Multiple Russound Controllers

[hbskisurf]

I have 3 different CAV / CAM controllers that are not chained.  The PG3 sees all 3 but only populates 6 zones from 1.

is there a way to get all 18 zones to show as nodes?  Documentation says it’s possible but I can’t figure out how.  
 

Thanks

 

[bpwwer]

4 hours ago, hbskisurf said:

I have 3 different CAV / CAM controllers that are not chained.  The PG3 sees all 3 but only populates 6 zones from 1.

Does this mean that it's showing all three controller nodes?  If so, then it's probably configured properly.

When the plug-in connects to a controller, it queries the controller for it's setup.  The controller should return how many zones are configured and what those zones are named.   If you're not seeing zones created for a controller, then that controller probably says it has no zones configured.

Running the plug-in with debug level logging will provide a lot of details on what the plug-in is doing and what the controllers are sending back in response to queries.

[hbskisurf]

I can add each CAM/CAV individually and I get the correct nodes for each zone. 

Once I add a single CAM/CAV...the plugin works fine. 

However, when I try to add a 2nd CAM/CAV, the zones from the new CAM/CAV replace the zones from the 1st CAM/CAV and the 1st Controller now only shows up as a controller with no nodes.  

Node Name 1	Address	NodeDef	Primary Node	Hint	Enabled	Is Primary	Delete
RussoundCtl_2	rsmain_71	russound	rsmain_71	0x00000000	true	true	✖

 

 

[bpwwer]

Do they all have the same IP address?  The node address is created using the last part of the IP address so if they all have the same IP address, each new CAM/CAV you add will replace the previous one.

The node addresses need to be unique and typically, the device IP address is.  But if you're using a IP <-> serial box that has 1 IP address and different ports assigned to each serial port, that presents a problem.  

At this point, I don't have a solution.

[Geddy]

On 5/26/2025 at 7:25 AM, hbskisurf said:

I have 3 different CAV / CAM controllers that are not chained.

I don't know what "not chained" means as I don't have any products in this area.

But, couldn't you install the plugin on multiple slots and find each controller independently of the other and have different items brought in from each plugin instance?

 

[bpwwer]

36 minutes ago, Geddy said:

I don't know what "not chained" means as I don't have any products in this area.

But, couldn't you install the plugin on multiple slots and find each controller independently of the other and have different items brought in from each plugin instance?

 

Possibly.  The plug-in is designed to support multiple controllers, just not when they all have the same IP address.  

If they are chained (Russound term), one controller acts as the master so to the plug-in, it would look like 1 controller with 18 zones. 

[hbskisurf]

I have 3 controllers each with different IP addresses (each controlled by a Global IP2SL using port 4999)

xxx.xxx.x.71:4999

xxx.xxx.x.72:4999

xxx.xxx.x.73:4999

I tried installing multiple instances of the plug-in and got the same result as trying to add a second controller (the second instance installs and replaces the nodes created in the first instance).

My legacy network resources work fine with all 3 controllers so the EISY is seeing and communicating with all 3 fine...something funky is happening in the plugin.

Does the plugin use the ControllerID from Russound for node creation?  All of my controllers are using a ControllerID of 1 because I never had any reason to change them since they aren't chained.

I get the following nodes on the controller that finds the nodes:

n007_rsmain_71 - controller

n007_zone_1_1

n007_zone_1_2

n007_zone_1_3

n007_zone_1_4

n007_zone_1_5

n007_zone_1_6

I get the following nodes on the controller that don't finds the nodes:

n007_rsmain_72 - controller

n007_rsmain_73 - controller

 

When an additional controller is added it adds new nodes with the same name as the existing controller (i.e., n007_zone_1_(1 through 6).  

 

Edited Tuesday at 08:39 PM by hbskisurf

[bpwwer]

That makes sense. I had forgotten that it used the controller ID as part of the zone node addresses.

Using multiple copies of the plug-in in different slots should have worked.  Since all the nodes are prefixed with the slot number, there's no way they can be duplicated.  Also plug-ins are restricted to only working with nodes prefixed with their slot numbers, they can't do anything to node created by plug-ins in any other slot.

The other option you have is to change the controller ID's so they are unique.  Then one copy of the plug-in should be able to manage all three.

[hbskisurf]

I deleted the plug-in, reinstalled it in 3 individual slots, and configured 1 controller for each install and now all the nodes for all 3 controllers are populated correctly.  Thank you for the help!  Much appreciated!