Saturn switches and Saturn dlt switches

I have a couple Saturn 6 Gang switches for lights controlling most of the house. One in nthe bedroom and one in the hallway. I always forget which button does what especially in the dark at night.

In the kitchen and downstairs I have dlt saturns which are great as they are nicely labelled what switch does what

If I replace the 6 gangs with dlt switches is it a simple DIY

Do they fit into the same holes/ cavity, with the same wires and will work? Of course once I have programmed the switches with toolkit ?

There are lots of cheap dlt switches on eBay so they can be had in my opinion relatively cost effectively.

Can I do it myself easily, or does cbus need to be powered down for safety, or is there other complications which does not make it a simple switch over.

Thanks for your help

 

Hi Jdebellis,

It is not really difficult to change a Saturn for a DLT, but you need to program the DLT using the Toolkit software installation that has your project file on it. If you don't have this, your original installer should have a copy of your project file to work with.

The Saturn DLT fits into the same wallbox as the Saturn 6 button and has the same two wire C-Bus connection which you have to get the polarity right way around. It is low voltage but be careful not to touch the two wires together as this will stop the C-Bus network operating until the fault is removed.

Your original issue seems to be knowing what buttons do what? Have you seen the Saturn labelled button cap kits? See http://www.noushouse.com.au/store/product-info.php?Clipsal_Saturn_Range_Button_Caps-pid484.html for details.

Regards,

Brad

 

Thanks brad

I have hundreds of the label thingies to go on the switches. And have,put them,on, but when yr half asleep at night or in the dark you can barely read them. Hence why I though I might just invest and change the few 6 gang plates I have for dlt's

I have played around with toolkit. Can't understand it for the life of me, but the one thing I did work out was the dlt labeling and button assignment for the one dlt I have. So I know I can program it, so long as I know I can easily change over the plates with n fuss.

Next thing after this is to takle all the pir auto lights I have going off at weird times of the night. Have lots of auto lights in bathrooms, toilets, and hallways. They are great cos no more kids leaving lights on, but they seem to fire for no reason in the middle of the night from time to time

 

Provided your 6 way Saturn is vertically mounted (ie two across 3 down) a DLT will slot in ok. Just note if you Saturns have frames the frames do not fit DLT's as the external dimensions are slightly bigger.

The wiring is not hard, just two sets of cables that get changed 1 for 1 and yes always a good idea to shut down the power not for safety as it is low voltage but to prevent damage to equipment through shorting.

 

Hi Jdebellis,

I agree completely with Ashley W in that it is ALWAYS the best practice to shut down any electrical circuit before starting. If you don't there is potentially a risk of damage(though small in the case of C-Bus as it has inbuilt electronic short circuit protection and the bus characteristics being similar to RS-485 make it difficult to damage by shorting) or worse self damage.

Further down that line, you should ensure there is no 240V wiring anywhere near what you are doing as you must be an electrical contractor in Australia to open a 240V enclosure, so no co-located fan controllers, underfloor heating thermostats, outdoor light switches, shaver points etc.

If you decide to do the swap yourself, there is a Toolkit feature you will find very useful. Read the F1 help about 'Convert Units'. In Toolkit after you have added a new module, you can set it to the same unit address as the one it is replacing. Rescan the network and the entry in the database window should have changed to red as you have the wrong unit at the address. You can now right click the red entry and transfer the old programming to the new dissimilar unit, so button 1s programming will remain on button 1 etc.

see http://www.cbusforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2217&highlight=dlt+replace+saturn for step by step details and also the F1 help.

It is always best to have made a written copy (or screen capture copies) of all the screens in the 'module view' of the unit you are replacing so you can put the exact programming back into the new unit should the copy process go awry. Pay particular attention to group addresses, block assignments, scenes and Key Functions 'short press / long press' settings.

As for the PIRs, I have seen sometimes the C-Bus master time source on your network can be the issue if you use a schedule to set when they are enabled as many people do.

Depending on your C-Bus setup, the C-Bus master time source may be a colour touch screen, or a Wiser or a Homegate etc, B&W TS or PAC. I have seen that rarely, the Network Time Protocol (NTP) can pick up a wrong time eg one from another time zone or one missing daylight savings etc depending on which NTP server is set. This may be bacause the NTP providers main server is down and they are supplying a backup source that is mis-configured or even that your network link to any NTP source is down and a secondary device on your network with incorrect time set takes over as master time source (because your Master time source has rebooted etc and not found the NTP source prior to a scheduled item or some timed logic).

This can cause scheduled items to not happen when they are supposed to eg disabling in-house PIR at 11PM. This is usually an NTP problem, not a C-Bus issue (but check your secondary time sources such as B&W touch screens etc for correct time) and would affect any type of system using that NTP source.

The best approach is to find out what units on your C-Bus can supply the time, ensure the NTP time source is set to what your internet service provider recommends you use on their network and check all time capable units on your C-Bus network such as PAC, touch screens, Wiser, and B&W touch screens have the right time on them at any rate before NTP. Read 'Timekeeping application' in help for more details.

You could do all this yourself, or take the chance to sling a few well placed dollars at your friendly C-Bus installer and have him do your changes, give your network a full once over, software update, tell you about new units / options, add those scenes and change those pesky issues you've always wanted done and take some backups etc at the same time. He will also then be far more amenable to help you at 8pm on a Sunday night when your systems inexplicably go down and your wife's in-laws are staying with you

all the best,

Brad