Creative Control Concepts

The Creative Control Concepts HCS-II is an expandable, network-based, intelligent-node, industrial-oriented supervisory control system intended for demanding home control applications. The HCS incorporates direct and remote digital inputs and outputs, direct and remote analog inputs and outputs, real-time or Boolean decision event triggering, X-10 transmission and reception, infrared remote control transmission and reception, remote LCD & TV displays, and a master console.

Now you can control lights, appliances, fans, stereo, television, VCR, warning chimes, alarm sirens, indicator lights, status displays, and so forth, with a single distributed control system.

The HCS-II is an extremely modular system. As your needs grow, you simply add modules to your HCS-II, either via add-on daughter boards which stack on top of the controller or via RS-485 network modules which can be located up to 4000′ from the main controller. The HCS system architecture consists of a central supervisory controller connected to up to 31 other network modules using simple twisted-pair cable. The HCS-II is unique: it can function independently and accommodate considerable expansion in the future.

The user-programmable Supervisory Controller is the brains of the system. All other network links & add-on boards rely upon the Supervisory Controller for timing, control commands, and overall system coordination. The supervisory controller is a 9.12-MHz single board computer with two serial ports (1 RS-232 and 1 RS_485); battery-backed memory; an 8-channel, 8-bit A/D converter; a real-time clock/calendar; expansion bus; and 24 bits of direct parallel I/O (additional direct parallel I/O can be optionally added). When connected to an HCS Relay-Buffer Terminator (RBUF-Term) board, these parallel I/O bits can accept contact closure or +/-30V input signals and switch loads of up to 3 A. Depending upon your process control application, the Supervisory Controller may provide all the control I/O functions you need.

The HCS Supervisory Controller is the communication hub of your Home Automation system. One serial port functions as a dedicated 9600-bps serial RS-485 connection to the various network links that may be located up to 4000 feet away via inexpensive twisted pair cable. The second serial port connects to a PC which functions as the master console. The master console acts as an on-line real-time display of all control activity in the system. However, once you compile and download your control code, the PC can be shutoff at anytime.

Using network modules that contain both sensing and activation lines, the HCS-II effects direct monitoring and control of remote appliances, security devices, and environmental systems thousands of feet from the centrally located Supervisory Controller. Using the HCS-II, you can directly monitor temperatures, currents, voltages, and limit-switch settings, and can set analog outputs, actuate solenoids, activate alarms, turn on lights, and send display messages anywhere you can run a twisted pair. The HCS-II also has 2-Way X10 capability allowing complete control and monitoring of all your X10 devices.

Control programs and event sequences are written in a unique user-friendly control language called XPRESS. Composed using any simple word processor or editor, XPRESS control programs are compiled into fast, efficient code which is downloaded to the Supervisory Controller’s nonvolatile memory. When these downloading or display functions are not required, the PC can be turned off to reduce system power consumption.

HCS-II Capabilities

• 2 9600 baud Serial Ports (1 RS-232 & 1 RS-485)
• Up to 256 digital inputs and 232 digital outputs (local and networked)
• 32K of Program Memory - battery backed
• 32K of Datalog/Event Memory (4096 event capacity)
• On Screen TV Display (with PIC-TV)
• Telephone Access (with HCS-DTMF)
• Text to Speech Voice Synthesizer (with HCS-Voice)
• 2 Way X10 (with HCS-PLIX)
• 2 Way Learning IR (with MCIR-Link)
• Dallas iButton input, Keypad Input, Pulse Width Modulation, Pulse Counter (with AMAN-Link)
• Local & Remote Analog Inputs, both 8-bit and 12-bit (Remote Analog requires AMAN-Link)
• 12-bit Digital to Analog outputs (with AMAN-Link)
• Battery Backed Real Time Clock/Calendar (Y2K Compliant!)
• Caller ID capable (when connected to Caller ID modem)
• 128 Variables
• 128 Timers (64 second timers, 64 minute timers)
• Random Number Generator
• AC Power Monitoring (with HCS-PLIX)
• Event Logging (up to 255 unique event IDs)
• Send text/data to a parallel printer (with PIC-DIO)
• Edge sensing of digital inputs
• Signed 16-bit integer math (add, subtract, multiply, divide)
• 512 32-character labels (can be assigned to inputs, outputs, etc.)
• Can send ASCII strings directly to the RS-485 network
• IF statements can be evaluated always or only after a state change
• Remote Access to system via connected modem