This is my first attempt at using Home Assistant, I am moving over from OpenHAB but struggling to figure out how to use my Russound MCA C5 via the RIO protocol.
I have linked the Russound and have a listing of zone cards, I am able to change the source of each zone. However when I select the Tuner source I am unable to change the radio station that is built into the Russound controller.
Has anyone done this before? If so how were you able to accomplish it?
Did you ever come up with a solution? I just bought one of these used and would really like to get stations.
Actually, I would love to get anywhere. I don’t have the software for the Russound yet 
Unfortunately I have not been able to get this working and am having an issue of the Russound disappearing from HA at random intervals. Anywhere from 2 minutes to 2 hours.
Interestingly, I am having the same issue. Seems the network connection will suddenly go south and nothing will connect to it after that. The only way I get it to reconnect is to power cycle the Russound. I tried an automation to ping one of the zones to check volume and it didn’t seem to work.
However, I left it connected via USB, RS232 AND Ethernet when I left for work this morning and have been checking it all day and it hasn’t gone down once. Hmmm.
I really thought that it was the Russound hardware. Not sure.
This is what I’m running to ping it every 5 minutes (which I got from another post here and modified it)
- alias: Russound Ping
initial_state: True
trigger:
- platform: time_pattern
minutes: "/5"
action:
- service: media_player.office
data_template:
entity_id: media_player.office
volume_level: '{{ states.media_player.office.attributes.volume_level }}'
Oh, and I had the Russound SCS-C5 software running and connected this whole time.
@samgreco
What are you connecting the RS232 port to? Im assuming the USB is just to a computer for the SCS-C5? I am running HASSIO on Raspberry Pi 3. I also dont use keypads with the Russound and run strictly through home automation.
As a note that action will fail if the zone is off as the volume_level attribute will return ‘None’. There will be an error of expecting float type
I get around that by doing this method:
# Set Russound Zone Volume to Minimum Volume if OFF.
- alias: 'Russound OFF Connection Hack'
initial_state: true
trigger:
platform: time_pattern
minutes: "/3"
condition:
- condition: state
entity_id: media_player.master_bathroom
state: 'off'
action:
- service: media_player.volume_set
data_template:
entity_id: media_player.master_bathroom
volume_level: '0.01'
# Set Russound Zone Volume to Current Volume if ON.
- alias: 'Russound ON Connection Hack'
initial_state: true
trigger:
platform: time_pattern
minutes: "/3"
condition:
- condition: state
entity_id: media_player.master_bathroom
state: 'on'
action:
- service: media_player.volume_set
data_template:
entity_id: media_player.master_bathroom
volume_level: "{{ states.media_player.master_bathroom.attributes.volume_level }}"
RS232 and USB are connected to a PC. I run HA in a docker on Linux.
Well, I take it all back. This is the longest it’s ever stayed connected, but when I got home from work, it no longer responded. But for me, the only way to fix it is to power cycle the Russound. This is getting very frustrating. I think I have a bad unit. I’m going to isolate it on a network of it’s own and see if I can keep their app connected.
I had similar problems with my Russound MCA C5 and home assistant. Only way to fix it was to power cycle the unit.
Does the Russound support Wake on LAN?
A side note I just downloaded a free radio player app from casting my local radio stations and it works great since I can’t access the tuner radio stations. Maybe we could reach out to the developer to see if they can change the code to loop through the radio banks and add them as sources?
I have resolved the issue of my Russound sleeping. It seems my router was malfunctioning and disconnecting devices randomly. I put in a new router and everything works amazingly.
Well, that’s curious. I’m glad you’ve been able to get yours settled down. I will need to try that as well.
I’ve been using a Cisco RV-320 (small biz router) for years. Maybe it’s time to retire it. I have an Asus wireless router that I am using as an access point currently. I’ll swap them out this weekend and see if I can be as happy as you 
Did you see any other devices on your network misbehaving?
Yes there was occasional drops on other devices but they always came back quickly. The Russound MCA would no longer appear on the connected devices list until it was power cycled.
It has been rock solid for over a week now.
Well, I am still having constant issues. I replaced the Router. Then the next day the switch it was connected to died. So I replaced that. It’s still disconnecting. And when it does, it loses ALL communication. The USB port on the front doesn’t even connect. Cycle power, and everything works for a time. Sometimes hours. Starting to think I have a bad unit.
I thought the same thing as you (bad unit) until I read your post. I have the same issue as you, tried replacing router, cabling, …
Well, I have done a factory init on the Russound. Now we’ll see if it stays connected. But the next step is to move it from my test bench and connect it directly to my router with a short cable. Right now it is connected through two ethernet switches.
But now I have another question. Aside from the tuner issue that started this thread, how do you manage sources in HA? I am trying to decide what to use to manage my VERY large library of MP3s and have a front end inside of HA. Cannot wrap my head around it. Anyone have any pointers?
I am trying Volumio running on an old Pi, but can’t get it to work in an iFrame since it is not HTTPS, but HA is (so I can use Google Home).
Well, well, well. Hooked up directly to the router with a high quality ethernet cable and have been up for around 30 hours. Have never been up more than 8 previously. I think this may actually work. I did have to restart HA a couple of times. But the Russound has NOT disconnected from the network in all that time.
@nat_neels - Thanks for your code snippet above. I have now been running for over 50 hours without a glitch. Now I need to figure out how to get it into Lovelace in a way that makes sense. If you have any guidance on managing sources, like Squeezebox players in the UI, connected to a couple of the Russound sources, I’d appreciate it
EDIT (Since this software won’t let me do more than 2 replies in a row):
So after moving the unit from my workbench to the rack I got a month. Since then, I check all cabling, connected straight to the new router and rebooted. Left the USB connection to the front panel. It’s now been two months without a hiccup. Of course, I keep thinking I’m jinxing it by posting this
But has anyone found a way to control the tuner yet? I am streaming radio now, and it’s fine. But I do want to minimize data usage if I can just pull things from the air.