Control roll-down shutters both manually and automatically

Situation

In this step-by-step plan a roll-down shutter, which can be controlled both automatically and manually, is programmed. Using the touchscreen, you can choose between automatic and manual control. Manual control makes use of a specific motor control. Automatic control is based on time and the amount of daylight measured by a twilight switch.

Starting point

The starting point for this step-by-step plan is a project for which the Project information has already been entered and for which a drawn or uploaded plan is available.

If you do not yet have a project, follow the steps in adding a new project and thereafter in drawing a plan or upload a background image.

Step 1: Add a roll-down shutter

Click on Creation at the top of the screen.

Click on add an output.
Click on roll-down shutter in the list of options on the right hand side of the screen. The icon appears on the plan.
Drag the roll-down shutter to the correct location and give it a recognisable name.
Choose an existing location from the list of options or click on add a location if you have not previously defined one.

Click on modify basic settings to program the run time of the roll-down shutter.
A pop-up window will appear.

Enter the measured or known run times.

As an installer, you may not yet have the exact times at your disposal. This is why you can always modify the data afterwards.

Click on save to close the pop-up window.
Click on save to return to the Creation start screen.
Repeat the steps until you have added all of the roll-down shutters that are controlled by the motor control.
Return to the start screen for Creation.

Step 2: Add a single motor control

Click on add an input.
Click on single motor control in the list of options in the right-hand window. The icon appears on the plan.
Drag the single motor control to the correct location and give it a recognisable name.
Choose an existing location from the list of options or click on add a location if you have not previously defined one.

Click on save to return to the Creation start screen.

Step 3: Create a 'Manual control roll-down shutters' action

Click on add an action. The action will appear as a text balloon on the plan.
Drag the action to a logical and appropriate place, e.g. to the relevant input or output.
Give the action a name.
Choose an existing location from the list of options or click on add a location if you have not previously defined one.

Click on continue to go to the Players tab.
Click on the roll-down shutters and the single motor control on the plan to link them to the action.

Click on continue to go to the Basic behaviour tab.

The behaviour of a specific motor control is predefined and cannot be adjusted.

Click on Which behaviour is this? to view the predefined behaviour of the motor control button.
A pop-up window appears.

Click on close to close the window.
Click on continue to go to the Conditions tab.
Click on continue to go to the Time automation tab.
Click on save to return to the Creation start screen.

Step 4: Add a touchscreen

Click on the touchscreen icon at the bottom right of the screen in order to add this to the installation.
The icon appears on the plan.
Drag the touchscreen to a logical and appropriate place on the plan.

Click on OK to return to the Creation start screen.

Step 5: Add a virtual output 'Automatic?'

Click on add a virtual output. The virtual output appears as a flag on the plan of the home.
Drag the icon to a logical and appropriate place on the plan.
Give the virtual output a clear name, for example Automatic?

Tip: use yes/no questions such as 'Is the control automatic?' or 'Are the roll-down shutters to be controlled automatically?'.

Choose a location from the list of options or add a location if the location has not been previously defined (e.g. Dining area).

Click on OK to return to the Creation start screen.

Step 6: Create a 'Operate roll-down shutters automatically' action

Click on add an action. The action will appear as a text balloon on the plan.
Drag the action to a logical and appropriate place, e.g. to the relevant input or output.
Give the action a name.

The name of the action is shown on the touchscreen.

Choose an existing location from the list of options or click on add a location if you have not previously defined one.

Click on continue to go to the players tab.
Click on the touchscreen and the virtual output 'automatic?' to add these to the action as players.

Click on continue to go to the Basic behaviour tab.
The default start and stop behaviour is correct. You don't need to change this.

Click on continue to go to the Conditions tab.
Click on continue to go to the Time automation tab.
Click on save to return to the Creation start screen.

Step 7: Add a digital sensor

Click on add an input.

In order to measure the daylight, a light sensor is mounted on the outside wall.

Click on digital sensor in the selection list in the right-hand section of the screen.

Naturally, an analogue sensor can also be selected for this purpose.

Drag the digital sensor to the right place, and assign it a recognizable name.
Select an existing location from the selection list, or click on add a location if the location has not previously been defined.

Click on save to return to the Creation start screen.

Step 8: Create a 'Automatic control roll-down shutters' action

Automations such as these are always configured around an action that contains no inputs. In other words, you cannot add this to an action to which a a control was already coupled. You must create a new action.

Click on add an action.The action appears in the plan as a text balloon.
Drag the action to a place that you consider logical and convenient, for example, next to the relevant output.
Assign the action a name.
Select the location of the roll-down shutters from the selection list.

Click on continue to go to the Players tab.
Click on the roll-down shutters on the plan to link them to the action.

This type of automation does not contain any inputs as players. Therefore, you are limited here to the selection of the outputs that must be controlled.

Click on continue to go to the Basic behaviour tab.
The basic behaviour is shown. Verify whether this behaviour is the desired behaviour and adjust, if necessary.
In this example, the basic behaviour is correct.

Click on continue to go to the Conditions tab.
Click on add a condition.
Assign the condition a name. For example, 'Dark and automatic is on'.

Make sure that you add an unambiguous name for the condition so that you can directly identify it if additional adjustments are needed later.

Click no (automation).

You have not added any inputs to this action, therefore the end customer cannot start the action himself.

Click on the light sensor and the virtual output 'automatic' in the plan to couple them as condition players to the action.
The digital sensor and the virtual output are connected to the action via a black line.

Onder geavanceerde instellingen wordt het gedrag van de voorwaardespeler aangegeven. Voor de sensor betekent ja in dit voorbeeld dat het donker is, voor de virtuele output betekent ja dat op het touchscreen gekozen is voor een automatische sturing. De actie zal daarop starten.

Please check which detector you are using. In this example a twilight switch is used which transmits yes when it's dark. However, if you are using a photo cell, it will transmit yes when it's light, meaning the truth table must be completed differently.

Click on add a time condition.
Enter the time condition.

For example: For every day between 8 o'clock in the evening and 6 o'clock in the morning except in the weekend, you enter a start time of 20:00 and a duration of 10 hours, because 6 o'clock in the morning is 10 hours after 20:00. Select the frequency weekly, and click on details to deselect Saturday and Sunday.

Click OK.
Under advanced settings, you will find a table with all of the possible combinations between the various condition players.
Go through each column and click on the black button under it to indicate what must occur in that specific case. You can choose between start, stop or slash (/). The / (slash) option means that nothing needs to occur.

In this example, the roll-down shutters must only close automatically (start) once all conditions are true (yes). This means that it must be dark outside, it must be later than 8 PM and the automatic control must be activated on the touchscreen. If it becomes dark after 8 PM, the roll-down shutters will also close at a later time. The roll-down shutters automatically open at 6 AM, regardless of whether it is dark or light outside. This prevents the roll-down shutters from opening automatically if an outdoor light is switched on during the night, or when the sun comes up very early during the summer.

Click on continue to go to the Time automation tab.
Click on save to return to the Creation start screen.
In the plan, the action receives an exclamation mark to indicate that a condition is coupled to the action.

Result

You can now continue with step Cabinet lay-out or step Realisation.

In Cabinet set-up, add the digital sensor to a digital sensor module. If you are using an analogue sensor, add an analogue sensor module during cabinet set-up.