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Tutorial 1: your first iDM3 project

Part 2 — Tutorials.

What you will build

A wall button that switches a light. By the end of this chapter it will be running on a real central unit, and pressing the button will turn the light on.

That is deliberately small. The point is not the light — the point is that you will have walked the entire path once: project → units → placement → function → wire → upload → test. Every later tutorial is a variation on this path, so it is worth doing carefully now.

Allow about an hour the first time.

What you need

iDM3 installed

Chapter 3

A central unit

CU3-08M in this tutorial, powered, on your network

Its IP address

Ask whoever commissioned it, or see Chapter 22

A button unit

GSB3-40 here — any BUS button unit works

A relay unit

SA3-02M here — any BUS relay output works

The BUS addresses of both

Hexadecimal, set during installation

A light wired to the relay

So you can see it work

No hardware yet? Do steps 1 to 6, then skip the upload and use the Simulation workspace tab instead. You will see the logic work without a central unit. (Chapter 26)

Step 1 — Create the project

  1. Start iDM3.

  2. Open the application menu [☰] (top-left) and choose New from default.

  3. Open [☰] again and choose Save as. Name it Tutorial and save.

Saving now means that if anything goes wrong you can reopen a clean starting point.

Why "New from default" and not "New"? The default project arrives with 61 ready-made functions already defined — DIGITAL_ON, DIGITAL_SWITCH, ANALOG_SET_LEVEL_50, SHUTTER_PULL_UP/DOWN and so on. A plain New gives you an empty project and you would have to build each one by hand. On real jobs, start from the default. Always.

Give it a name and a version

  1. Go to the Project ribbon tab.

  2. In the Informations group, click Set.

  3. Fill in Name: — for example Tutorial project.

  4. Leave Version: as it is. Tick Increment version before save if you want iDM3 to bump the version number every time you save. On real jobs this is genuinely useful: it tells you at a glance whether the CU is running the same build as the file in your hand.

  5. Fill in the Author informations — your name and email. On a real installation, the next engineer will thank you.

  6. Click OK.

Step 2 — Add the units

This is where you tell iDM3 what hardware exists. Open Project → Device manager.

The device tree has three levels, and you must build them in order — top down. This is the single most common place new users get stuck, so here is the structure first:

The five toolbar buttons only light up when the right thing is selected. That is not a bug — it is iDM3 stopping you from putting a device somewhere it cannot go:

Button
Enabled when
Adds

New master

the project has no central unit yet

the central unit

Change master

the central unit is selected

swaps it for a different CU type

New slave

the central unit is selected

a bus master module

New unit

a bus master module is selected

a real device

Remove unit

anything removable is selected

—

2a. Add the central unit

  1. Click New master.

  2. In the Units window, choose CU3-08M.

  3. Click OK.

The CU appears at the top of the tree. Select it and the right-hand Parameters panel shows its Address and a Description field. Type a description — Main CU — because a hex address tells you nothing six months from now.

2b. Add the bus master

  1. Select the CU in the tree. (New slave stays greyed out until you do.)

  2. Click New slave.

  3. Choose Internal-Master/BUS1 — the CU's own built-in bus.

  4. Click OK.

Internal master addresses cannot be changed. That is normal — they are fixed in the hardware.

2c. Add the button and the relay

  1. Select Internal-Master/BUS1 in the tree. (New unit needs a bus master selected.)

  2. Click New unit, choose GSB3-40, click OK.

  3. With Internal-Master/BUS1 still selected, click New unit again, choose SA3-02M, OK.

Now set their addresses — these must match the hardware, or nothing will work:

  1. Select the GSB3-40. In Parameters, set Address to the unit's real hex address.

  2. Set Description to Hallway switch.

  3. Select the SA3-02M. Set its Address and describe it as Hallway light.

Addresses must be unique across the whole system. iDM3 checks this and will refuse a duplicate. If you are unsure of a unit's address, it is printed on the device.

The limit bars

At the bottom right you will see bar graphs — Modules limit, Units limit, Address limit and Current source. They show how full the bus is: how many devices you have against the maximum, and how much current they draw.

Watch them on real projects. When one fills, New unit greys out and you need another bus master or a bus power supply. Details in Chapter 16.

Click Close when done, then save ([☰] → Save).

Step 3 — Put the devices on a floor plan

iDM3 now knows the hardware exists, but you cannot wire anything yet. Wires are drawn between icons on a floor plan, so the devices have to be placed first.

  1. Switch to the Design workspace tab (along the bottom).

  2. Go to the Controls ribbon tab. It is a gallery of icons you can drag.

  3. Drag a switch/button icon onto the plan.

  4. Drag a light/output icon onto the plan.

Both icons now carry a yellow dot. That means "not connected to a real device yet" — the icon is just a picture until you assign it.

Assign each icon to a real device

  1. Click the button icon. A settings panel appears on the right.

  2. Click Connect. The Select device window lists every available input and output, each with its hex address and description.

  3. Find your GSB3-40 and double-click the input for button 1.

  4. The yellow dot disappears. Set the icon's Name to Hallway button.

  5. Repeat for the light icon: Connect → double-click the SA3-02M output 1 → name it Hallway light.

The yellow dot is your friend. Any icon still showing one does nothing at all, however correct the rest of your project looks. When a wire mysteriously has no effect, check for yellow dots first.

Save again.

Step 4 — Find the function you need

Here is the thing that surprises everyone: you cannot pick "switch the light on" directly on the wire. A wire uses a named, reusable user function, which is defined separately.

The good news is that you do not have to make one. Because you started from the default project, the function you need already exists.

  1. Go to the Functions ribbon tab.

  2. Click Function manager.

  3. Look down the list on the left. Find DIGITAL_ON.

  4. Click it. The right-hand side shows what it is:

    • Function type: Digital

    • Select function: Digital switch ON

    • no parameters

That is exactly what you want. Close the Function manager without changing anything.

The ones you will use most

Function
What it does

DIGITAL_ON

Switch a relay on

DIGITAL_OFF

Switch a relay off

DIGITAL_SWITCH

Toggle a relay

DIGITAL_IMPULSE_1MIN

On for one minute, then off

ANALOG_SET_LEVEL_50

Set a dimmer to 50 %

ANALOG_BRIGHTEN / ANALOG_DIM

Fade a dimmer up or down over 4 s

DIGITAL_GROUP_ON / _OFF / _SWITCH

The same, for a whole group

The full list of all 61 is in Appendix B.

Making your own

You will need a custom one eventually — a two-minute impulse, say, when only the one-minute and five-minute versions exist. The procedure:

  1. In Function manager, click +. The right-hand side becomes editable.

  2. Enter a Name:.

  3. Choose the Function type: — Digital for a relay, Analog for a dimmer.

  4. Choose the Select function: — the effect itself.

  5. Fill in any parameters it offers.

  6. Click ✓ to save it, or ✗ to abandon it.

You will do this for real in Tutorial 2.

Function type must match the consumer. A relay is Digital. A dimmer is Analog. Pick the wrong type and your function will not be offered on the wire.

Step 5 — Draw the wire

  1. Switch to the Function workspace tab (along the bottom).

  2. Go to the Functions ribbon tab.

  3. Click Add connection. Connectable icons turn green.

  4. Press and hold the mouse on the Hallway button icon, drag a line to the Hallway light icon, and release.

A line appears between them, with an arrow showing the direction: button → light. The button is the actor, the light is the consumer.

Click Add connection again to switch the mode off.

Nothing happens when you drag? You are probably on the wrong workspace tab. Wires are drawn on the Function tab, not Design.

Step 6 — Tell the wire what to do

The wire exists but is empty. It connects two things and does nothing. Now give it its rule.

  1. Still on the Functions ribbon tab, click Wire manager.

  2. Find your wire in the list on the left — it shows the actor and consumer names. Select it.

  3. On the right, give it a Name: — Hallway light ON — and a Description: if you like.

  4. Under Functions:, click +. The Wire function window opens.

  5. Set Action: to Short down.

  6. Set User function: to DIGITAL_ON — the one you found in step 4.

  7. Leave Conditions empty. You want this to fire every time.

  8. Click OK, then close the Wire manager.

Read back what you just built:

When Hallway button gets a Short down → do DIGITAL_ON (Digital switch ON) to Hallway light.

That is the shape from Chapter 2, now real.

Save the project ([☰] → Save).

Step 7 — Connect to the central unit

  1. Open [☰] → Settings.

  2. Under Connection settings, enter the CU's IP address : port.

  3. Click Ping test to check the CU answers. Fix the network before going further if it does not.

  4. Click OK.

Watch the connection state at the bottom-right of the window. It should reach Connected.

If you see
It means

Disconnected

No connection — check the IP address and cabling

BadPassword

Wrong CU password

UpdateRequired

The CU firmware is too old — see Chapter 25

Error

See the information console at the bottom for the reason

Step 8 — Upload

  1. Open [☰] → Save to central unit. (It is also on the Project ribbon tab.)

  2. Confirm when prompted.

  3. Watch the progress. The information console logs each stage.

iDM3 compiles the project and sends it. If compilation fails, the Compile error button on the Project ribbon tab lights up — click it to see what is wrong.

This is the moment the building changes. Everything before this only edited a file on your PC. Now the central unit is running your rule.

Step 9 — Test it

Press button 1 on the GSB3-40. The light comes on.

That is your first working iNELS3 program.

Press it again — the light stays on. That is correct: you asked for Digital switch ON, not "toggle". Making it toggle is the first thing you will do in Tutorial 2.

If nothing happens

Work through these in order:

Check
How

Did the upload succeed?

Read the information console for errors

Is the connection live?

Status shows Connected

Any yellow dots left?

Design tab — an unassigned icon does nothing

Are the addresses right?

Device manager → compare Address against the physical units

Is the wire pointing the right way?

Wire manager — actor should be the button, consumer the light

Does the function exist?

Wire manager → your wire → is DIGITAL_ON listed under Functions:?

Is the light itself wired?

Use Monitor to see whether the relay output is switching — if it is, the fault is in the electrical wiring, not your project

Monitor (Managers ribbon tab) is the tool that settles this fastest: it shows live device states from the CU, so you can see whether the output is changing at all. Chapter 26.

What you learned

Three-level device tree

master → slave → unit, built top down, buttons enabled by selection

Addresses matter

they must match the hardware and be unique

Icons must be assigned

a yellow dot means it does nothing

Functions are defined once, used many times

Function manager, then picked on the wire

Wires are drawn, then filled in

drag to create, Wire manager to give it a rule

Save ≠ Save to central unit

one writes a file, the other changes the building

Try this before moving on

Small changes, same project. Each takes a couple of minutes and makes the next chapter easier.

  1. Add DIGITAL_OFF to the same wire with the action Long down. Now a short press turns the light on and a long press turns it off — one button, two behaviours.

  2. Add a second output to the SA3-02M as another icon, and wire button 2 to it.

  3. Open Wire manager and look at the wire count — used / maximum. That maximum is a real limit on large projects.

Next: Chapter 6 — Tutorial 2: beyond on/off — toggling, delays, and staircase lighting.

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NextTutorial 2 — toggles, impulses and delays