WN17CM2 Support

[AnalogAyub]

I was able to set up the UpsyDesky easily, but the unit would not power on with just the RJ45 from the desk controller box. Once connecting a USB-C, the unit was detected by Home Assistant but would not control the desk or detect a height. Additionally, the desk keypad daisy-chained through the UpsyDesky would not control the desk.

Here's what the box looks like:

[tjhorner]

Interesting, could you verify that the +5V and GND lines are on the correct positions? You can find the RJ45 pinout here. If they aren't in the correct place, you may need a special cable.

[seanford]

Same for the WN17CM3, which I assume will have the same pinout. This is the controller for the Monoprice desks.

[seanford]

https://www.kontive.com/products/lifting_table_part/17.html

Maybe they can help.

[AnalogAyub]

Interesting, could you verify that the +5V and GND lines are on the correct positions? You can find the RJ45 pinout here. If they aren't in the correct place, you may need a special cable.

Honestly, I'm out of my depth here 😬

Providing power through USB-C was no problem, though.

[seanford]

If anyone figures out the pin out for the controller, I can make a cable and test it out.

[seanford]

Any instructions on how to test the pinouts so I can help move this along?

[tjhorner]

@seanford I recommend getting an RJ45 breakout board like this one so you have somewhere to attach multimeter leads. Then follow this guide: https://github.com/tjhorner/wifi-desk-controller/wiki/Desk-Compatibility

Basically, just use a multimeter to find the position of the +5V and GND pins. After that we can start figuring out which pins transfer which data, if it uses serial, etc.

[Jaharmi]

I have a desk with a WN17CM3 controller. The control pad is wired with an RJ45. I have found the following pinouts and color coding.

Control panel wires

Wire color	Pin label
Red	Vin
Blue	Rx
Yellow	Tx
Black	Gnd

RJ45 pinout

RJ45 pin	Wire color	Note
1	Orange
2	Blue	Rx from control panel
3	Black	Gnd from control panel
4	Yellow	Tx from control panel
5	Red	Vin from control panel
6	Orange
7	Orange
8	Orange

Below are pictures of my evidence:

1. the disassembled control pad, where the circuit board labels the wires
   

2. the RJ45 cable coming from the control pad (bottom and top, since it was difficult to see the colors on all the wires from the bottom)
   
   

[Jaharmi]

With my just-arrived Upsy Desky, I see the same thing as @AnalogAyub.

1. I was able to set up the UpsyDesky easily.
2. Connected USB-C, the unit was adopted by ESPHome and detected by Home Assistant.
3. The unit would not control the desk or detect a height. I tried both decoders.
4. The desk keypad daisy-chained through the Upsy Desky would not control the desk.
5. The unit stopped responding with just the RJ45 from the desk controller box. I tried connecting to the Upsy Desky Web interface and it timed out.

I will double-check for the +5V and GND pins from the controller box.

Once I've found that, will the device need a debug firmware installed? Or is there something I can change in the (very minimal) ESPHome config?

[Jaharmi]

I think RJ45 pin 2 is +5v and 3 is GND. I've also posted in the reverse engineering discussions area.

[swoga]

i reverse enginieered the pinout and protocol some time ago, maybe this will help you: https://github.com/swoga/standingdesk

[Jaharmi]

@swoga Awesome. I’ve been wondering about this for years! Do you have any thoughts on how this could integrate into Upsy-Desky / ESPHome?

[swoga]

@Jaharmi
My plan is to write a custom component for ESPHome, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. It's definitely still on my to-do list.

[Jaharmi]

@swoga If this fit in with Upsy-Desky, I’d be a fan. :) That would give it things like the Upsy-Desky local Web interface. I already have an Upsy-Desky and just never figured out how to get from beyond the pinouts to do anything else.

Looking at the related component, the C++ part is currently beyond me.

[Jaharmi]

@swoga Does this state diagram seem to handle what you found in the serial protocol for the WN17CM3? I am trying to understand the protocol and maybe do something with it. This is probably my first state diagram ever so I may have mixed it with a flow chart.

Loading

stateDiagram
    [*] --> CMDBEGIN
    CMDBEGIN --> CMD: colon
    CMD --> DISPLAY: D
    CMD --> KEY: K
    CMD --> REQUEST: R
    CMD --> ACKNOWLEDGE: A
    DISPLAY --> HEIGHT
    HEIGHT --> HEIGHTCKSUM: decimal number as string
    HEIGHTCKSUM --> CMDEND: semicolon
    HEIGHT --> COMMAOPT: comma
    COMMAOPT --> HEIGHTCKSUM
    KEY --> DONTCARE
    REQUEST --> DONTCARE
    ACKNOWLEDGE --> DONTCARE
    DONTCARE --> CMDEND: semicolon
    CMDEND --> CHKSUM

[seanford]

Vin from control panel

@tjhorner it seems that the pinouts for this controller are the same as other controllers, but the protocol is different. With the information provided by @swoga, is it possible to write a new decoder for this controller? I'd do it myself if I thought I could...lol

[KiloHotl]

hi @swoga could yo develop the custom component? I been trying for several weeks and nothing worked.

[iambucketdotcom]

Hi! I, too have this controller and have only been able ot get the UART messages to work with upsy desky. am I understanding correctly that more is still needed to make this unit work?

Thanks - Bucket

[seanford]

Unfortunately, I don't think it is going to happen.

[seanford]

Is it safe to say that this control box will no be supported by Upsy Desky? Just wanted to know if I should continue to monitor this project for an update or just move on.

[Jaharmi]

Unless someone like @swoga can figure out a component that handles the communication, I don’t see it happening. Although I’m very interested in making it work, it’s beyond my current understanding.

I’m still not sure why the Upsy-Desky doesn’t seem to get power from the WN17CM3 controller. It seems like that, at least, should be working, given the pinouts we’ve all found.

I am not sure whether or not my Upsy-Desky’s RJ45 ports even work.

I also don’t know if there’s a way to capture and decode the serial/UART communication. Maybe something could be done with the UART Bus component in ESPHome. 🤷 (It looks like this is what the Reverse Engineering Guide does.)

[Jaharmi]

Update: I set up the reverse engineering firmware with the UART settings from @swoga. Since I could not set a stop_bit of 0, I set it to 1.

With this firmware, I was able to capture sequences that appear to correspond to the investigation by @swoga. I can confirm that the display on the connected keypad — which initially started out at 8.8.8 — did update with the expected desk height values that I normally see when the Upsy-Desky is not in the loop.

I am attaching the following files:

• firmware YAML I used: upsy-desky-WN17CM3-reverse-engineering-uart-debug.yaml.txt
• log data showing the commands going back and forth successfully: upsy-desky-WN17CM3-uart-logs-all-buttons.txt

Rough sequence of events from that test:

1. Flashed firmware to Upsy-Desky via USB and let it start up until I could see logs
2. Connected WN17CM3 controller (standard Ethernet cable with 2x RJ45) to Upsy-Desky
3. Connected keypad with its cable (RJ45) to Upsy-Desky
4. Keypad displayed "8.8.8" (I don't think the display changed during the testing)
5. Pressed Up button
6. Pressed Down button
7. Pressed preset button "1" and pressed it again to stop
8. Pressed preset button "2" and pressed it again to stop
9. Pressed preset button "3" and pressed it again to stop
10. Pressed preset button "4" and pressed it again to stop
11. Pressed button "M"
12. Disconnected controller and keypad from Upsy Desky

[Jaharmi]

I refreshed the Upsy-Desky with similar firmware to what I used above, but changed back to the reverse engineering firmware’s log_hex lambda, rather than log_string. I didn’t make any other changes.

Here is the log capturing in hex: upsy-desky-WN17CM3-uart-hex-logs-all-buttons.txt

I followed the same rough sequence, trying to press each button at least twice. The display correctly showed the desk height when I connected the keypad and controller to the Upsy-Desky. It also updated as I raised and lowered the desk with the up/down buttons and presets. It also flashed when pressing the “M” button.