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There isn't any way to access that data directly by the ISY - you would need some kind of PC bridge to monitor the RS485 stream and put the data into a variable. I don't have an Intellichem, but I strongly suspect that you could snoop the line and identify the pH/Chlor out from periodic status messages.

Your best bet is to wait until you get the system installed and programmed - it will be a lot clearer after you see how the system operates, which takes a little getting used to.

Anything that you can talk to using Network Resources should be fine. I believe that the iTach device is rs-232 serial only, and so to use it you would need to also have an rs-485 converter (like the hexin unit that I mentioned in the earlier post).

As far as I know, the ISY serial port can't be used to connect to devices.....

The connection is: PoolController ---RS485--- Serial/Ethernet Bridge Device ---ETHERNET--- ISY I would expect that a lightning strike or something would take out the Pool Controller and the Serial/ethernet bridge long before the ISY. I don't worry about it - the pool controller is the most expensive piece of equipment anyway, and if lightning strikes it is doomed.

I'm not familiar with the Jandy system at all.... Pentair sells an expensive RS232 interface as well, but it is much more than just a protocol converter - it has a uP that presents a more "friendly" interface to other devices and has a published spec. The inter-device protocol is unpublished and subject to change (although it would be surprising to me if they did, since their smart pumps, panels, systems, etc. would all have to change simultaneously!) If you want to invest a little time, you can figure it out. Since RS485 is multidrop it is easy to snoop - just connect a PC and watch the traffic. Periodic transmissions are status. If you push a button on your wired controller you will see what it sends, and then you can reproduce the action by sending the same sequence. You don't have to do anything special with the Hexin converter other than connect 3 wires (+data, -data, and ground). RS485 is pretty robust - you can do pretty much anything and the worst that will happen is that devices won't be able to talk until you fix it. Even getting wires reversed won't hurt anything. I'm actually using an EM1500 (rabbit-based) bridge device which handles RS485 directly, but I was originally using a PC with the hexin converter.

I have set up my ISY to send commands to my Pentair Easy Touch pool control system. The Pentair systems use RS485 to communicate with their wired control panels. You can get cheap (<$10) RS232-RS485 protocol converters (search "Hexin") and use a standard serial-ethernet bridge, or use a bridge that handles RS485 directly. The interface needs to be set to 9600,8,n,1 To send a command to the Pentair system, use binary mode for the following sequence of bytes: 0;255;165;1;16;32;134;2;A;B;C1;C2 where: A = Pentair circuit number B = 0 for off, 1 for on C1, C2 = 2 byte checksum For example, to turn circuit 3 on: 0;255;165;1;16;32;134;2;3;1;1;98 The system is also constantly broadcasting system status (circuit state, air and water temperatures, etc.), and I have PC code for decoding this - at some point when we can set variables in the ISY I will write the bridge. One thing to remember if you want to do this is that RS485 is a multidrop bus, and so collisions are possible if two devices transmit at the same time. Nothing bad will happen (because of the checksum) but the message will be ignored. Since there isn't any way to currently check for an acknowledgement, it is probably good practice to send the command a couple of times with a short delay between "just in case". I have the commands for circuits 1-4 available for import into Network Resources is someone wants it (I don't think I can post them on the forum).