BenQ Projector Binding

This binding is compatible with BenQ projectors that support the control protocol via the built-in Ethernet port, serial port or USB to serial adapter. If your projector does not have built-in networking, you can connect to your projector's serial port via a TCP connection using a serial over IP device or by usingser2net.

The manufacturer's guide for connecting to the projector and the control protocol can be found in this document: LX9215_RS232 Control Guide_0_Windows7_Windows8_WinXP.pdf (opens new window)

Supported Things

This binding supports two thing types based on the connection used: projector-serial and projector-tcp.

Discovery

If the projector has a built-in Ethernet port connected to the same network as the openHAB server and supports AMX Device Discovery, the thing will be discovered automatically. Serial port or serial over IP connections must be configured manually.

Binding Configuration

There are no overall binding configuration settings that need to be set. All settings are through thing configuration parameters.

Thing Configuration

The projector-serial thing has the following configuration parameters:

Parameter	Name	Description	Required
serialPort	Serial Port	Serial port device name that is connected to the BenQ projector to control, e.g. COM1 on Windows, /dev/ttyS0 on Linux or /dev/tty.PL2303-0000103D on Mac.	yes
pollingInterval	Polling Interval	Polling interval in seconds to update channel states, range 5-60 seconds; default 10 seconds.	no

The projector-tcp thing has the following configuration parameters:

Parameter	Name	Description	Required
host	Host Name	Host Name or IP address for the projector or serial over IP device.	yes
port	Port	Port for the projector or serial over IP device, Default 8000 for BenQ projectors with built in networking.	yes
pollingInterval	Polling Interval	Polling interval in seconds to update channel states, range 5-60 seconds; default 10 seconds.	no

Some notes:

• If using a serial port connection, the baud rate in the projector OSD menu must be set to 9600 bps.

• The source, picturemode and aspectratio channels include a dropdown with the most commonly used settings.

• Not all pre-defined dropdown options will be usable if your particular projector does support a given option.

• If your projector has an option that is not in the dropdown, the string code to access that option will be displayed by the channel when that option is selected by the remote control.

• By using the sitemap mapping or a rule to send that code back to the channel, any options that are missing in the binding can be accessed.

• On Linux, you may get an error stating the serial port cannot be opened when the benqprojector binding tries to load.

• You can get around this by adding the openhab user to the dialout group like this: usermod -a -G dialout openhab.

• Also on Linux you may have issues with the USB if using two serial USB devices e.g. benqprojector and RFXcom. See the general documentation about serial port configuration for more on symlinking the USB ports.

• Here is an example of ser2net.conf you can use to share your serial port /dev/ttyUSB0 on IP port 4444 using ser2net Linux tool (opens new window) (take care, the baud rate is specific to the BenQ projector):

4444:raw:0:/dev/ttyUSB0:9600 8DATABITS NONE 1STOPBIT LOCAL

Channels

Channel	Item Type	Purpose	Values
power	Switch	Powers the projector on or off.
source	String	Retrieve or set the input source.	See above
picturemode	String	Retrieve or set the picture mode.	See above
aspectratio	String	Retrieve or set the aspect ratio.	See above
freeze	Switch	Turn the freeze image mode on or off.
blank	Switch	Turn the screen blank mode on or off.
directcmd	String	Send a command directly to the projector.	Send only
lamptime	Number	Retrieves the lamp hours.	Read only

Full Example

things/benq.things:

// serial port connection
benqprojector:projector-serial:hometheater "Projector" [ serialPort="COM5", pollingInterval=10 ]

// direct IP or serial over IP connection
benqprojector:projector-tcp:hometheater "Projector" [ host="192.168.0.10", port=8000, pollingInterval=10 ]

items/benq.items

Switch benqPower                                      { channel="benqprojector:projector-serial:hometheater:power" }
String benqSource       "Source [%s]"                 { channel="benqprojector:projector-serial:hometheater:source" }
String benqPictureMode  "Picture Mode [%s]"           { channel="benqprojector:projector-serial:hometheater:picturemode" }
String benqAspectRatio  "Aspect Ratio [%s]"           { channel="benqprojector:projector-serial:hometheater:aspectratio" }
Switch benqFreeze                                     { channel="benqprojector:projector-serial:hometheater:freeze" }
Switch benqBlank                                      { channel="benqprojector:projector-serial:hometheater:blank" }
String benqDirect                                     { channel="benqprojector:projector-serial:hometheater:directcmd", autoupdate="false" }
Number benqLampTime     "Lamp Time [%d h]"   <switch> { channel="benqprojector:projector-serial:hometheater:lamptime" }

sitemaps/benq.sitemap

sitemap benq label="BenQ Projector" {
    Frame label="Controls" {
        Switch     item=benqPower  label="Power"
        Selection  item=benqSource label="Source" mappings=["hdmi"="HDMI", "hdmi2"="HDMI2", "ypbr"="Component", "RGB"="Computer", "vid"="Video", "svid"="S-Video"]
        Selection  item=benqPictureMode label="Picture Mode"
        Selection  item=benqAspectRatio label="Aspect Ratio"
        Switch     item=benqFreeze label="Freeze"
        Switch     item=benqBlank  label="Blank Screen"
        Selection  item=benqDirect label="Direct Command"
        Text       item=benqLampTime
    }
    Frame label="Advanced Controls" {
        Switch     item=benqDirect label="Image Flip"       mappings=["pp=FT"="Front","pp=RE"="Rear","pp=FC"="Front Ceiling","pp=RC"="Rear Ceiling"]
        Switch     item=benqDirect label="Load Lens Memory" mappings=["lensload=m1"="1","lensload=m2"="2","lensload=m3"="3","lensload=m4"="4"]
        Switch     item=benqDirect label="Lamp Mode"        mappings=["lampm=lnor"="Normal","lampm=eco"="Eco","lampm=seco"="SmartEco"]
        Switch     item=benqDirect label="Lamp Mode"        mappings=["lampm=seco2"="SmartEco2","lampm=seco3"="SmartEco3","lampm=dimming"="Dimming","lampm=custom"="Custom"]
    }
}

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