I am able to activate a relay with (Bome Midi translator PRO) in a custom code, that was created by The code guru himself (Mr. Steve Caldwell)
The code comes out of midi translator Pro, going to the serial port out, and then on computer,USB out, two an Arduino Uno, or mega, with a stacked relay shield.
Is there a way to take this set up, and have it activate it from the Bome box, in some way, instead of computer? The boom box has a USB hoast connection, but will it work both ways? I’m not really sure.
Yes, your Arduino is actually serial device when plugged in and I believe you can simply plug it into BomeBox via a USB hub (not directly connected) with a USB B to A cable and BomeBox will recognize it as a serial device just like it does with your PC.
I haven’t actually tested this setup but if you are serious about doing this, then let me know and I’ll actually test it to be sure. I’m pretty sure the Arduino uses a FTDI serial port. Your project running on BomeBox will work the same way as it does on your PC.
Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care
Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz
I have done some testing with the serial port coming out of the bome box going to an Arduino.
The problem is after ours an hours of experimentation, the only board that seems to be receiving any signal from the bomebox and hub , is the Arduino Mega. .
The Uno ,seems to not respond to any signal coming from the bone box USB port no matter what hub i use.but it does respond from the usb on the computer.
I have tested six different Uno Arduino boards, with the same results.
must be something that I’m missing
I’ll do some testing with my BomeBox. In the past I haven’t had any problems with BomeBox recognizing Arduino. You might have to attach it via a USB hub, however and not directly into the USB B port on the BomeBox.
Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care
Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz
I connected a hub to the bome box, then I connect the Arduino
to the Hub
I tried different cards, and tried different hubs, with the same results.
When I plug-in and Uno, I get no signal from any keyboard or anything that I have the midi connected toTo the bone box. ( i ment going to the arduino , everything else in the bome box, going in and coming out of the din ports is fine)
When I plug-in a mega, then I get signal immediately without changing a thing.
There must be somthing going on with these 2 models .
why does the mega work with no problem , but the uno dosen’t?
I’ll see if I can test with my Uno. Might take a day or two. I might need to dig up the sketch I sent you a while back.
I think it uses the same serial chip but the Mega and the Uno might use different pin-outs. If I remember the Mega has 2 serial ports (one for USB) and the other on pins. Where the Uno only has one for USB (sharing the same port with the pins) so if you are doing something else serial wise outside of the USB connection, that could be problematic as they might both be trying to access the same serial port.
Yes, I can’t get any of my Arduinos to my connect. I’m on Beta Firmware though and I know it worked before so maybe I need to downgrade my BomeBox firmware until this gets figured out.
I sent my troubleshooting info to Florian to see if he can figure out what is going on.
I know it worked before because I :
1- Tested your configuration with BomeBox
2- Also did an MIDI to infrared converter using Arduino and BomeBox
What version of BomeBox firmware are you running?
Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care
Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz
I did a bit more research and the older Arduinos use the CH340/341 USB to serial chip.
The newer ones apparently use a different chip so it probably needs a different driver.
The newer chip is the ATMEGA16U2 and my best guess is that BomeBox firmware (of any revision) probably does not have the driver loaded in the Kernel. I’m checking with Florian.
Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care
Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz
OK for now maybe just stick with the one that is working. Maybe even the older Megas used the older chips as if I remember you said you got that one to work.
I have Mega2560 and Uno with DIN chip that do not work and an Uno with surface mount chip that does. The only one working reports a 341 chip.
@FlorianBome if you havent already can you look into this?
My guess is the chip near the USB connector is rectangular on the working board and square on the non-working one. The rectangular chip is the CH340 which I found works with BomeBox. Right now I cant seem to get any with the square chip (megaAT16U2) to work.
Funny because you need special driver loaded in Windows for the (CH340 but not the AT16U2)
Indeed, it seems that including the CDC-ACM driver into the BomeBox firmware should make the MegaAT16U2 chip work. This chip is not using the Serial USB class, but CDC, which is typically used for telecommunication devices. For that reason, the driver wasn’t included in the BomeBox firmware.
It seems that there are still a lot of CH340 boards out there. Most come from China, but as time goes on there will be an increased amount with the ATMega16U2.
I’m not sure how many people use BomeBox with Arduino as BomeBox is generally not in the hobby market like Arduino.
Let’s see if it is an easy fix and if not, I see that there are many suppliers still on eBay that sell the knock-off with CH340 chips. Some for less that $5 USD.
Personally I have 2 with the CH340 (including the one we used for our IR project) and 2 that have the ATMega16U2. So I can test whatever comes your way.
I had to literally stick one of the cards under the microscope to see what chip you were talking about because my eyes aren’t like they used to be LOL but this is one of the Arduino cards
