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Topic:
cooper wiring device
This thread has 11 replies. Displaying all posts.
Post 1 made on Monday February 8, 2010 at 20:50
brucewayne
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I saw a two-way for cooper and was wondering if anybody is using this for lighting control and if it works well. I am lutron homeworks certified and its allot more money, If its reliable then why should I pay for lutron?
brucewayne
Post 2 made on Monday February 8, 2010 at 21:40
thefish
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On February 8, 2010 at 20:50, brucewayne said...
I saw a two-way for cooper and was wondering if anybody is using this for lighting control and if it works well. I am lutron homeworks certified and its allot more money, If its reliable then why should I pay for lutron?

Well, I could ask the same question, but the answer for me is, Lutron IS alot more money. Lutron is about as bulletproof as it gets. Don't know about Cooper, but Homeworks is super powerful in the hands of the right programmer, Lutron has 24/7 tech support, in the USA, Lutron constantly updates their software. Homeworks integrates perfect with their QED shades. I can remotely update clinet's processors. I'll dump RTI before I dump lutron. Of all the stuff we sell/integrate, I'm glad I can at least count on my lighting control working 100% of the time. For me, I can't put a price on that.

Sorry, I guess that didn't really answer your question, just my 2c.
Post 3 made on Tuesday February 9, 2010 at 00:31
RTI Installer
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?

Whats the problem here ----Radio Ra2 is less expensive than Cooper Aspire look up the new pricing. We were going to try out the cooper stuff, when I saw the pricing I said no way. cooper has some cool options BUT! Lutron is a way better company
Never Ignore the Obvious -- H. David Gray
Post 4 made on Tuesday February 9, 2010 at 15:47
jjw 2009
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I've picked up a few light switches and will be testing the two way over the next couple of days. I will let you know how it works.
OP | Post 5 made on Tuesday February 9, 2010 at 19:13
brucewayne
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Cooper is more expensive? I thought it was cheaper. I know how rock solid lutron is but it is a lot for a proccessor. I'm looking for a more affordable system. I have also been looking at the centralite rf stuff. At cost the switches are half the price of lutron and i can have the first ten switches for the price of an ra processor. I like the idea of spec-ing 4 or 5 switches without the large upfront costs of a processor.
brucewayne
Post 6 made on Tuesday February 9, 2010 at 21:08
jabberwockie
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8
Ok - Cooper stuff is built on z-wave, so when will the Leviton Vizia RF drivers be coming out?
Post 7 made on Wednesday February 10, 2010 at 01:56
RTI Installer
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On February 9, 2010 at 21:08, jabberwockie said...
Ok - Cooper stuff is built on z-wave, so when will the Leviton Vizia RF drivers be coming out?

I have been asking the same thing. We have done several Leviton systems, works well for what it is, and its very low cost
Never Ignore the Obvious -- H. David Gray
Post 8 made on Saturday February 13, 2010 at 13:11
jjw 2009
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I have configured a small system with 9 Cooper RF light switches and tested the following with an XP8 and T2-C.

Light switches
Light dimmers
RF Outlets
Scene controllers
HomeSeerer Software
Cooper RF Handheld, (the ugly blue lcd background remote hehe)
Cooper RF RS232 Interface

I have tested the system both in One way (MPIO) and two way (RS232)

I first tested the system with a one way system, i setup the lightswitches/dimmers/electrical outlets. I created scenes. I was able to get everything to work. I created my commands from scratch and put them in macros. The hardest thing was re-calling complex scenes or making changes to them. It can take some time doing it with the one way system. If you make a mistake, you have no idea what went wrong. It can be quite frustrating if you are not 100% familiar with the cooper command structure and the ligths are not doing what they should be doing.

Now for the two way... I created a different system, i was more interested in how zigbee remote re-acted to the commands as well how quick could poll the system from a sleep state.

I started with just one light switch and ran into massive issues. I created several icons/buttons. I created one button with a variable string text. When value=0="Off" When value=255="On". I created another button that was visible when on only. I created a toggle button with variable text (used from oasis template) and a slider/dimmer (used from the oasis template). The switch i used was not a dimmer, so i turned the slider/dimmer icon into a toggle to test.

I connected the RS232 interface via serial on the XP8. The biggest thing i noticed, and it probably is not the driver's fault is that xp8 can not poll the status of the lights when it turns on/resets or when the T2-C switches to that page with the buttons.

What this causes is the buttons not to work. When i switch to the page with lights it has the variable texts set to 0, the variable text are set to "off". The toggle with variables (oasis template) are set to off, and the slider/dimmer is at the bottom. Here is where you run into problems. When you hit any of the commands that should turn on the light, the variable texts change, to "On", the toggle button (oasis template) switches graphics, and displays "on". The slider/dimmer does not change and most disappointing the light does not turn on.

I believe the fault lies in the RS232 device. If you play with the buttons long enough the light sometimes turns on. Once it turns on, it syncs up with the RS232 interface and the buttons behave as they should with the correct text. Until you can turn on the light the buttons refuse to work, and its a guessing game as to when the remote can turn on the lights. I have the nodes setup correctly, but the remote has a very very hard time turning on the light.

The RS232 interface is very very limited functions. I know the cooper system quite well. When the light switches are turned on they broadcast their status and dimmer level (if its a dimmer) via the zwave. Any zwave device should be able to pickup the broadcast. I do not believe the RS232 interface or the light switches random broadcast or poll each other unless activated.

what it comes down to is a very un-reliable two way system, of which i am convinced it is not the fault of the driver. Cooper has a "Home Controller" which may offer better communication to its products, but the RS232 interface works well for one way system, but it doesnt work well for two way systems. I have tested using a baud speed of 11500, i will try the same system using 9600. and update this post with the out comes.
Post 9 made on Saturday February 13, 2010 at 23:23
RTI Installer
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I would like to see how the two way works with a touch panel, so as to determine if the remote is the week link in two way cooper applications
Never Ignore the Obvious -- H. David Gray
Post 10 made on Sunday February 14, 2010 at 12:41
jjw 2009
Long Time Member
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i tried to do more testing yesterday, but the remote battery died heh. I was tempted to pick up a TP yesterday at my supplier but even with the accommodation plan, they are still kinda pricey. I'll talk to them about letting me borrow it for the testing purposes. More info will come on monday.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that i have the zigbee antenna located 15+ feet from my wireless router and i have put several weather pages on the T2-C as well as the time on the top of each page. The Weather services always work (short delay in getting the info) but i know two way is working because of the time.

I also have flags on the xp for other devices in the house and the remote is designed to have visible and variable texts depending on those flags and those work as well.

Last edited by jjw 2009 on February 14, 2010 13:17.
Post 11 made on Tuesday February 16, 2010 at 18:25
jjw 2009
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okies... i picked up a TP today. i connected via the control port and the ethernet port. Loaded a profile onto the TP with similar pages from the T2c. As soon as i flipped to the light page the bar graphs and toggle switches responded immediately! The pages on the T2c re-acted immediately as well.

Having a constant connection to the processor made a massive difference. Even after restarting the TP or the XP8 the page responded to the light switches and their states.

I removed the TP from the system, restarted the T2c and the Xp8 and lost the responsiveness from the syetem. If you want reliable two way feedback with the cooper, you need a tp that is hard wired into the system for accurate feedback.

Im disappointed that in order to get reliable feedback you need a TP, but i am happy i have done some solid troubleshooting.... now.... who wants to buy the TP off me lol.....
Post 12 made on Saturday August 23, 2014 at 14:28
markandersonus
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On February 16, 2010 at 18:25, jjw 2009 said...
okies... i picked up a TP today. i connected via the control port and the ethernet port. Loaded a profile onto the TP with similar pages from the T2c. As soon as i flipped to the light page the bar graphs and toggle switches responded immediately! The pages on the T2c re-acted immediately as well.

Having a constant connection to the processor made a massive difference. Even after restarting the TP or the XP8 the page responded to the light switches and their states.

I removed the TP from the system, restarted the T2c and the Xp8 and lost the responsiveness from the syetem. If you want reliable two way feedback with the cooper, you need a tp that is hard wired into the system for accurate feedback.

Im disappointed that in order to get reliable feedback you need a TP, but i am happy i have done some solid troubleshooting.... now.... who wants to buy the TP off me lol.....

I need to do this. Forgive me, what's a TP? Is this still your recommended way of doing this?

Thanks

Mark


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