Subject: From: Date:

RE: [ECS] Digital input problem Mark Sekelsky Tue, 4 May 1999 19:33:50 -0500

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I am thinking that I have a bad relay.  If I jumper the connections at the
redac I do not have the problem.  If I plug the relay into a regular outlet
I still get the fluctuation.

Mark S

-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Carrington [mailto:dc_grafx@microworks.net]
Sent: Sunday, May 02, 1999 5:34 PM
To: ecs-list@netbloc.com
Subject: Re: [ECS] Digital input problem


Can you hear the relay clicking back and forth as the digital input
suggests?  I
have something of this sort setup with all my IR controlled units for on/off
sensing.  I use relays on the switched outputs as you do if there is one or
a
dancraft current sensor on the others.  I have not had problems with the
relayed
units but have had the current sensors be finicky and have therefor done as
you
describe with a repeating loop that checks the status and resends commands
as
necessary.  I use a redac.  The only thing I ever had with the system is
that I
originally did not have a regulated power supply on the redac and therefor
had
the problems crop up with the current sensors as they did not fully act as a
switch, but more like a resistor and as the power fluctuated on the redac's
inputs, they mis-sensed.  I would suggest listening to the relay on the
receiver
or watching the switching with a multimeter.  Also watch the voltage on the
wall
wart powering your redac's digital inputs.  It could be a problem there.  I
assume the relay on the receiver is a dry contact for the redac?  Meaning no
power, just a switch output?  Other than that, I can not think of anything
that
would cause that on my system which is setup like yours.

Dan Carrington



Mark Sekelsky wrote:
>
> I am using a digital input on my redac to determine whether or not my
> receiver is on or off. I do this because this particular receiver's IR is
> finicky and only "gets" the IR signal from ECS about 80% of the time.  I
> have a relay plugged into the back of the receiver.  The outlet is only
> powered if the receiver is powered.  I have an appliance item (A4) in ECS
so
> that I can turn the receiver on/off.  When I turn the receiver ON I also
set
> a true/false item to true.  If ECS ever detects that A4 is ON, the
> true/false item is TRUE and the digital input is HIGH, it resend the IR
> signal since the receiver should be on (there is a 6" delay built into all
> of this).  Same process for having the receiver off.
>
> I am having a problem where the digital input item is toggling back and
> forth between low and high when I first turn the receiver on. This does
not
> always happen, and the number of times it will happen varies.  I created
an
> event to log what is going on.  It will typically look something like
this:
>
> 05/01/99  2:05 PM MSG: Receiver ON    A4 is now ON
> 05/01/99  2:05 PM MSG: IR Signal      IR Signal sent
> 05/01/99  2:06 PM MSG: Receiver Low   The receiver is ON (low)
> 05/01/99  2:06 PM MSG: Receiver High  The receiver is OFF (high)
> 05/01/99  2:06 PM MSG: Receiver Low   The receiver is ON (low)
> 05/01/99  2:06 PM MSG: Receiver High  The receiver is OFF (high)
> 05/01/99  2:06 PM MSG: Receiver Low   The receiver is ON (low)
> 05/01/99  2:07 PM MSG: Receiver High  The receiver is OFF (high)
> 05/01/99  2:07 PM MSG: Receiver Low   The receiver is ON (low)
> 05/01/99  2:07 PM MSG: Receiver High  The receiver is OFF (high)
> 05/01/99  2:07 PM MSG: Receiver Low   The receiver is ON (low)
>
> If I monitor the group editor screen on ECS I do NOT see the digital input
> item fluctuating back and forth as the log indicates.  Also, you can see
> that the IR signal is NOT being resent as per the event.  I conclude then
> that the fluctuation is probably too fast to be seen in the group window
or
> the ECS event that resend the signal(?).
>
> None of this would normally be much of a problem except that occasionally
> the IR signal DOES get resent and this is rather annoying.
>
> I assume that the problem is with:
>
> The redac
> The relay
> The power from the receiver
> The power to the digital input (6 volt regulated wart)
>
> I have tried switching to a different digital input with no change.  Other
> "facts:"
>
> I NEVER have any problem shutting the receiver OFF.
> It does not always happen when I turn the receiver ON.  If the receiver
has
> recently been on it is less likely to happen.
>
> Anybody have any idea what the culprit is??
>
> Mark S

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