Shutter Relay L5501RBCP

Hi folks,
Sorry if this is a dumb question, I have not used one of these shutter relays before, and the installation manual only talks about mains and 24V loads..

Can I use this relay in a situation where the curtains are not powered through the relay?

The curtain track motor is directly powered from a transformer, and just has a control socket on that provides a common, discreet open and discreet close (depending on a resister in this case)..
http://www.letsautomate.com/pdf/silentglisswiring.pdf

I think I'd put the;
common on the A/L connector
Open resister on the open connector
Close resister in the close connector

Is that right?

Thanks,
Paul

 

Why don't you just wire it as per the wiring diagram? Looks like 2 relay channels with bell press function should do the trick. From what I can tell you don't need the delay and interlock functions built into the shutter relay to control this motor.

 

You can probably make the Shutter Relay unit work the way you need it to by doing the following:

• Program up the unit with a Failsafe time-out of 1 second
• Make sure Level Translation mode is turned on
• Program the corresponding C-Bus key input unit to use Shutter Open Toggle and Shutter Close Toggle as the two key functions

This will close the relevant Shutter Relay contacts for 1 second, then open them again, whenever the Open or Close button on the key input unit is pressed. This will effectively emulate the dry contact button inputs.

You could also do this by using a C-Bus 8-Channel ELV relay unit, which has plenty of voltage-free ELV relay contacts. It would probably also be a little more obvious as to how it's working.

 

Thanks for the replies.

I'd considered the Shutter Relay for its local control option, and it's likely that the CBUS cable will be easier/closer, than making homeruns from each curtain back to a central relay.

Maybe I'll take another look though, as I believe would work out cheaper.

But has the ELV relay been released into the UK market?
It's not listed on the clipsal.com/cis website that I can see?

Newman - You mention Open Toggle and Close Toggle. Is there anyway this could be done with one key? (Probably on a DLT)

Thanks,
Paul

 

For some third party interfaces you need to hold the up and down controls at the same time to stop the blinds from moving.

If this is the case then using the Shutter Relay you will not be able to stop the blinds.

 

The Shutter Relay can be controlled by 1, 2 or 3 button key configurations, but only when it's controlling the unit directly. The way you're trying to use it is as a dry contact input device to a 3rd party system, which is not really what it's designed for.

If you use the Shutter Toggle function then the Shutter Relay would typically run the attached motor in opposite directions on each press, stopping the motor if it was in motion when the button was subsequently pressed.

This might not be suitable for you, as the PDF you linked to says "*Note that the 'Stop' button can be omitted because operating the 'open' switch once will stop the curtains when they are closing and vice versa."

This is a problem because it means you need to perform the Open (or Close) operation twice in a row to be able to reverse the direction of the blinds.

If you were using the Shutter Toggle 1-key operation then you would press the button, the relay close output would toggle for 1 second, and the blinds would start closing. When you pressed the key a second time, the relay open contact would toggle for 1 second. According to the PDF, this would stop the motor. The next key press would toggle the relay close output a second time and the blinds would start closing again. In this way, the blinds would never be able to be opened.

If you try and use a key configured as a regular on/off key controlling the Shutter Relay group address then you'll get similar behaviour.

You'll also run into problems if you try and use the ELV relay with only 1 button control because C-Bus doesn't know whether the blinds were in motion when a command was issued. If the blinds were closing, and you issue an open command, then the blinds will stop where they are. If the blinds were already closed, then the blinds would start opening. Because of this inability to know the state of the blinds, 1 button control would only be possible by writing a bunch of long, horrible and complicated logic in a device like a PAC.

If you're going to control this system from C-Bus, then the most hassle-free way will be to use 2 discrete buttons for Open and Close.

 

So what you are really saying is I should look at these instead then?
http://www.automaticblindsdirect.co.uk/downloads/MarsAC-Wiring.pdf

What I wanted to do is have local control in the room via DLT (or shutter relay), and a global close (all that aren't already closed) option via touch screen or something..

If its going to make my life easier then I'll order a test EeziGlide Mains track then.

I cannot afford the Golest, and mains tracks at least in the UK, seem limited.

I'm thinking about 1 button, as with the UK DLT, I only have 4 buttons, and with 1 taken with page function, that leaves 3 per page to do something useful with..

 

Provided that the motor has internal limit switches, you just need access to the motor connections. You'd have no need for the RF Interface Controller part of that diagram as you'd be connecting the Live Open, Live Close and Neutral connections of the motor directly to the Shutter Relay.

With the Shutter Relay in charge of the motor (excluding limit switches) then you can use 1, 2 or 3 button control modes from any C-Bus key input unit. Global control of multiple Shutter Relay units via Touchscreens can easily be done by defining a C-Bus Scene.