Need help from Devialet Roon community

@Kevin_Hughes – thanks for the offer! I didn’t even think about the option of the FTDI USB chip built into the cable!. This is so great!

I just ordered this:

https://smile.amazon.com/Green-utech-Ft232rl-Ttl-232r-5v-aj-Programming-Windows7/dp/B00XSOELNW/

I’ll let everyone know how it goes… thanks!

UPDATE: this cable does not work… it is 5v and thats too high.

Glad to help.

I do hope you get this working, it would be great.

Have you asked Devialet if they are prepared to help with controlling it over the network? I assume you only need the controls that are already in the iOS and Android apps, power on & off, detemin if it’s on or off, input switching and volume control. This could then run on the core machine for everyone. But I guess they won’t help.

Their communication skills leave much to be desired.

A very polite ‘understatement’ :smiley:

UPDATE: this cable does not work… it is ttl/5v, and I need rs232.

Is it just the voltage being too high, or is there a protocol issue as well, I believe I bought the lower voltage version.

both.

Anyway, I got the following two cables and it works… as soon as Roon API is stable, I’ll be letting you guys have a go at this stuff… it’s really cool.


Now that there is the Expert Pro line, I’m discussing getting the old demo 200 unit from my local hi fi shop.

Hi Danny,

any update on this?

Regards
Kian

Volume control works fully… source selection/standby work, but lead to very bad results if you use USB:

@Rugby – unfortunately, Roon integration, even with RS232 is less than ideal because of this USB issue :frowning:

Just took advantage of Dev Xmas offer (promise delivery of the upgrade prior to xmas) - I am hoping to receive the 220 Pro prior to xmas

I was recently made aware of a device that Communicates via IP with R232. The device is called iTach IP2SL by Global Caché.

This would allow me to send ip commands to the iTach, which in turn tells the Devialet what to do.

It would help with home automation but not with controlling volume with roon I guess, unless Roon can send IP commands when changing the volume within roon :slight_smile:

The upcoming Roon API would let you write an extension to do this – but your message is a bit off topic here – the real problem that stands is the USB reset.

i now built myself a working workaround:

  1. i bought a ip to serial device (global cache itach ip2sl)
  2. soldered myself the cable that danny tried to acquire for testing. i call it the frankenstein cable
  3. installed eventghost on my NUC and configured for restarting purposes
  4. i configured a task sequence in the tasker app (android only) that:
    a) starts devialet
    b) waits 15seconds
    c) changes input to roon/usb
    d) sends a WoL package to my NUC (in case it it was in sleep mode)
    e) restarts my NUC
    f) runs roon app

and with this i am ready to go to play music via roon in the morning without usb issues

My favourite scenario would be to tell roon to automatically play a playlist of my choice when running roon. but let us see what will be possible with the upcoming api

With Roon 1.3 now available is there some info on getting Roon to control the Devialet Expert. I have seen the “External Source Controls” in the Audio setup area, as well as the Extensions, but there doesn’t seem to be any info on this.

I am using the Ethernet input on the Devialet via Air 3.02 installed directly on the Roon Core windows server. Working very well, with no disconnects, so have avoided any USB issues.

However this means there are no computers near the Devailet Expert to connect a USB to serial cable from, so Kian’s idea above of using the IP to serial device looks like a good one.

Cheers,

john

Start here… https://github.com/RoonLabs/node-roon-api

Then here… https://github.com/RoonLabs/roon-extension-devialet-expert

API is still very beta… Feedback welcome

I manged to get the roon-extension-devialet-expert Extension running on a Raspberry Pi 2, via a USB to serial converter. My setup is Roon Core (1.3 build 200) on a Windows 2016 with Devialet Air 3.02, working very well. Server is some distance from Devilaet Expert hence the use of the Pi.

A bit of learning around getting the Node Serialport working for the ARM on Pi. In the end I used Raspian and followed the guide here: https://github.com/nebrius/raspi-io/wiki/Getting-a-Raspberry-Pi-ready-for-NodeBots

Once the extension was reporting as working correctly under Roon settings, had some issues getting it to work with my Devialet input. Drop down had the Choice of Air, however in the firmware I am running (latest 10.x) this is marked as “Ethernet” rather than Air. A simple change in the app.js fixed this.

In the Audio -> Device Setup the “External Volume Control” was easy to set and worked very well. It is great being able to have full Volume control inside Roon, that directly changes the volume on the Devialet, with no quality comprised. Tested this in a few scenarios and all worked well.

The “External Source Controls” did not test as well. Is this supposed to be able to power on the Devialet directly ? I could not get his to work. Output from node was:

REQUEST 16298 com.roonlabs.sourcecontrol:1/convenience_switch {“control_key”:“1”}
DEVIALET RS232: Writing [Devialet>SOURCE=Ethernet]

<- REQUEST 16299 com.roonlabs.sourcecontrol:1/convenience_switch {“control_key”:“1”}
<- REQUEST 16300 com.roonlabs.sourcecontrol:1/convenience_switch {“control_key”:“1”}
DEVIALET RS232: read [Devialet>UNAVAILABLE COMMAND]
DEVIALET RS232: Writing [Devialet>SOURCE=Ethernet]

DEVIALET RS232: read [Devialet>UNAVAILABLE COMMAND]
DEVIALET RS232: Writing [Devialet>SOURCE=Ethernet]

DEVIALET RS232: read [Devialet>UNAVAILABLE COMMAND]
<- REQUEST 16301 com.roonlabs.ping:1/ping

If I manually powered on the unit, and then hit play in Roon, it usually correctly changes input to “Ethernet”.
I did have some issues getting this to work reliably. When I went back to Audio -> Device Setup , under the “External Source Controls” the “Devialet Expert Volume and Source Control” is listed multiple times. It seems every time you re-hit play it adds another instance ? Doesn’t look correct ? At one stage is stopped working and I needed to delete all instances and re-add.

Also the Device control screen (when you select Volume) shows multiple instances of the device. The Power switch here didn’t do anything either, and I tried all three. Volume worked correctly.

Sorry about the long post. Very keen to get this working well. Makes the Roon / Devialet combination even better.

Maybe stupid question but I did not see it in your setup above:
Did you implement the command to power on your devialet? Devialet will not automatically turn on when you just want to change the source.

I haven’t tinkered yet with the api but your first approach looks promising…I hope to find enough time to reproduce what you did…

Hi Kian,
working with the code that Danny produced on github, it doesn’t seem to support an initial power on of the amp. Also, I can’t get the extension to initialize unless the amp is first powered on independently. Once powered on, the extension will initialize inside Roon, and you can sometimes power on / power off, using the power button in the screenshot above. However, I found this buggy with the multiple instances etc and had to disable the “external source control” . The volume control still works well.