AMX ALD-H48 instruction manual Programming Notes

Advanced Programming

Programming Notes

The Duet communication module implements a queue for sending commands to the device. A command will wait for the previous command to receive a reply before it is processed. If a command does not receive a reply within the timeout period, the device is declared offline, the queue is cleared of any commands remaining, and the module will attempt to reconnect. The timeout period is 10 seconds.

The Duet module supports passwords that DO NOT include a comma "," as part of the password string. By default the Duet module will use "AMX,Inconcert" (without the quotes) as the default password, but this password should be changed in order to match the password on your H48. If the password is changed from the default, the new password cannot contain a comma ",".

In order to control a specific lighting or keypad component you must address it by its corresponding index. This index is established by using the LIGHTADD- or KEYPAD- commands. At that time the index specified will be mapped to the lighting component's address, and all commands or feedback will be reported by using this index number. The module maintains two lists of indexes. One for keypads and another one for lights (dimmers, scenes, or groups of dimmers).

All keypad setup commands (such as adding/removing a keypad to the keypad component list) are always issued on port 1. All keypad commands have the valid port(s) documented for each keypad command.

There are 48 scenes supported by the Duet communication module and 48 groups. Each group can have a maximum of 10 dimmers and each scene can have any number of dimmers (within reason and memory available).

The Duet communication module will auto-detect a loss of connection to the H48 and will attempt to re-establish communications. In some cases it may take up to 60 seconds for the Duet module to do this. The connection state is indicated by channel 251 on the virtual device used in the application code.

The Lutron H48 communicates on IP port 23 (TELNET). Upon a successful connection to the H48, the Duet communication module will initialize by turning Off the addressing/programming mode (if the H48 was in this state at connection time), will issue a query to the H48 in order to determine what dimmers are physically installed, and will issue queries for the state of all dimmers and keypads that the communication module is aware of. In order for the communication module to be aware of a dimmer or keypad, the specific dimmer or keypad must be added to the list of lighting components to track (see LIGHTADD-<index>,<addr> and KEYPADADD-<index>,<addr> commands). Once stored in this list, it will be remembered even after a reboot/power cycle of the AMX system. To manually reinitialize the system, use the REINIT command. This initialization routine takes approx. 25 seconds (may be higher if the system is fully loaded). The initialization state is indicated by channel 252 on the virtual device used in the application code.

The Duet communication module writes files to the user directory on the master. These files, called <vdev>_LightAddressConfig.txt and <vdev>_KeypadAddressConfig.txt, store the addresses of all components being tracked (the <vdev> parameter is your virtual device number used). You may manually edit these files, if you want, but care should be taken while doing so. Each line must end with a carriage return and a line feed. If several dimmer addresses are used on the same line, a semicolon(;) must separate each address and a group number must be assigned, with a maximum of 10 addresses per line (this represents a group). If an address consists of only a number, then that signifies a scene number (i.e. [x] where x is some number). The index of the

34 ALD-H48 Lighting Controller