EDT iLine questions

[rbroders]

I just wanted to make sure this is understood... For any lighting system to interface with the Elk, you require the serial expander module (M1XSP). The lighting system also has to be supporeted by Elk because the support is in the firmware of the M1XSP module. In this case, both EDT and the OnQ home ALC are both supported by the XSP.

Steve is correct, of course. My plan is to attach the lighting system to the security controller. I know some of the new lighting systems have motion detectors, and event managers, but I think that is best handled by the security system. Generally I want really important, but simple tasks to be done by the security system: turn the lights on/off when we enter/leave. Limited night motion detector stuff, maybe night outdoor light activation (when an outside door opens).

The automation system (QCQ in new house HAL in old) will do more sophisticated stuff like turning on a scene for watching a movie, etc..

The problem with this is that the Security System conrols how the automation system interacts with the lighting system. Elk M1 doesn't have native support for scenes (in fact everything looks like an X10 device to the M1). The M1XSP gets clever sometimes and maps scenes to high devices (for Centralite, scenes begin at device 193). The documentation doesn't say anything about how M1XSP supports scenes for EDT iLine though. Does anyone here know how they do it?

Does this integration work well enough, or do you recommend a direct connection to the automation system? Is is possible to have two connections to the lighting controller (one from M1, and one from CQC)?

Thanks -- Bob

 

[Snap_75]

Bob,

Take this with a grain of salt because of my lack of experience in home automation, but I would say just hooking the lighting control to your ELK would be sufficient enough to do all the control you need. You can program scenes (basically a macro you program using the ION-MB) then use the ELK to emulate the button press on the ION-MB you assigned for the macro. I think there is a section of macro control in the I-Line integration spec.

You then could have a PC running CQC and hook to another serial port to the ELK and have the ELK pass the info to EDT (I *think* you can have more than one serial port on the ELK, right?). Anyhow, I don’t know of any way offhand to attach two serial ports to EDT. You might want to look at a company called Blackbox (www.blackbox.com) to see if they have a two into one serial adapter. It would need to be bidirectional to allow communication in and out of the EDT controller. If EDT had an open Ethernet protocol, this problem would be a lot easier to solve!

Samer

 

[rbroders]

I sent an e-mail to ELK regarding their integration support. They said that the ELK loses track of the load status if scenes are used. They confirmed that “implementing the scenes via ELK (when receive a macro for a scene, send appropriate commands to the various loads)†is pretty much the work-around for the M1 to know the state of individual devices that were controlled as a group from a remote source.

They also confirmed that the M1 has limitations with all of the hardwire lighting systems they support.

I'm pretty much sold on EDT at this point, but my installation won't start for a few months so I'll keep my eyes open.

Thanks -- Bob

P.S. The Bightan stuff is cool - I especially like the distributed relays. The costs are quite high though (>225$/load), and the standard switches are not wife friendly.

 

[Snap_75]

Cool, keep us up to date on how the integration goes!

Good Luck!!

Samer

 

[ctay]

Wanted to bump this old thread to see how rbroders install went. Did you end up going with i-line?

Ctay

 

[rbroders]

Still leaning towards i-Line, but I haven't installed anything yet. After seven months we're still doing architecture and permitting.

I'll probably do another technology search before starting in earnest.

--Bob

 

[Snap_75]

Look at this thread on CQC's Forums:

EDT iLine Thread

There are pictures of an installation that was done with all load control in a central location. looks nice but a lot of wire pulling!

Samer