Leviton Security & Automation (formerly HAI) has released a new module that brings email and text notifications to any Omni (Pro II, IIe, LTe) or Lumina (both) control system. It uses one of the RS-232 ports on the controller and needs an ethernet connection (in addition to the one that is probably already connected to the Omni panel) -- the best part -- it requires no service contracts to use!
Leviton Security & Automation (formerly HAI) has released a new module that brings email and text notifications to any Omni (Pro II, IIe, LTe) or Lumina (both) control system. It uses one of the RS-232 ports on the controller and needs an ethernet connection (in addition to the one that is probably already connected to the Omni panel) -- the best part -- it requires no service contracts to use!
Here’s the latest update for those that have been following the progression of Myro:Air — an AirPlay Streamer featuring Wolfson’s WM871 DAC and offers home automation control options. Click here for the latest update on the project!
If you have been wondering why the lack of posts here at Mavromatic, it’s because I have been heads down working on a new product for Myro Control. It’s now to the point that I can give you all a sneak peak of Myro:Air!
This will be the first certified Apple AirPlay hardware device that features audiophile sound quality using the highly respected WM8741 DAC by Wolfson Microelectronics. Myro:Air will also be a home integrators dream come true — yup — it will feature RS232 and “Myro:Link” which will provide full metadata and transport control (Play/Pause/Next/Previous) of the AirPlay stream. This means Crestron, Control4, Russound and any other system that can interface via RS232 or Russound RNET will be able to control and receive metadata from the AirPlay stream.
Myro:Air will also provide a USB port that will allow iOS device charging and control/playback as well. So you can either plug in your iPad/iPhone/iPod touch or any iPod and it will not only charge the device but will also stream digital audio processed through the quality DAC and provide metadata and transport control via the connected control system.
I’m very proud and excited about this new product and can’t wait to get it to market. Email preorderAIR@myrocontrol.com if you’d like to get on the early pre-order list. The first run will be VERY limited so get on the waiting list now!
(This product is now available for purchase)
While it was possible to use an Arduino duemilanove (Atmel 328 chipset) for this project (See Part 1), I was really limited due to the 2K of RAM. It was fun trying to optimize code to get things to run in that amount of memory, however, it caused me to not be able to expand on functionality and features. I have upgraded the project to an Arduino MEGA (Atmel 1280 chipset). This platform gives me up to 8K of RAM — which should be more than enough memory (famous last words).
A lot of people have asked me to explain what exactly I’m doing with the Arduino. It’s pretty simple. First, I’m using a RS232 shield (not shown) to capture RS232 commands from the Russound Controller. When a key is pressed on the Russound keypads I read the RS232 data and either ignore or react to the events. Currently, I’m looking for +, -, Next, Previous, Play/Pause, Menu events. I plan on using the Menu button to offer deeper content browsing menus (need to sniff the RS232 or wait for Russound to publish protocol). The + & – buttons will allow to scroll playlists and the rest of the transport buttons are self explanatory.
// Example RNET Next Track Event: F0 0 7D 7 0 0 7F 5 2 1 0 2 1 0 E 0 0 1 7 0 1 2A F7 |
Since the Sonos is a uPnP based system there is no IR or way to traditionally control it. Everything needs to be done via HTTP calls. I’m using an Ethernet Shield to translate the RS232 events to uPnP messages. The biggest challenge has been parsing the huge amounts of VERY VERBOSE SOAP-based notification messages. I parse the data real time, looking for strings that I want to store (things like playstate and metadata).
To make matters worse, Sonos is URL encoding XML data inside of an XML structure. So writing a simple XML parser is not possible. You have to look for things like &lt; for a less-than bracket (<). There were times I wanted to scrap the whole project because of this due to the limited RAM and string utilities — it really makes things a lot harder to deal with.
// Example of nested URL encoded XML: <Event xmlns="urn:schemas-upnp-org:metadata-1- 0/AVT/" xmlns:r="urn:schemas-rinconnetworks-com:metadata-10/"> <InstanceID val="0"><TransportState val="PLAYING"/ ... |
When I get a notification message, I package it up into the RNET protocol and send it back into the Russound controller, which gets displayed on the keypads and automation systems that use that data (like Myro:Home which is connected to a HAI OmniPro II). Since uPnP uses a subscription model, I also need to keep subscription expiration timing so I can renew the subscription. It’s basically a client (outgoing to the Sonos to send subscription requests) and a server (to receive incoming notification events from Sonos). Then I have to deal with all the HTTP issues, like if it fails to renew or I have connection issues, I have to clean up and start the connection process all over again.
This project is now code complete and any new features will be made in a future revision. I plan on creating a custom PCB — any interest?
If you have any questions or comments feel free to post them in the comments section below!
HAI recently announced native control for Somfy ILT motors with the 3.4 firmware. This means you no longer need to use RTS or Z-WAVE to control shades via the OmniPro II controller. Last night I connected up and tested my friends system (also using Myro) and I’m happy to announce that HAI has hit another home run! You get “real-time” feedback as well as the ability to set to a specific “light level”, like 50% (which is part way).
I have included a wiring diagram on connecting the HAI to the Somfy RS-485 ILT tap (also known as the Somfy SDN). Then you just need to get the Motor/Group code and enter that into PC Access. What I thought would be a difficult process of trial and error actually turned out to work on the first try!
Here is a sneak peak of the Myro:Home iPhone application. As you can see, progress has been coming along. I’ve been getting the design finalized and now I’m just tweaking the look and feel a bit. The mobile framework has also been set in the core Myro:Home application which acts as a server on your home network. The iPhone version connects into Myro and loads and controls the HAI panel via a secure channel.
The key focus has been getting control of your home via the iPhone in the quickest time possible. As it works now, I can load and control in less than 3 seconds (if on WIFI).
– MYRO CONTROL – Myro:Home