nanoDLP

Jimustanguitar

Member

Registered: 2016-07-27

Posts: 30

Projector RS232 - Power, Shutter, etc. - Panasonic Codes

I've been using a large, dual lamp Panasonic projector in my printer, and I finally got around to setting up the RS232 commands to turn it on and off, control the internal shutter, etc. and I thought I'd share my journey in case it helped others find their way.

For starters, I'm using this USB to Serial adapter from StarTech.
https://www.startech.com/Cards-Adapters … ICUSB2321F
Many options exist, and several of them work, so add this one to the list of confirmed working adapters. You may choose a different one.
You will have to ID the USB address of your serial adapter and enter it into the "USB/Serial Port Address" field for your display.
I've got a quick video on doing this for an Arduino. The process is the same.
http://youtu.be/Laq8eovno9U

Next, I dug into the Panasonic docs to find the 232 protocol manual for my model.
ftp://ftp.panasonic.com/pub/Panasonic/D … -D232C.pdf
If RS232 or RS-232 or Serial don't return any useful results, "Control Codes" and "Protocol Manual" are other helpful search terms.

The manual lists very simple commands for power on/off and shutter open/close.

So just type PON POF OSH:0 and OSH:1 into NanoDLP and be done, right?

Wrong That would work for humans, but serial devices follow a different set of rules.

Those characters are actually just parameters that need to be inserted into the rest of the command. It's like a formula. There's a header, usually some sort of an identification, the parameters for the function that you want, and then and ending that usually includes a checksum and/or delimeter. Here's what the Panasonic command formatting looks like.

If the manufacturer is really nice, they'll give you some example command strings in the same manual that can help you find the right ID numbers, etc. If not, you'll have to go through the manual and assemble the serial string that they describe. It's tedious, and a few notches below what I'd consider fun... I cheated. I'm a Crestron programmer, and I fired up an extra processor with a program that used a Panasonic module that I knew worked. Then I pushed some buttons, and copied the command strings.
With the proper header and other bits, PON turns into .ADZZ;PON. so the start and end transmission bytes are the dots and the ADZZ are the "Two ID" and "ID Designate" bytes that go around the PON from before.

So now we've got a command! Now to make NanoDLP send it properly...

The first thing to understand is how RS232 devices communicate. The data transmission is digital 1's and 0's, and the data or baud rate is the speed that these 1's and 0's are sent. The baud rate will vary by manufacturer, and is sometimes selectable in a setup menu, but chances are pretty good that the stock 9600 setting will work for your device. And instead of having to write a thousand 1's and 0's, the devices simplify the human readable input part of it by representing them as ASCII or hexadecimal characters. We're all familiar with ASCII because that's what you're reading right now, you can think of ASCII as the letters on a keyboard. Hexadecimal is the numeric way to represent those characters with a base-16 counting system that uses 0123456789ABCDEF and makes up a range of values between 00 and FF (0 and 256). Here's a conversion table in case that helps you understand it a bit better. https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgece … _table.htm

Another bit about serial communication that's worth noting is how these commands use a delimeter to end each command. The most common delimeters are /r and /n (sometimes both). /r means "line feed" and /r means "carriage return"... That's right, we programmed computers to think they're a typewriter. Using delimeters like these are how some devices know that a command has ended. It's like the period at the end of a sentence. That's why you'll see /r and /n as serial communication options in NanoDLP. The program will automatically add the delimeter that you select to the end of every command.

In my particular case with the Panasonic projector, it doesn't use a "standard" delimeter like /r /n, so "binary" is the appropriate setting to choose. It means that the serial port will only send the characters that you tell it to - nothing else.

So... My simple PON command was used to build the proper full command according to the manufacturer's 'formula' and turned into .ADZZ;PON. Another thing to note at this point is that ASCII is caps sensitive, so an upper case P and a lower case p ARE different.
After creating the ASCII command, I then converted the string into hex because I wasn't using one of the ASCII communication options in NanoDLP, which made my command \x02\x41\x44\x5a\x5a\x3b\x50\x4f\x4e\x03
The \x indicates a hex value, and the two characters following \x are the value itself. You'll notice that there are the same number of values in ".ADZZ;PON." and "\x02\x41\x44\x5a\x5a\x3b\x50\x4f\x4e\x03" and some other similarities like how ZZ is \x5a \x5a... They're the same data in two different formats. Luckily there are websites like RapidTables that can help you do this conversion, so all you have to do is copy and paste.
https://www.rapidtables.com/convert/num … o-hex.html

That is the proper command to use for my projector's power on. It seems tedious, but that's it. \x02\x41\x44\x5a\x5a\x3b\x50\x4f\x4e\x03
Power off is \x02\x41\x44\x5a\x5a\x3b\x50\x4f\x46\x03
Shutter open is \x02\x41\x44\x5a\x5a\x3b\x4f\x53\x48\x3a\x30\x03
Shutter closed is \x02\x41\x44\x5a\x5a\x3b\x4f\x53\x48\x3a\x31\x03

To use the shutter commands in NanoDLP, you have to frame the command with [[Projector Command]], which makes the text field in NanoDLP look more like this [[Projector \x02\x41\x44\x5a\x5a\x3b\x4f\x53\x48\x3a\x30\x03 Command]]  and this [[Projector \x02\x41\x44\x5a\x5a\x3b\x4f\x53\x48\x3a\x31\x03 Command]]

But, if you enter it all correctly, it works!
Easy, right?
Good luck!

Last edited by Jimustanguitar (2018-02-13 14:12:09)

Shahin

Administrator

Registered: 2016-02-17

Posts: 3,541

Re: Projector RS232 - Power, Shutter, etc. - Panasonic Codes

Perfect, thank you

L.Merino

Member

Registered: 2017-11-02

Posts: 28

Re: Projector RS232 - Power, Shutter, etc. - Panasonic Codes

Hello, I am trying to communicate with my projector, an Infocus IN8606HD, but I can not get it. In the documentation, only the commands appear, but there is no "formula" to complete them.

Do you think you just have to type the command?

Sorry for my English, it's a translation with google.

Jimustanguitar

Member

Registered: 2016-07-27

Posts: 30

Re: Projector RS232 - Power, Shutter, etc. - Panasonic Codes

Hello, I am trying to communicate with my projector, an Infocus IN8606HD, but I can not get it. In the documentation, only the commands appear, but there is no "formula" to complete them.

https://public.boxcloud.com/api/2.0/int … ion=1.43.1

Do you think you just have to type the command?

Sorry for my English, it's a translation with google.

Hello... I'm not getting the picture that you sent.
Are you using the commands on page 59 of this manual? https://www.infocus.com/resources/docum … rGuide.pdf
That should be pretty simple compared to the process that I outlined in this post.

Last edited by Jimustanguitar (2018-05-29 17:37:50)

L.Merino

Member

Registered: 2017-11-02

Posts: 28

Re: Projector RS232 - Power, Shutter, etc. - Panasonic Codes

https://app.box.com/s/zahxd948snvus6f1n6ivn3z8kh579rqp

Thank you

Jimustanguitar

Member

Registered: 2016-07-27

Posts: 30

Re: Projector RS232 - Power, Shutter, etc. - Panasonic Codes

Yeah, it looks like we're looking at the same list of commands... Check your wiring (straight or crossed) and baud rate, and I'll try to see if there's a Crestron module that I can cheat and look at

L.Merino

Member

Registered: 2017-11-02

Posts: 28

Re: Projector RS232 - Power, Shutter, etc. - Panasonic Codes

Maybe it's because of the cable?

I use one like this

https://www.ebay.es/itm/1Pcs-USB-Conver … 25ea6639d5

Jimustanguitar

Member

Registered: 2016-07-27

Posts: 30

Re: Projector RS232 - Power, Shutter, etc. - Panasonic Codes

https://app.box.com/s/zahxd948snvus6f1n6ivn3z8kh579rqp

Thank you

It doesn't look like there's anything special going on with the commands. I think they really ARE as simple as the manual outlines.
Check the wiring, baud rate, USB address, delimeter, etc and you'll probably be able to sort it out.

L.Merino

Member

Registered: 2017-11-02

Posts: 28

Re: Projector RS232 - Power, Shutter, etc. - Panasonic Codes

Excuse me but

So, to turn on the projector, you would only have to write PWR1?

Jimustanguitar

Member

Registered: 2016-07-27

Posts: 30

Re: Projector RS232 - Power, Shutter, etc. - Panasonic Codes

I believe so, yes.

L.Merino

Member

Registered: 2017-11-02

Posts: 28

Re: Projector RS232 - Power, Shutter, etc. - Panasonic Codes

Thank you very much, I'm doing tests. Later I will tell you

L.Merino

Member

Registered: 2017-11-02

Posts: 28

Re: Projector RS232 - Power, Shutter, etc. - Panasonic Codes

Hello, he established the baud rate in 19200, as indicated in the manual, modified the address of the serial port in / dev / ttyUSB1 checking in the terminal that it is the correct address and tested with the three types of ASCII communication that there is and not, he did not find anything
  Do you think it can be the cable?

I'm using one like this

https://www.ebay.es/itm/1Pcs-USB-Conver … 25ea6639d5

Jimustanguitar

Member

Registered: 2016-07-27

Posts: 30

Re: Projector RS232 - Power, Shutter, etc. - Panasonic Codes

You might have to goof with some adapters... RS232 devices have a transmit and a receive line, which are pins 2 and 3 on the connector, and it's SUPER common for various devices to need to be one or the other. It seems like it's about 50/50 in the industry. The easiest way to test this is by using a "null modem" adapter (which flips pins 2 and 3, along with 7 and 8 for RTS/CTS) and see if that helps... Unless you're soldering your own cables, that's probably the most painless way to test that variable. 

Does anyone else have ideas? Is anybody running an InFocus projector that might know a trick that I'm missing?

L.Merino

Member

Registered: 2017-11-02

Posts: 28

Re: Projector RS232 - Power, Shutter, etc. - Panasonic Codes

The pins that would have to be exchanged are 2 with 3 and 7 with 8?
The two pairs?
Or can you be just one of the two?

I have some db9 connector, I will try to perform some test.

Thank you.

Jimustanguitar

Member

Registered: 2016-07-27

Posts: 30

Re: Projector RS232 - Power, Shutter, etc. - Panasonic Codes

A full adapter will flip 7 and 8, but it's super rare that you'll actually need those pins. (and the InFocus manual says "flow control - none)

You can solder up an adapter that flips everything if you want, but it's much easier to just wire up pins 235 and to experiment with flipping 2 and 3 back and forth.

L.Merino

Member

Registered: 2017-11-02

Posts: 28

Re: Projector RS232 - Power, Shutter, etc. - Panasonic Codes

He made tests connecting only 2,3,5 and I did not get anything.
I do not know, I'll continue investigating.

Thanks for your help.

elshad66

Member

Registered: 2017-03-31

Posts: 118

Re: Projector RS232 - Power, Shutter, etc. - Panasonic Codes

I also suffered for a long time
  with this cable 340, it does not work
only,only HL- 340 works
when you buy first ask which cable
because, they write HL- 340 and in the photo HL- 340 and they send 340
they have different schemes and boards
340 small boards,HL- 340 large boards
I have 4 pieces 340   left, money returned
if anyone needs
I can give as a gift

L.Merino

Member

Registered: 2017-11-02

Posts: 28

Re: Projector RS232 - Power, Shutter, etc. - Panasonic Codes

Thanks for the information, I have been looking at this, which does not specify if it is hl-340 or which, but it seems more "professional"
StarTech.com ICUSB232FTN - Cable adaptador de 1 puerto USB a módem Null RS232 (1 x USB A macho, 1 x DB9 hembra, 1 m) https://www.amazon.es/dp/B008634VJY/ref … dBbSAXRZ6J

elshad66

Member

Registered: 2017-03-31

Posts: 118

Re: Projector RS232 - Power, Shutter, etc. - Panasonic Codes

He made tests connecting only 2,3,5 and I did not get anything.

5=>5
2=>3
3=>2
HL-340
baud rate  9600
NANODLP  WIN  version., PI and  CW,with
ACER 1500P ,ACER 6510
on/off everything is working
Other projectors do not know
did not check

http://moemesto.ru/elshad666/files/
DIFFERENCE BOARD

Last edited by elshad66 (2018-05-30 23:08:43)

L.Merino

Member

Registered: 2017-11-02

Posts: 28

Re: Projector RS232 - Power, Shutter, etc. - Panasonic Codes

Thanks

L.Merino

Member

Registered: 2017-11-02

Posts: 28

Re: Projector RS232 - Power, Shutter, etc. - Panasonic Codes

Hello colleagues, I already turn on and off my projector. with the new cable that I bought, the correct commands are as I indicated above Jimustanguitar, so written, exactly, with parentheses. Thank you very much for the help Jimustanguitar, elshad66.
The cable is this.
https://www.amazon.es/dp/B008634VJY/ref … dBbSAXRZ6J

Last edited by L.Merino (2018-06-10 19:03:51)