Re: CBus programming

[Kevin Hawkins <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Benfield, John (IT Services, ID) wrote:

>	Kevin,
>
>	I don't current have HomeVision. It was something I was trying not
>to get into, however it might end up being something I need to get the
>functionality I require. I need to do some reading up.
>
>	>I am not sure how you have connected the 'alarm' to C-Bus and what
>	>control you have here, or indeed what system it is.  From what you
>say
>	>having an alarm engaged by a bus coupler and a relay output seems
>rather
>	>vulnerable.
>
>	Not sure who the alarm manufacture is, however I have been lead to
>believe that I can get the system to activate some contacts based on
the
>current state. The idea is for the alarm status to be available to
C-Bus, we
>would not be using C-Bus to give status to the alarm.
>
>
Sorry - my fault I misread the original intent here - you are taking the
output 'state' of the alarm into a bus coupler to detect wether the
alarm is currently set or not (represented as a C-Bus group)- to trigger
the occupancy simulation. Seems sensible and most alarms can have relay
outputs set up to reflect what mode they are in. I use exactly that here
in addition to xAP on my Galaxy alarm.
You need the bit of 'logic' that starts this running and then a
series of timed events either at fixed times or as a sequence (macro)  .
If they are fixed times then really you need the events to run every
(week)day except if the alarm is not set (puts the condition in the
timed event rather than the trigger for the macro).
Depending on the sophistication of your alarm you may already have a
solution.  Some alarms offer time delayed or 'long pulse duration'
outputs that you could use to trigger subsequential C-Bus actions via
your bus coupler. Some also allow trigger inputs (not causing alarms)
that cause outputs to stay on or off for periods of times, by feeding
some outputs back into inputs you could get a fairly sophisticated
occupancy simulation. These are often used for entry/exit lighting
delays or external security floods - even automatic gates.


Kevin