What shades can I now control with 994/zigbee?

[tracknut]

I see the ISY994 now supports the zigbee protocol. Are there some roll up shades that I should now be able to purchase and control with the 994?

 

Thanks

Dave

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi Dave,

 

Unfortunately not. Zigbee devices are not very interoperable and, as such, the only Zigbee devices we support are RCS Thermostats/load controllers, Brultech ECM energy monitors and UDI EM3 energy monitor.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[tracknut]

Ah, that was my fear, Michel. The business model for shades and drapes must be an interesting one. It seems the automation products are overly complicated, with every vendor trying to create it's own proprietary solution that requires an "integrator" to get it all to work right. I would think the first vendor to make a shade motor that just plugs in to 110VAC and listens to Insteon commands would have a big seller.

 

Dave

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi tracknut,

 

Autelis products work with Somfy and ISY's Network Module pretty well. You might want to give them a look:

viewforum.php?f=78

 

With kind regards,

[tracknut]

Yes, I have looked at the Autelis solution, thanks. With about 130ft of distance between all of my drapes, the wireless solution looks like:

ISY->Autelis->Somfy RTS interface->Somfy RTS repeater->Somfy RTS repeater->Somfy RTS repeater

to span the distance. I suspect the odds of successfully raising a blind at the far end are small. I'm just looking for ways to reduce the count of devices in this chain. Wired solutions, a la ESI serial controllers look to be more reliable but hugely expensive. Hence my wish that, just like they can make an Insteon light bulb, they can make an Insteon blind motor.

 

Dave