Easy Blinds Somfy & Cbus

Hi Everyone,

I am just chasing everyones opinion on the best way to do approximately a dozen automated internal roller blinds with C-bus. I have Wiser 2 running all my lighting in my house and would like to expand to automated blinds. What is the best bang for buck option.

original idea was to use Cbus shutter relays for every blind running on 2 actives neutral and earth.

2nd option to use A/N/earth to roller blind controlled via ELV C-bus Relay through the Cat 6 I have already run.

3rd option to go to this new Easy Blind automation, using A/N/earth hardwired to the blind and than using wireless control via a Somfy RS485 RTS Transmitter to a Clipsal C-bus 5500PACA.

Is there any other options out there that are easy and more cost effective or is this new somfy setup the go? I have attached abit of info I found on the Easy blinds.

any help would be appreciated,

cheers Matt

 

Working on this as well

Hi there
We are looking at an apartment block which will have a similar setup.

When I tried to go the sasupplies website it did not exisit so this has me worried in the first place but it,s sound like a good solution

Also I see they use an RS232 to RS485 convetor, just wondering if the new NAC & SHAC units which support RS485 could do this without requiring the convertor, but since they use LUA it opens up a whole new programming setup as well.

As per Matts comments any information / help would be appreciated

Cheers Mark

 

I put ten blinds (roller and curtains) in my house and just went with the shutter controllers. We used Oslo blinds and they work great. No mucking around and easy to understand for the wall switches

 

I have about 15 Somfy blinds throughout the house.
All blind rs485 controlled thru Paca serial and Ness m1 panel.
All you have to do is run one cable to supply dc power and data.
Can switch of DLT as well

 

I wonder if the new wiser unit will be sufficient as a paca as it has rs485.

 

Do you have the motors yet?

If not there is a Somfy system that has the comms directly to the motor - Somfy Digital Network 2.0

There is an Ethernet and RS232 interface for the network (If I remember correctly) so this would give you a robust wired control system over the blinds.

Ethernet Interface - SDN2 compatible


i like the blind controllers because of the position feedback (i know its not really feedback) so you can send them part way up or down. I have not read the protocol for the SDN2 interface so I dont know if they are offering a position or not.

 

Hi guys,

Thanks a lot for all the input, I have took it all onboard, I have decided to just use the Cbus shutter relays, probably the easiest solution for my simple electrical mind, I don't have to worry about weather it will integrate correctly, all I have to do is run another Single Active to the blind locations and remove the cat 6 I run previously.

Thx heaps Matt

 

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to note that Easy Blinds is by far the easiest and cheapest way, using Somfy Wireless RTS motorised blinds integrated with the Clipsal CBUS Solution. Savings of this approach per automated blind is estimated to be up to $500 per motor (shutter relay, cable, labour effort to cable, terminate and limit setting).

Details:

• One Somfy RTS Transmitter supports 16 groups of Blinds (medium size home requires typically just one, large home two).
• Each site needs at least one single channel Somfy Situo remote for limit setting and linking
  
• Wiring only requires hard 240volt (un-switched) supply from the closest supply point (typically GPO), to the motor; multiple motors can use this supply.

Benefits:

• Cabling reduced by approximately 95%, significant material and labour saving, no effort to wire relays.
• Pairing and limit setting all completed wirelessly and effortlessly.
• Final blind and motor decisions can be made at any time
• Cost savings of up to $500 per motor

New brochure for this is here:

 

Hi,

WiFi CBUS Controller

I am interested in your thoughts on a project i am working on. If anyone would like to help test this or develop into a commercial solution.

The first objective was to take commands from CBUS PACA and integrate them with other 3rd party devices. The initial focus has been RF433MHz blinds. I have also built in an Infrared capability to control older TVs and air conditioners. It will also integrate the other way - control the cbus from outside with mobile phone app and 3rd party home automation systems.

The current project is in prototype mode. What it currently has been tested and works perfectly:
- Interface with CBUS PACA to receive commands via RS232 (e.g. CH1UP, CH1DOWN)
- Learn RF433MHz radio frequency commands from remote (concept like universal remote)
- Sends commands (received from CBUS) to radio frequency blinds over RF433MHz
- Automatically open close blinds at sun rise and sunset
- Automatically close blinds on hot weather reports
- IR learning and command sending (universal remote) included triggered from cbus
- Temperature/humidity sensor on the board
- Wifi enabled for multi room configuration and connection back to CBUS switch
- Internet enabled to control from home automation systems and mobile phone app

This concept can be expanded to handle a range of home automation scenarios. I am interested to understand where the demand is.

Again, if you would like to get involved please let me know. I have some free demo units!!!

Regards

Stew

 

Hey gents,

Not sure if this is still relevant but I thought I could give some insight into the way we are doing this on a commercial scale and is easily transferable into domestic. We are using Somfy Animeo iB+ 2AC and 4AC blinds controllers to send a dry contact voltage (6vDC) through our Cbus ELV relay which is controlled via Toolkit and can easily be programmed into any switch you need. Easy way to do it is using bell press for up and down but we use a 2 second pulse scene for up and down then a 1 second up and down pulse (can also be programmed as a logic group on the relay itself) to stop so we can use 3 gang for easier integration into 3rd party systems like AMX (not a fan). The blinds controller uses a latching system which is generally anything over 1 second, so anything over 1 second will send the blinds directly to the limit. 1 second pulse to both up and down will stop the blinds or stutter them and also cancel any possible multiple inputs by the user.

I find the benefits of the Somfy controller is you only need CAT5 cabling for signal and any 2C&E plug and cable to operate. The other benefit is you can control 2 or 4 blinds/groups at a time in one controller.

This prevents a need for RS232 of 485 serial and long winded logic programming.

If you need any further info on the above, don't hesitate to ask.

First time poster guys, be gentle

 

Hi bradicul86. That sounds simpler than the RS232 to RS485 path that I am attempting, but I have already invested in the current path so want to see if I can get that working.

I am using the Somfy RS485 RTS Transmitter (larger black box version rather than the smaller white version) that takes a RS485 input (+,-,G) and controlling it from a 5500PACA sending RS232.
I have done extensive reading on these forums and there is a lot of information about the PACA programming to control somfy blinds but I am struggling to find any information on the wiring from the PACA to the RTS Transmitter.
I understand the PACA uses pins 4,5,6 on the RJ45 for GND, RD, TD and the Somfy RTS transmitter has 3 inputs for +, - and Grund. Is it simply a matter of connecting the Pin 4 to "Ground", pin 5 to "-" and Pin 6 to "+" or is some sort of interface adapter needed to convert the signal from 232 to 485?

I have also read that the PACA may need 24VAC in order for the RS232 interface to work with this solution or pin 3 and pin 8 (DTR/RTS) connected inline with 24VAC. Is there a preference/trade-off over these two methods?

Appreciate any assistance on this

Regards
Barry

 

You cannot connect RS232 directly to RS485. They are completely different electrical specifications. You will need an RS232 to RS485 converter. They are available on eBay for a few dollars. You will also need to connect the 24VAC supply as the adapters will not supply any power to the DTR/RTS lines.

 

Thanks Ashley. I have bought the RS232/RS485 convertor and now have it working - I had another issue that took a while to diagnose - I had the RXD of the PAC going to the RXD of the DB9 rather than the TXD.

For anyone else that needs to wire a RJ45 to DB9F adaptor to link the PAC to the RS232/485 converter, the pin out details are:
RJ45 Pin 4 (GND) --> DB9F Pin 5 (GND)
RJ45 Pin 5 (RXD) --> DB9F Pin 2 (TXD)
RJ45 Pin 6 (TXD) --> DB9F Pin 3 (RXD)

I was trying to diagnose the logic serial messages in the PICED event log (in the end that wasn't the problem) but no messages were appearing (even if I turned on every log option). Is there anything else that needs to be done to view these serial messages being sent by the PAC? Is this only applicable if running in simulation mode on the PC running PICED?