Velux Windows and Indigo

Posted on
Sat May 04, 2013 10:06 am
gskarp offline
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Velux Windows and Indigo

Does anybody have suggestions for integrating Velux motorized skylights with Indigo. I have successfully integrated my automated blinds with Indigo using global cache and an rf controller. Velux works with io-hoemcontrol and wonder if anybody has been able to integrate those devices with Indigo.

Posted on
Sat May 04, 2013 11:49 am
DomoPat offline
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Location: Toulouse, France

Re: Velux Windows and Indigo

I do ! It's not pretty but it works. I use a Weeder relay board which bypasses the up and down switches of an original Velux remote command I bought on eBay...

I thought of replacing the 24V Velux power supply by my own and driving it through relays, but it seems that the Velux one is sophisticated and measure currents to detect the closed and open positions.

For security and reliability I decided to go with the original power supply and the original remote command, it's been more than two years and I do not regret it !

Patrick

Posted on
Sat May 04, 2013 5:29 pm
gskarp offline
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Re: Velux Windows and Indigo

That's Interesting. So you hook the relay board to the old velux remote control box and you gerry-rigged it run the up/down switches on the box? I guess you could use any relay device like the Smartenit EZIO40 INSTEON 4 Output Relay Load Controller (http://www.smarthome.com/31283/Smarteni ... ler/p.aspx). How old are your skylights?

Posted on
Sun May 05, 2013 2:01 am
DomoPat offline
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Re: Velux Windows and Indigo

I realize that may be we are not talking of the same thing, as what I automated are the blinds of the Velux window, and I think you are looking to control the opening and closing of the skylight itself isn't it ? in this case I cannot help, mine are manual and will remain so, we rarely open them.

Sorry for the mistake, but you could probably bypass the up/down switches on the box the same way I do it for the blinds with by-passing the switches on the remote command.

Posted on
Wed Jul 10, 2013 11:35 pm
freshwuzhere offline
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Re: Velux Windows and Indigo

Did you have any success with the Velux? I am replacing a couple of skylights with Velux and was thinking the Smartenit unit EXIO 4 Input/2 Output could control the Blinds and Opener - via Velux KLF-1000 (dry contact closure). I was thinking about integrating adding a temperature input as well to know when to open or close? Any advice welcome.

Posted on
Thu Jul 11, 2013 10:04 am
gskarp offline
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Re: Velux Windows and Indigo

My window guy said we could not use Velux since they didn't have the sizes for our specific skylight openings. I did ultimately get my window blinds working seamlessly with the Cynical Network plugin, with the Itach rs-232 network bridge and Superior Shades /Phoenix automation (http://www.superiorshades.com/PhoenixAutomation). I would give the solution an A- since every once in a while the Cynical Network plugin needs to be reloaded. If I could do that with my Skylights, that would be great!

Posted on
Sat Mar 29, 2014 9:58 am
AndyVirus offline
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Location: Newport Pagnell, UK

Re: Velux Windows and Indigo

Hi DomoPat,

I am also looking at doing what you have done, use a relay board to control the velux remote in the absence of any io-homecontol controller.

Can I ask you a few questions before i venture down this road?

How many Velux blinds are you controlling?
How reliable have your found your solution?
If your controlling multiple blinds, which remote are you using and how is the correct blind being selected?
Have you played with the distance between the remote and the blind?

I have 11 Velux windows and i am looking to buy the Solar Powered blinds as no wiring is needed. They all use rf remotes so i am trying to figure out if i need 11 remotes or 1 remote that can select which window to control.

Posted on
Wed Apr 02, 2014 1:24 am
DomoPat offline
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Re: Velux Windows and Indigo

Hi Andy,

I am controlling one or two blinds. In the beginning I had both of them 'linked' to one single remote command, but later I dissociated the two blinds because it was not comfortable for us to act on both of the at the same time, because one is n a bedroom and the other in a main room.

Image

I use the KUX100 remote command, it is easy and possible to control more than one blind with it. I don't know how far you can go away from the receiver, but they are RF and in my little house I can go at least 15 meters from the receiving box: in my case there is a receiving box with a cable going to the blind, so I have a bit more flexibility for placement of the receiver.

These remotes ares sold for an outrageous price by Velux, but I was lucky to find a spare one for 20€, otherwise I would not have been able to do this trick.

In your case, don't you get one remote for each blind ? with 11 blinds you probably do no want to have them move simultaneously, you will have to do different groups I would guess.

Posted on
Wed Apr 02, 2014 2:24 am
AndyVirus offline
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Location: Newport Pagnell, UK

Re: Velux Windows and Indigo

Perfect, thanks!

5 of the windows are in 1 room so good to know you can link multiple blinds to 1 remote. As I am ordering new blinds a remote will come with and i am sure it is the KUX100. I have seen this one on ebay for £8 new.

Thanks for the picture too, good to see how someone else has accomplished the feat. Did you take an pictures when you were soldering the wires to the remote?

Correct, with 11 blinds I would have them move independently, mainly to wake me up in the mornings by blinding me and to save energy in winter to close them when the UV levels go below x in a room. Also thinking about using Cynical Weather plugin to track the sun per room to shade the rooms in summer if the room temp is above x and the sun is directly above the window in question. Also to maximise UV in a room in winter to reduce heating costs/needs. Not figured out all the logic yet but thats the fun bit. Just need to get them in and controlled now.

Thanks!

Andrew

Posted on
Wed Apr 02, 2014 6:56 am
DomoPat offline
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Re: Velux Windows and Indigo

Did you take an pictures when you were soldering the wires to the remote?


I did ! before soldering the wires:

Image

and after:

Image

Quite simple and reliable.

For the automatic opening/closing, I ended up with a simple schedule running every hour from 7 in the morning to dawn. If the temperature is low in the morning the blind stays closed, it opens only if the temp is above 12°C and we are before mid-day. Then after mid-day if the temp is too high (typically in summer) the blind will close. and at dawn it always closes. I am happy with this simple rule, but I only control one blind and it is oriented south.

Patrick

Posted on
Wed Apr 23, 2014 12:18 pm
AndyVirus offline
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Joined: Mar 18, 2014
Location: Newport Pagnell, UK

Re: Velux Windows and Indigo

My Velux Solar-Roller turned up and it is all working with the remote.

I now need to decide which route to go in regards to which relay board to go with.

I guess my first question would be: Do i need to use 2 relays per remote? I.E. one for up and one for down (i don't want the up or down button being constantly pressed/contact). Might be a dumb question but i have it in my head i need two relays per remote. I don't care too much about the stop button on the remote, just want up and down.

So depending on the answer to the question above that will help me determine what to go for as in the number of relays.

I plan to install the Velux solar-rollers on every Velux window eventually, so 11 windows total. I will assume that i want to control each window individually so 11 relays or 22 (if my thought process is correct)

For that number of relays, what would people recommend to use with Indigo?

Anything to watch out for?

Posted on
Wed Apr 23, 2014 2:30 pm
DomoPat offline
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Location: Toulouse, France

Re: Velux Windows and Indigo

I use two relays, one for the up button, one for the down, like you I do not see the need for the stop button.

So it means 22 relays if you really want to control each blind independently. It is up to you to make sure you really nee to control each blind, I would think that you can group them if they serve the same room or same area, it would greatly simplify your setup and the management of the blinds !

For the boards, I use the Weeder Relay board which has 5 relays, but you can chain them together and you could end up with 25 relays on 5 boards using one single serial port. The problem is that I don't think there is a plugin for interfacing the Weeder boards with Indigo.
There is a plugin for the EasyDaq relay boards, you will find all info in another sub-forum.

Posted on
Thu Apr 24, 2014 3:55 pm
freshwuzhere offline
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Joined: Apr 05, 2012

Re: Velux Windows and Indigo

I used the Phidgets SBC (needed wifi as I couldn't get wires up to our bedroom) with the 2 relay boards they sell. I also got a temperature sensor - this way I can open and close to a temperature - and I use Cynical Weather to predict the likelihood of rain. I use a VELUX KLF-100 to talk to the Skylights. I ganged my two skylights together. It has opened and closed reliably since day one.

It's the first and only time my wife has boasted about what "we've" done in home automation. :roll:

Posted on
Sun May 04, 2014 12:02 pm
AndyVirus offline
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Joined: Mar 18, 2014
Location: Newport Pagnell, UK

Re: Velux Windows and Indigo

It's the first and only time my wife has boasted about what "we've" done in home automation. :roll:
:D

Well i got an EasyDAQ 24x USB relay board an works perfectly. I only have the one blind at the moment but the principal has now been proved so hopefully i'll get the green light now to buy some more Velux solar rollers.

What are you guys using for the relay connect time. I am having to use a delay for relay off after 15 seconds as there is not a delay short enough to simulate a button press. So i am having to effectively emulate a press and hold for 15 seconds. I am worried it will kill the batteries. a 1 second delay for relay off is the shortest that Indigo will allow me to do but that occasionally results in the blind only opening or closing by a few inches.

What i need is a 0.5 second delay really. Can this be achieved through a script?

Posted on
Tue May 06, 2014 9:49 am
matt (support) offline
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Re: Velux Windows and Indigo

You could use a script to get an approximate 0.5 second delay. Indigo isn't meant for timing critical tasks, but in this case the EasyDAQ plugin runs in a separate process and as long as the Indigo Server is not bogged down for some reason you can probably get very close to achieving 0.5 second spacing between the commands to the EasyDAQ. I would create an EasyDAQ Relay Output Mirror device type to represent the relay you are interested in so that you can use the simple turnOn() and turnOff() functions like this:

Code: Select all
dev = indigo.devices[1462600100]  # ID for your mirror device (avail by right-clicking on device)
indigo.device.turnOn(dev)
indigo.activePlugin.sleep(0.5)
indigo.device.turnOff(dev)

Image

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