Infratech Control4 Driver

[grant0830]

Hello,

we have 4 infratech heaters connected to the infratech home management system however we don’t have dim-able control over the heaters. From what I can tell the home management system is connected to relays on the back of our hc-800 but this is only allowing us to turn all 4 heaters on or off within control4? Any help would be much appreciated 

 

[Unsocialtoaster]

Hi Grant, for dimmable control you would need the 4 relays (for on/off) plus a 0-10v dimmer for each heater (or you could group them all together on one 0-10v dimmer I think - I haven't done it myself to be sure).

 

The best choice for 0-10v dimmers depends a bit on your existing system. If you have Control4 panelised lighting (as assuming you can get wires from the panel location to the heater controls, then the panelised 0-10v dimmer module would be your best bet (C4-DIN-8TV-E). This would let you control all 4 heaters individually.

If you have Control4 wireless lighting then their wireless 0-10v dimmer will likely be what you want (C4-TV240-WH).

If you had a different lighting control system such as Lutron, then you could use their 0-10v dimmers to achieve the same results.

[byronomo]

Thanks!    I also have Infratech heaters and have some follow-on questions if someone might be able to help:

1.  If I have 3 dual-element Infratech heaters, in order to both control them independently AND to utilize both elements so that I can enjoy the full range of heat output, would I need a control unit with 3 relays or 6?
2. If I utilize a separate 0-10v dimmer for each heater, are both elements "on" whenever the heater is on and the dimmer just increases the heat of both in parallel?

 

(Sorry for the naive questions)

[Cyknight]

1. You'd need a relay per element, so 6

 

2. When using 0-10v dimmer, you'll want to have switches to match per heater  Why? Because we've seen time and again that the heater doesn't quite shut off when a dimmer is set to 0%. The switch would cut power to the device itself (do note the voltage!)

That said, you could likely get away with 3 switch (worst case the 'second' element would work at near zero output) - the 0-10v dimmer would be the same as relays - you'd want one per element if you want separated control.

 

All this assumes each unit has separate connections per element of course.

[D-A/V]

Quote

1. You'd need a relay per element, so 6

 

2. When using 0-10v dimmer, you'll want to have switches to match per heater  Why? Because we've seen time and again that the heater doesn't quite shut off when a dimmer is set to 0%. The switch would cut power to the device itself (do note the voltage!)

That said, you could likely get away with 3 switch (worst case the 'second' element would work at near zero output) - the 0-10v dimmer would be the same as relays - you'd want one per element if you want separated control.

 

All this assumes each unit has separate connections per element of course.

Cyknight,

are you saying you can use a 0-10V dimmer without the use of a home management panel?

If so, how does the 0-10V dimmer wire into the mix? also will the 0-10v dimmer be able to handle the load? 

[Cyknight]

there are 'standard' decora style 0-10v dimmers

the 0-10v dimmer doesn't handle the load at all - it merely sends out a 0-10v 'control' signal, so in that regard, the actual load doesn't matter.

as per that post, there should be a SWITCH to actually cut the load to the heater when it's supposed to be off - that load and/or voltage of course needs to match.