Mort Bay Smart USB Wireless Controller

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chiefie

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#2172295 3-Feb-2019 15:44

hmm..

I just got it today... and tried it on a couple of computer but the USB isn't recognised.. like the SmartRF.exe isn't reading or picking up the USB RF device.

I'm going to return it or swap for another now before the store closes. It just weird the Windows machine don't recognise the USB RF from the software. I even ran the software as admin, and compatibility set to Windows 7 mode just to make sure - nada.

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mcgavinp

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#2172298 3-Feb-2019 16:17

chiefie: I just got it today... and tried it on a couple of computer but the USB isn't recognised.. like the SmartRF.exe isn't reading or picking up the USB RF device.

Oh no! Does it show up in the Windows Device Manager? Does running SmartRF.exe with admin rights help? Does using an older USB port than USB3 make any difference?

On my Linux boxes or Raspberry Pi mine immediately show up with lsusb as ID 0c45:7463 Microdia, in dmesg as HANSO, though all my computers are quite old.

chiefie

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#2172313 3-Feb-2019 17:11

I swapped but tried with new one and still showing USB RF Device not found from SmartRF.exe

I will try with Raspberry PI and see how it goes. If windows have difficulty to run/detect it, it will be kinda moot point :-(

Curious, you mentioned Raspberry PI, did you have Windows on it to run the SmartRF.exe? I wonder how to get the smartrf working then.

OR... do you mean you use Raspberry PI and python code to trigger the device on and off?

(Trying to figure out.)

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chiefie

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#2172366 3-Feb-2019 18:01

So.. turned out my work's Surface Book 2 despite (it seems) installed driver but the smartrf.exe can't detect the USB RF device is attached.

My old laptop however has successfully detected the USB RF device (plugged in usb3 and usb2, also worked with housemate's USB 3 PC), and for a while, I wonder how to get the plug unit to sync with the USB RF, until my housemate told me to press and hold the button down. No where in the manual made mentioned of this. grrrr.

Anyway, now to figure out how to make it all work.

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#2172413 3-Feb-2019 19:56

chiefie: Curious, you mentioned Raspberry PI, did you have Windows on it to run the SmartRF.exe?

Sorry I didn't run Windows natively nor on my Raspberry Pi, only as a guest in VirtualBox under my Ubuntu Linux PC host.

I followed the pairing process with SmartRF.exe in my Windows guest. That is, hold down the green button on the plug until the light on the plug starts flashing at 1 second intervals, then click on an "On" button in SmartRF.exe. When the light turns itself off, press the corresponding "Off" button in SmartRF.exe. This described on pages 4 and 5 of the user manual, though the print is tiny.

Next I used usbmon and WireShark to record the USB sequences generated by pressing On/Off buttons in SmartRF.exe.

After shutting down the Windows guest, I found that sending the same USB sequences natively from Linux activates the plug.

I further found that the same sequences still work even after moving the controller to another Linux box or to my Raspberry Pi and the plug to a different power socket.

So far I haven't had to repeat the pairing process.

chiefie

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#2201541 19-Mar-2019 12:45

Saw this on Facebook sponsored post. It's Reset Plug and seems interesting. It uses WiFi to get to Internet and if can't get to it, it will reset the plug it's on.

http://resetplug.com/

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