RE: x10 curtain motors

["Anthony Livingstone" <anto@xxxxxxx>]

Try here :
http://www.gbinteriors.co.uk/acatalog/GB_Interiors___Motor_units_109.htm
l

Not sure how their price compares to others now but give him a shout -
I
pointed out the motor was cheaper elsewhere when I was buying it and he
matched that price.

I got a 17 foot metal Ultraglide corded curtain rail delivered from
them
in no time at all (big box!).
Couldn't find any that length in any local retail shops and it worked
out really cheap by comparison to what was on offer in the local shops.
I then attached a 800DR Drapery Motor to the cord and plugged it into
an
Appliance Module for X10 control.

Benefits :
Cheap!
Easy & quick to install. (although try putting up a 17' pole by
yourself!)
Saves me getting off the sofa to close the curtains.
Reliable - I've never had any problems in the last 10 months of
operation.
Wow factor!  (I switch / dim lights on/off - people aren't interested;
I
close the curtains - Wow!)

Drawbacks of this solution:
The motor can be a little noisy - OK it's dam noisy in my opinion!
(I will build a noise dampening box around it some time in the future)
No 'intelligent' control of the curtains.
No manual operation while attached to the motor.

When power is applied to the motor it runs to the specified position
then the motor switches itself off.
You then have to switch the power off.
The next time power is applied the motor runs in the opposite
direction.

I have done this simply with a Homeseer macro - when a button is
pressed
on my remote switch on C1, after one minute switch off C1.
This switches the motor on, gives it plenty of time to open / close the
curtains and reset itself, then power is switched off ready for the
next
activation.
I suppose you could set flags and stuff to let Homeseer know if the
curtains are open or closed if you wanted to.

Anthony.

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