Automating Hunter Douglas Duette?

Other Devices & Integrations Garage & Window Covering Control
1

In reviewing my options for automating my living room HD Duette with PowerRise 2.1 and integrating it into my Vera, I ran across what I think might be a cheaper solution than the purchase of a Platinum Gateway. Namely, these two devices:

http://www.automatedshadeinc.com/files/controls-hunterdouglas/connection%20interface(print)_5110540114_0512(1).pdf . I’m looking at “option 4” in the diagram.

http://downloads.monoprice.com/files/manuals/11992_Manual_141204.pdf (or the 11993. I’m not sure which would work.)

I’d like to get opinions from the brain trust here before pulling the trigger.

2

Have you done a full analysis on the total costs of the Platinum Bridge vs. the Z-Wave or hard-wired solutions that you describe? In the Z-Wave case, there is no guarantee that it will be compatible with Vera. In the hard-wired case, you still need some type of relay such as a Global Cache device, not to mention the cost of the wiring?

How many shades do you want to automate? Each would need its own set of controls. Also, the Duette is a dual-mode device which makes things even more complex.

Finally, the Platinum Gateway allows for exact positioning, something that will be very difficult to achieve accurately with a simple relay. This would require precise timing of Open/Close/Off events, something that Vera is not really good at.

I actually considered the Hunter Douglas Hard-Wired solution which you point to but decided that the Platinum Gateway was the best way to go and hence I wrote a driver for it.

3

Agree with Gengen…I’m not using his plug-in, as I had already thrown something together for UI4. But with the gateway/bridge, you get precise placement AND accurate positional information. Absent the bridge, you can still position these blinds by a button at the blinds or by IR remote. You may be able to figure out where your Vera controls set them by dead reckoning, so long as there’s no other method used to set them. But once you get out of sync for any reason, you’re fairly lost, and may as well be driving them with X10.

–Richard

4

What you say makes sense assuming costs are comparatively reasonable. The only quote I got today for a Platinum Bridge kit was $200.00 + shipping which I suppose isn’t too bad. I’ll be making some more calls.

5

I have updated my Platinum Bridge app to 1.2. Please see the other thread.

6

Well, you talked me into it. I got the Platinum Bridge kit today, installed it and the Android app plus a few scenes after which I installed your app. Everything works! Then I realized that PLEG would do a whole lot better job of scheduling than the Platinum app scenes and so I 86’ed the Platinum schedules and created a few in PLEG. Took me awhile to figure out your slider but in the end I’m a happy camper. Cost me a few $$ more than I wanted but so far it looks like it was worth it. Thanks!

7

@marcjw

Where did you buy the HD Platinum Bridge Kit from? And if you don’t mind sharing, how much?

I would like to buy one too but I can’t seem to find it on Amazon, eBay, or Google search in general…

Thanks.

8

One of my local HD dealers. $300.00 (WAY overpriced)

9

One of my local HD dealers. $300.00 (WAY overpriced)[/quote]

Hmmm. We bought a gateway kit (same functionality, but has RS232 port as well as ethernet) that came with PS, one repeater for $228 back in March. Still a bit steep, but this was also from a local HD dealer who does pretty good volumes of automation stuff.

–Richard