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Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................... 2 Test before you install ................................................................................................................................. 2 Maintaining the Control4 lighting experience..................................................................................... 2 Using Control4 Keypads to control HDL lighting............................................................................... 3 Using HDL Keypads .................................................................................................................................... 3 Controlling single channels of light ..................................................................................................... 3 Setting Scenes .............................................................................................................................................. 3 Scenes in Control4 ................................................................................................................................... 4 Limitations ....................................................................................................................................................... 5 Copy the driver files ................................................................................................................................. 5 Add the cloud driver to your project.............................................................................................. 6 Adding Dimmable Lights ......................................................................................................................... 7 Adding Blind and Shades ........................................................................................................................ 8 IP Interface .................................................................................................................................................... 10 Test the Operation....................................................................................................................................... 11 Warnings ........................................................................................................................................................ 12 Troubleshooting .......................................................................................................................................... 13 Addressing ................................................................................................................................................. 13 Connections ................................................................................................................................................ 13 Activating the Driver .............................................................................................................................. 13 Purchasing a permanent license.......................................................................................................... 14 Limitations ..................................................................................................................................................... 14
Introduction
The I-Coders HDL interface for Control4 allows you to control and mo nito r all single channel lighting functions of a single HDL network. In order to use this d r i v e r y o u must be competent in the i n s t a l l a t i o n and p r o g r am m ing of a HDL network. It assumes you have a good working knowledge of the HDL S-Bus Configuration Software and unde rst and the c o n c e p t s of functions and i n t e n s i t i e s. This driver i s what is known as a cloud driver. The cloud defines the HDL network to which you can a d d D i m m e d Lighting, Switched Lighting and M o t o r i z a t i o n Relays. When you add these elements to your project you have the ability to directly address them to match your functions within HDL.
Setting Scenes
You have the choice either of defining the scenes in Control4 or in HDL. The former requires some special coding for the HDL switches and w i l l also mean that scenes will only work when the C o n t r o l 4 system is installed and p r o g r a m m e d . The latter may require a D M X u n i t on the HDL system in order to store advanced s c e n e s but will ensure they are available before the C o n t r o l 4 system is commissioned.
Scenes in Control4 If you want to set and maintain scenes within Control4 you can program these keys in the conventional manner. Scenes can also be programmed in S-Bus the conventional method, i.e. through the attached Dimmer, then selecting Scene Select and Area; as shown below.
Limitations
1. Speed The HDL interface is not particularly high speed (even over a network connection). Large scenes can take a few seconds to send to the HDL network. Like scenes defined natively within HDL, when the levels change within a scene all the channels do not necessarily finish their changes of intensity concurrently. 2. Fade T i m i n g s HDL has fixed s p e e d s of fade. The Control4 interface shows more options than those built into HD L . The driver w i l l convert the C o n t r o l 4 fade time to the nearest available HDL fade time. 3. Popcorn Effect The HDL system is unicast. When a scene is recalled individual commands are sent out to each lighting channel. This means that channels will start fading one a f t e r a n o t h e r . This is the same behaviour that you would notice in a native HDL system.
Adding Switched Lights If you have lighting in the p r o p e r t y which is not dimmable (just switched on and o f f ) you can a d d t h i s as a relay. This will ensure that the c i r c u i t will appear on the lighting pages of the C o n t r o l 4 UIs but will not be shown with a dimming slider. To do this, add t he H D L Relay light interface rather than the Dimmer shown above. Then s e t the correct channel number and application to the circuit as shown above.
You should now rename this t o match the device you are controlling. In this example we a r e using it to control a blind. You now need to associate this with the H D L channel address thats been assigned to this relay channel. As before simply type the c h a n n e l number in the b o x provided, press tab and t h e n click on the S e t button. 8
We have now effectively created something similar t o the relay yo u would find on the b a c k of an HC300 controller. This wont appear on any of the Control4 user interfaces until we h a v e associated one o f Control4s elements with it.
To do this select one o f the e l e m e n t s from Co n t ro l4 s Motorization section under My Drivers. For this particular example we w i l l select the Blinds element from the list. Double click this and add this to your project. Then rename it to match the relay.
Switch to the Connections view and highlight the Blinds element the last item we added to the project.
You will see this has a Relay INPUT. You then need to connect this to the Relay OUTPUT of the HDL relay we defined earlier. Drag and drop the Input to the Output to make the connection. This blind will now appear in the correct part of the Control4 user interface.
IP Interface
The i-Coders driver is only compatible with 1 IP interface port on the system. You will need to first confirm the S-Bus IP address and the Control4 IP address, the socket port interval is for the timed response to and from the S-Bus driver. (Using more than 1 IP interface port will cause the Controller to crash, and require a reboot.) This should not be set more than 1500 milliseconds, otherwise long delay will occur for all stacked up messages and possibly cause a controller crash.
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Warnings
Ensure S-Bus is connected before using Control4 for lighting If you do not have the n e t w o r k Interface connected to HDL and the Control4 controller Control4 commands will get stacked up. All the button presses, on/off level commands will be queued up by the controller until the connection is made. One of two things will happen. Either the Controller will create such a large queue of commands that it will crash, or when the HDL network is attached all of these commands will be sent to the HDL network. The client will then either think the house is haunted or the system is dangerous. If this happens then you should power-cycle the Control4 controller running Director.
Do not use more than 1 Network interface for programming You will need to first confirm the S-Bus IP address and the Control4 IP address, the socket port interval is for the timed response to and from the S-Bus driver. (Using more than 1 network port will cause the Controller to crash, and require a reboot.)
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Troubleshooting
There are three main c a u s e s of most problems with the operation of the interface.
Addressing
Make s u re that the c h a n n e l numbers you use in HDL are the same as the o n e s you associate the lights with in Control4. Ensure you have the correct Subnet ID and Device ID.
Connections
Check y o u connected the d r i v e r bo th physically and in Composer to the correct network port on your controller. Is the IP interface connected to the H D L network, is the IP interface lights flashing red and green? If not check your HD L network and reboo t the I P interface by disconnecting and r e c o n n ec t i n g the H D L cable. Now c h e c k by double clicking on one of the Outlet Lights in system design to see if it can be switched on and off. If the lights switch On and Off from the Composer interface the problem lies with the programming of the keypad. Work through the examples again. Other If other problems occur go through the process of disconnecting the HDL cable from the IP interface waiting and plugging it back in again. Then reiniti alize the interface from within Contro14.
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Carefully copy and paste the Licence key into the Activation Key field and press Set.
Limitations
This driver has only been tested on the IP interface: SB-DN-1P i-Coders cannot guarantee it will work on any other variations or models.
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