C-Bus Curtain Control

[Otto-Mate]

Anyone controlling curtains (particularly Swish/AutoGlide) with a C-Bus relay?

M.

[jon00]

Nope - I use an Ocelot with a SECU16. One of the relays operates the curtains and one of the inputs is connected to a reed switch & magnet on my Swish curtains so that I actually know they are closed.

Not the right place I know for but thought you be interested

Jon

[Ross]

Anyone controlling curtains (particularly Swish/AutoGlide) with a C-Bus relay?

M.

Yes,
Most projects we integrate curtains, floor heat, Airconditioning, Irrigation, security, keyless entry, video, data, home theatre. The list goes on.

[Otto-Mate]

Do you have particular details on integration with the Swish stuff Ross?

Thanks

M.

[Ross]

Do you have particular details on integration with the Swish stuff Ross?

Thanks

M.

Yes,
We would normally control them though 2 channels of a cbus relay. One for open and one for close, we then have the outputs go through a 2 channel contactor wired so that only open or close can be powered at any given time. Saves motor burn out. The curtains are then programmed to be controlled through a touch screen. The touch screen throws up the graphics etc and we use minder for the logic and timing functions for motor travel. Almost all curtain motors will be the same regardless of manufacturer.
Its a bit long winded but works very well.

Cheers

[Otto-Mate]

we then have the outputs go through a 2 channel contactor

What's that Ross?

Thanks

M.

[Ross]

we then have the outputs go through a 2 channel contactor

What's that Ross?

Thanks

M.

A 2 channel contactor is a 2 channel relay. Only 1 leg of the relay/contactor can have power through it at any given time. Therefore you can't press open and close together and burn out the curtain motor. Its just for saftey of the motor and nothing else. I foolish person it would be to use motor control without this inclusion. Otherwise its possible to press open and close together and have the motor poll and then burn out of similar.
Hope that clears it up.
Sorry if the spelling is a bit poor. I have dislexic fingers.

[Ric]

If you were to combine Ross's wonderfully foolproof setup with jon00's reed switch you would have a system that meant timing wasn't needed - no? :?

Could you not then expand this so that if the reed-switch contact is broken, you could have the curtains begin to open, thus easing the damage caused by old-fashioned people?

Just ideas that I thought I'd share - I'm still trying to decide on what to do about curtains. I'm struggling to find a cheap motorised track system. When you consider what you actually get, the prices are very high. Any suggestions would be good.

[jon00]

I have tried 3 types of Automated Curtain.

1) Existing pull cord with additional motor.
2) Swish Autoglide.
3) Silent Gliss.

1) I found this to work but became un-reliable as the cord started to wear.

2) The Swish Autoglide was much better but the fibre-glass tape within the track would fail after about 1 year. This was in my opinion a design fault as they just waited until the motor stalled at each end of the track to switch off the motor supply. This put enormous strain on the tape causing it to eventually fail.

3)Autoglide stopped production and sold the design to Silent Gliss who redesigned the system:

a) Aluminium rail as opposed plastic.
b) Metal tape as opposed fibre-glass
c) Better electronics to detect end of curtain movement.
d) Proper sockets on the motor rather than just fly-leads.

So far the most reliable but also the most expensive.

Are they worth the money? I think they are expensive for what you get. However there is very little competition in this area so it all depends on the value to you!

My system is actually quite fool proof. Lights will NOT go on automatically if the curtains are not closed and the system always knows the open/close status of the curtains.

[supes64]

A relay device with double throw relays can easily achieve the same without the requrement to go through contactors and alike as you can internally electrically interlock to avoid grind on the motors.

1st relay provides power the other controls the up and down (so 2 relay per blind motor or group of blinds)and you provide timing out of the control logic in the switch...