Clipsal C-Bus

Make/Model	Device Version	Connection Type
Clipsal/CBus	Clipsal PCI Model 5500PC	Serial

Description:

This driver interfaces CQC to a Clipsal C-Bus control system. C-Bus is a widely used control bus used in Australia, UK, South Africa and other places. It is a control bus, not a device, so it has devices connected to it, and CQC connects to an interface point, called a PCI, in which it can read and write device state information. i.e. turn C-Bus loads on and off.
This driver provides the following functionality:
Interfaces directly to a C-Bus PCI.
Communicates in both directions so it can both control and monitor lighting loads
Understands and implements the commands ‘on’, ‘off’, ‘ramp to’, and ‘ramp to over time’, both initiated from CQC out, and from the C-Bus network in.
Auto-discovers the network and the initial Boolean state of the loads (off or not off).
Creates fields that match each of the programmed "Group addresses" it finds on the network
Creates a write only "Command" field that can be used to send any command to any group address, to handle such things as "Area addressing" and "Phantom addressing".
Creates a read only “Phantom” field that displays any incoming data addressed to a group address that is not a real group address on the network. (this is for display and reference only in this version).
Allows the user to enter a comma separated list of Phantom Group addresses via a text file Phantom.txt, that are converted into normal fields. This is used for displaying and controlling specific Phantom Group addresses.
Allows the user to translate the internal Group Addresses into English names using the Translate.txt file
A Phantom Group address is an address that is active on the C-Bus network, but not programmed into a C-Bus output unit. These are commonly used to tell third party C-Bus connected equipment, such as Minder or CQC to do something.

Quirks and Limitations:

This protocol is implemented against the “C-Bus Lighting Control via the C-Bus PCI public release” Issue 1.4 documentation.
Under the terms of release of this protocol, only persons who have agreed to be bound by the “CIS Public Release Protocol License agreement” are permitted to use this driver. But don’t worry its free, contact Charmed Quark for details on how to obtain the driver.

Connection Details

Two connection schemes are supported (However the PCI method is strongly recommended as some users have reported issues using a CNI)
The C-Bus Driver connects directly to a C-Bus PCI (PC Interface) via a serial connection at 9600, no parity, 8 data bits, one stop bit, and no flow control.
To a C-Bus CNI via the Lantronix Redirector virtual comm. Port driver. V3.0.0.2 (available from the Lantronix web site) at 9600, no parity, 8 data bits, one stop bit, and no flow control.

Driver Fields

This section lists the fields that the driver makes available, their types, minimum and maximum values, etc...
Name Type R/W Description/Limits
Command String W An open ended command field which allows you to send formatted strings to invoke more complex control. The syntax is described below.
Phantom String R A read-only string that displays commands received from the C-Bus network that are not specifically targeted at a known group address.
Named Group address fields as defined in the Translate.txt file. Card R/W Indicates the level (0 to 100) of each currently defined Group address (0 to 254), but only those Group addresses that currently are programmed into output units on the network will be represented or Group addresses that have been manually specified in the Phantom.txt file during the driver load.. If you add or remove Group addresses from output units restarting the driver will cause them to be found and added or removed.
The level is the current level of the load. E.g. a field value of 50 means the load is, or about to be set to 50%.
Offline Bool R/W When set True will cause the driver to disconnect from the com port and cease communications. When set back to False will cause the Driver to die and be restarted by CQC (useful when changing settings and need the driver to reload)
SourceLastReceived String R Displays the unit address of the sending unit for the last message received (useful for debugging)
Command Format
The Command field in the table above allows you to send the driver more complex commands via a formatted string. The format of the string written to this field is:
Name Level Time
Group_address. Group_x (This is case sensitive and x is in decimal format.)
Level. 0% to 100% as a decimal value (the percent sign must be used.)
Time. One of the predefined times ( 0s 4s 8s 12s 20s 30s 40s 60s 1m 90s 1.5m 120s 2m 180s 3m 300s 5m 420s 7m 600s 10m 900s 15m 1020s 17m)
Here is an example to turn on group address 4 to 50% over 1.5 minutes.
This command will tell the output unit to start ramping the load (light) attached to group address 4 from it’s current level (whatever that may be) to 50% over 1.5 minutes. It is primarily designed to be used when anything other than an instantaneous change is required or when wishing to send a command to a group address that the driver does not know about.
Kitchen 50% 1.5m
Phantom.txt Format
This file contains a single line of phantom group addresses. It must reside in C:\Program Files\CQC\CQCData\MacroFileRoot\C-Bus\Phantom.txt.
There must be only 1 line of Phantom addresses and each address must be comma separated.
Example:
250,251,252
Translate.txt Format
C-Bus English translation file. This file allows the CQC C-Bus driver to translate group addresses into English names and vice versa The format is: "decimal group address","english name" The English name is used as the CQC field name and so it is constrained by the CQC field syntax. i.e. only letters, numbers and underscores are allowed, with no spaces or characters such as ~!@#$%^&*()-=. Leading and trailing spaces will be trimmed. This file should also contain any group addresses defined in the Phantom.txt file as well.
The following words are reserved and should not be used as English names.
Command
OffLine
Phantom
SourceLastReceived
Group addresses are in decimal. This file must reside in C:\Program Files\CQC\CQCData\MacroFileRoot\C-Bus\Translate.txt. The entries below are an example and should be edited to suit your own C-Bus installation.
Example:
37, Bathroom
39, BathroomFan
23, Bedroom2
25, Bedroom3
2, Dining
34, Ensuite
36, EnsuiteFan
50, EntryLights
52, Family
6, Garage
12, KitchenBench
10, KitchenCeiling
 

Name	Type	R/W	Description/Limits
Command	String	W	An open ended command field which allows you to send formatted strings to invoke more complex control. The syntax is described below.
Phantom	String	R	A read-only string that displays commands received from the C-Bus network that are not specifically targeted at a known group address.
Named Group address fields as defined in the Translate.txt file.	Card	R/W	Indicates the level (0 to 100) of each currently defined Group address (0 to 254), but only those Group addresses that currently are programmed into output units on the network will be represented or Group addresses that have been manually specified in the Phantom.txt file during the driver load.. If you add or remove Group addresses from output units restarting the driver will cause them to be found and added or removed. The level is the current level of the load. E.g. a field value of 50 means the load is, or about to be set to 50%.
Offline	Bool	R/W	When set True will cause the driver to disconnect from the com port and cease communications. When set back to False will cause the Driver to die and be restarted by CQC (useful when changing settings and need the driver to reload)
SourceLastReceived	String	R	Displays the unit address of the sending unit for the last message received (useful for debugging)