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Automating Chandelier Lift


spugh

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Hi all,

I was wondering if some of you experts could provide some guidance. When I replaced the foyer chandelier at my house, I added a motorized lift in the attic for the new chandelier. It works off of a key switch to raise and lower the light. The manufacturer does make a programmable keypad that essentially activates the switch for a specified period of time to lower the chandelier to a predetermined distance. I assume that it should be fairly straightforward to do something similar with Control4.

My question is how this would be done in the C4 environment. Would it use 2 sets of relays on my HC-500s (one for up, one for down), then some kind of timer in the programming assigned to buttons on a 6-button keypad at the base of the stairs? Attached are pictures of the key switch that is used to control the lift. You can see that there are only 4 wires on the switch (green, black, black, and red). I assume the blacks are both hot since they end up being combined on the wiring harness onto a single pin. Green is on the up circuit, and red is on the down circuit.

I imagine programming on 2 buttons on a 6-button keypad that would operate like a normal dimmer. Tap bottom and the light would lower to the predetermined stop point above the floor, or press and hold to lower it manually to any distance. Same operation for the up motion. Does that make sense, and is it fairly easy to do with C4?

Thanks,

Steve

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Aladdin offers a 3B KP w/one of those buttons being an automatic, preferred setting. Just replace your key-switch with this. Do you really want C4 handling this task? It is a safety issue in my mind only with the down position- not up as that is contact-controlled. Remember, if the cable is not wound just right on the up-motion, you will have problems later. Too much initial slack will cause this.

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I haven't integrated my chandelier into C4 for this very reason. Right now it is operated by a key controlled switch, where you twist the switch left for down, right for up, and if you let go of it at any point it return to the middle and stops. The switch is out of the way in a closet, so we aren't looking at it or anything.

I would be nervous that my kids or a guest would accidentally mess with it thinking it was a light switch. Plus, you could accidentally make a wrong move in programming and have that process get mistakingly automated. That's a long shot, but still something to consider.

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^Correct. Kids WILL play with this once they know where it is. I hid mine a coat closet. All was well until one day my little one saw me reaching in and noticed the light moving at the same time. Wheels were turning in that kid's head. Came home another day and found $4000 worth of light close to the floor (Nanny needed a reboot I guess).

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I understand the concerns about kids playing with the lowering mechanism, whether it be key, Aladdin keypad or C4 keypad. No kids in my house, so it's not a concern for me. As far as it being a safety concern, anyone with one of these light lifts know how painfully slow these lift or lower a chandelier. Long enough to cramp up your fingers when standing, holding pressure on a key for the 3 or 4 minutes it takes to lower 2 stories. Way too slow to worry about a chandelier dropping onto someone's head in some kind of Wile E. Coyote move.

I don't mind C4 being used to automate the process, because like I said, even if it overshot the timer stop position by a good 20-30 seconds it still wouldn't be on the floor and allowing slack to build around the winch. The main reason is that I already plan to have a 6-button C4 keypad at that location, and 2 buttons are easily available. Even if I decide against the programmed stop location, pushing a raise and lower button on that 6-button C4 keypad would be preferable. The additional benefits are that I won't have yet another keypad that needs to be installed. There is a 3-gang beside the front door, and a 2-gang at the base of the stairs. It's cluttered enough as it is without adding more gear (not to mention the $120 cost of the Aladdin 3-button keypad). To address a possible solution that's been discussed, there is a hall closet int he foyer, but not in a location where I could mount a keypad/key switch with a line of sight to the chandelier as it's being lowered.

Thanks,

steve

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