Hey all,

Currently working on a job with the following:

RTI XP-8
RTI T3-V and K3-v
8 Somfy RTS shade motors
Somfy URTS control interface

The Somfy URTS didn't come with a CAT5 to DB9 converter so we just went CAT5E from one of the XP8 RS232 ports straight to the RJ45 jack on the Somfy interface. We programmed the Somfy interface and got it controlling the shades. When we connected the Somfy to the XP8 and tried our T3-V program, nothing worked. I checked the RS232 in the RTI library with Somfy documentation and they matched. I checked the pinouts and noticed that the CAT5 jack on the XP8 and Somfy don't match. I spliced the CAT5 going from the XP8 to the Somfy and made sure ground matched with ground, Tx with Rx, and Rx with Tx. Still nothing. I think our problem is going CAT5 from XP8 to Somfy instead of going CAT5 from XP8 to male DB9 and the female DB9 to CAT5 into Somfy. I know they have a DB9 to CAT5 adaptor (Part #9015028
from Somfy) but I'm not sure it would solve our problem? The send and recieve lights don't light up when we hit keys on the remote so it looks like RTI isn't sending anything to Somfy which lead me to believe it was a pinout problem.

Has anyone used this URTS piece and did anyone have any issues? Has anyone used the Somfy adaptor to get things up and running?

TIA

Ali

Edit: Just took a deeper look and the DB9 to CAT5 adaptor Somfy uses isn't anything special, just another adaptor, shoulda figured that! Anyone know the correct pinout of the CAT5 RS232 jack of the Somfy and what the RS232 settings in regards to baud rate, etc, are?

did you try swapping rx and tx? if you matched rx to rx and tx to tx, it wont work.

[Link: somfy.com]

I matched xp8 rx to somfy tx and xp8 tx to somfy rx and ground to ground. I didn't touch the other pins. I used the documentation posted above to get my pinouts.

Other than a custom pin out on their RJ-12 there ought to be no issues. I have done a few. You do need to program the URTS to the shade motors. Dial should be set to one, save when testing individual shades.

It requires a serial port for each unit being controlled via RS-232. All you get are 16 addresses--though an almost infinite amount of shade motors can be programmed to each address.

There is no feedback. One test is to move the address dial to 3 and press the down button. Is there any response? Then send the code for UP/Down/Stop.

Alan

As a reminder, the rotary switch on the Somfy must be set to position 1 when controlling via RS-232.

I've done a dozen of them with Nevo, so there is no reason you cannot do it with RTI.

Hey guys, to add to the OP:

URTSI II has been configured with propriatry remote and if you switch the URTSI "dial" from 1-8 (there are 8 shades) and use the URTSI up/stop/down it works on each individual shade 1-8. 

That tells me the programming from the remote to the URTSI did transfer properly.

RS-232 on the processor side is pretty clear so we've got that covered as well.

When out of "programming mode" the URTSI dial is set to 01 as per the RS-232 programming - (i.e., 0101U)

So, it must be something with the pinout of the TX/RX on the XP-8 on pins 5/6 and the TX/RX on the URTSI on pins 3/6....

Puts us right back to the beginning...  Just trying to get this patch cable sorted...

As an FYI to CI - Somfy support has been zero, nada, fast asleep....  Left phone messages for days, PM'd on RC as they have a presence here. and.... nothing....

As we all know support is absolutly key when in the field and back in the office trying to sort out new product and when it doesn't happen... time to move on... 

Why can't they all be like Denon, Zektor, Channel Vision, etc. and step up and support their product with CI...?

I thought I read in a post somewhere on here that somebody had luck using a terminating character following the serial string. Can't seem to find the post though.

I would try swapping Tx and Rx as I have noticed a discrepancy between Somfy's labeling of those pins and 3rd party's pin labels (ie rs232 converters) it is worth a try, but you may have done this already.

ali, how did this work out for you? you had several people give good suggestions, let them know whats up why dont ya!

Ed,
Sorry! I should have been more thurough.

We tried all of the suggestions above and nothing worked. We programmed the shades on the URTS and they worked fine, we had the switch set to one, and we did try swapping RX and TX, but no dice. We took a look at both the XP8 documentation and the Somfy documentation, switched some things around (I honestly don't remember what pins we used) and got it working, I also remember that we had to ground both common wires, it wouldn't work with one for some reason (although maybe you SHOULD ground both, I really don't know; I'm pretty inexperienced with how 232 works!) In the end, it was the pinout and a few silly mistakes while reading the documentation that got us :]. I also think that the RX and TX as posted on the Somfy documentation were reversed (not entirely sure though).

Having same problem with RTI xp-8 and T3-V and T2-C. The somfy rts interface and output port rj45 connector do not match the wiring diagram. First, ordered the db9 connector from somfy. Plugged in the xp-8 rs232 connector and two cat5 cables into the db9 connector. Next programmed the codes from the somfy rf remote into the rts interface and made sure the up, down and stop worked, switched the output of somfy interface back to channel 1. Then programmed rs232 codes into remote, just as the somfy said to do. Nothing worked. Changed the the output to sustain and could get the shades to work, but not very well. Unchecked sustain box. Changed the serial communications setting Stop Bits to 2. Output settings, Delays between characters to 2. Finally, changed the Rs232 string with carriage return. Now all works very well.

thanks you for this thorough and clear step by step explanation.
I have Somfy Shades, and am hoping to get them on my Home automation system.
I imagine my integrator will spend lots of time wrangling with them. I was thinking of using Lutron on the the drapes that are not on a motor; now I am rethinking this . . .
Thanks again
Sher

That was almost 5 years ago- look into QMotion as well as Lutron.

Thanks
I will look at those options.
I appreciate you feedback!

Somfy, Lutron, QMotion, Sonos, RTI integrators out there.

I still have yet to pull the trigger on my automation project and Somfy has made progress since 2016.
Have any of you dealt with them recently?
I have two sets of motorized Somfy blinds I would like to integrate into an RTI system.

Separate issue:
**I have one small Somfy blind that's not motorized that I'm hoping to put on to a motored roller . . . .
Also a curved drape I would like to get motorized . . .
Any suggestions?
Thanks