Wireless RS485 connection - EW11

[sfeakes]

There are a few discussions and people playing with EW-11 to connect to the Jandy control panel over wireless connection, so brining all the discussions into one place.

At the moment people have had good results with RS panels, and somewhat ok results with PDA panels. I personally think their will always be problems with PDA panels.

Few threads.
Below has most information, and screen shots of config.
#300

Some more details on settings/config for EW11. Note the GAP setting.
#333

[bcre3306]

EW11 - Communications Settings.pdf
EW11-Serial Port Settings.pdf
EW11-System Settings.pdf

Uploaded all documents here to help. Also attached a picture of the wiring for the EW11.

Hope this helps

[originalprime]

@bcre3306 Thank you for your response. Sorry to hear about your unsatisfactory experiences with the Elfin devices, but that is good information to have.

If I proceed, I think I would get the one with the external antenna and mount an antenna on the side or top of the pool equipment box. We actually have good wifi coverage throughout the yard so it should pick up.

I had actually thought about putting the Pi itself inside the pool equipment box but I thought that would cook it so I never tried it. It would make for a good experiment though, so I might just do that. Still not sure if it'll help the problem of the FTDI cables dying constantly, but it might.

I think I'm going to get an Elfin anyway and try that experiment.

[bcre3306]

My challenges with the EW11 were potentially related to my panel version or my wifi, never figured out exactly. I was having ghosting issues where equipment would spastically turn on and off so it wasn't something I could leave running when I would leave the house.

[bcre3306]

@originalprime if you are going to get one, I would suggest you get it from aliexpress as they are half the price of getting it on amazon(at least when I was looking).

[originalprime]

@sts098 Thank you very much for your response. The magnet antenna holder is simplistic brilliance.

Do you have a link to the extension cable you bought for this project, and are you just running it out of one of the chase holes on the bottom or did you make a hole for that antenna extension?

I actually have good wifi coverage in the yard so I am not too worried about the wifi side of the equation. As I told @bcre3306 I think I'm going to buy an Elfin at this point just for the experiment, but if that fails I will probably end up shoving my Raspberry Pi inside the pool equipment box and hardwire it via ethernet and PoE, which I am fortunate enough to have at the pool equipment deck. The only reason I hadn't done this to start with is because I thought I would cook the Pi, and when I started this project a new Raspberry Pi was hard to come by. Further, I am not entirely convinced that moving the Pi to the inside of the pool equipment box will solve the problem I'm having, which is some kind of interference which keeps damaging my FTDI cables. But maybe it will because I will be connected directly to the bus instead of sharing a port with the wall keypad thing.

Another reason to try the Elfin is that it would allow me to free up the Pi for other projects. If I can connect to the Jandy RS485 bus over my network then I can slap AqualinkD in a container and call it a day. That might be a nice approach.

As for the errors you mentioned, I am not sure I would see something similar because I am using an RS8, so hopefully I wouldn't have to work around those same errors.

[sts098]

Bought this cable from Amazon.
CAPChang RG174 Coaxial Cable RP SMA Antenna Extension Cable 2-Pack 6.5FTRP-SMA Male to RP-SMA Female Bulkhead Mount Connectors Low Loss Antenna Cable for WiFi Antenna WiFi Router Security IP Camera

ran cable through one of the bottom holes.

[sts098]

replying based on thread 333.

The temperature issue I mentioned in earlier thread seem to do with:
convert_mqtt_temp_to_c = yes
convert_dz_temp_to_c = yes

my temps are in F. 104, and 70. With these settings on, it is taking them as c and converting to f. 104 goes to 219. 70 to 158. Then tried to update.

Changing to no corrected the issue.

[bcre3306]

@sts098 sorry I have a different panel(RS4 Combo). I haven't tried the frame delay setting but I am getting an error more then once a min but MUCH cleaner then it was. I'll give that a try and report back in a little while. My temps are coming across correctly also

[sts098]

I get temps, pump rpm and watts. I see changes to pump, cleaner, waterfall, spa and heater. Most of these I can control. Variable speed pump is a little hinky. Can get out of sync on Mqtt and Aqualinkd. Haven’t been able to repeatably isolate issue yet.

[bcre3306]

The only warning I really get now(minus packet drops which are because I need the EW11 with the external antenna which is on order) are the ones below. I get them about every 10 seconds

Warning:RS Serial: Read Jandy packet BAD PACKET To 0x33 of type Unknown '0x72' | HEX: 0x10|0x02|0x33|0x72|0x20|0x01|0x02|0x03|0x04|0x05|0x06|0x07|0x08|0x09|0x0a|0x0b|0x0c|0x0d|0x0e|0

[sfeakes]

From looking at the log you posted in a different thread. I think that the bad packet you are seeing, is due to a protocol change in Board Rev Yg that has changed, and not an actual RS485 issue with the EW11.

I will look at posting a fix for this in the next release.

[sfeakes]

After some initial testing with different panels, I have found the following settings to work best for EW11.
For socat. (change IP 1.1.1.1 to you EW11's ip)

socat -d -d pty,link=/dev/ttyEW11,raw,ignoreeof TCP4:1.1.1.1:8899,ignoreeof

In AqualinkD the below are important (port matches above, no frame delay)

serial_port=/dev/ttyEW11
rs485_frame_delay = 0

On the EW11. Note the buffer and gap time are set to the minimum.