RedRadio - RelayTouch RT2718
- Thread starter electron
- Start date
Rupp,
Beta testers....not at the moment. I cant give out cost information until the product is ready to ship, but it will be very competitive.
As for light switches, we have found in our lab--and I think this is extremely important--that an LCD controller has to be near eye level, yet the primary light switch for a room has to be elbow height. I think a good scenario is 1 and 1. One light switch for main lights, and one touch screen, higher up, for EVERYTHING else. And I do mean everything....
jpkishere,
We have tested to 340 ft, with an expected maximum distance being 500 ft. Keep in mind that this cannot be mixed with ethernet. All wires must be homerun to the controller card, although you can use standard CAT5 connectors, patch panels, etc along the way.
Beta testers....not at the moment. I cant give out cost information until the product is ready to ship, but it will be very competitive.
As for light switches, we have found in our lab--and I think this is extremely important--that an LCD controller has to be near eye level, yet the primary light switch for a room has to be elbow height. I think a good scenario is 1 and 1. One light switch for main lights, and one touch screen, higher up, for EVERYTHING else. And I do mean everything....
jpkishere,
We have tested to 340 ft, with an expected maximum distance being 500 ft. Keep in mind that this cannot be mixed with ethernet. All wires must be homerun to the controller card, although you can use standard CAT5 connectors, patch panels, etc along the way.
BraveSirRobbin
Moderator
Dwayne:
Thanks for your continued answers for this new and exciting product.
One question I don't think was covered was exactly how many conductors are required in a run from the PCI card to the display? Reason I ask is I think many, like myself, have a wiring closet with only a few cat5e from this closet to the computers. I was wondering if we could double up or some other solution to get the necessary conductors from the wiring closet "home run" terminations to the computer.
Thanks for your continued answers for this new and exciting product.
One question I don't think was covered was exactly how many conductors are required in a run from the PCI card to the display? Reason I ask is I think many, like myself, have a wiring closet with only a few cat5e from this closet to the computers. I was wondering if we could double up or some other solution to get the necessary conductors from the wiring closet "home run" terminations to the computer.
For the single-gang LCD, we do indeed use 3 of the 4 pair, as electron noted (He is fast becoming your "in-house" expert on the product). Two pair are used for communication, and one pair for power. That leaves a spare pair.
We have also tested some of the flat CAT5 cable, in case someone wants to "hack" a new cable pull, under the carpet and up the wall....it worked, although the flat cable produced more of a voltage drop, so the distance might not make it to 340 ft. I have heard of some flat CAT5 cable that can be drywalled in, and would be curious to test that too.
For the real techies out there, we have also included an I2C network. This would allow others to put sensors on the LCD side, such as temp, light, buttons, etc. We put this in primarily for OEM uses.
We have also tested some of the flat CAT5 cable, in case someone wants to "hack" a new cable pull, under the carpet and up the wall....it worked, although the flat cable produced more of a voltage drop, so the distance might not make it to 340 ft. I have heard of some flat CAT5 cable that can be drywalled in, and would be curious to test that too.
For the real techies out there, we have also included an I2C network. This would allow others to put sensors on the LCD side, such as temp, light, buttons, etc. We put this in primarily for OEM uses.
I made a few video files this morning for all of you here. I have access to a professional camera, and will do better video's another time.
These screens show a Windows XP Home, Visual Basic application running on an older Shuttle Via C3 800 Mhz desktop computer, hosting the PCI Video card.
Video 1: Lighting control using some LED style light bar buttons:
http://www.redradio.com/products/radio1.mpg
Video 2: Music example showing slider volume control and album covers. The album covers are being pulled from the music directory on the hard drive:
http://www.redradio.com/products/radio2.mpg
Video 3: Security example showing zone descriptions & states, and an arming screen. When in arming mode, all 8 LCD's would show this same screen, regardless of what they were showing at the time. This shows what you can do by interacting multiple screens together.
http://www.redradio.com/products/radio3.mpg
Video 4: Just for fun a Star Wars trailer playing inside windows media player.
http://www.redradio.com/products/radio4.mpg
These screens show a Windows XP Home, Visual Basic application running on an older Shuttle Via C3 800 Mhz desktop computer, hosting the PCI Video card.
Video 1: Lighting control using some LED style light bar buttons:
http://www.redradio.com/products/radio1.mpg
Video 2: Music example showing slider volume control and album covers. The album covers are being pulled from the music directory on the hard drive:
http://www.redradio.com/products/radio2.mpg
Video 3: Security example showing zone descriptions & states, and an arming screen. When in arming mode, all 8 LCD's would show this same screen, regardless of what they were showing at the time. This shows what you can do by interacting multiple screens together.
http://www.redradio.com/products/radio3.mpg
Video 4: Just for fun a Star Wars trailer playing inside windows media player.
http://www.redradio.com/products/radio4.mpg
Dwayne -
Very cool stuff!! I have a couple of questions though.
Can the larger screen be used in place of some of the small single gang touch panels? I can see wanting the small LCD in some areas in place of light switches, but a large panel in others...like by the front door or bedroom. If so, can the larger screen be turned on its side to approximate the same dimensions as the smaller panel or do you have another way of dealing with the different dimensions?
Very cool stuff!! I have a couple of questions though.
Can the larger screen be used in place of some of the small single gang touch panels? I can see wanting the small LCD in some areas in place of light switches, but a large panel in others...like by the front door or bedroom. If so, can the larger screen be turned on its side to approximate the same dimensions as the smaller panel or do you have another way of dealing with the different dimensions?
