Hello,
If you would, could you go over the details of what has been done at Hunter Douglas to make integration easier? Specifically hardware and software changes to facilitate these endeavors.

We have one house that has HD shades. The original house used hardwired shades and other than one shade not working (terminal in the distribution can went bad) there hasn't been any issue.

FFW 5 years and they put an addition on the house and HD shades get installed in the addition. These are the Wireless ones and the installer had nothing but issues with them. Motors wouldn't store limits. Range from the wireless receiver to the shades is 10-15' MAX. A bunch of repeaters are needed that just plug into the wall in order to get the shades working correctly. The cleaner/kid unplugs a repeater and all hell breaks loose and us as the integrator get $h!t on even though we have absolutely nothing to do with them other than recalling the programmed scene. Integration is a PAIN and very intermittent. Everything has to be setup on their app then you can only recall the scenes that had been programmed. The wireless Hub auto updates and breaks integration all the time ( I am almost to the point of adding the shades to their own slot on the Crestron processor so I can program a slot reboot every couple days to keep the shade integration working. Ohh and all the shades are LOUD. You can't have a conversation and trigger the shades as you won't hear each other.

I would not buy/install HD shades if they paid me to. There are other brands out there that integrate much more seamlessly and are QUIET.

If HD were to go back to a wired shade system and not try and use this wireless BS and spend some money in re-engineering their motors to be half as loud they may have a system that is worth while again, until that happens look elsewhere.

Sure thing.

- Almost all of our shade types have new motor technology that includes better radios and much better firmware. In most cases, it's also a fair bit quieter (although not as quiet as it needs to be - I need a little more time to make that happen). We make 20+ different types of shades so a few of the low-runners are still being phased in with these updated motors.
- Gen2 PowerView hub and repeater introduced in late 2017. Much better radios and dramatically improved aesthetics. Also enabled the ability to have a primary hub and secondary hubs (kinda like having additional ZAPs for those of you familiar with C4 ZigBee) which means you can minimize the number of repeater hops to get from a hub to a shade.
- Completely overhauled the integration API. It allows for individual shade control as well as full 2-way feedback on shade position.
- C4 driver is taking full advantage of the new API.You get both shade and scene control. Latest C4 driver is available in their online database and can be found by searching for "PowerView" in Composer.
- Elan driver has also been updated with new API although some limitations of their system make it so that shades that do more than one thing (e.g. up/down plus tilt) can't be represented in their system and are thus limited to scene control. They know they need to figure out a solution to this. The driver is available from Elan or from our website.
- Still working to get Crestron/Savant/URC on board with the new API. We're going to be rolling out another big API update in the next month(ish) so I'm kinda holding for that update before I really start bugging those folks.

Keep in mind that all of the above is in reference to our PowerView system which originally launched in 2015. Shades that are on the older PowerRise/Platinum system are a completely different ball of wax. I would frankly not recommend attempting to integrate those. You and your clients will just be frustrated.

Hope that helps.

When did the new models start shipping and how would you recommend increasing the range of the hub, in light of the fact that the installer has vanished?

Hi Scott,

Nice to see you here. We met at the last couple of HD Premieres meetings in Palm Beach Gardens, FL.

I'm curious about how the CI Program is different from the HD Alliance Program.

Dawn

P.S. Wouldn't use it today, but in my home I still have the early Platinum system and I'm running (3) Shades using the HD RF adapter and a Control4 Outlet switch. :-)

Sorry for the delayed response. It's been a crazy couple of days.

PowerView launched in July, 2015. The Gen 2 PowerView Hub and Repeater started shipping in September, 2017 and an updated version of the Gen 2 hub with an additional 4dB of radio signal strength started shipping earlier this year. (The last of those was a rolling change so I can't give you an exact date.)

As for your second question, it really depends on whether the shades/hub are PowerView or the older PowerRise and, if the former, whether it's a Gen 1 or Gen 2 hub.

If you'd like, send me a PM and I'll get you hooked up with our tech support folks who can help you work through this.

Hi Dawn,

I'd recommend talking to your DSM about the CI program vs our aligned programs and which one best fits your needs.

So on the updated Powerview system, how do the shades communicate with C4 and how many repeaters would you have to have? Also, if a customer raise/lowers a shade twice a day, how long do batteries last? Is there a hard wired option? If so, what type of wiring does it require and how much are power supplies?

Does the C4 app support raise/lower and tilt?

The shades were installed around April of this year- not sure if the mechanisms were in stock or ordered for the job. The hub and remote look like the PowerView pieces I saw when I googled them.

If there's a way to bypass a password to enter the setup, I could probably get it to network better. If necessary, I can also hard wire it although that shouldn't be a problem since it's 15' from the router and the walls are drywall, not plaster with metal lath. No metal between them, either.

The C4 system communicates with our hub via IP (either wired Ethernet or WiFi) and utilizes SDDP. Communication from hub to shades is via our own proprietary RF protocol.

The # of repeaters needed really depends on the size of the house, construction of the house, etc. You can also utilize multiple hubs to reduce the # of repeaters. You can think of that sort of like adding a secondary ZAP in a C4 system.

Battery life can vary by shade size but, on a typical size shade that goes up once a day and down once a day, you're typically going to get a little over a year of battery life. You can also hardwire them for power. I typically suggest 16/2 in-wall speaker cable for that. We do not currently have a hardwired for communication option with PowerView. If you want to PM me, I'm happy to give you pricing on the power supplies but don't want to do that in a public forum.

Yes, the C4 app supports raise/lower and tilt. It also allows you to control some of our more complex shades - for example shades that can be opened both from the bottom up and the top down or our Silhouette Duolite shades that combine a front shade that goes up/down and tilts plus a rear blackout shade (all using one tube and motor). There's full two-way feedback on shade position to the C4 system.

I'd be very surprised if this were a WiFi setup issue. The hub is likely communicating with the WiFi network just fine. I'm guessing that the system just wasn't designed well to provide adequate communication from hub to all of the shades.

I'll send you a PM.