ISY994i Compatibility with Twelve Somfy Motorized Shades

[jfteague]

Good morning,

 

I have a client that we have installed the ISY in his house. He recently had twelve Somfy shades installed in his house and wants to control them within this Mobilinc App (or via his iPhone somehow). The installer has also installed the Somfy Universal RTS Interface and assigned each shade to a channel. He wants separate control of each shade.

 

The shade installer said the product we would need Insteon P/N 2410S to incorporate it in the system. Smarthome is saying they recommend P/N 318276I.

 

Can anyone guide us on how this is done properly with the equipment we have? If it requires programming, that's ok, we just want to make sure it's done correctly.

 

Thanks in advance!

[EricK]

The dry contact interface can control one channel. Take a look at this thread, although I do not recall how many channels it will control. Contact the TS for more info.

Eric

http://www.smarthome.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4982

[trumpet]

Hi,

Has anyone tried the Somfy Universal RTS Interface II ? Part # 1810872 ?

Apparently, it has 16 channels and takes RS232 input and outputs RF to each channel.

Text Commands like "0101U" are easy to send from the ISY using Global Cache iTach IP2RS.

Appreciate any inputs.

Raj

[rlebel]

Okay, for several years I have had my Somfy shades isolated from my ISY due to disgust at the high costs and the kludgey nature of what was needed to make the hook up. I finally gave in and it was a bit easier than I feared, so here are some notes of what I did:

 

I bought the "SOMFY UNIVERSAL RTS INTERFACE 16 channel URTSi II 1810872" from a supplier on EBay for $266 plus tax; the "Global Cache Flex Link Serial Cable (RS232)" for $24 and the "Global Cache iTach Flex Wi-Fi" for $92 from suppliers on Amazon. An RJ45 to DB9 adaptor was included with the RTS Interface; the only additional hardware I needed was a spare RJ45 jumper cable to hook up the RS232 (yes, two cables and one adaptor to hook up the 1960s era RS232 interface). I also purchased the ISY network module for $49.

 

I then linked the iTach Flex to my home wireless network. Note that I used DHCP to assign an address but then set up my router to fix that address for the iTach, because you don't want it to change later, since the ISY needs to find it. I happened to pick 10.0.1.29, your LAN might be set up differently. On an Airport this is called a DHCP Reservation.

 

Then I plugged in the iTach serial cable to the Flex and from my browser at http://10.0.1.29 I set up the iTach serial cable to 9600 baud, no parity, 8 bits and one stop bit. Crossover is set to False.

 

The RTS Interface has a rotary switch to select the address or channel of the box; unless you have multiple RTS Interface boxes I think you should just set this to 1 and forget it. You then can link each of your shades, in sequence, to the Interface by first pressing the program button on an already linked remote, observe that the shade jogs, then press the program button on the Interface box and see the shade jog again. Record the order of programming because the motors will then be numbered 1, 2 etc by the order of programming.

 

All that is left to do now is to go into the ISY admin console and create these strange little “network resouces”. For example I created one called “shades down” that is a TCP resource for host 10.0.1.29, port 4999. The body is 0101D\r\n0102D\r\n which puts down my shades 1 and 2; the \r\n is return, line feed characters.

 

You then use the network resources in your programs to do what ever you like.

 

Hope someone finds this helpful!

[colby]

rlebel - so how did you connect the Flex to the somfy controller?  Using the 3.5mm into the Flex, the serial end into the Somfy controller? what was the RJ45 to DB9 used for? Wouldn't it have been easier to use a Serial Version of the Flex? or iTach Serial?  Also, you state - this is for DOWN (0101D\r\n0102D\r\n which puts down my shades 1 and 2; the \r\n is return, line feed characters)

 

what did you use for UP? I have 3 similar shades I would like to program to my ISY

[stusviews]

Colby, I use a Somfy Univeral RTS Interface, 1810872; an Autelis Shade Control for Somfy RTS and an ISY Network Module for complete control of our 14 Somfy window coverings.

[colby]

i did the same thing as rlebel with my somfy interface module but used a Global cache IP2SL, this has a db9 port so the rj45 to db9 that comes with the somfy interface just connected right to the IP2SL.  I used the same settings as rlebel, but mine did not work at first.  So after playing around for about 1 hour, I changed all the settings communication settings (baud, parity etc) in the IP2SL to something different and saved it, then changed it all back to the correct settings and it worked, from the box the IP2SL all settings were correct except baud was not 9600, i did not have to change anything else, so i am not sure why it did not work right away, but after changing all settings to something different and then back to correct again, it is working.  Just posting incase someone else has this issue, I also changed my IP to static in the IP2SL instead of leaving dhcp, also sure to use port 4999 in isy

[guedesluz]

Guys thanks for all the info, I just bought a Somfy URTS II and starting to play around. 

 

One doubt, the 0-16 channel switch in front of URTSII has only the function to identify the module if it's installed in the same RS485 cable with others? I thought it would be used to select in with channel I would save the shade I was programming...

 

So, when I'm programming the shades, they will be saved one by one in sequence from 1 to 16? And if I want to delete a specific one or copy the program from 5 to 10 from example? How could be done?

[stusviews]

Each motor can be programmed to one or more channels. Select the channel first, then add the motor(s) you want controlled with that channel to the Somfy URTS II. You cannot copy channels using the interface, but you can using ISY programs.

 

BTW, what are you using to interface the Somfy URTS II with the ISY?

[guedesluz]

rlebel just said this, so I thought he was wrong about the programming sequence?

 

"The RTS Interface has a rotary switch to select the address or channel of the box; unless you have multiple RTS Interface boxes I think you should just set this to 1 and forget it. You then can link each of your shades, in sequence, to the Interface by first pressing the program button on an already linked remote, observe that the shade jogs, then press the program button on the Interface box and see the shade jog again. Record the order of programming because the motors will then be numbered 1, 2 etc by the order of programming."

 

 

Answering your question, I'm waiting Somfy send me the IR receiver, so I'll be able to control URTS II with a Global Cache IR. I saw that it could be controlled by RS232 too and by IP, using a Somfy IP Interface, also. 

 

Next week I should receive a Somfy automation representant that maybe could help me control this guy.

[stusviews]

Once all the motors have been programmed, the Somfy URTS interface is set to channel 1 for control by the ISY. If you have more that one Somfy URTS insterface, the second is set to 2, the third to 3, etc. Commends sent specify the particular interface and specific channel.

[guedesluz]

Hmm ok understood! Thanks! While I'm waiting for my RS232 interface to come, I'm trying to control it using a iTach IR, but I saw that I has a IR sensor with 3 wires in a RJ9 connector that should be:

Pin 1: none

Pin 2: +5Vdc

Pin 3: Common

Pin 4: IR signal

 

Anyone saw a IR sensor with 3 wires?

[stusviews]

All IR sensors (and transmitters) I've used have three functional wires, power in, IR in (or out) and common.

[asbril]

https://www.somfysystems.com/products/controls-integration/z-wave

 

From this website, I would think that Somfy is Zwave compatible out of the box ????

[stusviews]

Thanks, asbril. It appears that Z-Wave is added to RTS, not instead of RTS.

[KeviNH]

My plan is to network-enable control of Somfy using a RFXtrx433E.   It translates 433Mhz network device data to and from serial (via USB).