Crestron Shade Control4 Driver

Driverlane / Control4 / Ver 6 / July 07, 2021Download Now
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SKU: DRL_CrestronShade_C4Z Category: Tags: , , Brand:

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Are you a Control4 and Crestron dealer and would like to utilize high quality, ultra-reliable Crestron shades into your Control4 installations?

-OR- Are you taking over a Crestron installation that has existing Crestron Shades?

Using a serial connection between a Crestron processor and a Control4 processor, this driver supports up to 100 Crestron shades within a Control4 system.

This driver requires the roller shades to be fully functional in the Crestron system AND requires custom Crestron programming.

You must be able to program the Crestron system or work closely with a Crestron programmer to configure the Crestron shades for this driver.

Driver Features:

  • Supports up to 100 Crestron shades in a Control4 installation
  • Reliable RS-232 connection
  • 2-Way status feedback
  • Discrete level control with Stop support
  • Supports multiple shade types such as roller, blind, curtain, etc.
  • Supports shade/blind groups using existing (free) Control4 Blind Group driver
  • Utilize existing Crestron shades in Control4 takeover jobs
  • Provide a high quality hard-wired shade alternative to Lutron
  • Help meet sales obligations for both Control4 and Crestron as dealers for both manufacturers

This driver requires the roller shades to be fully functional in the Crestron system AND requires custom Crestron programming.

You must be able to program the Crestron system or work closely with a Crestron programmer to configure the Crestron shades for this driver.

This integration requires 3 DRIVERLANE drivers/modules to be installed:

  1. Crestron: Crestron Shade Level Module
  2. Control4: Crestron Shade Network Driver
  3. Control4: Crestron Shade

Crestron

Add the proper Crestron symbols for each shade physically installed.

Configure the 2-Way serial COM port for the Crestron processor.
Note: Serial driver MUST be configured for 9600 Baud, 8 Data Bits, 1 Stop bit, No Parity

Add the DRIVERLANE “Crestron Shade Level” Module

Connect signals from “Crestron Shade Level” Module to the 2-Way Serial COM Port.

Connect the following signals with feedback from each Crestron shade symbol to the “Crestron Shade Level” module:

  • Shade_Level
  • Shade_Stop
  • Shade_Is_Raising
  • Shade_Is_Lowering

Compile and Load!

Control4

Physically connect a serial RS-232 connection from an open COM port on a Crestron processor to an open RS-232 port on a Control4 controller or IOXtender.**NOTE: RS-232 connection MUST be a null modem connection. Either connect the Crestron and Control4 processors together with a null modem cable or connect them with a straight-through cable and enable the null modem settings on the Control4 port within Composer.

Search for the drivers via the “driver search” tab.

Double click the “Crestron Shade Network” driver to add it to the project.

Double click the “Crestron Shade” driver to add it to the project. Add 1 instance of the “Crestron Shade” driver for each 1 shade you would like to control.

*Optional* Search for the “Control4 Blind Group” Driver and double click to add it the project. This driver allows you to control multiple Crestron shades as a single group. Add 1 instance of the “Control4 Blind Group” for each group of shades you would like to control AS A GROUP.

**Note: “Control4 Blind Group” driver will ignore ‘Toggle Behavior’ setting for each shade and close all shades that are open or open all shades that are closed when the toggle command is invoked for the group.

–OR–

*Optional* Search for the “Crestron Shade Group” driver and double click to add it the project. This driver allows you to control multiple Crestron shades as a single group while honoring the specified ‘Toggle Behavior’ for each shade. Add 1 instance of the “Crestron Shade Group” driver for each 1 group of shades you would like to control AS A GROUP. 

For each instance of the “Crestron Shade” driver, specify the ‘Blind Type’ and ‘Blind Movement’ on the System Design tab.

Note: ‘Blind Type’ will adjust the icon within the Control4 GUI to match the type of shade that is physically installed.
‘Blind Movement’ will adjust the slider functionality within the Control4 GUI to match the movement of the shade that is physically installed.

For each instance of the “Crestron Shade” driver, specify the ‘Travel Time’ on the System Design tab.
Note: This setting is to ensure the slider within the Control4 GUI corresponds to the current physical position of the shade while it is in motion.

For each instance of the “Crestron Shade” driver, specify the ‘Toggle Behavior’ on the System Design tab.

  1. Standard: If shade is open, it will close. If shade is closed, it will open.
  2. Stop Then Standard: If shade is in motion, shade will stop. If shade is stopped and shade is open, it will close. If shade is stopped and shade is closed, it will open.
  3. Stop Then Reverse Direction: If shade is in motion, shade will stop. If shade is stopped, shade will move in the opposite direction than its previous movement.

In Composer, connect the RS-232 connection on the “Crestron Shade Network” driver to the proper RS-232 port on your Control4 controller

Connect each “Crestron Shade” driver to the corresponding shade connection on the “Crestron Shade Network” driver.

Note: The shade connection #’s in the “Crestron Shade Network” Control4 driver correspond to the shade connection #’s in the Crestron Shade Level Crestron module in your Crestron program.
Example: If you desire to control the Master Bedroom Shade, and the Master Bedroom Shade signals are connected to shade #5 on the ‘Shade Level” module in your Crestron program, you must connect the Master Bedroom Shade Control4 driver to shade #5 in the “Crestron Shade Network” driver in your Control4 program.

Refresh The Project!

Properties (Crestron Shade Network): 

License Status: Displays the current license status of the driver according to Blackwire Designs licensing server.

License Key: Input the license key from your Blackwire Designs dealer account and press the “set” button to activate the driver.

Director MAC: Displays the MAC of the Control4 processor running Director.

Command Delay: Displays the delay (in milliseconds) that Control4 will delay transmitting consecutive RS-232 commands to the Crestron processor. If it is determined that some commands are ‘missed/ignored’ by the Crestron processor, adjust the command delay to speed up or slow down transmitted commands.

Debug Mode: Select a mode to debug the driver. Debug mode will revert to “off” after a predetermined time.

Properties (Crestron Shade): 

Debug Mode: Select a mode to debug the driver. Debug mode will revert to “off” after a predetermined time.

Travel Time: Enter Time (in seconds) it takes the shade to physically travel from open to close.
Note: This setting is to ensure the slider within the Control4 GUI corresponds to the current physical position of the shade while it is in motion.

Actions (Crestron Shade Network): 

Open All Shades: Opens all shades connected to the driver.

Close All Shades: Closes all shades connected to the driver.

Poll All Shades: Updates the current status within the Control4 GUI of all shades connected to the driver.

Clear Incoming Buffer: Clears all incoming commands from the Crestron processor. Use if it is determined the Crestron processor or Control4 controller has stopped responding to commands.

Kill All Timers: Forces all timers within the driver to expire. Use if it is determined the Crestron processor or Control4 controller has stopped responding to commands.

Actions (Crestron Shade): 

Poll Shade Level: Updates the current status within the Control4 GUI of the shade.

Kill All Timers: Forces all timers within the driver to expire. Use if it is determined the Crestron processor or Control4 controller has stopped responding to commands.

Troubleshooting: 

Communication

Most issues that arise are due to improperly configured RS-232 connections. To troubleshoot RS-232 issues, use Crestron debugger to view signals to and from the 2-way RS-232 module.
1) If there is no communication received from Control4, check your null modem settings. Either switch to a null modem cable or enable the null modem settings in Composer
2) If there is communication received from Control4 however it is garbled, check your RS-232 settings in the 2-way RS-232 module. Serial driver MUST be configured for 9600 Baud, 8 Data Bits, 1 Stop bit, No Parity

Performance

If the shade opens/closes opposite of the commands sent in Control4, check the ‘Blind Type’ and ‘Blind Movement’ for the “Crestron Shade” in System Design. It is likely the movement chosen does NOT match the physical movement of the shade.

If the shade slider within the Control4 GUI doesn’t closely reflect the physical position of the shade while it is in motion, adjust the ‘Travel Time’ property in composer to more accurately match the amount of time (in seconds) it takes the shade to physically travel from open to close.

Download Link

Driverlane / Control4 / Ver 6 / July 07, 2021Download Now

Release Notes

Version 6 - (July 07, 2021)

Update the driver package to include the crestron archive file.

Version 5 - (July 01, 2021)

Added Toggle Behavior Selection.

Version .99 - (May 15, 2021)

Initial Beta Release

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