VSTLight 1.0.0

Python package for seamless control of network-compatible VLP light controllers from VS Technology.

VST-Light

VST-Light is a Python package designed to facilitate seamless control of network-compatible VLP light controllers from VS Technology. By abstracting the proprietary communication protocols, VST-Light provides a straightforward and user-friendly interface, enabling users to easily manage their VLP lighting systems without needing to understand the underlying technical complexities. In order to best utilize the module, it is recommended to read through the User Guide before use. Additionally, the example of the module in use should also be checked.

Compatibility

The following light controllers from VS Technology are supported:

• VLP-2430-2eN
• VLP-2430-3eN
• VLP-2430-4eN
• VLP-2460-4eN

Installation

VST-Light is available on PyPI and can be easily installed using pip:

pip install VSTLight

User Guide

Initialization

To use the module in your project, simply import the VSTLight module into your code and create an instance of the NetworkController class, specifying the number of channels available on the connected light controller. If the IP of the light controller has been changed from the default 192.168.11.20, you will need to specify the new IP address as well.

import VSTLight

lights_a = VSTLight.NetworkController(4)                    # Default IP
lights_b = VSTLight.NetworkController(4, "192.168.11.128")  # Updated IP

At the time of creation, the NetworkController object will open a connection to the physical light controller. If this fails, a ConnectionError will be raised. Therefore, it is necessary to connect the light controller and turn it on before running any code that relies on the NetworkController object. When connecting a light controller, it is required to update the IP of the Ethernet adapter used to make the connection to be on the same subnet as the controller. The VLP controllers are hardcoded to reply to the IP 192.168.11.1, so it is recommended to update the Ethernet adapter to this specific IP. However, any IP on the 192.168.11.XXX subnet will work as long as it is not occupied by another device.
The network connection has a timeout of 5 seconds, so the call to create the NetworkController object is blocking until a connection is established or the timeout period elapses.

Please refer to the documentation of the connected VLP light controller for more information on its operation and the meanings of the different modes.

Updating the Channels

Having crated an instance of the NetworkController class, the intensity and state of a single channel can be updated:

lights_a.set_intensity(2, 158)
lights_a.set_on(2)

Alternatively all channels can be updated at once:

lights_b.set_all_intensities(200)
lights_b.set_all_on()

Note that if an invalid value is passed to any of the class methods, a ValueError will be raised. Additionally, the channel number passed to the controller object corresponds directly to the channel number on the physical light controller. Therefore, it is NOT zero-indexed; instead, it starts at 1 for the lowest channel.

Speed Limitations

The VLP controllers are physically limited in how quickly they can receive new commands. Each command must be spaced out by at least 5 ms to be interpreted correctly. To accommodate this, the VSTLight module tracks the time since the last command. If the time is less than 5 ms, the program will sleep until 5 ms have passed since the last command was sent. Therefore, any method call on a NetworkController object has the potential to be blocking if performed within 5 ms of another call.

If this behavior is undesirable for your use case, consider running the NetworkController in a separate thread to prevent blocking your main thread at any point.

Example

Below is an example program that turns a light connected to channel 1, on and off 1000 times:

from VSTLight import NetworkController
import time

# Create controller object
lights = NetworkController(4)

# Set the intensity of channel 1 to 255
lights.set_intensity(1, 255)

# Toggle the light on and off 1000 times
for _ in range(1000):
    lights.set_on(1)
    time.sleep(0.5)

    lights.set_off(1)
    time.sleep(0.5)

# Close the connection and shut down gracefully
lights.destroy()

Refer to the section below for a list of all available methods. Complete example programs showcasing the module functionality can be found in the examples folder.

Available Methods

Below is an exhaustive list of all methods currently available using the NetworkController class:

• set_intenisty: Updates the intensity of a single channel
• get_intensity: Returns the intensity of a single channel
• set_on: Turn a single channel on
• set_off: Turn off a single channel
• toggle: Toggle the on-off state of a channel
• set_strobe_mode: Updates the strobe mode of a single channel
• get_strobe_mode: Returns the strobe mode of a single channel
• set_all_intensities: Updates the intensity of all channels
• set_all_on: Turn all channels on
• set_all_off: Turn all channels off
• toggle_all: Toggle the on-off state of a channel
• set_all_strobe_modes: Set the strobe mode of all channels