Interfacing Somfy Shade controller with Elk M1G

cjett

Member
Received a comment from someone looking for some help interfacing and Elk M1G with a somfy shade controller. The person's messaging is disabled, so, I thought I would start a thread so, they and others may chime in with details. I'm out of town now and will be all week... I also did this about 4-5 years ago, so the details are really sketchy. However, you need the Somfy rs232 Controller, ELK-M1XSP, the serial control strings for the Somfy, set up the texts in the Elk, set rules to send the texts to the Somfy rs232 controller when needed.

So, what issues are you having? Do you have everything needed?
 
cjett, thank you for posting this thread on my behalf. I was able to have my status upgraded to be able to contribute to this forum.

I need to muscle up some brain power. The issue I am having is that I have the blinds in my home modified with Somfy RTS Tilt Motors that work from a remote control. I have an ELK-M1G Home Automation system that I understand is compatible with the Somfy Universal RTS Interface II however I've connected it in accordance with the Somfy documantation to my ELK-M1DBH but I can't "see" the device when I try to enroll it into the ELK network using the ElkRP software. I also don't understand where and how to setup the ASCII text macros although I do understand the code commands. The Somfy URTSI is connected and has the bright green light and has been programmed with each motor. I can physically push the Up, Down and Open buttons on the respective Program station and the light will momentarily blink red and the associated blind will Open, Close or Stop and go to my pre-programmed position when I press the STOP button. I've wired pins 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 and 8 via Cat5e cable to their respective Pos +, RS485 A, RS485 B, Common pin positions on the M1DBH. As for the ELK equipment, I believe I have all the required hardware and then some to meet the need. For the Somfy system, I have ten (10) WireFree 2" RTS Blind Tilt Motors, a 16-Channel URTSI II and a Telis RTS 5-Channel Standard Remote Control. Please help if you know how I can get this working. Thanks guys

Phillip Sherwood
US Army, Retired (Disabled)
Huntsville, Alabama



Received a comment from someone looking for some help interfacing and Elk M1G with a somfy shade controller. The person's messaging is disabled, so, I thought I would start a thread so, they and others may chime in with details. I'm out of town now and will be all week... I also did this about 4-5 years ago, so the details are really sketchy. However, you need the Somfy rs232 Controller, ELK-M1XSP, the serial control strings for the Somfy, set up the texts in the Elk, set rules to send the texts to the Somfy rs232 controller when needed.

So, what issues are you having? Do you have everything needed?
 
You can't connect it directly to the M1 Databus. It needs its own serial port.

Phil, AZ1324 is right, you cannot connect it directly to the databus (as far as I know). I use the ELK-M1XSP to connect it to the RTS interface to the Elk. A quick call to Elk would verify... but, I'm 99% sure you need the Elk Serial controller (ELK-M1XSP).

As for the programing... as I recall, the ELK-M1XSP does not have the somfy serial commands embedded in it's firmware. What this means is you have to add those serial commands as ascii text strings in Elk RP. Then, you will create rules in the Elk that "call" these text strings when a certain event occurs - for example, I have one rule set as - if the time is 9am and the alarm is in away or vacation mode (not stay as that would mean we were home) then send the appropriate text string (serial command) that opens the blinds in the master bedroom. In the Elk Manual, read up on Automation and Rules... it explains how these are setup.

One other word of advice - test the text strings with your computer connected to the Somfy controller first. Use terminal and test your commands before putting them into ElkRP. This will save a lot of headaches... test carriage returns and if they are required, etc.
 
So let me see if I have this correct. I need to get a seperate M1XSP to act as an interface for the Somfy interface like I have one for my Simply Automated Lights and another for my HAI thermostat making three seperate M1XSP units total. Next I will need to go into the ElkRP softwate to "Automation" then "Texts" and program into a new text window an ASCII String Commant (exp. 0101U^M) then write a rule calling this Text String. What do you mean by connecting the controller to the computer? How is that done to test different commands? What is "Terminal" and how is it used to test commands? I'm pretty savvy with computers but this is totally new territory for me when it come to integrating hardware to perform a f(x) via ASCII String Commands. I really appreciate your advice cjett and if you can post or email me some screenshots, that would be worth thousands of keystrokes :0) It would be great if doing this was published somewhere.


You can't connect it directly to the M1 Databus. It needs its own serial port.

Phil, AZ1324 is right, you cannot connect it directly to the databus (as far as I know). I use the ELK-M1XSP to connect it to the RTS interface to the Elk. A quick call to Elk would verify... but, I'm 99% sure you need the Elk Serial controller (ELK-M1XSP).

As for the programing... as I recall, the ELK-M1XSP does not have the somfy serial commands embedded in it's firmware. What this means is you have to add those serial commands as ascii text strings in Elk RP. Then, you will create rules in the Elk that "call" these text strings when a certain event occurs - for example, I have one rule set as - if the time is 9am and the alarm is in away or vacation mode (not stay as that would mean we were home) then send the appropriate text string (serial command) that opens the blinds in the master bedroom. In the Elk Manual, read up on Automation and Rules... it explains how these are setup.

One other word of advice - test the text strings with your computer connected to the Somfy controller first. Use terminal and test your commands before putting them into ElkRP. This will save a lot of headaches... test carriage returns and if they are required, etc.
 
Exactly... get a new M1xsp, setup it up as the somfy outlines (speed, parity bits, flow control, etc), then enroll it, set up the multiple text strings (one per command... I have 3 setup per room - up, down, halfway up), then rules which call those text strings).

As I said... you would connect the somfy RTS to your computer to TEST the RTS and it's ability to receive text strings and react to them. You certainly do not NEED to do this unless you have a problem... but, it's MUCH easier to eliminate a big chunk of your hardware and software config before pulling your hair out trying to figure out if it's the automation rule, the text string, the m1xsp, the serial cable, the rts, or the blind motor. Hooking it up to you computer and getting it to react correctly eliminates the serial cable, the rts and the blind motor from the equation... if it works that way, then you know it's the automation rule, the text string or the m1xsp.

I should clarify... this is not specific to the Somfy controller... but, rather, ANY hardware (lighting, HVAC, etc) that you want to integrate and control on any platform (Elk or otherwise). This is (in my opinion) knowledge that you need to have in your toolkit to do home automation as serial control is the BEST way to interface devices, so, knowing how this works and how to troubleshoot it is vital.

So, Hyperterminal is a standard app on windows that allows for you to open a terminal window to interface with a number of different modem-like peripherals through a com port.
A very basic overview is here http://www.dialogic.com/support/helpweb/divaclient/dc28.aspx
If using vista or windows 7 - http://digitizor.com/2009/08/29/how-to-ins...windows-7-free/
Not sure how old you are... but, this is the way we used to connect to BBS's through our 300 baud modems back in the 80's :-)

Good luck.
 
Thanks cjett. I have some serious work ahead of me and a big learning curve to overcome. I just turned 47 last month to answer your question. A friend created a website in my behalf three years ago when I had my accident to help keep my friends & family informed of my condition. I've pretty much kept it up to date since although it needs another update. It's at 3w's[dot]phillipsherwood[dot]com This way you'll know who you are helping. The more capability I can build into my system and control the better my quality of life will become. I'm anxious to do a lot of thins but it's just a matter of figuring out and learning how to do them. I'm happy to be in contact now with the subject matter experts!



Exactly... get a new M1xsp, setup it up as the somfy outlines (speed, parity bits, flow control, etc), then enroll it, set up the multiple text strings (one per command... I have 3 setup per room - up, down, halfway up), then rules which call those text strings).

As I said... you would connect the somfy RTS to your computer to TEST the RTS and it's ability to receive text strings and react to them. You certainly do not NEED to do this unless you have a problem... but, it's MUCH easier to eliminate a big chunk of your hardware and software config before pulling your hair out trying to figure out if it's the automation rule, the text string, the m1xsp, the serial cable, the rts, or the blind motor. Hooking it up to you computer and getting it to react correctly eliminates the serial cable, the rts and the blind motor from the equation... if it works that way, then you know it's the automation rule, the text string or the m1xsp.

I should clarify... this is not specific to the Somfy controller... but, rather, ANY hardware (lighting, HVAC, etc) that you want to integrate and control on any platform (Elk or otherwise). This is (in my opinion) knowledge that you need to have in your toolkit to do home automation as serial control is the BEST way to interface devices, so, knowing how this works and how to troubleshoot it is vital.

So, Hyperterminal is a standard app on windows that allows for you to open a terminal window to interface with a number of different modem-like peripherals through a com port.
A very basic overview is here http://www.dialogic.com/support/helpweb/divaclient/dc28.aspx
If using vista or windows 7 - http://digitizor.com/2009/08/29/how-to-ins...windows-7-free/
Not sure how old you are... but, this is the way we used to connect to BBS's through our 300 baud modems back in the 80's :-)

Good luck.
 
Happy to help, Phil. Glad to know your story and wish you the best of luck. You'll get there. Read, read read is my best advice... and if you get stuck, come here and someone can help.
 
Phil,

I wrote a tutorial a while ago which shows how to interface an RF receiver with the ELK M1 and XSP. While it's not a somfy controller, it shows the concept of ASCII strings, using screenshots and video. Check it out if you are still worried, but this is really easy:

http://www.cocoontech.com/portal/articles/...ith-your-elk-m1

If you run into any issues or doubts, please don't hesitate to ask for help. Plenty of us have experience doing this kind of stuff, and if needed, we can guide you through it via our chat room, phone, online conferencing, or even in person if needed (we have Cocooners everywhere!).
 
Thanks Dan. You guys are great!!!

Phil,

I wrote a tutorial a while ago which shows how to interface an RF receiver with the ELK M1 and XSP. While it's not a somfy controller, it shows the concept of ASCII strings, using screenshots and video. Check it out if you are still worried, but this is really easy:

http://www.cocoontech.com/portal/articles/...ith-your-elk-m1

If you run into any issues or doubts, please don't hesitate to ask for help. Plenty of us have experience doing this kind of stuff, and if needed, we can guide you through it via our chat room, phone, online conferencing, or even if person if needed (we have Cocooners everywhere!).
 
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