RS232 / Serial with Home Theatre Direct (HTD.com) Lync Syste

Posted on
Thu Sep 29, 2011 11:31 am
dmeeker@mac.com offline
Posts: 85
Joined: Aug 26, 2011

RS232 / Serial with Home Theatre Direct (HTD.com) Lync Syste

Hey all - I haven't posted yet, but have been reading through the Indigo forums for a few months. I just moved into a new house and am using a mac mini with indigo to orchestrate a decently sized Insteon setup (about 50 devices). So far, so good - (except for the Morning Link to control the door....)

My immediate goal is to try to get the mac mini to send commands over a USB-to-Serial cable to my HTD.com Lync6 Multi-room/zone audio controller.

HTD sent me a pretty poor PDF that outlines the Serial API. I want to use either python or AppleScript to do things like set a zone's source, volume, etc.

One use case:

1) Turn on kitchen light between 7 and 7:30 AM
2) Run script that will send serial commands that will:
a) Turn the power on to the zone in the kitchen
b) Change the audio source to my mac
c) Run the google weather plugin and read the weather to me
d) Once done, then flip the source to my tuner, which is set to NPR to play the morning news
e) Then flip the source in the audio controller to music

I am curious to know if anyone has had any recent results with sending serial commands to audio controllers or other AV equipment. Most of the chatter seems to be several years old.

I am comfortable writing code, however don't have a ton of time due to work, etc.

So, any pointers, source code, samples, or offers to provide input would be appreciated. Heck, if someone was an applescript or python guru and wanted to make 100 bucks, I'd probably go that route as well.

Any feedback would be super appreciated.

Posted on
Sat Feb 22, 2014 12:51 pm
HA1 offline
Posts: 71
Joined: Mar 15, 2012

Integrating HTD audio system with Indigo

I am able to do this with a simple USB-Serial connector (I am using http://www.amazon.com/TRENDnet-RS-232-Serial-Converter-TU-S9/dp/B0007T27H8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389037035&sr=8-1&keywords=trendnet+usb+to+serial) and some python code:
Code: Select all
import time
import serial

ser = serial.Serial(port='/dev/tty.NoZAP-PL2303-0044121A',baudrate=38400)
ser.write("\x02\x00\x0A\x04\x57\x67")
time.sleep(1)
ser.close()

Note that the sleep for one second is important otherwise the execution will end before controller is able to execute command. To actually find out what each RS232 command is without using the documentation's not-so-pleasant means of calculating each code, I am using iRule where if you load the device in the iRule builder, you can see each command and just copy/paste it into your action group script. Let me know if people have questions.

BTW, have verified control of both Lync and MC systems from HTD.

Posted on
Sat Feb 22, 2014 4:20 pm
jay (support) offline
Site Admin
User avatar
Posts: 18200
Joined: Mar 19, 2008
Location: Austin, Texas

Re: Integrating HTD audio system with Indigo

I moved the originating topic from the locked archives to this forum and appended the follow up. Thanks.

Jay (Indigo Support)
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Posted on
Sat Feb 22, 2014 5:13 pm
dmeeker@mac.com offline
Posts: 85
Joined: Aug 26, 2011

Re: RS232 / Serial with Home Theatre Direct (HTD.com) Lync S

Awesome! I'm currently using AppleScript to fire open a browser and send clicks to the add-on web server control box they sell. Time to upgrade!

Posted on
Wed Oct 26, 2016 12:31 pm
day001 offline
Posts: 1
Joined: Oct 19, 2014

Re: RS232 / Serial with Home Theatre Direct (HTD.com) Lync S

Did either of you end up creating a plug in for HTD systems? I have a Lync 12 system and have been playing around with creating a plug in, but haven't yet had much luck.

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