I had a customer request a sleep timer after I was completely done with a complicated 4630/Intellicontrol/2 TV setup... I ended up solving it with a crazy pile of black boxes, but would like to know if anyone has a more elegant solution - should it come up again...

I used the Intellicontrol to send X10 'A2 on' to an X10 IR Receiver which talked to an x10 Computer interface (can't remember sku) which waited 30 min and sent 'A1 on' to an X10 Drapes Relay for a Momentary relay... which I hooked to a 12V PS which I then hooked to a Xantech 590-10 (?I think?) which sent an Intellicontrol 'System Off' IR code to a Niles TS100 and back into the Intellicontrol HTIR Port...

Surprisingly enough, it has been quite reliable, but I still wonder when the inevitable call is going to come...

Any Ideas?

Norm

This is not meant sacasticly. You must have been quite proud to have come up with the kludged solution.

My solution would have been to use a prduct that made it a bit easier. What I have discovered is that clients never pay attention to the fact you saved them money only that the system they payed for does not work the way they want. I would rather use a more expensive solution which is why I would have sold the client a MC2W and ML-500.

However, I think you might have come close with a time relay. It has been a while since I checked but a believe there exists a timed relay with a 30 minute setting. You could have then brought the normally closed back into the Intellipad when time expired.

Alan

I was...

My problem was that this it the third major project for this same customer... the first was a media room, where we used an Intellicontrol (not -pad - BIG difference), and the second was a new apartment (for weekends) where we used Crestron... He said when we were starting the Master suite in the old house - 'my wife hates the Crestron in the City, how about using the same one as the Media Room?

This is where the mistake happened... I forgot that when we did the Crestron he walked in, picked up the panel and said - 'this is great - where's the sleep timer?'...

So, when he asked for the Niles, we said No Problem...

Luckily, with this guy, it's never been about money, just about making him happy, so when he said 'where's the sleep timer' again, I just said - let me think about it for a couple of days... and came up with the above solution.

Norm

ps any more info on the delayed relay? How does it trigger?

Contact Leo Soderman at ASI Home (a distributor)--knows everything humanly possible about stuff like this. Tell him I sent you. [email protected] (sorry, don't know his phone number).
-julie jacobson

In my experience when someone tells me they dislike Crestron - or AMX for that matter- what they are really saying is that they dislike touch panels as remotes. Kind of hard to disagree. Note that I suggested the ML-500.

You may also wish to give some thought to the process on how you sell touch panels. It can be useful to involve the client in the GUI. Color scheme and button layout matter can make a difference on how a user responds to a remote. But I am an inveterate male and I like one hand soluions as I incessently change channels. I have found that with exceptions ( such as my wife who actually prefers the ST-1700 to the ML500 ) that most people prefer remotes and one-handed remotes more than touch panels that require two hands.

Obviously making a sale and making the client happy is job one. But the control system makes everything possible. Note that the wife " hated Crestron" but they loved the coding it made possible. I would have tried a remote control and Crestron even if that remote was a Pronto and CNIRHT IR interface.

A time delay relay is a relay. It could be triggered by 12v, 24v, 120v or some other voltage. Intellicontrol outputs 12 volts and I would use a time delay relay with a 12 volt coil. You could then take one set of wires from the NC into the intellicontrol and an other set into the NO and then you would have status for when sleep was activated and when it was deactivated.


But kludged solutions often bring the most satisfaction as they require so much creativity.

Alan

Did you say you are using a ZR4630? Why wouldn't you use a TS-1 by Niles? This has a sleep timer built in.

I would have proposed crestron from the start. :P

I thought about the TS-1, but needed a wireless solution...