Shading on a budget

[adigitaljohn]

Any idea's for cost effective shading that can be controlled via URC and RF?

Best solution for new and retro

[mdelzer]

Shading on a budget is an oxymoron. Having said that, look at battery operate Hunter Douglas stuff for an easy retro. The only problem is I've heard it has issues being controlled by learning remotes. The interesting thing is they seem to be using a very directional IR system.

Mark

[2ndRick]

John,
Call Bill and get signed up for the motorized shades training at our place on Feb. 5th.

It is co-hosted by Draper and Somfy (the company who makes the quiet motors for Draper and many other motorized shade vendors)

It will be a Draper shades training as well as a Somfy Integration Expert certification.

As for "on a budget", the pricing comes out to be about 20-15% lower than Sivoia, and we do have an RF solution with easy RS-232 and IR integration.

[adigitaljohn]

Rick, you must have been a fly on our wall. Did this with Bill earlier today.
Your are the man!

[graytek]

Shading on a budget is an oxymoron. Having said that, look at battery operate Hunter Douglas stuff for an easy retro. The only problem is I've heard it has issues being controlled by learning remotes. The interesting thing is they seem to be using a very directional IR system.

Mark

Stay away from Hunter Douglas - period. Those IR battery operated blinds are not IR. They are RF and IR. RF signal gets sent first before it sends the IR. So it is imposible to use any other remote than the piece of crap remote that comes with it. Stay away from Hunter Douglas. They suck. I learned the hard way in my own house. Hunter Douglas promised they would work as IR blinds, said they could be learned and used from any system. They lied. Ripped them all out. Expensive mistake.

[mdelzer]

Stay away from Hunter Douglas - period. Those IR battery operated blinds are not IR. They are RF and IR. RF signal gets sent first before it sends the IR. So it is imposible to use any other remote than the piece of crap remote that comes with it. Stay away from Hunter Douglas. They suck. I learned the hard way in my own house. Hunter Douglas promised they would work as IR blinds, said they could be learned and used from any system. They lied. Ripped them all out. Expensive mistake.

Good to know, we ONLY do Lutron shades in our jobs so I only have heard about them. From a retro aspect the battery aspect is nice, but still PITA if you use them regularly. Our Crestron rep always asks us what will it take to do more lighting and the answer is always shading. Hopefully they come out with something decent soon that is comparable to Lutron.

Mark

[2ndRick]

Stay away from Hunter Douglas - period. Those IR battery operated blinds are not IR. They are RF and IR. RF signal gets sent first before it sends the IR. So it is imposible to use any other remote than the piece of crap remote that comes with it. Stay away from Hunter Douglas. They suck. I learned the hard way in my own house. Hunter Douglas promised they would work as IR blinds, said they could be learned and used from any system. They lied. Ripped them all out. Expensive mistake.I have heard the same thing from numerous dealers...

Their RF remote works well, but it's basically a proprietary device for standalone use... meaning no integration to a common controller, and most importantly no automation from our control systems' time clocks and/or light sensor input.

Sorry, but manual control (even with a remote) is not enough these days.

[joeg88819]

you get what you pay for with shades Lutrons shades work GREAT!!

[Ghost]

you get what you pay for with shades Lutrons shades work GREAT!!
And so does the Draper :)

[adigitaljohn]

And so does the Draper :)

Are you satisfeid with Draper or not?

Didn't understand.
We've had Luton in our showroom and just installed Draper yesterday in another section, with some minor issues

[def90]

Isn't Draper just Somfy? Is there any reason to do Draper if you can just do Somfy in the first place?


There was mention of $$ earlier, should this be in the verified area?

[2ndRick]

Isn't Draper just Somfy? Is there any reason to do Draper if you can just do Somfy in the first place?Just the one reason....
Somfy doesn't actually make shades, they only makes the motors, power supplies and controllers for shades. :)

Someone else (like Draper or Vimco/Sivoia) has to fabricate and assemble the tube, fabric, mounting hardware, fascia, etc. customized to your specs.

When Nick Meloni from Somfy was here, he used the analogy that Somfy markets themselves in a similar fashion to the way Intel markets the "Intel Inside" and Pentium branding to attach as premium value-add internals to someone else's overall final product.

[Ghost]

Are you satisfeid with Draper or not?
Didn't understand.
We've had Luton in our showroom and just installed Draper yesterday in another section, with some minor issues
Yes, I'm satisfied with Draper. My very first order with them, many years ago was botched - but they made it right. Been great since (not a lot of volume from me however).

What issue did you have with Draper?

[adigitaljohn]

Minimal issues. Our first purchase and install. Glad we did this at our showroom for learning curve. Eveything taken care of.

Excellent rep and manufacturer support.

[rbacci]

Minimal issues. Our first purchase and install. Glad we did this at our showroom for learning curve. Eveything taken care of.

Excellent rep and manufacturer support.


May I take a bow?