[OBSOLETE] Russound Multi-Zone Controller Integration

That’s great news thank you for confirming that!

So I tried your start on boot method. I used Nano to edit these as I am not familiar with vi. But when I reboot, it does not run the node server.js. It just boots as normal. Any thoughts?

My server.js is in /home/pi/Downloads/smartthings-nodeproxy

My nodep.sh

#!/bin/sh
cd Downloads/smartthings-nodeproxy
node server.js

My /etc/rc.local

Let me get logged it later tonight, I’ll let you know.

do you have a link created in your nodeproxy folder?

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 May 2 2017 node -> /usr/bin/node

I think I left this part out. Try this to create it.

ln -s node /usr/bin/node

The /usr/bin/node is where node should be installed.

If that doesn’t work, what happens when you run the nodep.sh?

On a side-kinda-related-question, do these units really require a dealer code to set them up/program them? I mean you can get them from Best Buy / Crutchfield retail points but I’m worried about getting one but not being able to do anything with it…

I am not sure what dealer code you are talking about. I did register on the Russound site as a “certified installer” and downloaded the installer software. I use it to set up/edit my MCA-C5. That software is available everywhere. Just look around. It is quite powerful and allows for editing of many of the options available for this receiver. Personally, I think it is quite difficult to utilize most of that software and would be far above most average users. If you are going to integrate your Russound into your home automation, then it would be helpful in that respect.

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I’ve been working on this for hours. I don’t think it is working YET. How will I know that it is working? Will a Terminal window pop up on the screen or will the node server just run in the background?

After you reboot the Pi log-in and run a:
ps -ef | grep node
It should return 3 lines, if it is only on, your grep then it’s not running.
what happens when you run the script?
/home/pi/nodep.sh

Continuing the discussion from [RELEASE] Russound Multi-Zone Controller Integration:

Ok, GREATLY appreciate your help. First, I am using NOOBS Raspbian and it is set to auto login. Currently it boots and logs in normally just as if I am not running anything.
The ps -ef | grep node command only listed one line:
pi 1500 1436 0 13:50 pts/0 00:00:00 grep --color=auto node

The ps axg command did not show node at all.

I moved my script, toddscript.sh to the pi directory.
If I run my script, toddscript.sh…
(pi@raspberrypi:~$ sh toddscript.sh)
it runs perfectly.

My toddscript.sh
#!/bin/sh
cd
cd Downloads/smartthings-nodeproxy
node server.js

My /etc/rc.local
#!/bin/sh
/home/pi/toddscript.sh
exit 0

With the above, it boots normally as if nothing has changed.
I attempted to use autostart (sudo nano /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart) but that did nothing.

Could it be a permission issue since I am using autologin?

Good that you can run the script and it works. It maybe a permission issue, I think I set the script to 777, I know bad practice :slight_smile:, your command should be:
chmod 777 /home/pi/toddscript.sh

You can see what the permission are by doing a ls -altr /home/pi/toddscript.sh

you can run a “init 6” to reboot your pi.

-rwxrwxrwx 1 root root 63 Jan 25 13:25 /home/pi/toddscript.sh

Has anyone had success in accessing the source status of your russound zones. I have everything working in smartthings, have to push refresh at times, but for the most part everything is working. I have virtual switches which I use in ActionTiles to change between sources using webcore. right now I brute force the switches off. What I would like to do is be able to actually update the virtual switches by accessing the status of the russound zone current source. That way when I use my virtual dimmer control to power on the zone and adjust volume, I can update the virtual switches based on the current source. Also, I have an Amazon Echo as one of my audio sources, I have it where when I select that source it starts playing country music, unfortunately it changes the music each time I select that source. Is there a way to check if its already playing something therefore I can skip over the searchamazonmusic command?

If I understand you correctly about the current source, then I have a similar problem. In order to determine the current source will require somewhat complicated webcore code that I just have not written yet. So I also hardcode my source selections into my pistons. We do not have a device handler that will accept API calls, so doing a query of the current source is not possible (that I can tell). Redloro may be able to provide some insight here.

Thanks, I thought about making virtual switches for each source (major pain), then setting them based on when a source is changed. It gets complicated trying to track all the different possibilities that can happen, but this is the only work around that I can think of. Do you have any experience with the amazon echo in webcore? Really would like to do a basic, If echo is playing do nothing, if not Search Amazon Music for basically a default genre. I can seem to figure out what should be the simplest part of that, is the echo playing or is it idle.

I use my Echo dots with many of my webcore routines. That being said, I have not ventured very far into the Amazon Echo SDK (API). I am fairly certain that you could accomplish your music tasks with API calls to the Echo. Or, I would look around. I suspect someone has already written code for what you desire. I would be greatly interested in how you manage these tasks. So please keep me in the loop. :smile:

Anyone know if the Russound multizone amplifiers/controllers will work WITHOUT keypads? I have an opportunity to buy a used on the cheap, but it doesn’t have the keypads. Each keypad costs about as much as the entire amplifier, so I was going to let the individual room control be via my ActionTiles tablets. Just wanted to see if that’s a possibility before dropping $80.

I have the MCA-C5 as the workhorse of my whole home audio system and I don’t have any keypads. Before webcore and smartthings, I used the redloro app and the Russound app.

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Perfect. Thanks!

I there an example somewhere of how to properly configure the config.json for 2 MCA-C5 controllers? Will an Alexa device be able to control Russound functions going through Smartthings?

Hello community,

I’m new here and am also a noob in all of the tech talk with integration of smart things and Russound. I recently bought the Monoprice 6 zone system in the hopes of integrating it with Smart Things. What I’ve read so far is the Russound integration is very similar to the Monoprice integration both for server and apps. What I’m looking for is straight forward top to bottom setup instructions for server installation and app install.

I’ll being using a Raspberry Pi Zero or Pi 3 B+, if necessary, for the server and usb to Serial communication.

All help and links are appreciated. I’ve read several forums on this topic In this community and given the span of several years, it’s hard to zero in on a concrete implementation.

Thanks everyone,
Mike