Elan g!

I have the previous incarnation from HomeLogic. I am very satisfied. I am planning on upgrading my system to the new hardware when I can.

As an Elan dealer and as the owner of an Elan g! System in my own home, I can say that the system is very nice to use and very stable. As Frederick eluded to, the Elan g! system is based on the HomeLogic core software which is a very mature platform that's been around for many years. After Elan purchased HomeLogic a couple of years ago, g! is the culmination of the two. While the g! interface is not very customizable, it is very easy to use and very elegant looking in my opinion. No need for costly and time consuming custom programming like AMX & Creston systems (I am an AMX dealer also by the way).

The only downside is that you are at the mercy of Elan when it comes to 2-way drivers. While they have a pretty healthy list of drivers available, there always seems to be one or two devices we as dealers need that Elan hasn't written yet.

Other than that, I highly recommend the system.

The Elan g! driver list is very extensive, over 450 products are supported. I think you would be hard pressed to find a product that supports 2 way communication that isn't on the list.

You can locate you local dealer and perhaps they would give you the list.

You can create you own "one-way" IR devices and serial RS-232 devices.

You can also have the system respond to incoming IR and serial signals which can generate any of the standard system events.

You cannot duplicate the behavior of a system supplied two-way driver but you can still do quite a bit.

Yes. An easy to understand reason for 2way is volume feedback indicator on your remote. Another example is having the currently selected source highlighted. Another is cover art and meta data from 2way audio sources.

May I write a driver myself if meet a new equipment?
Or could I send HEX code to series port follow its control protocol?
I just care about ELAN g! flexibility.
thx

No.

Yes.

Hi,Frederick

Thanks for your help. I was told to use the Generic Serial Device driver to add support for any RS-232 device.You know,by this way,it is one-way control work.If I need get what feed back from serial port how can I make it? Such as a projector,or a Daikin air-condition.thx

If the device sends a fixed string of characters something like OK, READY, etc you can detect that with a Generic Serial Device (GSD).

If the device sends a variable string of characters like VOL=## (where ## could be from 00 to 99) then you could only detect the VOL= part or a specifc value like VOL=00.

To detect a string you first define the same string as you would for sending it.

Then you define a "Code Received" event for that string - you are of course limited to the normal set of actions for such an event.

One thing to point out (at least with the older HomeLogic) if you have, lets say, three different GSDs and each one has, say, a POWER_ON command then when trying to select that string for the event you will see
POWER_ON
POWER_ON
POWER_ON
in the list of strings to choose from. You need of course to select the correct one. To do that you can temporarily change the name (in the GSD of interest) to something else to determine which one to choose.

Or you can give all of the strings for a given device a prefix like TV_ or DVD_ or SAT_. So now you would have:
TV_POWER_ON
DVD_POWER_ON
SAT_POWER_ON

Perhaps in the newer version the have improved the user interface for this sort of selection.

Thank you,my freind. Have you integrate g! in a complex case? I wanna how to make g! cooperate with Lutron and Dainkin together if GSD are not able to get accurate feed back data. I am curious and looking for it in ELAN Uni site. Unfortunately I did not find answer. Would you please teach me how to deal with it? thx,Frederick

I have not used either Lutron of Dainkin.

I still have the older HomeLogic system installed.

So I don't think I can be of much help unless you have simple, specific questions.

Thank you .Your advice is very helpful.
Will you upgrade to new g! product line? I guess it is more powerful than HL.

Currently (according to my dealer) there is no upgrade path. If that is true, then I need to save up to purchase the new hardware and software - I will but it will take some time.

Unfortunately, that is true ( I am a dealer)

That's too bad.

I wouldn't expect to have an upgrade path on the hardware but it would be nice if Elan would allow "transfer" of my "pro" licenses to a new box.

Oh well...

Actually it's not true that Elan doesn't allow upgrades of HomeLogic systems to g! I've done the upgrade to two my client's systems. There's just a few catches to getting your system upgraded as they won't upgrade every system out there:

1. They won't approve an upgrade of your system if you still have any legacy Elan interfaces in your system (i.e. VIA touchscreens, Z keypads, etc.)
2. Having a dealer who has a good relationship with the right people in Elan Elan's "official" position to date has been to not update HomeLogic systems to g! But that doesn't mean they won't. Your dealer just needs to get the right people to approve the update.

While HomeBrick processors are fully g! compatible (even 5 year old HomeLogic ones), going forward, any new hardware features will be exclusive to the HCxx controllers. For example, the new HR2 remote will only work on HCxx controllers. That being said, Elan will offer an upgrade program for HomeBrick owners to move to a HCxx controller in the near future.

And also Frederick, Elan will also allow a transfer of Pro apps and licenses from a g! Homebrick to a g! HCxx controller.

Hmm...

I will have to get back to my dealer and have them check this out.

I was planning on getting the new hardware and if I can transfer my pro licenses that would be a real plus.

For me ,it is not a problem.I do not have HL controller. I have a plan to get HC06 and TS7,plus ipad, if I have confidence of 2-way communication between HCXX and climate devices.

I think g! will be good products based on IP.Only small problem is not flexible as other central control system.

JOJO, which Lutron system do you have? Elan already has 2-way drivers for Homeworks, RadioRA, and RadioRA2. As long as you have one them you'll be fine. Are you international?

Yes.I am international. Now I am in Beijing.Next month I will be in Australia. I will get a set of homeworks system to test. I heard it is good for Elan g!. You know,Lutron is a bit expensive. I hope to find a better way to apply 2-way control for cheaper lighting and climate system even though not included in Elan driver list.I am looking for detail progamming advice. But it seems hard to send and get accurate feed back via RS-232/485 manully in g!(Frederick's advice is helpful,thanks very much) This situation make me down.So far I hope g! more powerful. I will try more after I get its HC6 and TS7.Any achievement will be post here to share with you.

You may want to investigate UPB lighting.

It works very well with HomeLogic.

thx.Would you give me an advice for brand? I guess HAI is OK. I found a dealer in China.

http://pulseworx.com/ (the company that developed UPB technology - if I remember correctly)

http://www.homeauto.com/main.asp

http://simply-automated.com/index.php

http://www.webmtn.com/index.php

I've used them all.

Yes, it is listed in the Common Resource Library