Having trouble getting PresenceLight to work on Local Serial

[tpthatsme]

Hello, I really like this project but I am having problems getting it to work on my work machine. I will start by saying that I don't have admin rights, so maybe that is the problem? Anyway, for hardware I am using an Arduino nano with a neopixel ring. My inputs are just single letters (a for available, b for busy,...) I have tested in Putty that my sketch works as expected and the LEDs are changing from green to red. I have setup Local Serial in PresenceLight at 9600, LF, COM5 and Available: a, Busy: b. I get PresenceLight error that I am not sure how to resolve.

{"Timestamp":"2025-05-11T11:51:55.4059232-04:00","Level":"Error","MessageTemplate":"Error Performing Serial Write - LocalSerialHost:PerformSerialMessage Line: 278","Exception":"System.TimeoutException: The operation has timed out.\r\n at System.IO.Ports.SerialStream.Read(Byte[] array, Int32 offset, Int32 count, Int32 timeout)\r\n at System.IO.Ports.SerialStream.Read(Byte[] array, Int32 offset, Int32 count)\r\n at System.IO.Ports.SerialPort.InternalRead(Char[] buffer, Int32 offset, Int32 count, Int32 timeout, Boolean countMultiByteCharsAsOne)\r\n at System.IO.Ports.SerialPort.ReadTo(String value)\r\n at System.IO.Ports.SerialPort.ReadLine()\r\n at PresenceLight.Core.LocalSerialHostService.<>c__DisplayClass17_0.b__0()","Properties":{"SourceContext":"PresenceLight.Core.LocalSerialHostService","LineNumber":278,"FilePath":"D:\a\presencelight\presencelight\src\PresenceLight.Core\Lights\LocalSerialHostService\LocalSerialHost.cs","MemberName":"PerformSerialMessage","message":"b","Application":"PresenceLight"}}
{"Timestamp":"2025-05-11T11:51:55.4185005-04:00","Level":"Information","MessageTemplate":"Sending b to COM5 - LocalSerialHost:PerformSerialMessage Line: 288","Properties":{"SourceContext":"PresenceLight.Core.LocalSerialHostService","LineNumber":288,"FilePath":"D:\a\presencelight\presencelight\src\PresenceLight.Core\Lights\LocalSerialHostService\LocalSerialHost.cs","MemberName":"PerformSerialMessage","message":"b","Application":"PresenceLight"}}

Any help with this would be appreciated!
Thanks!!

[isaacrlevin]

This should really be an issue, but based on the error PL isn't connecting to the device, which is resulting in a timeout. You could try to use something like Wireshark to see what the actual call to the device is and see if there is some additional info

[tpthatsme]

I don't think Wireshark can view the traffic on a serial COM. Is there another way to view this traffic? Here is the live log: Sending a to COM5 - LocalSerialHost:PerformSerialMessage Line: 288. Error Performing Serial Write - LocalSerialHost:PerformSerialMessage Line: 278

[isaacrlevin]

I didn't build this feature so I can't really speak to how to debug it sadly. I know other folks currently use it but not sure if there is an extra step to get it to work

…

________________________________ From: tpthatsme ***@***.***> Sent: Sunday, May 11, 2025 10:03:04 AM To: isaacrlevin/presencelight ***@***.***> Cc: Isaac Levin ***@***.***>; State change ***@***.***> Subject: Re: [isaacrlevin/presencelight] Having trouble getting PresenceLight to work on Local Serial (Discussion #968) I don't think Wireshark can view the traffic on a serial COM. Is there another way to view this traffic? Here is the live log: Error Performing Serial Write - LocalSerialHost:PerformSerialMessage Line: 278 — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub<#968 (comment)>, or unsubscribe<https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ACDXTJV44UB66PR6HEFNTLT2557ERAVCNFSM6AAAAAB44EZFVGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTGMJQHA2DAMY>. You are receiving this because you modified the open/close state.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[tpthatsme]

Thanks for your support! Great news, I got it working with Custom API. I did have to run a python flask webserver to relay the command, but it works with Teams presence. Thanks so much for your program!