Is it possible ?

[Guest RDaniell]

Hi folks, can anyone give an opinion about using a quickpanel jr as an interface to a PC ? I've recently purchased a Quickpanel and would like to utilize it as an interface station to a home automation system that will be run by a personal computer with I/o boards in it. Any thoughts ? Thanks Rick

[Steve Bailey 118]

Yes, you can do it. Your home automation system will need to include a COM port driver that sets the port up with the same protocol that the QP uses. The QP will be the master, the PC the slave.

[Guest RDaniell]

Cool ! So does that mean that the QP could talk to my pc via regular serial communications ? My PC will most likely be running a Visual Basic program which I can have monitor the serial port, if the QP sends me some information, the VB program can respond to it. Sound reasonable ??

[Steve Bailey 118]

Sounds very reasonable. Just pick a protocol. Modbus would probably be your best bet, since you can probably find plenty of Modbus slave sample code for sale or free download. If you want to write your own, the details of the protocol are freely available. You should only have to deal with a few commands, probably just Read and Write to Inputs, Outputs, and data registers. The QP will be the master, initiating all commands. The VB application will just have to respond.

[Guest Guest]

Great, Thanks for the help. I'm sure I'll be back for more help as my project progresses ! Thanks Again

[Guest Guest_Russ]

Steve is right in what he has stated, but the QuickPanel can be a Modbus Master or Slave, this allows your PC to be the Master.