SOMFY Mercure with Aeotec Micro Controller (with Vera UI5)

Other Devices & Integrations Garage & Window Covering Control
1

Hi,

Has anyone integrated a SOMFY Blind Motor (in particular Somy Mercure LS40) with the Aeotec Micro Controller (with Vera UI5) ?

Aeotec Micro Controller : http://aeotec.com/z-wave-in-wall-switches/928-micro-motor-controller-manual-instructions.html
(refer diagram)

I am aware that there is SOMY RS485 RTS Transmitter and not talking about that here.

With the information available from Somfy Tech Support it appears that the MERCURE LS40 motor have 3 wires

  1. Blue (Neutral) , 2 Brown (Active 1) and 3. Black (Active 2). The Active 1 & Active 2 control Up/Open and Down/Close movements of the motor. (refer diagram)

The Aeotec micro controller has M1 an M2 Active connections which control the Open/Close. Hence it appears that if one connects M1 to Active 1 and M2 to Active 2 and provide live connection to the controller then it will be possible to connect the blind via Vera.

Has anyone done this and have any suggestions, pros and cons ?

I could not get my hand on a somfy motor yet and hence unable to test the above. If any one has automated a blind using a somfy motor an Aeotec controller please do share the steps and findings.

Few other things that’s bothering me

  1. How the blind will be calibrated even if the above settings work ?
  2. How can one have a scene that will pre-set the blind to say 50% open
  3. In the z-wave device for the Aeotec Micro Controller (urn:schemas-micasaverde-com:device:WindowCovering:1) , what does the dimmer type % button o ? For e.g. if i set it to to 50% what does the micro controller do to the M1 and M2 terminals ?

Appreciate any help on this as my blind project is stalled at the moment due to this :frowning:

Finally, if someone has tried both the Micro Controller and the RS485 approach, which one would you recommend and why ?Given that , I have about 7 blinds to automate. In Australia the RSF85 is abvailable at ~$900 and each micro controller for ~$90.

Thanks,
Sharky

2

i think there are cheaper blindmotors to find.
from what i can tell you it would probably work but the % level is dependant on the controller. most controller just switch power on or off and do not offer any percentage level. maybe this can be programmed into vera with a timer.
the motor uses a certain amount of power to operate which can be too much for the controller and thus overload it. you have to check this.

3

Thanks Jojo !!.

Which ones are cheaper? Any suggestions and roughly at what price ? I have not yet procured any motors yet and little bit nclined to SOMY as someone I know have the same blind motors installed and it works great !!

Ok, so the % really does not do anything to the micro controller ? (unlike dimmer where the % actually makes the in-wall dimmer dim the light).

If that’s the case the micro controller’s function is ‘equivalent’ to a double switch (not a dimmer).

So, I guess you are suggesting to code the behavior so that when a % is selected the ‘motor controller’ power is switched on and switched off after x seconds to get the blind to y% ? The ‘x’ will be an important calibration factor here specific to each blind.

Not sure what you mean. Could you please elaborate.

Thanks again for your quick response !! :slight_smile:

4

http://www.shop.floridautomatedshade.com/Somfy-LS40-Motor_c39.htm

i guess you can program it to a certain time. there is also a controller that has this percentage level thing u want. but there like 300 bucks.
well i looked at the controller and it can have maximum of 16 amps or so. so if you attach 7 motors to it, it should not use more power then the controller can handle.

5

There are other motor controllers like Wintop and Fibaro that can be used to do some simple positioning. I have a prototype Aeon labs that does the same but dont think it is on the market.

1 controller, 1 motor. you cannot wire several motors to one controller without using some kind of isolation relay system
THen you have to check total amperage, I would not go more than 4-5 (rating and quality of the output relay)

There are many distributors of other motors than Somfy in Australia.
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