UCM to Wifi

[slychiu]

Julian, you cant put homeplug on the Comfort PCB.

It needs to plug into the AC socket, and we cannot have  the 230V to come to the PCB

Hence we would need a plug in module on the mains socket anyway. Then why not just use the available modules?

[wexfordman]

On a similar note, I definitely think any future version of the pcb should have on board Ethernet ports rather than having to add via ucm.

There are only rare occasions where people do not need Ethernet at this stage.

[tman]

[user=318]wexfordman[/user] wrote:

On a similar note, I definitely think any future version of the pcb should have on board Ethernet ports rather than having to add via ucm.

There are only rare occasions where people do not need Ethernet at this stage.

I\'d prefer an integrated UCM with the usual socket for a plugin so you can just pick RS232, USB or Ethernet. It\'d be more flexible that way. Sometimes you just want a USB connection to program which will just work without also needing to mess about with Ethernet and connecting to the customer\'s network to do programming. You can always swap out the plugin if Ethernet is required.

Regarding WiFi, I\'ve had success with a cheap TP-Link WR703N/MR3020 reflashed with OpenWRT. The WR702N mentioned above is a tad buggy and weird so I\'ve not had much success in getting it to work reliably. I set up the WR703N as a WiFi client with a NATed LAN behind it that the UCM/Ethernet connects to and then port forwarded TCP ports 1001 and 1002 from the WAN side to the ETH03. You avoid the problems with WDS as compatibility can be spotty and may not be supported at all e.g. enterprise WiFi systems such as Cisco and Ubiquiti. The only caveat is that you\'re not able to configure or upgrade the ETH03 plugin via WiFi. You\'ll need to connect a cable to do so. I\'ve not investigated if it is possible to make a small proxy that runs on the WR703N to forward the discovery packets.

Note: The WR702N mentioned above is widely available but not the same as the WR703N. It has significantly less flash so it is not supported by OpenWRT or any of the other replacement firmware images.

[Ingo]

[user=3857]tman[/user] wrote:

I\'d prefer an integrated UCM with the usual socket for a plugin so you can just pick RS232, USB or Ethernet. It\'d be more flexible that way. Sometimes you just want a USB connection to program which will just work without also needing to mess about with Ethernet and connecting to the customer\'s network to do programming. You can always swap out the plugin if Ethernet is required.

I second this suggestion. As mentioned, with the ability to use any plugin module you can upgrade from old Eth01/02/03 to whatever comes next and also have the RS232M/F, USB and even RS485M/F if required.

But there is more :-) If you go with the Ethernet plugin option you even get the current Eth03 dual connectivity option. No need to redesign the plugin modules, just provide the Comfort Bus connectivity and header pins.

The only snag is a possible space problem. If you have a LEM installed then it might be too tight.

Ingo

[slychiu]

Good idea to have integrated UCM on board Comfort, the challenge is to integrate the UCM firmware into the rest of Comfort, as the UCM currently handles a lot of functions independently of Comfort

I have the same experience with the TP link, it was not very reliable, but I have not heard of OpenWRT before

[juwi_uk]

Trouble with OpenWRT IMHO is then surely it is taking the solution out of the mainstream and into the enthusiast market and surely the aim here is to get Comfort Ethernet connectivity more mainstream.

IMHO if you were to put a UCM on the main PCB it shouldn\'t include all 3 connection types. Why? (1) space and (2) it will encourage more people to adopt Ethernet in their solution if Eth is STANDARD on the PC but if they want USB then they\'d have to buy an additional UCM at extra cost.

Ju

 

 

[slychiu]

If we were to include on the CM9000, it would have to be with a 10 way connector so any interface could be plugged in, or none at all

We do still have a large majority of customers (but possibly not in Europe) where a ucm is not needed and the extra cost is not justified.