Using RS232 to control an Optoma projector

[Vahaldor]

Hi folks,
I saw several threads about this topic but none address the problem directly. HA has a clear working integration SERIAL for listening of commands on serial port when they are sent by a sensor. However, there is non similarly focused simple way how to send commands over a serial port to the device.

Optoma, as any other manufacturer with RS232 interface, has a table of commands I can use. What is the most direct way to send these commands to the projector from HA that I can configure in simple yaml to have various buttons in my lovelace? Thanks!

[tom_l]

I haven’t worked out the details yet but I plan to use an ESP32 running ESPHome connected to my Epson projector’s serial port via a MAX3223 line driver/receiver IC (3.3v <> RS232). You can buy these modules for $5 on ebay / aliexpress with or without the DB9 socket.

You can create UART switches in ESPhome to send your commands.

When switched on they each write data to the UART and you can then use the “on_turn_on” trigger to switch each switch off again, ready for the next trigger. If you leave the switch on it cant trigger again (I think, needs testing).

If you need feedback, there are UART text sensors you could use or you could publish the received serial data to an mqtt topic.

[Vahaldor]

I bought usb>DB9 cable that has some common device address such as /ttyUSB0 in HA as my Conbee stick for zigbee. It looks to me quite straitforward than buying another board beside my rapsberry. This guy solved the problem but not as straitforward as I would expect it can be done

[Vahaldor]

This approach seems to be the straitforward solution. What do you think Tom? I will try it later next week when I have correct cable

HA send serial data to arduino over USB

Sounds like the simplest solution should be to create some scripts that works from the command line and call them from HA using shell_command I don’t know for sure, but it might be possible to send some characters directly to the serial port too, with a shell command like: echo -e -n "\x41\x54\x0a" > /dev/ttyUSB0 http://defindit.com/ascii.html has an ascii->hex table. If you want to pipe chars you probably need to set the baud rate aswell. sudo stty -F /dev/ttyUSB0 9600

[Vahaldor]

@tom_l

ESP32

Tom, it looks that usb<>rs232 is unnecessary problem on the way as it has some FTDI or PL2303 chipset, which work differently etc… I tried to send some commands from PC or OSX to projector with no success. Even Optoma support recommends using crossover rs232 cable to be sure, its simply raw transmission.

Could you please point me on exact produdct I can plug to my Raspberry PI running HA that would have RS232 connector ready for the crossover cable?

[tom_l]

@Vahaldor

Tom, it looks that usb<>rs232 is unnecessary problem on the way as it has some FTDI or PL2303 chipset, which work differently etc…

Unlucky. My projector uses standard RS232 levels and is connected as DCE (not DTE) so does not require a crossover cable.

Any USB to RS232 adapter should work. e.g. USB to RS-232 Adapter (35cm) - UC232A, ATEN Converters | ATEN ANZ

[Vahaldor]

SOLVED:
And it’s definitely the most straightforward approach in comparison to discussions I met here.

As Tom above argues, of course the USB>RS232 worked. Tom Thanks!. Be careful, my problem was in Big Sur that has some bug that causes sending only two characters instead of the whole hex, so Mac OS Big Sur is not proper OS for testing. Windows needed some drivers. HA running on RP4 works like a charm. I used coolterm for testing from OSx, that worked once probably because of the bug (bug was identified by the author of coolterm app who helped me as well, thanks Roger!)

How I made it working:

1. USB<>RS232 has an address visible in supervisor/three dots/hardware, my address is /dev/ttyUSB0
2. Ask your company for correct hex commands. I found two lists using google on the Optoma website which were both wrong. Support sent me the correct list.
3. I tested the shell command in HA terminal, worked so
4. I edited configuration.yaml to add a service that runs the shell command:

shell_command:
   projector_on: echo -e -n '\x7E\x30\x30\x30\x30\x20\x31\x0D' > /dev/ttyUSB0

5. Using HACS for adding custom component I added a button-card
6. By editing YAML in my lovelace, I added the custom button and the primitive code for testing is:

      - type: 'custom:button-card'
        name: projector on
        tap_action:
          action: call-service
          service: shell_command.projector_on

[tom_l]

Hey! Great you got it working. Not sure how I missed this update.

I’ve been doing a bit more reading and while still using the ESP32 (my home assistant is on a different floor to the projector) I’m going to use user defined api calls instead of uart switches. Then publish to the uart with an automation in esphome.

[Equineox (Alex Hurst)]

Hey, was there any additional configuration you had to put into Home Assistant to get the shell command working via buttons? The above shell command works great when executed through the SSH Terminal but wont work when through the shell command service set up in the configuration.yaml file and UI button.

[Vahaldor]

That’s weird. The terminal was my check up before I set everything up.

[Equineox (Alex Hurst)]

Found the problem - missing backslash at the beginning! Thanks for your code - it helped find the problem

[Vahaldor]

How much it took you to make it working? I spent about 40hrs on this easy setup to finally control my projector.

However, I still dont know how to read the response to check whether my input boolean is in a correct state. If you can spend some time on it, I will be glad!

[tom_l]

My projector has a 12V output that switches on and off with the projector. It’s meant to trigger motorised screens but I plan to use it as state feedback for power. Worth checking if yours has this too. One resistor divider to get a 3.3V signal into the ESP and you’re done.

[Vahaldor]

I have 12V output jack and use it for the screen as well. I thought that reading the state using the hw I already installed would be just fine .) I haven’t played with ESP yet but still, I just have some setup that should be able to work. I tried serial sensor but probably did not figure out the command properly. The sensor never received the data.

[Equineox (Alex Hurst)]

I’ve got the necessary hex command that should return a different hex string to state whether the screen/object is on or off, but i dont know how to parse that in a sensor by reading the return via command line

[tom_l]

Paste the received result you get here and I’ll have a go at it using the serial and template sensors.

[Equineox (Alex Hurst)]

I don’t have anything returned at the moment. I know the hex command I need to send in order to get the relevant reply, but I can’t get any reply atm.
My current write commands (turn screen on and off) use echo like the examples above but my understanding is that echo won’t get any response. I don’t know how to parse the hex code request using HA terminal/shell command to get a reply which we can then parse into a template

[tom_l]

@Equineox

I don’t know how to parse the hex code request using HA terminal/shell command to get a reply

Like this:

sensor:
  - platform: serial
    name: My serial receiver
    serial_port: /dev/ttyUSB0

Then template sensors or template binary sensors to parse the state of that sensor. Easier to do once you have some data in the serial sensor.

Calling the update entity service for the serial sensor after calling your shell command may or may not be required.

[Vahaldor]

I tried this but with no success, please, check my other topic I opened on this problem (send shell hex command to receive a response on a serial sensor integration):

Send a serial command and read the response as a sensor

Hello folks, I am successfuly controlling my projector. I have a list of shell commands in my configuration.yaml sending HEX codes connected to buttons in lovalce/automations/services/scripts, work like a charm. Here is my appraoch. However, I need to read some states to be sure my buttons show proper state if my wife turns projector on by remote instead by HA app. In doing so, I guess that I need to send a command to the projector that should respond. The projector has unique codes for this t…

[Equineox (Alex Hurst)]

@tom_l I have set up that serial configuration already. From your response am I to understand that I then need to call a shell command manually to generate the sensor information? Sorry for the potential stupid question.

I’ve set up two sensors both of which don’t seem to give any data back: