Re: [ha] OK. OK. So a lot of people like CAN

Steve Letkeman (zanthic.at.zanthic.com)
Wed, 25 Aug 1999 21:45:57 -0600

I can tell you what I'm doing with my system with respect
to IR and power line and you can decide if it's a good way
to go. I deal with each on their own system.
IR: I bought a Slink-e device from www.nirvis.com and tied
it to my central computer (486 running Win95) I wrote some
VB code that accepts commands from across the ethernet
network or the CAN network and transmits IR codes for
the equipment in the rec room and HA room. It can also
detect IR codes so eventually I will feed that back into the
CAN network. The slink-e can provide 8 in/out zones
but I'm using my own switcher. The Slink-e device also
controls my 200 disc changer and is capable of controller
the newer Sony amps that have built in SLink capability.
The nice thing about this is that a person could build a
LCD panel that controls the stereo system with bi-directional
capability.
X-10: Again, I'm building a CAN<-->X10 router so the rest
of the system can control X-10 stuff until I find a better
replacement for X-10.

>There has been a lot of mention about using it with hard-wired
>installations. That's all well and good but to fit our original model, we
>can't rely strickly on hard-wiring.

Sorry, what was the original model?

Steve

Zanthic Technologies Inc. located at http://www.zanthic.com
Controller Area Network boards for HC11, ISA/PC104 and Parallel
I/O boards for ISA and Parallel, Win95/98 and NT drivers included

-----Original Message-----
From: John Mullan <jmullan.at.cgocable.net>
To: 'ha.at.ro.nu' <ha.at.ro.nu>
Date: Wednesday, August 25, 1999 7:10 PM
Subject: [ha] OK. OK. So a lot of people like CAN

>You've convinced me that CAN can be good. And likely it can do the job of
>HA.
>
>There has been a lot of mention about using it with hard-wired
>installations. That's all well and good but to fit our original model, we
>can't rely strickly on hard-wiring. Some of it has to be IR, some has to
>be RF and some has to be power-line carrier.
>
>I'm going to look into using CAN via a PIC micro and their CAN interface
>chip. Surely we can add IR/RF/PL to the other side of the chip, not just
>wires.
>
>This will be a good step in the hardware direction. Since I work my job
>quite a bit, it could take a couple of weeks for me to get one of those CAN
>chips and play around a bit. If anybody else has some hardware/software
>stuff in this line please direct it my way so I can have a peek at it.
>
>John Mullan
>
>