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Bromic Patio Heater Integration


DLite

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5 hours ago, bdo21 said:

Just following up on this as I am trying to find a patio heater that could integrate through C4.  Bromic say their system can be smart controlled but I'm not clear how.  Thanks!

I got the same unhelpful reply from Bromic.  They also sent along some documentation, but it was not clear how to relate it to C4, and Bromic could not provide any follow-up.

We are currently planning to install the Bromic heaters with on/off control via C4 using this device:  https://www.elkproducts.com/product/heavy-duty-relay-contactor-9200/

The ELK relay gets wired to the heater and to your main electrical panel.  On the other end, it can connect to a C4 wireless outlet or a C4 switch.

I should note we haven’t gotten to the installation stage yet, so this is just a plan so far.

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3 minutes ago, Paul Bresenden said:

I think you need the Home Automation Link from Bromic.  Did you get the integration worked out?  

That is helpful.  Interestingly, Bromic never suggested this, even though my contractor had about half a dozen conversations asking about this.  We actually just had the heaters installed a few weeks ago; the best we were able to do is have Control4 control on/off behavior using an ELK relay.  

Is there a Control4 driver for the Home Automation Link device?  I don't see anything in the resources page, and I'm guessing that asking Bromic will once again prove unhelpful.

Thanks a lot for the tip!

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22 hours ago, DLite said:

Wow, that is neat!  Can any of the US-based dealers on here source one of those Teleco RS232 modules for purchase?

 

That's the Bromic Home Automation Link, available from Bromic, I have 4 heaters and interface on order, hope to commission in the next 2 or 3 weeks, I'll provide an update on my hopeful future success....

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On 2/15/2022 at 4:18 PM, Dan - NZ C4 Dealer said:

That's the Bromic Home Automation Link, available from Bromic, I have 4 heaters and interface on order, hope to commission in the next 2 or 3 weeks, I'll provide an update on my hopeful future success....

I have the Bromic Home Automation Link now up and running.  Here is a quick summary of how it went.

Control of the Bromic Heaters via C4 app, Touch Screens, and remotes so far works flawlessly.  It was kind of annoying that the Bromic Home Automation Link device requires you to "roll your own" power supply, but other than that, the hardware installation was pretty straightforward.  My dealer also made quick work of the driver installation and memorization of the Bromic remotes.

So far, there are two limitations, neither of which is major, but both of which would be nice to solve.  First, the Chowmain Teleco driver documentation mentions two-way feedback is possible when using the factory RF remote. I have never gotten this to work, despite many attempts.  Does anyone have ideas about what I might be missing?

Second, the programmatic C4 control of the devices -- as opposed to the remote control -- is a little finicky.  We have two different Bromic remotes, one for each heater on our patio.  If I issue two commands to both heaters in succession, neither of them respond.  If I insert a delay of about 5 seconds between the commands, they *usually* both respond, but seemingly not always.  

On the whole, I'm reasonably happy.  I can live without programmatic control, although I do wish the two-way feedback worked for me.

 

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5 minutes ago, chopedogg88 said:

With the Teleco driver do you need to roll your own RS232 commands or does it already know the commands to control these heaters?

Anyone know if the remotes can be learned by the Bond Bridge?

You have to memorize each button on the remote, but it is a streamlined process that takes virtually no time.  It was less than one minute to memorize the 5 buttons on each Bromic remote.  (One minor limitation is that the Teleco driver does not support the heat up/down buttons on the remote, only the 5 heat level buttons.)  

I looked into Bond Bridge before I learned about this driver and transmitter device, but sadly the RF frequency of the Teleco remotes is not supported by Bond Bridge.

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13 minutes ago, chopedogg88 said:

Got it.  And it doesn't require any additional hardware besides the Bromic automation module, correct?

Pretty much.  We did need to buy a DB9 extension cable, because the Bromic module has an extremely short cable.  You'll also need to rig up a power supply. We bought a USB power adapter with the right voltage and amperage (I forget the specs, but you'll find them in the Bromic documentation), and then we bought a set of pig tail cables with a USB connector -- something like this: https://www.amazon.com/3-3Ft-20AWG-Pigtail-Cable-Black/dp/B09FF883CX/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=usb+pigtail+extender&qid=1646332066&sprefix=usb+pig+tail%2Caps%2C107&sr=8-6.

 

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On 3/3/2022 at 1:08 PM, DLite said:

You have to memorize each button on the remote, but it is a streamlined process that takes virtually no time.  It was less than one minute to memorize the 5 buttons on each Bromic remote.  (One minor limitation is that the Teleco driver does not support the heat up/down buttons on the remote, only the 5 heat level buttons.)  

I looked into Bond Bridge before I learned about this driver and transmitter device, but sadly the RF frequency of the Teleco remotes is not supported by Bond Bridge.

I memorized each button into composer and although i do get updates in control4 when client uses online keypad from heater company i cannot control it in control4 even though when i learn the buttons it says they have all inputed correctly 

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6 hours ago, JonB89 said:

I memorized each button into composer and although i do get updates in control4 when client uses online keypad from heater company i cannot control it in control4 even though when i learn the buttons it says they have all inputed correctly 

Just to clarify, when you refer to the "online keypad from heater company," are you referring to the physical Bromic remote, or to something else?  Also, when you were learning the buttons, did Composer show the channels as matching the default channel assignments?  (In my case they all matched without changes, but maybe this differs for certain kinds of remotes.)

 

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I'm having the same problem.  Learned in the commands no problem from the Bromic remote, and it even updates the status in Control4 when I press the buttons on the remote (so the 2-way comm is working), but when I try to send commands from Control4 they don't work.

I'm using an EA1 with 3.5mm to DB9 cable, I wonder if that messes with the baud rate or something?  but the driver does seem to be communicating with the bromic link as I said...just not sending commands or if it is, they aren't working.  

Does the bromic device flash LED or anything to show that it is sending a command?

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1 hour ago, chopedogg88 said:

I'm having the same problem.  Learned in the commands no problem from the Bromic remote, and it even updates the status in Control4 when I press the buttons on the remote (so the 2-way comm is working), but when I try to send commands from Control4 they don't work.

I'm using an EA1 with 3.5mm to DB9 cable, I wonder if that messes with the baud rate or something?  but the driver does seem to be communicating with the bromic link as I said...just not sending commands or if it is, they aren't working.  

Does the bromic device flash LED or anything to show that it is sending a command?

This is so weird.  2-way communication does not work at all for me, but Control4 issues the commands to Bromic flawlessly.

The Bromic device does not flash an LED or give any other signal that it is sending a command.

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4 minutes ago, chopedogg88 said:

So in my project, there are 5 remotes (each of which controls one heater and the light for that heater).  I linked them to the main Teleco driver ID's 201, 202, 203, 204, 205.  Does that sound right?

As I recall, there was a somewhat vague directive in the driver documentation about needing to link external remotes to a particular set of IDs.  I am away from my computer, so I can’t verify which ID was given. Maybe it was 201, but I don’t recall off the top of my head.  If not, perhaps that has something to do with this.  
 

I have two remotes, each linked to a separate driver ID.  And, we started linking at the ID number listed in the documentation for external remotes.

 

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