¿ªÔÆÌåÓý

ctrl + shift + ? for shortcuts
© 2025 Groups.io
  1. Crestron
  2. Topics

Smart graphics button state (active vs inactive)

 

I have very little smart graphics experience.? I'm trying to recreate the control panel of a older Generac generator that I can use with my iphone. It has a 3 way rocker switch for "Off, Automatic and manual".? It also has a simple "set exercise" switch that is normally closed and opens when Pressed.? I've got all that no problem.? On the face of the control is 7 LED's that indicate the "state" of the generator. I can fairly easily tap the power going to the LED's and run them through a versiport.? I'm only dealing with 12 vdc to the LED's.? The LED's illuminate when there's a problem so except for power, they are normally off.? Unless I'm missing something and most likely am, I don't see how to create buttons in smart graphics? that show active and in active state using different colors.? In the inactive state all buttons will be black.? In the active state the power LED is green, the low fuel is yellow and the rest will be red.? This is easy in good old VT ProE.? Done it many times.? Just not seeing what I want in SG.
 

Its actually similar to old VT, just different naming (Of course!)
I think you want to use the 'Advanced Button' model.
This provides a Mode feature which will give you the ability to have a different aesthetics for 'Normal (not pressed), Pressed and Active states. Each state can be customized with the color, text, icons, etc.
For your application, you'll only need one mode (Mode-0) and will not need an analog trigger, just a Digital high/low in SMW...
You'll want to sett these like this:
- Show Local FB: unchecked
- Show Control FB: Checked
- Advanced Button Style: Round Advanced Button (You'll set the sizing in the Position and Size section at the top of the properties)
- Mode-0/Normal: Standard settings, but no text. Image Type: Round Common Up for a black-ish off state
- Mode-0/Pressed: N/A
- Mode-0/Selected: Standard settings, but no text. Image Type: Round <color> Active for the color status indicating on state

Give the button a relevant join # and when the join is High (LED to be active) you'll see the color.

HTH!
 

Thank you.? I'll get back to this later.? Somehow the Queen has found something more important for me to do on my day off.
This is kind of a fun project but it would be nice to know that the generator is doing what it's supposed to when I'm not home.
This generator is one series to old for factory wifi but when there's the will, there is always the way.?
 

Nice!! keep us posted...
 

Going to have to be very careful with tapping that control board.? It is still available but wicked expensive.
 
Edited

The "Advanced Button" is the goto button for this project.
About "tapping the 12VDC" to a versiport. May I suggest using optocouplers (or optoisolators depending in what part of the world you're in) to couple (or isolate) the generac from the versiports.
The Crestron versiports have a common ground and the 7 LEDs of the generac might not, and even if they have I would not trust connecting them directly. Building a board with 7 optocouplers is not so complicated and can save you a lot of misery.

----edit---

Oh man, you don't even have to build it!
https://www.amazon.ca/Channel-Optocoupler-Isolation-Converter-Isolator/dp/B09S3XTM5P/ref=asc_df_B09S3XTM5P/?tag=googleshopc0c-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=683150834842&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2513852794165375712&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9000411&hvtargid=pla-1869623874401&psc=1&mcid=b4aea703722032ed9634788023f5a0cf&gad_source=1
 

On Mon, May 27, 2024 at 10:39 AM, Olivier Royer wrote:
May I suggest using optocouplers (or optoisolators...
That's a really good suggestion!!
 

Had a couple of minutes while waiting for someone to show up here so I pulled the cover off the gen control box to back probe the LED's.
The standby LED is normally on and that read 1.94 vdc.? I pulled the connector on the low gas pressure switch to make that LED come on.
That was also 1.94 vdc.? According to the controls manual, some of these LED's besides just coming on solid can also blink one second on and one second off.? I'm curious if a versiport can handle the blinking end of it and also the optoisolators.
 

Been looking at various optical isolators/couplers.? Still looking but they all seem to require 3 vdc or more to trigger and I have only 1.94.
 
Edited

Hi;
?
First, I am assuming the LED has 0V when it is off and 1.94V when it is on.
Second, that LED also has a series resistor to limit current. ?The other side of that resistor may have a substantially higher voltage on it, like 5V or 12V, depending on what they are using to drive the LED. ?Of course they could be driving the LEDs with an open-collector output, which is basically switching the ground side rather than switching the hot side. ?You can verify which by connecting one side of your meter to circuit ground and measuring both sides of the LED in both on and off states.
?
I will make the assumption that that you are planning to just connect some wires in parallel to the LED, so there is a relatively simple way to move forward.
?
?
Use a device that has regular through-hole components, like this:
?
<>
?
?
The board is specified to be triggered with 12V. They have put an LED and a resistor in series with the opto-coupler's internal LED. ?Look up the data sheet for the opto coupler:
?
?
and you will see that the desired forward current for the LED side is 20 mA - ish.
?
The Amazon piece uses a series resistor and red LED set up to provide something around 20 mA with a 12V input. ?I would replace the red LED with a wire jumper and replace the resistor with one that is 1/10th the value. ( e.g. if the resistor on the amazon board is 1Kohms, replace it with a resistor that is 100 ohms.) ?By doing that you will get 10 times more current, or approximately the same current with 1/10th of the voltage driving the circuit. ?That should get you into the generally safe area of operation for the 817 chip.
?
If you want to get really specific, the forward voltage for the 817 is 1.2V typically. ?1.94 - 1.2 = 0.74 ?so using R=E/I ?0.74V/0.020A = 37 ohms. ?33 ohms is a standard value for resistors, so I would go with a 33 ohm resistor.
?
On the other side of the 817, connect pin 3 to logic ground, connect pin 4 to the IO port and make sure the pull-up is enabled. ?You can either detect the blinking, or use a retriggerable one-shot and set the pulse time to be longer than the blink.
?
HTH

I looked at the board outputs, you don't need to use VCC connection, just connect Out to IO and Ground to logic ground.
 

A little more probing tells me there is 1.94 volts at the LED's all the time and the ground or negative is switched.? These isolators are available in single, 4 and 8 channel modules. They appear to be cheap enough so I'm going to order a 8 and attempt to mod it to trigger at a lower voltage.? The thought occurred to me that perhaps there's another option.? What about placing a cadmium light detector cell over each LED and read resistance?? Never done it but believe the versiport can do resistance.
 

Not using VCC means we're no longer looking for voltage but contact closure.? I think these boards using VCC are switching the negative by looking at the traces on the back side.
 

This seems like alot of work if you just want to monitor a LED lighting up. I wanted to do something similar at my home to know when the washing machine was done. I just bought one of these photoresistor sensor relays linked below and put the sensor over the Machine Done LED onthe control panel and made sure to mask it from ambient light. Now I have a set of relay contacts that run into my processor. The sensor relay engages when it sees the light of the Machine Done light.??

For our prodiction jobs we often tie in with generators that have an auxiliary relay board that gives status of running/faults/etc. Perhaps your generator has an expansion board that can be wired in?

Photo relay: https://www.amazon.com/HiLetgo-Photoresistor-Sensor-Automatic-Control/dp/B073XL5161/ref=sr_1_7?crid=2SEZRYTG8JYYQ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.0Vhckt3HZyLlsB06Zy7hyCS3pg-lnvrkqcO03TjsrjEzoE03ljhIW5TAyvXBGqzfeC8X8iF4U8Kb8o262-E_r3h9doIcDa1idoevnCDRqwn9fs7lKzFsb1jhvKuLG214EdSPzMsSEvc1s6uuMMvS7qa0tbuSMVKvGiOulwmas2F_-9JLuz1npy6pk79LsdGKvbFu-g2G6X00HfSGvIruVG1ypbebhstfB7uyH97nj0k.2-EKd9r5mRe9_EUH-MGlpdClNrtzv_3aJnFnLxMkb2Y&dib_tag=se&keywords=optical+sensor+relay&qid=1718108510&sprefix=optical+relay%2Caps%2C113&sr=8-7
 

I have this all working on the bench locally.? Having trouble connecting outside the lan.? I'll figure that out later.
I would like to scan a page from the manual for diagnostics and use it as a background for a page with only one button to flip back to the main page.? I could just type it out but there is symbols on that page that are not available in SG.? I'm sure it's there but not seeing how to import a image to use as a background.

1 - 14 of 14