Home Automation Universal Interface

Home automation systems (such as our Vera® wifi control system) can be easily interfaced with our RollerTrol™ motors (shown on left) to control windows, window blinds and shades, vents, skylights and any other item you would like to move with a motorized roller or actuator.

12v DC Motor Universal Interface for Home Automation Systems:

This is the unit you need to add a group of blinds to your existing home automation system (buy it in our online store). The price includes the universal interface and 1 motor of choice, additional motors and power supplies are purchased separately as required.

The universal interface kit for home automation systems will work with I/O controllers from companies such as Vera®, Insteon^®, Z-Wave^®, Zigbee^®, Crestron^® and Control4^®. Any home automation system that has dry contact output (ie relay capability) will work with our product. All it requires is 2 switch closures for FORWARD & REVERSE. A third relay can be used as an extra safety margin to interrupt the power. This kit includes the interface controller and one motor of choice, and will control one group of up to approximately 8 blinds (10 amps), depending on motor selection and size of blind.

Our 12v power supplies have a positive (+) wire and a negative (-) wire. We normally refer to the negative (-) wire as 'ground'. If someone says a wire is 'shorted' to ground, you could substitute the word 'connected'. In this example, we'll use the Insteon EZIO 4 Input/2 Output Relay Controller as an example of a home automation system I/O (input/output) module that we want to use to operate our motors.

One side of the 'normally open' relay contacts in the Insteon controller would be connected to a control wire (white) on our interface. The other side of the relay contacts would be connected to the negative (-) wire (ground). When the relay is activated by an Insteon control signal, the relay contacts close and thus connect the control wire (white) on our interface to ground, activating the motor in one direction.

The other control wire (white with black stripe) is connected to the other relay and does exactly the same thing, except the motor wiring is reversed and thus turns in the opposite direction.

A STOP command needs to be issued to open the operating relay, before another command is issued to close the contacts on the other relay to operate the motor in the reverse direction.

The motor itself is connected to the two separate output wires (blue), and the power supply is connected to the 2 separate power input wires (red+, black-).

Note that our RollerTrol™ motors use a highly accurate internal electronic pulse counter to detect the travel limits (which you preset) and will automatically stop when the limits in either direction are reached. One advantage this has over older mechanical systems is that the number of turns is unlimited, so you can use them for really long blinds, such as you find with an atrium or greenhouse window.

Here are the motors that can be used with the Universal Interface: (see motor combinations with this item in our store)

• Mini series, powerful for its size: TMDC-12-18-03-25-NR (18 mm drive diameter uses 1" tube, 4 lb lift, 25 rpm)
• Standard series, medium lift capacity: TMDC-12-25-07-34-NR (35mm drive use 1.5" tube, 6 lb lift, 34 rpm)
• Standard series, heavy duty lift capacity: TMDC-12-25-15-28-NR (35mm drive use 1.5" tube, 12 lb lift, 28 rpm)

We sincerely hope you enjoy using these advanced motors; if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at any time!