Cisco Spark Room Kit and Crestron Integration

[gregmora801]

We have SX20 systems connected to a Crestron controller via serial (RS-232). This has worked out wonderfully for us in the past; however, moving forward we are looking to remodel our conference rooms with the Spark Room Kit that were released this year. Very little information has been provided on these new units, but we did confirm that serial is not a recommended option and won't be until os 9.2 (possibly). Please note that we have everything on the Cisco side configured since the community is very knowledgeable on how to do this but the Crestron side is lacking info. 

My questions are:

Has anyone seen a guide for configuring Crestron to connect with the In-Room api via IP for SSH or Telnet?

Is SSH or Telnet better? Is there a better option? 

Is anyone else planning or deployed the new Room Kit? What was your experience/expectations?

Note that we do have licenses for Crestron tools; it has just been a while so it would be nice to see what others have already accomplished. 

Thanks in advance!

[bufflee01]

Any idea when Serial to USB support will be released for Spark 70D?

[Wayne DeNardi]

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@bufflee01 wrote:

Any idea when Serial to USB support will be released for Spark 70D?

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If you're running one of the latest software loads on your Webex Room 70D, then the Serial to USB support is already present.  You just need to plug a supported USB-Serial adaptor in to the USB A port on the device (see Page 37 of the Install Guide for the location of the port - Marked as "I USB, type A" on the diagram).

[bufflee01]

Thanks for your reply.

What version of software might that be?

[Wayne DeNardi]

The current CE software release at the date of this post is CE9.6.1.

As @Patrick Sparkman mentioned earlier in the discussion - the support of USB to Serial adaptors has been available since CE9.2.1.  See the CE9 release notes.

The original Room 70 Dual devices shipped with CE9.2.0 loaded, so just one minor revision before the support was added.  If you haven't ever upgraded your endpoint, that could be the cause of not having the support for the USB adaptors.

It's highly recommended that you update to the latest software release for all the bug fixes and additional features it contains.

[JFerello]

There is no RS232/USB support on the Room 70 or Room 55 Dual at this time; the type A USB port is connected to the second display for control, therefore RS232 is disabled on that USB port.  The software version does not matter.  No, the type B port cannot be used either.

I just verified all this info with Cisco R&D too.

Thanks,
Justin

[bufflee01]

Thanks, Justin. This confirms why we haven't been able to control the Room 70D via Crestron. Thought it was the Serial to USB adapter at 1st, but confirmed serial strings were passing through it.

[Wayne DeNardi]

According to the Room 70 Cable Schema, there is still a spare USB Type A port available.

I haven't tried it to see if it works so cannot confirm, but if the R&D team say it won't work, then I guess that's a more definitive answer.

There is always the Micro-USB connector, but that will require you to connect something that will use the correct driver (CP210x USB to UART Bridge Virtual COM Port), so wouldn't be a direct connection from the Crestron to the Room Kit, but could give you some options on making something work.

[JFerello]

Wayne, that is for the R70 G2, which has a dedicated COM port anyway; you would not use USB on the Pro/R70 G2 codecs.

[Wayne DeNardi]

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@JFerello wrote:

Wayne, that is for the R70 G2

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Only the first page is the G2.  The other Room devices are also listed.  The “G1” Room 70

is also shown. 

[JFerello]

Correct, but all the other schematics only show (1) USB port being used by the screens.
Basically here is the deal.
If you have a G1 Room 70 Single or Dual you CANNOT control the system via RS232 because it has (1) USB type A port that is used to control the screens.
If you have a G2 Room 70 Single or Dual you can use the COM port for RS232 control, which is one of the euro-block connectors.

[afsarshabir]

Hi,

Can you help me with the module to integrate cisco spark kit with crestron.

[ajwehr]

hello, did you ever find a solution to connecting a spark plus/roomkit/roomkit mini from the micro usb "serial" connector successfully to a DB9 or other tx/rx/gnd serial connector?  I'm trying to do the same thing.  I'm seeing the same thing you are - I can connect serial from my computer over putty, but it's not working from a control system like Crestron or otherwise over serial.

[ronaldstangl]

Supposedly it was resolved in O/S 9 and above, so you may want to check for the latest update, otherwise I gave up and did IP control.