hey all,
So i finally got the camera up and running but i've run into some issues.
For now i have a standalone setup consisting of CR1000 with a NL120 interface, HMP155A, CS106, windsonic1, CC5MPX camera, 2 SDM-A04A. station functions fine (save for the way i want the camera to work)
i am trying to communicate with the camera through the datalogger, i have accessed it thru ethernet and made necessary config changes.(baud rate, enabled external trigger, enabled communication thru PakBus, save to file)
I want to retrieve the picture/video to my PC directly without storing in the memory card. i've followed the manual as best i could but i get the error message " SD card present PakBus TX fail" in the System Status of the browser display.
Please advise.
Also, is it possible to get live video feed onto RTMC via RS232 ?
below is the wiring i've done
red- 12 v
black- power ground
clear- signal ground
green- port C8 (CRBasic code pulses port 8 for the trigger image capture)
white- port C7
yellow and blue - terminal block /not connected
sufah,
While not hit-you-in-the-head obvious in the CC5MPX User Manual Sections 16 and 17 covers how to set this up.
What I suggest is to verify that the ComPort the CC5MPX is connected to the CR1000 is set to a fixed baud rate of 115.2K (commonly found on the "ComPorts Settings" tab in DevConfig on the CR1000). Then follow along in Section 16.2 where (on the "Advanced" tab, again in the CR1000's Dev Config tab) you define the USR Drive Size (assuming you want to store images and/or video on the CR1000) and give the files a file name, plus enter the PakBus Address of the CC5MPX and number of files to be stored (note that the CC5MPX can not send files over 2MB in size).
Once that is done you can collect the images in the Connect screen using File Control, per "Section 17. Remote Image Retrieval".
Please note if you wish to keep the file names you established in the CC5MPX there is a way, but it is not straightforward, and may be "fixed" in the future, but here is how I do it:
It can "work" by not using the Files Manager functionality within the datalogger. The file manager's duty is to set up a ring memory for incoming files...such as images. If you delete the settings in the Files Manager the files will continue to be sent to the USR drive in the logger (note that you must still specify a "USR: Drive Size" in the
loggers "Advanced" tab). What happens, and why this is a buffered "yes" answer, is that the logger will preface the CC5MPX's PakBus address to the original file name (ex. "0055_"). So, for example, if you specify within the CC5MPX an image name "Still1" with date and time appended the file would have a name similar to this when collected:
0055_Still1_2011_01_01_11_12_32.jpg
If you are not using the File Manager functionality in the data logger you will need to delete the files for the logger when you collect data (otherwise is becomes a "fill and stop" type of memory routine). To set this up, while in the "Image Retrieval" or "File Retrieval" tab, depending on your LoggerNet version, you would use one of the Retrieval modes and turn on "Delete Files After Retrieval", indicated by a check mark, and the file pattern you would use would be *.jpg. You would also specify the directory the images will be stored.
One IMPORTANT caveat is that since we are no longer using the dataloggers File Manager functionality the datalogger will write the images to the CRD drive first, then the USR drive if no CRD is present, then if the USR drive is blank, it will write to the CPU drive.
I really appreciate your quick response wxdood, i'm able to make sense of the issue.
unfortunately, i wont be able to try out what you've mentioned in your post till late next week (Eid Holidays)
will get back to you when i do.
thanks once again
hey,
I was finally able to try out what you suggested in your previous post but pakbus transfer still failing, dont know what i am missing.
The following is a more detailed description of the settings on our system.
Wiring connections: apart from the power and ground wires, we have connected the white and green cables of the camera to C7 and C8 respectively and the blue to C4. (these were the only free com ports available and they satisfy the wiring conditions). The program uses pulseport (4,1000) for the camera trigger and serialopen(com3...) for non-pakbus comm.(dont know if the second one has a bearing on the current camera issue).
The Image Capture settings (selftimed and External Trigger) are set to 'NO' in the 'Capture to Memory Card' option.
"Communication Settings' are as follows: "Send via Pakbus' is enabled and the pakbus destination address is 1 (for the cr1000) .The rs232 baud rate settings on the camera and the CR1000 are the same, ie 9600
File Retrieval settings (CR1000) have been set to include file pattern '*.jpg' and 'usr:*.jpg' and 'usr:camera.jpg' and the Max files has been set to 20
Using Device Configuration Utility for the CR1000.(usr has been defined)
-the Files Manager settings have 'usr:camera.jpg' in the File Name, PakBus address set to 55 (for the cc5mpx) with a Count of 20
-in the 'Settings Editor', neighbours allowed on BOTH com3 and com4 are (1, 60)(55, 55).
-'beacon Interval' for both com3 and com4 is 60
With the above settings, we were unable to observe the activation of the trigger in the camera browser. the camera portion of our crbasic code is
Sub manual_picture
PulsePort (4,1000)
takepicture=0
EndSub
'Main Program
'trigger camera
If IfTime (0,8,Sec) Then
PulsePort (4,1000)
EndIf
I'd appreciate any suggestions, the camera issue is holding back deployment of the stations.
Thank You.