Protocol

1
Rotel RKB-850/8100/D850/D8100
RS232 ASCII Controller Command List
The RKB-850/8100/D850/D8100 support an ASCII based RS232 protocol. The
RS232 hardware does not support flow control so care needs to be take when sending
and receiving data to avoid packet loss.
All commands sent to the attached Rotel device must have a terminating “!” character.
Example Command: power_on!
Note: Do not include any spaces in the command, and do not include a carriage return
or line feed after the command, only the “!” terminating character.
Status information from the attached Rotel product with either have a terminating “!”
character or a byte count for variable length text data that may include a “!” in the
returned message. It is up to the sending/receiving control application to properly parse
and process the packets.
Note: The byte count only includes the text data and not the length or “,” character.
Connection Settings
Baud Rate Parity Valid Data Bits Stop Bit Value Handshaking Data Type
115200 N 8 1 None String
Communication Protocol
Command and response messages are included on the following pages.
Automatic status update information can be enabled/disabled using the
“display_update_auto” and “display_update_manual” commands.
In automatic mode any time the amplifiers status changes, such as power state,
temperature, input level trims or digital input frequency, the new information will be sent
to the control system. In manual mode the status information updates must be
requested each time a refresh of the status information is desired.
Date Version Update Description
March 24, 2014 1.00 Original Specification
April 18, 2014 1.10
Added new commands for
Volume/Mute/Balance/Channel On/Off
(Requires Main Software V1.31)
April 16, 2015 1.20
Added new information and feedback data when
V02 units are in Signal Sense mode.
May 26, 2016 1.21 Updated information on temperature feedback.
October 24, 2016 1.30
Added new commands for analog/digital input
selection for RKB-D850/D8100 models.
(Requires Main Software V2.45)