Serial Binding - wuellueb/openhab GitHub Wiki

For installation of the binding, please see Wiki page Bindings.

In order to bind an item to a Serial device, you need to provide configuration settings. The easiest way to do so is to add some binding information in your item file (in the folder configurations/items`).

The format of the binding configuration is simple and looks like this:

serial="<port>@<baudrate>" 

• where <port> is the identification of the serial port on the host system, e.g. "COM1" on Windows, "/dev/ttyS0" on Linux or "/dev/tty.PL2303-0000103D" on Mac.
• where <baudrate> is the baud rate of the port. Backward compability is given, as if no baud rate is specified the serial binding defaults to 9600 bauds.

Switch items with this binding will receive an ON-OFF update on the bus, when ever data becomes available on the serial interface (or simply by short-cutting pins 2 and 7 on the RS-232 interface)

String items will receive the submitted data in form of a string value as a status update, while openHAB commands to a String item is sent out as data through the serial interface.

As a result, your lines in the items file might look like the following:

Switch HardwareButton     "Bell"	           (Entrance)      { serial="/dev/ttyS0" }
String AVR                "Surround System"    (Multimedia)    { serial="/dev/ttyS1@115200" } 

Note: If you are working with a Mac, you might need to install a driver for your USB-RS232 converter (e.g. http://osx-pl2303.sourceforge.net/ or http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Drivers/Prolific-PL-2303.shtml) and create the /var/lock folder, see the rxtx troubleshooting guide.

Note2: If you are using** non standard serial ports** you have to adopt start.sh to have the serial port included. the java command line should then include the following parameters:

-Dgnu.io.rxtx.SerialPorts=/dev/ttyAMA0

whereas ttyAMA0 is the path to your serial port. Please be aware to change all scripts you might use for startup (debug, automatic start in linus,...)