Got an email from my boss about a microcontroller interface to a C-BUS device. Did some googlin' and found some info but it doesn't sound very microcontroller friendly.
Looks like it's a interface for home control developed by Clipsal Integrated Systems. They talk about PCI cards, .DLL and drivers for the PC.
Don't want to sign my life away to get more info right now. I am hoping somebody has some good information that they are willing to share.
Not sure if its the same thing, but Clarion uses "C-Bus" for connecting it's cd changers to its cd head units.
Hi BPar
I too have looked at the C-Bus implementation for an AVR.
I got some info from clipsal that was pretty much useless.
Even if you do sign your life away, they still charge absurd amounts of money for the real info that you need.
However i have been told by a few people now that it is very easy to sniff out and reverse engineer.
There is a serial interface C-Bus device which you can use to interface to their network.
This device is readily available to anyone on the market.
You can then use that device to work out their protocol.
I would be interested in helping you out if you go down that road as i too would like a C-Bus interface.
I know of at least one company in OZ selling a product with a C-Bus interface that managed to implement it without any help from clipsal.
Steve
I suggest we ignore C-BUS! There's plenty of competing product that uses open or published protocols. Clipsal have done a good job at promoting their product to the electrical guys but look at Dimtek as their product is most likely cheaper than Clipsal's and they publish their protocol which is dead simple.
http://dynalite-online.com/html/default.htm
They were competition, but since I'm not in the market anymore I'll promote them over Clipsal!
@ Steve
Thanks for the info and the offer for help. Back in the day I used to relish the challenge of reverse engineering but I'm getting too old now. I'll relay this info to my boss and see what happens. It will probably be in August when a decision is made.
@Kartman
I would love to ignore C-BUS but my boss found a chip that uses it as an interface. Thanks for the link which I will give to my boss.
