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PLM vs PLC and can I swap the USB and Serial ports?


LFMc

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Hi All,

I own a 2413S dual band PLM (Serial) V2.4 and a 2414U PLC (USB) V2.1.  For my purposes, I need the opposite for communicating (i.e. I need single band powerline only on serial). The USB and Serial interfaces look physically swappable, but will they work afterword and not cause any damage?

 

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1 hour ago, xlurkr said:

Pretty sure the PLC can't be used to control i2cs devices, so be aware of that.  I hope others will correct me if I'm wrong.

-Tom

I put the 2413S Serial PLM interface into the 2414U and it just blinks white once a second. The light did change while trying to link it to the ISY, but in the end it doesn't seem to work. Thanks. 

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1 minute ago, LFMc said:

I put the 2413S Serial PLM interface into the 2414U and it just blinks white once a second. The light did change while trying to link it to the ISY, but in the end it doesn't seem to work. Thanks. 

The ISY will only communicate via a serial (RS232) PLM

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No they are not interchangeable.

The PLC and PLM use a different communications message protocol.  The 2414 would not understand what a ISY994i is using to try and communicate with it.

They also use a different baud rate. PLC 4800 and PLM 19,200. I believe the USB PLC daughter board has its hard coded on the USB chip.

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1 hour ago, Techman said:

The ISY will only communicate via a serial (RS232) PLM

 

1 hour ago, Brian H said:

No they are not interchangeable.

The PLC and PLM use a different communications message protocol.  The 2414 would not understand what a ISY994i is using to try and communicate with it.

They also use a different baud rate. PLC 4800 and PLM 19,200. I believe the USB PLC daughter board has its hard coded on the USB chip.

I am not using it on a ISY.  It is for my EZIO8SA. I can't find my 5010k PLM, a very old design, to test it. According to another EZIO user, it needs a power line only unit to connect to it. 

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Well, as luck would have it, I was exercising my EXIO8SA myself recently.  I'm still not sure you can get a PLC to do what you want.  The EZIO8SA connects directly to a PLM, and I'm pretty sure can't connect to a PLC, even a serial one.  On the other end, you might be planning on running the SimpleHomeNet utility.  It is true that it supports both the PLM and PLC, but for the latter, you need to run that flaky SDM program.  You might have an old Windows PC that can run it, but if what I'm saying doesn't ring a bell, beware of more work and possible disappointment ahead.

-Tom

 

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The EZIO8SA uses the PLM communications protocol and baud rate. The 2414 series PLC uses a different protocol and baud rate. So even if you put a serial daughter board on to a PLC base board. The EZIO8SA will not communicate with it.

If the serial board from the PLM was from a 2413. It also does not supply power to the EZIO8SA. As the fuse for the DC output is not on the 2413S serial board. The 2412 serial PLM board has the fuse.

Unless a very recent 2413S. The daughter board has the open PC solder holes to put a fuse onto it. Though I am not sure it would be OK as the switching supply in a 2413 may not like the added current

The PLC daughter board has a bigger memory chip to hold programs we assembled with the SALadIDE compiler and downloaded into the PLC. So it could run with no external connections. Also has a M41T81 RTC chip with a small soldered on Lithium battery to keep the time correct during power loss.

Yup. SDM3 was a challenge to use.

Smartenit has some new 2412S PLM modules on sale on Ebay. You may find some long time users still have a few 2412S PLM modules in storage.

From what I have seen. The 5010K was a base 2412 board with their own serial daughter board. Though my EZIO8SA came with a 2412S PLM from Smarthome and where fine with a 2412S PLM.

The presently sold 5010K PLM on the  Smartenit sales site. Is a power line only PLM. Does not sent power over the serial connector and indicates a EZIO8SA need to use its external power jack to run.

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@Brian H

@xlurkr

Thanks guys for your input. I bought the PLC cheap, cheap for using with the shn utility and it seems to work with that from my PC. SDM shows installed on my w10 PC. But without a powerline only PLM, I can't get my EZIO online to see if it is even working correctly. I don't want to spend $75 on a 5010K just to find out my EZIO is defective. So I tried the 2414U PLC (with a usb to serial conversion) on it. It registered and showed up on the ISY, but nothing works. I got better results putting it on a dual band PLM, but still very incomplete. So you guys are right. 

There is also the option to send the EZIO to Smartenit to convert (to dual PLM compatibility) and fix it, but that's another $60++ with no guarantee it will be fixed, but they give you credit toward a new one.  I really don't think I need it that bad as this time. 

Smartenit tech support finally got back to me and told me that the analog inputs "have to be set via the SHN utility" then the ISY can read them. I interpret this as meaning you can set an on/off trigger level on the SHN utility, but that is all you get on the ISY is on or off.  Which is almost useless for my envisioned project.  I need more of a sliding scale value out put. 

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In my recent experimentation, I was able to set up the analog inputs correctly and read out their values with the SHN utility.  But the ISY could never read them.  I did some searching on this forum and found what looked like an authoritative post claiming that it isn't possible, so I quit trying.

There are lots of open source projects out there that you might be able to leverage to write your own program to read the analog inputs.  You can figure out what commands are needed either from the SHN documentation, or from observing the chatter in the SHN utility when you push the buttons to return the values.  It might make an interesting nodeserver project for someone who can code better than I can.

-Tom

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Oh, and Smartenit is selling new SmartHome 2412S PLMs on eBay for $30 right now.  Plus $10 shipping.  But it is listed as "Best Offer", so maybe you can get one for less.  Let us know how low they will go if you do.

-Tom

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14 minutes ago, xlurkr said:

interesting nodeserver project for someone who can code better than I can.

Beyond my capabilities also!

7 minutes ago, xlurkr said:

new SmartHome 2412S PLMs on eBay for $30 right now

I saw those earlier. Do you think a serial version of this should work with the EZIO8SA replacing the 5010K unit? 

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12 minutes ago, xlurkr said:

I think the 5010K is just a rebadged 2412S.  So I'm guessing it would, but you can always just ask Smartenit.

-Tom

 

Tom, I asked Smartenit on ebay if it was and they verified that it was the same.  So these would be about half price of the 5010k units. Thanks.

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My EZIO8SA was from Smarthome. I have tested them on a few different hardware and firmware 2412 PLMs and even tried a 2413S and external supply. It seemed to work fine but did not do a extended test on mine and they are in a storage bin. Gathering dust.

The 5010K and some of their other modules. Are built on the main 2412 board they buy from Smarthome with their daughter boards.

Sales page for a 5010K says.  "Functionally equivalent to SmartLabs 2412S or 2412U"

For awhile they where using the Dual Band  2413 main board. Like some of us. Had power supply issues. So from what I have seen. They now use a 2412 main board again. Made for them by Smartlabs.

If Smartenit indicated the ones on EBay would work. It should be fine.

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