Reading RS485 Serial Data

[Bill Hunter]

Through iViewer, I control a six-zone home stereo system (two Elan Z-630 preamp/contollers into six Rotel amplifiers) with the use of a Global-Cache GC-100 Network Adapter which sends IR commands within a home-made six-chamber IR isolation box that I constructed.  Although crude, this chamber keeps each IR command discreet for just the applicable zone (there are no separate commands for zone 1, 2, etc, and sending an IR command would end up affecting any/all zones).  For anyone interested, a link to a photo of the isolation box is here:  http://imgur.com/JPVJhlW. 

Although this has been an effective way of controlling the preamp/controller, unfortunately it does not permit for any Z-630 feedback such as the input selected, volume levels, etc. There is however a RS485 Buss (Via!Net) available that I believe could possibly provide an avenue for system information/feedback and/or further control.  I attempted to research for more about Elan's Via!Net protocols, etc, however there was little available on the topic.

If anyone has any experience with Elan's RS485 buss Via!Net, or has any suggestions as to be able to read the serial data on the buss, any advice would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks.

[T]

I'm interested in your IR control as I'm putting together a similar setup. Just ordered an RS485 adapter to see what's on the bus. Ultimately I'd like to avoid IR altogether.

[Robert Dunkley]

Dont know the protocol but the Moxa 5160 is a good unit for RS422 (MY heating system is RS422 and I use that unit to interface with the control bus). Usually RS422 is quite unfriendly compared to most rs232 implementations.