Hi,
on my house I wanted to start with some HA.
I have 9 shutters. Somfy went and said they can automate them with radio control, no HA from them,
Tahoma seems far from here.
As I wanted to do some light automation and scene too I was thinking about Vera 2, Z-wave and Fibaro blind control like those on vesternet (google fibaro FGS211 blind control and vesternet, I can’t post links).
The question is:
I can ask to Somfy to install their motors and then install by myself those Fibaro controls? (1 every shutter I think).
I hope I can have closed/open shutters, and a fixed position avalaible from this Fibaro controls.
“IF THE SOMFY MOTOR HAS MECHANICAL LIMIT SWITCH YOU CAN USE THE SLIDE TO CONTROL THE BLINDS, YOU KNOW THE POSITION. IF THE SOMFY MOTOR HAS ELECTRONIC MECHANICAL SWITCH YOU WILL BE ABLE TO CLOSE, PAUSE, OPEN THE BLINDS ( SLIDE CONTROL AND EXACT POSITIONING WORK ONLY WITH MECHANICAL LIMIT SWITCHES.”
I should take Somfy oximo rts 6/17, have no idea if it has a MECHANICAL LIMIT SWITCH or ELECTRONIC MECHANICAL SWITCH,
I will try to find some info.
BTW I’m going to try Somfy Oximo rts, Fibaro FGR211 and Vera 2 if anyone doesn’t stop me
Andrea
Sorry for the late reply. According to this document from Fibaro the shutter blind controller does have the ability to know/report position:
It most likely will include into Vera and work correctly. If it includes as a light dimmer it can easily be fixed to a shade control in the UI. Ask Fibaro if there is a calibration sequence you run so the controller discovers its total run time and uses that for positioning.
SOMFY RTS WILL NOT WORK WITH THE FIBARO FGR211, but I think you found that out in your last post.
SOMFY RTS WILL NOT WORK WITH THE FIBARO FGR211, but I think you found that out in your last post.
Well, I don’t understand what you mean.
I hope you mean: "if you want to control Somfy blinds with Vera you can do it with an FGR211, but Somfy remote will not control the Fibaro FGR211.
Today going to order.
Bye
Sorry if I wasn’t clear. Somfy RTS (Radio Technology Somfy) Motors have a built-in motor controller that responds to Somfy’s proprietary radio signal. In order to control Somfy RTS motors through Vera you would need to connect a Somfy URTSII (Universal RTS Interface II) to Vera using a USB to serial cable. This gives you one-way control of the shades through Vera or any App controlling Vera. It will not report position or confirmation of movement because Somfy’s RTS Radio is a one-way communication.
From what I can tell, Fibaro’s product is a Z-Wave motor controller (similar to the ABMHZ, AC1-ZW, or Aeon Lab’s Motor Controller) an it has internal relays that switch power to control a 4-Wire Standard Motor. Somfy RTS Motors are 3-Wire (U.S.), just requiring general power, its internal controller has relays to switch direction of the motor. So there is no way to connect a motor with an internal controller to an external controller. What you need to order is standard motors in order to use the Fibaro products. Fibaro’s controller says it is for blinds, shades, gates, awnings, etc., that leads me to believe it is for standard motors and the fact that RTS isn’t mentioned anywhere in the Fibaro Literature.
If you have to get RTS Motors, or it is too late to change, you have the option of controlling them through Vera with an URTSII without any of the benefits of Z-Wave. The standard version of the Somfy motors will be much cheaper than the RTS Motors.
Why are you focused on RTS? Are you wanting to use the RTS accessories like remotes, switches, timers, etc?
I’m getting roller shutters and the supplier has proposed Somfy Solus PA. RTS was not mentioned so I guess it’s not RTS based. Does anyone know if this motor will work with Fibaro?
no idea as i have no power-rating of the motor… the fibaro can handle 4.3 ampere so if the motor is using less then 1,4 ampere its possible otherwise you would need 2 or 3 fibaro devices.
The FGR211 (optionally) senses motor current to tell when the blind has reached the limit switches. You may get problems running three motors from a single FGR211 if they have different run times. I would plan on having one for each motor.
good point rexbeckett… the peak-power used by some motor could also be a lot bigger then anticipated , so like u said it would be preferable to use 3 fibaro. each for 1 motor. but we’re talking a considerable amount of money here and if the rollers are practically the same it could use less fibaro depending of current drawn.
In my experience, I have never regretted doing a job properly but I have often regretted trying to do it cheaply. : YMMV
You can, of course, turn off the current-sensing function of FGR211 and use a timed on/off sequence in a scene. Then I wonder what is the advantage of using FGR211? You could also use FGS221 (2x1.5kW) switch and set the auto-off timing directly on the module so the scene is not necessary.
Watch-out for switch ratings with motors (inductive loads): They are often much lower than for resistive loads like light-bulbs and heaters. Even though an FGS221 is rated at about 6 amps per channel, I would not attempt to use it to switch three 1 amp motor loads together.
in my experience its not allways the most expensive stuff that does the job perfect.
the timing of the vera is less reliable. what if the thing reloads or has a bad plugin or whatever and the switch stays on.
using the 2x1.5kW switch with the auto-timing is not a bad idea at all and it can handle a slightly higher load. not sure what load, it could be that its rated for resistive loads instead of inductive. but the timing of it is near perfect and didnt fail yet. i had this idea that a few of this fibaro stuff is the same hardware with different firmware. the important thing is that the motor does not keep on turning while its being set to off as this makes electricity and this is what is causing the high loads. i dont think a roller would do that very often though so it can be used with multiple motors. trying this stuff in reality could cause fire due to overload so be carefull when doing this.
As already mentioned somewhere in this forum, motor manufacturers specifically prohibit wiring standard motors (4 wire models: dir1,dir2,common,ground) in parallel to a single pole switch or relay output.
Isolation relays should be be used. Depending on the type of isolation relay, the control relay/switch will take the whole load (sum of A) or not.
Starting current of tubular motors can be up to 8-10 times the rated current, which inductive relays are made to take (rating sometimes indicated in HP)
