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View Full Version : Crestron to Lutron QED??



chadshell
08-31-2007, 09:03 AM
I have a client who is pushing me to give him the same level of control from a QED that I know I can easily do with the Crestron/Somfy interface. You know, like being able to use a slider on a touch panel to move the blinds up & down freely; as if you were pulling a manual blind.

The company doing the QEDs indicated they are going to provide something??? (not sure what this is; they say they have developed this???) for me to make interfacing with these pretty easy but I still don't know what this means as far as how much control I can give him without spending a ridiculous amount of time with this one piece of his program.

I'm feeling a little intimidated by this considering Crestron developed a little "magic box" & module specifically for a certain line of Somfy motors in order to be able to do this. I don't know if my inexperience with doing anything other then contact closure with QED blinds is the cause of my concern or if I should be a little concerned by what this guy is asking of me & should hold firm with him with what I've said thus far; which is that I'm not confident that I can do what he wants without the QED provider making like 20 up & down preset positions in order to somewhat achieve what looks like touch-screen up/down control.

For anyone who replies; keep in mind that while I've been programming in Simple Windows a long time I have not gone beyond the Essentials class & do not consider myself to have the mindset that a computer programmer has_ I'm an AV guy that is pretty good at most of what I encounter in residential systems.

rkrueger
08-31-2007, 09:32 AM
How many drives?

def90
08-31-2007, 09:46 AM
We just put in a Lutron Homeworks processor and a Q96 interface and control all the shades over IP from Crestron. At about 5 or 6 shades this evens out with the cost of providing 6 contact closure cards.

rkrueger
08-31-2007, 09:47 AM
or you can add a CCI-8, really depends on how many shades you need control of.

roddymcg
08-31-2007, 11:09 AM
A CCi-8 for each group of drapes and St-io's for control. I can go into more details next week, but someone who knows way more than me will probably chime in.

The combination kicks ass, plain and simple...

chadshell
08-31-2007, 12:18 PM
Thanks for all the feedback thus far on this topic.

This client has 42 shades & a couple areas with drapes with most grouped in pairs I believe (I'm not the shade guy so I'm not certain yet).

There are a few rooms that have 4 & 6 windows.

rkrueger
08-31-2007, 12:20 PM
CCI-8 is good for groups, 4 per.
On a project this size I would add a HW processor and the Q96 interface and you're golden.

def90
08-31-2007, 12:31 PM
I agree, anything over 6 shades is going to be cheaper and easier to install a Homeworks processor and Q96.

oceanthrsty
08-31-2007, 04:27 PM
I agree to agree that 40 shades is in need of it's own Lutron processor and q96.

I've done SVQ-CCI-8 with a few shades and it allows you to control the shades really well. But with this number of shades the amount of ST-IO's and CCI-8's you need is just impractical.

I am assuming the shade guys have already provided the power? SVQ-10-PNL's?

Get a 4 series Lutron processor and a q96. The q96 can even mount right in one of the SVQ-10-PNL's. Now just control the Lutron system with 232.

AudibleSolutions
09-05-2007, 07:39 AM
You might be in way over your head here but you've not provided enough information in order to tell you to run or fight. If you are going to try to use a slider to control your shades a la Somfy ILT and the Crestron ILT interface you are in way over year head given the skill level to which you have confessed. If you are going to provide more of a QED interface you may be fine.

The issue is who is writing the software? If all you are doing is sending a button press to a predetermined level you will have no problem controlling this black box the shade company is providing. It is a button press and their RS-485 network is recalling, memorizing and storing states ( shade levels or presets ). If you are going to replicate the ILT/Crestron interface you are going to have to manage any number of factors--how much data is sent out the com port, how fast, slow it down when necessary ( so that data is somehow stored ), parsing those values for shade position when as the black box returns them. This is Simpl+ territory ( though it can be done in Simpl ) and it may be above your coding abilities.

The genius of Lutron and Crestron is that they have made some very complicated actions relatively easy. But they also have on salary real programmers who can code anything. You don't sound as if you have these same abilities so you may wish to stay on the path of what is tried and true. You will need to be more specific with respect to what the shade company's back box does and does not do, how it does it and what it requires. For all I know they may have done the heavy lifting and it may be within your abilities after all. But I suspect they will permit you to do what you want but require you to write the code to do it. If all you need to do is connect the unsigned values of a slider as you would volume and send them out the com port you may be able to provide the interface your client wishes. My gut tells me that it will not be nearly that simple and it will require a lot of string parsing on your part to display feedback of the shade's position, let alone send the shade to a spot by touching a slider.

Alan

chadshell
09-18-2007, 07:23 PM
Thanks everyone for the great feedback regarding my problem. Sorry for taking so long to respond back; been crazy busy working on other projects so I have not even been online here in weeks.

Once I begin working on this program I'm sure I'll be back with more questions related to the blinds.