 16A DIN relay - 10 euro

190/32 + 10 = 16 euro per 16A output. It's a half than loxone relay extension price.

I want to use this scheme not only for lower price, but I want to have some "fallback mechanism" for disaster situations. If I'll be able to drive DIN relays manually, or with some kind of "panel with 12V switches driving that relays in parallel with Quido module", any "inteligent" component should die and I will be (relatively) fine until replacement. I'll be able to turn on lights, power sockets, etc ... by that switches in electrical cabinet. Not so comfortable, but usable until died components will be replaced.

[Yannick Kalokerinos]

You sure thought this through. Good idea to allow basic operation by means of switches in the cabinet.

I was thinking in the same direction. I will control all relays, 230V dimmers and led dimmers via DMX. A cheap ethernet to DMX module and a DMX merger would allow control of almost everything without intervention of the miniserver.

[Andrew Brownsword]

Yeah, emergency function planning is really critical.  The more complex something is, the more likely a component is to fail.

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[Antti Rakentaja]

Hello

I'm building a new house with Loxone doing lights and sockets. I have currently Miniserver, Extension, Relay Output, Dimmer Module, DMX, DMX Dimmer, 2x alibaba DMX Dimmer etc. Now I need some more inputs so would a dmx input module like http://www.dmx4all.de/produkte_artnet_dmx_multiplexer.html be any good. I want a "factory made" solution without any big programming and it must be very reliable in use. 100€ is still ok price but Extension is a little steep if there isn't any other use for it... 16 inputs is enough (at least for now!)

[Andrew Brownsword]

I have the Elexol IO24 and IO72 working over Ethernet to a picoC program on the Loxone miniserver.  That gives me up to 96 digital inputs without using any inputs on the Miniserver.  Cost per input is about $6-7 or so.  My code could now scale to essentially any number of these boards with virtually no changes.

My code is possibly more complex than you might want (I'm a software developer, so it's pretty simple to me... but might be overwhelming to those not used to code).  My initial version was much simpler and worked fine, and at least one other person did it without any picoC at all (UDP virtual inputs the whole way).

On Feb 1, 2016, at 1:13 PM, Antti Rakentaja <tontt...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello

I'm building a new house with Loxone doing lightning and sockets. I have currently Miniserver, Extension, Relay Output, Dimmer Module, DMX, DMX Dimmer, 2x alibaba DMX Dimmer etc. Now I need some more inputs so would a dmx input module like http://www.dmx4all.de/produkte_artnet_dmx_multiplexer.html be any good. I want a "factory made" solution without any big programming and it must be very reliable in use. 100€ is still ok price but Extension is a little steep if there isn't any other use for it... 16 inputs is enough (at least for now!)

keskiviikko 28. lokakuuta 2015 14.09.35 UTC+2 Yannick Kalokerinos kirjoitti:

I seem to have a need for a lot more digital inputs then those available on the miniserver. The Extension module adds 12 extra inputs but I don't need the outputs and it costs quite a lot.

Is there any way to increase the number of inputs without having to buy the Extension modules? I really like the idea of controlling lights and relays with the DMX protocol but a similar solution for inputs would be great. Thanks.

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[Antti Rakentaja]

Thank you again. Does UDP virtual ports work reliably with Loxone? If I choose this Elexol, I'll use it for PIR and door contact sensors.

I have currently a Apple Airport based network, with wired connections to Elexol and Loxone.

[Yannick Kalokerinos]

I only have a test setup running but I will use the board in my final installation as well. Tested with pushbuttons and (cheap) motion sensors. Both worked without a problem and for multiple days without a glitch. Obviously a cabled network connection would allow for the lowest amount of delay and network issues.

[Andrew Brownsword]

I am just in the process of wiring a large system (80+ inputs with an io72 and io24).  All my testing has shown reliable results.  I'm a big believer in having wires, and don't want anything wireless.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/loxone-english/eae5c1c0-eada-475f-8376-61e19e7ae873%40googlegroups.com.

[TomM]

All

I have an Elexol IO72 which I intend to install over the weekend.  Would anyone be able to brief me quickly on the best way to:

1. Setup the IO72 correctly to use all 72 ports as inputs

2. Configure Loxone correctly to accept the data as virtual inputs

If anyone's done this already and has the information to hand I would really appreciate it as this may eradicate a few hours worth of messing about!

Thanks!

[Yannick Kalokerinos]

Hello Tom

I have succesfully setup the IO72 at my home. I would suggest you have a go at it and in case you get stuck, you can message me via Google Hangouts. You should have received an invitation to chat.

Regards

Yannick

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[Andrew Brownsword]

Put the IO72 on your ethernet network, and connect to it using your PC/Mac.  It’ll either get an IP address from DHCP, or use a hardcoded one depending on the jumpers.  The manual is pretty well written, I just advise that you use the simplest network you can… i.e. the IO72, your PC and an Ethernet switch.  Your browser will load a Java applet that lets you configure the board and save the settings so it’ll start up the way you want.  I also advise using a hardcoded Ethernet address (on the same subnet as the rest of your network).  I use the autoscan feature and have it set to send to my Loxone miniserver, which also is at a hardcoded Ethernet address. Then you set up the Loxone to either use a virtual UDP input or write some picoC to do the reading.

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[TomM]

Thanks for the pointers Andrew.  In the end i didn't have time to get any further that setting the network settings for IO72.  that went fine, it now has a static ip and configuring via the (terrible) java applet is ok.  I'm using autoscan and starting to see some data appear in the UDP monitor in Loxone Config.  I'll configure Loxone properly to read the inputs this week.

@Yannick - thanks for the invite on hangouts, i'll ping you if I get stuck.

I'll post back when i'm further down the line.

[TomM]

So I finally got to spend some proper time hooking this up.  The Elexol IO72 runs really well and has allowed me to retire the WTDIO which required reprogramming each time it lost power.  So I now have 72 inputs and suddenly I now have a house full of buttons that actually work that I don't know what to do with!

Some notes from my experience:

1. Use the pull up values to set all inputs to 1 as standard and then run 0V through your switch/relay to pull the input low when the switch is pressed.

2. don't forget to activate the input using the bit mask in the autoscan - ensure each input you want to use is set to 1 in the bit mask. (this is what caused me the greatest headache as, of course, I refused to read the manual at first!!)

3. Signals are sent to the miniserver as a HEX value of the binary representation of a group of 8 inputs (the IO72 has 9 groups of 8 inputs).  This is great if you know only a single button will be pressed at any one time in a single group as you get a HEX value with just that button's change in it.  However if there is a risk that 2 buttons will be pressed simultaneously (maybe you want that functionality) then you will need to create up to 256 virtual inputs PER GROUP to be able to handle any combination of buttons being pressed simultaneously and then you'll have to do some more logic to split out the results.  Probably best to use some pico C to resolve that issue really.

Anyway, i'm very happy with it and on the verge of ordering more to extend the system.

[Yannick Kalokerinos]

Hello Tom

Thanks for the update of your system.

I have a small addition. Loxone has the perfect function block for converting the HEX value to binary outputs called the "binary decoder function block".

http://www.loxone.com/enen/service/documentation/loxone-config/function-blocks/binary-decoder.html

This takes in the HEX value and provides eight binary outputs and voila!

So you just need a maximum of 9 of these blocks for the entire installation.

Regards

[Andrew Brownsword]

I too have wired my house up my io72, io24 and two 32 channel DMX controllers.  Working well, although I haven't had time to debug my scene controller logic yet.  All the normal switches (80 inputs in use) are working well.

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[Bouwmode]

Is the Elexol IO72 din-rail mountable? I'm looking for a solution to add additional digital inputs/outputs but I'd like them to be din-rail mountable such as the loxone extensions.

On Tuesday, April 12, 2016 at 11:17:57 AM UTC+2, TomM wrote:

[Andrew Brownsword]

It is a fairly standard size so you could find DIN rail PCB mounts that'll take it.

My IO72 and IO24 have been running with my loxone in our new house for over a month now.  Things are working well thus far.

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[Duncan]

as well as being standard din 72mm pcb, so easy to mount, eg
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/UM72-plastic-box-DIN-rail-pcb-enclosure-panel-mount-PCB-DIN-rail-adapter-DIN-rail-housing/32632663151.html?spm=2114.01010208.3.1.pp7u3n&ws_ab_test=searchweb201556_9,searchweb201602_5_10017_10005_10006_10034_10021_507_10022_10020_10018_10019,searchweb201603_1&btsid=a657e909-2ee4-4455-92d8-0a1821d7117b

is $30 per meter, so enough to mount the io72 and breakout terminals below

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Connector-IDC10-IDC-10-PIN-Rail-DIN-mount-Terminal-breakout-board-2-Row-C45-35mm/1314576_1997190701.html

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/FREE-DHL-EMS-10-Sets-IDC-10pin-port-plug-adapter-connector-header-Terminal-Breakout-PCB-Board/32648248283.html?spm=2114.01010208.3.85.sgqFMH&ws_ab_test=searchweb201556_9,searchweb201602_5_10017_10005_10006_10034_10021_507_10022_10020_10018_10019,searchweb201603_1&btsid=2cd4499f-278a-4d48-acc1-346e8652ea0a

[Duncan]

can anyone who has successfully linked the io72 show a screenshot of how they decoded the hex bytes to loxone virtual inputs?  or post a cutdown loxone config example?

thanks

[Andrew Brownsword]

I wrote picoC to do it.

On Apr 20, 2016, at 10:01 AM, Duncan <joanne...@gmail.com> wrote:

can anyone who has successfully linked the io72 show a screenshot of how they decoded the hex bytes to loxone virtual inputs?  or post a cutdown loxone config example?

thanks

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[Duncan]

thanks,
anyone using virtual inputs with some simple but elegant decoding and showing the udp virtual input configuration?

[Yannick Kalokerinos]

Yes, I'm using virtual inputs for each set of 8 inputs. The value received is an 8 bit hex number. I convert it to 8 binary inputs with a Binary Decoder Block. 

Unfortunately I don't have access to the miniserver for now so I cannot give an example.

But it should be relatively easy to setup and it works like a charm.

[TomM]

Here's a quick screenshot, and the 2 step process.

1. Add a new decoder with a virtual UDP input command (from the virtual UDP input that is configured to receive the output from the Elexol IO24/72)

2. Configure the virtual UDP input with the Command Recognition = *A\1 (for the A group, use *B\1 for the B group etc) and uncheck the 'Use as Digital Input' check box.  You can repeat this for each group of inputs on the Elexol.

This will then cause the hex value to be decoded input 8 binary values which you would likely attach memory flags to to create inputs.  This setup automatically enables both multiple inputs being activated at once and in any given order and it also enables long press buttons without any extra logic.

Thanks to Yannick for the concept - I just implemented it!

[Duncan]

thanks for all comments - im going to save this in a dummy loxone file so i can remember for future use. i can never find stuff when i need it quick

[Toon Vanhoutte]

Hi all!  Thanks for this valuable information.  I succeeded to connect the Elexol IO to Loxone, via UDP and the binary decoder.  All works well, except I have a delay of approx 1,5 seconds.

The Elexol scan rate is set to 1 (50 reads per second) and the filter count is set to 0.  Increasing the Loxone Project frequency to 250 improved it already, but I was wondering which other settings could impact this delay!

Thanks for your input!

On Friday, April 22, 2016 at 9:31:16 PM UTC+2, Duncan wrote:

[Yannick Kalokerinos]

Hello Toon

I also experienced rather long delays. It turned out to be the "live view" setting on the Elexol board, which allows the user to see input changes in the Elexol web UI.

After disabling this setting I no longer had any problems. The miniserver responds almost instantaneously now.

[Rob_in]

This Elexol gear looks interesting.

May I ask how you connected the switches? I see elsewhere in this thread someone suggesting 24v to the switch and back with resistor network to drop to 5v input for the IO72.

Paranoia says one should use opto-isolators, but I can't find any affordable pre-made boards that have lots of them to convert 24v -> 5v for something like the IO72.

Cheers,

Robin

[Yannick Kalokerinos]

Good question.

I was planning on building my own opto-isolated boards that accept the 8 pin flatcable connectors. But if anyone finds a ready-made solution that is cost-effective I'd like to hear about it :)

That said, I don't see much harm being done with using simple voltage dividers to step down from 24v to 5v. The upside of using opto-isolators though is that you can use those cheap 24v motion sensors to switch your inputs. Most of them don't seem to have voltage free contacts.

[Andrew Brownsword]

I just used Elexol's breakout boards (non-opto-isolated) and run 5v to the switches.  The WattStopper indicator lights run dimmer than they would with 24v, but they are too bright at 24v (IMO).

Seems to be working fine.  Had test switches running for past ~10 months and whole house for about 4 months now.

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[Toon Vanhoutte]

Thanks Yannick, I'll give it a try and keep you posted.

EDIT: after testing I can confirm that disabling the live view, solves the delay issue!  You saved my day!  Thank you!

[Bouwmode]

Are the Elexol ouputs comparable to the Loxone miniserver/extension? Can you control blinds, ... with them?

The Loxone extension lists: 8x digital outputs (relays) 250 VAC, 5A. The ETHER IO72 TCP lists 72 digital I/O lines. Does this mean you can use it as 72 digital outputs and are those comparable to the 8 digital outputs of the Loxone extension (specification wise)?

[Andrew Brownsword]

No, they are just digital outputs, not relays.  They are a very weak 5v signal.  To drive a load you usually need a relay of some kind.  Elexol has a few kinds of breakout boards (per 8 pin header)... I can't recall offhand if they have one that has relays.

On Jul 23, 2016, at 7:46 AM, Bouwmode <bouw...@gmail.com> wrote:

Are the Elexol ouputs comparable to the Loxone miniserver/extension? Can you control blinds, ... with them?

The Loxone extension lists: 8x digital outputs (relays) 250 VAC, 5A. The ETHER IO72 TCP lists 72 digital I/O lines. Does this mean you can use it as 72 digital outputs and are those comparable to the 8 digital outputs of the Loxone extension (specification wise)?

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[Gunther (Bouwmode)]

So even for switching lights on/off you need an extra relay breakout board? Basically without relay breakout board the Elexol is only interesting for the inputs?

[Andrew Brownsword]

Well you could use it to signal anything that takes digital inputs -- other microcontrollers, for example.

Note that to use any of the IO72 or IO24 pins you need a breakout board, unless you're going to wire your own header.  I just checked their website and they have an 8 relay board:

http://www.elexol.com/IO24Accessories/Relay_Output_Board.php

They also have one with four relays and four opto isolated inputs.  Take a look through their IO Accessories list to see what the options are.  These expansion boards are for each set of eight IO pins and cost $20-$60 Aussie.  The IO24 needs three, the IO72 needs 9 (if you're maxing them out).  The cost per pin is pretty good compared to other solutions I've found.

[HA Retrofit]

Hi Duncan,
Were you able to mount the IO72 on a 35mm DIN rail using the items you list below?

I bought the Phoenix contact UMK series system from Farnell - UK Based supplier and it worked perfectly for the Elexol opto-coupler boards that I bought.
(http://uk.farnell.com/miscellaneous-accessories/product-range/umk-series/pg/112964981)

However, I was unable to fit this to the IO72 because the 2.1mm power socket and the Ethernet socket sit flush with the PCB and protruded out from it, preventing the .
UMK holder from mating with it.

Has anyone else had this problem?
If you have mounted it on a 35mm DIN rail, what did you use to hold it to the rail?

Thanks.
Gary

[snoox25]

I have just purchased the IO72 board and have the inputs working great with our Loxone. Has anything tried using it for outputs?

It seems like the hex value you send to the board controls all 8 of the outputs. I don't see how you can just control a single relay...

On Wednesday, 28 October 2015 12:09:35 UTC, Yannick Kalokerinos wrote:

I seem to have a need for a lot more digital inputs then those available on the miniserver. The Extension module adds 12 extra inputs but I don't need the outputs and it costs quite a lot.

Is there any way to increase the number of inputs without having to buy the Extension modules? I really like the idea of controlling lights and relays with the DMX protocol but a similar solution for inputs would be great. Thanks.

[Andrew Brownsword]

Yes!  I bought one of their darlington switch boards and am now controlling 3 or 4 of my relays from it (will do up to 8 just fine).  It has been running great for about two months now and is integral to my heating system.

The trick is to use functional math blocks (I used a equation block or two) to combine up to 8 inputs by scaling them as powers of 2, and then writing the sum to the output port in a UDP packet.

OutPort = i0 * 1 + i1 * 2 + i2 * 4 + i3 * 8 + i4 * 16 + i5 * 32 + i6 * 64 + i7 * 128

Then write the result to the packet as the port code and a binary byte containing the calculated value.

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[snoox25]

That's good to hear its possible! Any chance you can post a couple of screen shots showing how you did it?

Kind regards,

Brian Harper

[Andrew Brownsword]

Here is the relevant section of my graph layout...

The virtual output port is setup like this:

The formulas are both like this:

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[snoox25]

Hello Andrew,

Thank you for that. I actually found an easier way of simply sending 'H\x09 to the server. This tells output number 9 to switch to high and turn the relay on. You can then send 'L\x09 to turn the relay off. Just change the number to whatever output you want to control.

I'm quite impressed with the IO72 so far :)

Kind regards,

Brian Harper

[Toon Vanhoutte]

Hi,

I was successfully using two Elexol Ether IO72 modules at my house, in combination with Loxone, based on all the info available in this post (thx!).  It worked fine for several months, but after a network outage, I'm facing the following situation:

- Module 1 is still sending correct UDP signals.  I can ping its IP address, but when I browse to http://<IP-Address>, I get a service unavailable.  This module has still the same IP address as before the outage.

- Module 2 is sending incorrect UDP signals.  I can ping its IP address, can browse to http://<IP-Address>, cannot log in (I get no error message, password is 100% correct).  This module has a different IP address, compared to the situation before the outage.

Until now, I've used Internet Explorer to manage and configure the Elexol modules.  Seems not to work anymore.  What browser or software is recommended to reconfigure the modules again correctly?  Did anyone face similar issues before?

Thanks for you input!

[Yannick Kalokerinos]

Hi Toon, I'm afraid I won't be of much help. Did you check if it's possible to reset the modules to factory condition? Maybe that's an option.

[Paulus]

I have just got my Elexol IO72 but I am struggling to get it to talk to the Miniserver. Could someone pint me in the direction for port numbers etc.

[Yannick Kalokerinos]

Hello Paulus. If you configured the Elexol to send UDP messages to the Loxone ip address, I would recommend using the UDP monitor to check if they arrive correctly. You can choose the port number yourself, but you will need to configure the same one when creating virtual UDP inputs in Loxone.

From the UDP monitor it is easy to create virtual inputs. Just select an incoming packet and click on "create analogue sensor".

https://www.loxone.com/enen/kb/communication-with-udp/

Check TomM's post as well, he describes the setup on Loxone side: https://groups.google.com/d/msg/loxone-english/fBz1w4Jexdo/VKV6UhZwBwAJ

[Paulus]

Hi Yannick, thanks for the information but I could do with some claification.

I have set the Loxone UDP receive port to 7000 and the same in autoscan on the Elexol. The autoscan IP address is that of the Miniserver, however when I run the UDP monitor I get nothing.

Wireshark shows the packets leaving Elexol but I see no interaction with Loxone.

[Yannick Kalokerinos]

Could it be that the UDP monitor is not started correctly. I have found that it's not enough to just open the UDP monitor tab. You also need to enable the monitor by selecting the Virtual inputs section in the configuration tree and then clicking on the "UDP monitor" button in the main menu.

If that is not the issue I would suggest trying to send UDP messages from another client to the miniserver.

[Andrew B]

Brian, I didn't see your post until now.  Your solution of sending  Hx09 works fine if you only want those 2 relays on at a time.  If you want 8 independent relays that can be in any state, then you need to do something to compute the 8-bit value (like I did).  I have actually moved all my UDP code into picoC because I discovered that there is a Loxone bug at the moment if you try to do some work via the virtual UDP function blocks and some via picoC.


I'm also now building up a new board for my mechanical room with a second IO24 (so now I'll have 1xIO72 and 2xIO24).  The second IO24 has 2 of the 8-way darlington transistor breakout boards (to control pumps & valve & fan relays), and 1 Elexol Analog I/O breakout board.  I've just gotten the code for the latter working (it talks SPI so its a bit different), and it is working very well... so I now have 8 analog-to-digital inputs (10 bit precision) working, and (if I needed them) a pair of DACs.  I'm going to use these for 8 thermistors (and 5x voltage dividers to reduce 24v -> 5v) that I can read faster and more reliably than my 1-wire sensor network.  Those will be used for more precise processes, whereas the 1-wire network is fine for things that can wait up to a couple of minutes for a reading.  On the control side the IO controllers now have a total of 24 outputs that can drive relays, and 80 inputs from wall switches.

The elegance and scalability of an Ethernet-based solution is really nice.  And with the picoC I can develop and debug C code on my Mac without disturbing the Loxone (and the household!) while doing development, then port the C to the Loxone with a lot less fuss.  This is important considering how flakey the miniserver can be while you're debugging picoC code (not to mention Loxone doesn't provide a compiler nor debugger!!!).  And that brings up another advantage of taking the picoC + Ethernet route... I could easily replace the Loxone with any other microcontroller board (Raspberry Pi, Wandboard, etc).  The Loxone has a lot of nice features and I don't want to abandon it, but if worst came to worst I'm a lot better off than building a purely locked in vendor solution.

[JohnLB]

Hi,

I was just wondering if anyone could give me the heads up if it is possible to get a long click/multiclick with UDP connection with Loxone?

I can't see if within the docs, thanks

[Andrew Brownsword]

I do this in my picoC code.  It use long clicks for dimming and multi-clicks for a few features.

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[JohnLB]

That's great news. Thanks Andrew.

Could you be able to show us your picoC code to generate a long or multi click? 

[Andrew Brownsword]

I'm afraid it is all a rather large furball of four picoC programs which I'm not inclined to share in their entirety and which I doubt anyone else would care to pick up (I'm actually going to port it all to a small Linux SBC that I'm planning to run in parallel to the miniserver, so I can avoid having so much picoC and use websockets instead).

Basically I use a function block to generate a ~50 Hz tick that I feed to the picoC block.  My code uses this and getcurrenttime() to calibrate the rate at which my code is looping (that part I could probably snip out and share).  That gives me a pretty good high frequency time measurement.  The picoC code handles the incoming messages from the Elexol and tracks whether it thinks each button is currently up or down.  When it changes I can record the high frequency tick that it happens on and therefore determine whether the clicks were close enough together to be a multiclick or if it has been held long enough to start the "button held" action.

On May 24, 2017, at 9:38 AM, JohnLB <v5...@students.keele.ac.uk> wrote:

That's great news. Thanks Andrew.

Could you be able to show us your picoC code to generate a long or multi click? 

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[Yannick Kalokerinos]

Hello John, I have the Elexol running at my home and just use the virtual inputs, connected to binary decoders (look a bit further back in this thread). This solution does not require picoC programming and supports multiclick and long click behaviour. Actually it just behaves like a regular digital switch. I can highly recommend this approach.

[Andrew B]

I strongly encourage Yannick's solution as complex picoC code is troublesome and requires more effort to debug and maintain. I went that way because I wanted completely customized light switch logic. If you're happy with the lighting controllers that are provided, Yannick's approach is much better.

[JohnLB]

Thanks Both of you for your help 

[Duncan]

loxone have just brought out a 20 digital input extension

this is a small extension - 2 blocks wide
has 20 digital inputs
connects via the loxone bus to your other devices
https://www.loxone.com/dede/di-extension/

it may be a simpler and more affordable solution depending on the number of inputs, and your willingness to 'hack'

other knx solutions include the
abb 32 i/o module available for around 270 euros
https://www.idealo.de/preisvergleich/OffersOfProduct/3388575_-konzentrator-32-fach-uk-s-32-2-abb-stotz-striebel-john.html
datekc 8 input/output device around £68
https://www.voltus.de/hausautomation/knx-eib/sensoren/binaereingaenge/datec/datec-1630-03160-62100-knx-binaereingang-8-fach-unterputz.html

[Andrew Brownsword]

Which is a big improvement.. but is still about US$14.50/input vs the Elexol IO72 for <$5/input.  Plus with the Extension only the miniserver can talk to it, whereas (almost) everything can talk Ethernet.  The KNX solutions you list look good for KNX solutions, of course.

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[Duncan]

you are right of course, i only mentioned it because quite a few people would like a more direct/approved/plug'n'play approach then those who are willling to knit their own cheaper solution, or are not confident in coding stuff

a couple of my projects have a distributed loxone installs and use some knx switches into loxone, so it would probably be easiest for me to use 1 or 2 of those 8 input knx devices at each loxone location rather than add a network device

[Andrew Brownsword]

+1

Yes, everyone ought to consider their options and circumstance, and make informed decisions.  DYI goes a lot better if you start with Inform-yourself.   :)

On May 25, 2017, at 10:41 AM, Duncan <joanne...@gmail.com> wrote:

you are right of course, i only mentioned it because quite a few people would like a more direct/approved/plug'n'play approach then those who are willling to knit their own cheaper solution, or are not confident in coding stuff

a couple of my projects have a distributed loxone installs and use some knx switches into loxone, so it would probably be easiest for me to use 1 or 2 of those 8 input knx devices at each loxone location rather than add a network device

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[Duncan]

if i were starting my own large install again, i would use a single minserver, air and dmx extensions and 3 x io72 split into my 3 loxone locations along with some knx switches

but of course thats with the benefit of hindsight. If only......maybe next time

[Andrew Brownsword]

Yeah, hindsight, right?  As I mentioned earlier, I’ve decided that (in hindsight) the amount of custom code I want is beyond what the Loxone picoC environment is really good for.  Arguably, I’m already past that point, and I haven’t even implemented my custom HVAC logic yet!  As a result, I’m pressing into service a single board ARM machine I’ve had on my shelf for a couple of years (wandboard.org).  It can run a full blown Linux or Android OS, supports the full set of development tools including the latest C++ compilers, debuggers, and so forth.  Mine has 4 CPU 1GHz ARM cores w/ floating point hardware, a GPU (that can be used for calculations… machine learning, here I come...), 2GB of RAM, 2 SD card slots (which can be >>4GB), and draws only a few watts.  Since all my I/O is already via Elexol (thus UDP) and a TCP-based 1-wire box, I can control it all from any Ethernet device.  So I will offload everything except the UI, statistics, and DMX control from the Loxone onto this little monster.  This way I don’t have to take down or reset the miniserver and risk introducing hard to recover from bugs that disrupt the household while I’m improving the functionality, and I can have the miniserver monitor the other as a watchdog (and reset its power via one of the relays, if necessary).  I already have all the existing picoC ported, and now have a websockets connection to the miniserver.

This gets me a long way toward being able to remove the Loxone from my system entirely, if forced to do so (i.e. if they were to have business problems or make product decisions that would hurt me).  Ethernet based DMX controllers are readily available.  In the meantime I still benefit from the good parts of their ecosystem, and don’t have to waste a lot of effort building GUIs for my devices.

Oh, and as an added bonus, this little box also runs full python so I can use the homebridge project to bind Loxone <-> HomeKit.  I hope to be able to tell Siri to turn on the outside lights from the car before winter sets in again.

On May 25, 2017, at 10:54 AM, Duncan <joanne...@gmail.com> wrote:

if i were starting my own large install again, i would use a single minserver, air and dmx extensions and 3 x io72 split into my 3 loxone locations along with some knx switches

but of course thats with the benefit of hindsight. If only......maybe next time

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[Jedi Tek'Unum]

I'm already getting hindsight chills and I haven't even deployed yet! I purchased a miniserver and DMX extension a few months ago. Thanks to this forum I also purchased an Elexol io72. Our new home build starts in a couple of months.

I decided against proprietary switches - will be using Wattstopper. So lots of inputs needed. Loxone input costs are still too high in my opinion.

I'm going to use DMX dimmer panels from Doug Fleenor Design.

I then moved on to thinking about HVAC. In the US any higher-end HVAC system is going to have smart thermostat(s) with proprietary protocols. Interface is through cloud service. Most have no API to the cloud service (Carrier/Bryant is a Flash application). The geothermal system I'm considering uses a proprietary Ecobee-derived thermostat but is compatible with the Ecobee cloud service and they have a decent API. Relying on Loxone to be the thermostat would barely scratch the surface of comfort and economy features of modern HVAC systems. For example, no variable speed blowers and compressors. So, for me, Loxone will only be involved with HVAC as a UI gateway.

Next I looked at burglar/smoke. Loxone is not appropriately listed (UL) for smoke so it would never pass code in new construction (in US). Probably not listed appropriately for burglar either so no insurance discount. So I need a dedicated alarm panel. Again, Loxone will be nothing more than a UI gateway.

I'm down to justifying my purchase on the admittedly nice configuration application. (Although it doesn't fit nicely with my non-Windows world.)

I don't have regrets yet. While I have the skills to do my own software and lots of the hardware, I simply don't have the time in general and certainly not in time for my build. So I guess I will be deploying this somewhat frankenstein solution. I know in my gut that Loxone will probably be only a temporary solution.

[Paulus]

Has anyone used the IO72 for i2C and if so how does the data appear as I can't seem to see anything on the UDP monitor. I have a AM2315 which I am trying to connect but with no success.

Thanks

[Andrew Brownsword]

I've not tried i2c on the io72 but have got spi working on an io24.  It's a bit tricky, but not terrible.

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[Paul Harrison]

Hi Andrew, thanks for the reply do you have any words of advice because I am not sure how to send the queries?

[Florian]

Jedi, we want you to love your Loxone system so here are some suggestions for you:

1) Get the DI extension instead of using DMX I/Os. Simply for reliability. Time is sacred to you, so save it, even it if means you may pay a little more for each input. Remember that you only pay for the hardware. The whole software package is free.

2) Consider the Loxone Touch. Will save you a ton of time and is more comfortable to use + it has a temp & humidity sensor included that you can use for controlling the HVAC. Pull one CAT wire to each switch outlet, that way you can swap the for another solution if - at some point - you want to go for another solution.

If you're not sure about the touch - give them a try. Do you live near Philly, PA or Lexington, KY?

3) HVAC - I honestly don't think there is anything one of the so-called 'smart thermostat' can offer you that Loxone can't. And as long as those thermostats are placed in one single point (hallway? living area?) without considering the actual room temp, they are somewhat flawed. Loxone will let you set up exact heating & cooling schedules, come with fuzzy logic to optimize energy use and lets you automate parts of the HVAC that you can't automate with most smart thermostats (eg. stop heating when the window is open). Controlling HVAC systems with variable speed fans with Loxone is no problem.

4) Smoke - Get the smoke detectors by code and connect their relay to a Loxone input. Use Loxone Smoke Detectors in additional rooms that you want to monitor as well.

5) Alarm - Two options

A: go with the Loxone solution and have a self-monitored alarm system that gives you instant notifications + alarms without having a monitoring company and without having monthly fees.

B: Get an alarm panel + monitoring company (and hook it up additionally to Loxone if you want to have everything in one interface).

Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any questions.

Florian

[Jedi Tek'Unum]

On Monday, June 19, 2017 at 8:02:01 AM UTC-5, Florian wrote:

Jedi, we want you to love your Loxone system so here are some suggestions for you:

1) Get the DI extension instead of using DMX I/Os. Simply for reliability. Time is sacred to you, so save it, even it if means you may pay a little more for each input. Remember that you only pay for the hardware. The whole software package is free.

2) Consider the Loxone Touch. Will save you a ton of time and is more comfortable to use + it has a temp & humidity sensor included that you can use for controlling the HVAC. Pull one CAT wire to each switch outlet, that way you can swap the for another solution if - at some point - you want to go for another solution.

If you're not sure about the touch - give them a try. Do you live near Philly, PA or Lexington, KY?

No.

3) HVAC - I honestly don't think there is anything one of the so-called 'smart thermostat' can offer you that Loxone can't. And as long as those thermostats are placed in one single point (hallway? living area?) without considering the actual room temp, they are somewhat flawed. Loxone will let you set up exact heating & cooling schedules, come with fuzzy logic to optimize energy use and lets you automate parts of the HVAC that you can't automate with most smart thermostats (eg. stop heating when the window is open). Controlling HVAC systems with variable speed fans with Loxone is no problem.

You would be wrong. The days of 1-3 stage heat and cool are rapidly vanishing. Everything is moving towards modulating (truly variable); first heat and now cool. Variable speed used to apply only to the blower; it now applies to the heat/cool source. Look at higher end products from most manufacturers. Carrier, Bryant, Trane, WaterFurnace, ClimateMaster, ...

Those systems are all proprietary communication protocols between the thermostats, zone controllers if present, air handler, and burner or condenser.

So the question is now to automate them. I haven't researched them all but here is what I know. Carrier and Bryant have an extra module that can be added that provides a RS232 automation interface - to the tune of ~$1,000! They also have a cloud service but there is no open API. ClimateMaster (geothermal) uses a custom Ecobee which is supported by the Ecobee cloud service and it DOES have an open API. Waterfurnace (geothermal) has a cloud service but no open API.

4) Smoke - Get the smoke detectors by code and connect their relay to a Loxone input. Use Loxone Smoke Detectors in additional rooms that you want to monitor as well.

Or interface to an alarm panel.

5) Alarm - Two options

A: go with the Loxone solution and have a self-monitored alarm system that gives you instant notifications + alarms without having a monitoring company and without having monthly fees.

B: Get an alarm panel + monitoring company (and hook it up additionally to Loxone if you want to have everything in one interface).

Or third option - alarm panel without monitoring.

For Loxone to grow in the USA you need to become appropriately certified for smoke and burglar. Your competitors are.

[Tico]

Hi Andrew,

Reference a comment you made earlier -

"I have actually moved all my UDP code into picoC because I discovered that there is a Loxone bug at the moment if you try to do some work via the virtual UDP function blocks and some via picoC."

Can you please clarify the nature of the bug? I have one PicoC program that outputs a UDP stream and I also use UDP function blocks.

Thanks in advance.

[Andrew Brownsword]

It appears that if you use the same port number (with the intention of virtual output + picoC receiving) then the miniserver doesn’t deliver to the picoC.  Just ensure you’re using different port numbers, and you should be fine.

An update about my system for those who might be interested (or perhaps “morbidly fascinated” is more appropriate)…   

TLDR:  I’m mostly crazy and enjoy programming way too much.

I’ve moved to having a UDP port for the virtual outputs sending updates to my Linux device, and a picoC function block that implements a simple RPC wrapper on top of a minimal set of the SPS functions (mostly just getio, setio, getinput, setoutput).  All of my other picoC logic has now migrated to a C++ program running on my $100 Linux ARM box (a Wandboard, although I also have an ODROID I might switch to eventually).  The software has become much more sophisticated and robust in the process.  Currently it is using about 6% of one of the four 1 GHz ARM cores to implement my handling of the light switches in the house, as well as reading 8 analog sensors and my 1-wire sensor network (21 sensors currently, hosted on an EDS OW Server v2 Enet), and presents both a webserver and a tty interface for administration purposes.  Performance of the simple UDP-based RPC protocol is excellent, and due to the higher performance software there is a subtle improvement in the feel of how the lighting works (mostly related to the smoothness and precision of the dimming controls). Not to mention that I’ve been able to fix some long standing bugs because I have a (gasp!) debugger!

[I would actually love it if Loxone were to implement something like my protocol intrinsically and yesterday I suggested that to one of their support folks — if others would use this, it might help if you chimed in]

I also had run into a couple of other picoC bugs related to TCP when talking to the 1-wire host — these are not a problem now that the code has moved to the Linux box, and I can also update the sensors much more frequently (~2.5 second refresh right now, down from 10 seconds) due to having more compute power and being able to properly leverage the more efficient version of the EDS query interface.  The picoC couldn't do that because of a bug in the Loxone TCP stack, or at least the picoC stream API.

My next step is to install that 3rd Elexol IO24 w/ 16 more darlington transistors and those 8 analog sensors that I mentioned in my previous email.  This will give me lots of capability to control what I want to control in my mechanical room, and make use of all that sensor data.  In fact, I’ve got a USB 1-wire adapter on the way so I can add even more 1-wire sensors (the EDS box has a 22 sensor limit) and access them on the Linux box via owfs.  This will get me to about 40 sensors total (temperature, humidity, current, carbon monoxide), about 30 of which are for informing the HVAC control logic.  With all that data I can finally do a good job of controlling my mechanical room.  

All this is via Ethernet from the Linux box, running that purpose-built program mentioned above, written in C++14 and developed with modern tools like libraries, debuggers and profilers.  After fighting with picoC for entirely too long, this is practically nirvana.  The Linux box also gives me a place to run things like integration with Siri, log data storage, and a few other things.  This is also completely standards-based, and built on open source software, so there are no worries about it being end-of-life’d.  With remarkably strong Linux ARM machines readily available for low cost, I now have huge amounts of excess capacity to do whatever I need.

Note that I still use the LoxoneConfig function block environment for configuring the miniserver.  Its role in life is now the GUI, statistics, DMX controller, and remote access.  So I’m definitely not abandoning it, but am now using it for its strengths and not pushing it in awkward directions.  If Loxone does go away (hopefully not!) then I can easily move to alternative solutions, such as an Ethernet-based DMX controller and there are a few options for the other functionality.  Or I can roll my own… although I’d rather spend my code-writing energies going after cooler stuff than the GUI, smartphone and remote access aspects.  Using the webserver to serve up running real-time plots of the statistics pulled from the SQLite3 database, for example.  Or using deep learning to optimize the HVAC controls and energy use.   :)

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/loxone-english/efc9e074-a30a-4c1b-9173-64fd5afa2242%40googlegroups.com.

[Tico]

Thanks. I'm using a PicoC program that parses Wunderground (weather site) and spits out a few text strings as UDP. Then subsequently reads the text strings via UDP input. The other virtual UDP outputs control some external devices. All using different ports. But I still have some niggles I'm trying to pin down with the receiving UDP devices.

I'm interested in why you would send outwards via virtual output with PicoC receiving? Couldn't they be 'joined' directly in the Config? (please excuse my ignorance..!)

[Andrew Brownsword]

If I understand your question:  the send protocol was quite simple and easy to do via a virtual output, whereas the input protocol was a bit more complex and thus better to handle in picoC.  At least that was the original reason.  Later when I started talking UDP to my Linux box, I just wanted the SPS to send immediately and in an event driven manner without having to go through the picoC interpreter (introduces notable latency), meanwhile the receiving code is still too complex to handle with a virtual udp input (handshaking, redundant send suppression, complex parsing, compound messages).

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/loxone-english/2462b091-58de-45d3-a77f-a86b06653437%40googlegroups.com.

[Duncan]

just to add another very cheap way of expanding digital inputs, distributed, using wifi

using the excellent esp easy wifi range of products, i have used a wemos d1 (around $4, delivered) which comes complete with 24v compatible supply input and integrated usb comm port

it has 11 inputs that can be used as digital inputs - these are 3.3v from the board, connect to 0v to trigger
connect via wifi to send a udp signal to the miniserver
no delay as udp update is sent on button change status - push and release

steps:
flash your wemos d1 using esp easy from windows using a micro usb cable
give it a fixed ip address so loxone can filter inputs from a particular  device
configure the d1 to accept rules - tools, advanced, tick box to allow rules
configure d1 inputs - devices, edit
set rules to push the udp messages to your miniserver using its ip address and chosen (random) udp port
create a udp virtual input in your loxone config using the ip address and same port that you set for the device

[Andrew Brownsword]

Not to be too much of a contrarian, but I wouldn’t trust wifi for much of anything, especially if you’re in an area with a crowded spectrum.  The more devices, the more issues you’re likely to have.  I also don’t expect KRACK to be the last compromise, and you wouldn’t want your home automation pwned.  

Wires are good.

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[Duncan]

i agree - wires are good!

but just for completeness, and perhaps an alternative where its too late or inconvenient to wire up.

[Andrew Brownsword]

Yeah, I would encourage people forced into a wireless solution to find a non-WiFi based one.  ZigBee or other.

On Oct 26, 2017, at 12:13 AM, Duncan <joanne...@gmail.com> wrote:

i agree - wires are good!

but just for completeness, and perhaps an alternative where its too late or inconvenient to wire up.

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