need a sunscreen; but which one?

Post by **Lumocolor** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 9:11 am

Hi everybody,

this is my first post on the forum, let me introduce myself; I live in the Netherlands and in 2007 moved into our new (built in 2001) house. I recently started with home-automation, meaning I placed a Harrison electrical curtain in the livingroom and 2 extra have just been put on order (more will follow). The livingroom has a Honeywell touchscreen thermostat that I want to integrate too. I currently do not have operatingsoftware but I am contemplating about buying Homeseer. Besides adding remote operated lights I would also like to add 2 sunscreens to my house, here on the forum I have read different things concerning the sunscreens.

* the ZAX12 can be placed in the manually operated, permanently wall-fixed button (can this be a Somfy tubemotor?)
* Somfy tubemotors cannot be operated by means of RF

What is my concern here?
* what are my options in operating a sunscreen?
* to me it is not clear which brands of electrical sunscreen work well with the needed devices (to remotely operate it)
* when a weather station is added, will Homeseer make all the decisions (useful when several sunscreens are on the system, and same side of the house) based of the weather stations data?

Hope I can get some help here so more info about my questions will be greatly appreciated.

thanks in advance,

Lumo

Post by **Snelvuur** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 11:49 am

homeseer doesn't do anything with your suncreen or weather out of the box. You have to create something for it.. like if wind is higher then 5 and longer then 5 minutes then close suncreen... those things you need to create yourself, but i dont think that will be your biggest issue.

Operating a suncreen can be multiple way, but the zax12 seems the most normal. See http://www.domoticaforum.eu/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1111 for more information aswell, i would go with this kind of setup.

i'am not familiar with the somfy things..

// Erik (binkey.nl)

Post by **Lumocolor** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 3:24 pm

thanks for the reply Snelvuur,

I know I have to make rules in Homeseer to get devices to work, the only point here is that it seems very hard to find out which sunscreens can be operated with the ZAX12... A lot of sunscreens have the Somfy tubemotors you see. I suppose a ZAX12 will work on any brand as long as it has a wallswitch? Is this true? In other words an RF-connection won't be possible with Somfy then?

It would be rather sour if I bought a sunscreen only to find out it won't operate automatically...

I read the beforementioned thread before I posted the question, lets put it this way:
<b>
I'd like to find out what setup people use in their homes, please post a reply with your brand of sunscreen / tubemotor and how you operate it (software and interface).</b>

thanks!

Post by **Henk** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 4:05 pm

The ZAX12 output is based on two 230V output wires - one is for up and the other one is for down.Only one wire should get power otherwise you may expect smoke ....
In most case all large sun screening or blind doors (rolluiken) will be using 230V motors - so three wires one neutral (blue) and two black wires (one is up and the other one is down)
Except smaller tube motors like rolgordijnen or electrical curtains are mostly based on 24V DC motor ..... direction (up and down / close - open ) is based on the polarity of the power supply.
So in case using the ZAX12 get two 230V relays with 2 set of contacts and do some soldering .....so the polarity will switch.

In case you are using Somfy they may using Homemotion it is RF 868MHz and a specific protocol (although Velux,Nemef -doorlocks - Niko do support it) You may wait till this protocol will be hacked and supplied by RFXcom - see other parts of this forum .... but right now in case you want to operate the screening get direct to the motor-wires and forget the other brand control and disconnect it completely.

I got two Somfy tubemotors (24V - 28mm) with one ZAX12 - with 2 relays - operating two rolgordijnen (curtains) - works ok .. modified the standard rolgordijnen (curtains) by removing the manual chain - but take care of the diameter of the tube - mostly it is too small..... The preset is a nice function ..

Henk

Post by **Alexander** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 11:58 am

Hi,

I ordered a second remote, solder wires on the buttons and attached the wires to a relay card (which is contected to the pc). Not the best option, but it works