Crestron Lighting

[mnh]

Hoping someone may be able to throw some light 😆 on this.

I’ve moved to a house which has a slightly dated whole house crestron lighting system. The programming of the external lights seems a bit unusual (to me anyway) and I want to alter it. Is there any way other than getting a £500+ day rate programmer round?

If not, should the company who have been maintaining the system be able to provide me with a list of circuits and current schedules so I can at least work out exactly what I want prior to the programmer attending?

Thanks in advance.

[NorthDave]

The main thing is to get a copy of the code which is running on the system - without this any one else will struggle to make changes, economically at least.

Changes may be as simple as you changing things yourself via an iPad or it could require a programming visit. It entirely depends on how the original company set things up for you. You would hope there would be some documentation relating to how things are wired.

Happy to help with advice and I can probably recommend someone localish if you do need programming help. We might be able to do things remotely but we are manic at the moment.

[mnh]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Thanks for the response. I was a bit unclear with my original message I now realise. On the door of each 'control panel' there is a handwritten list of each numbered circuit so I have that. What I would like is list of what is programmed to come on when, and how they are grouped together. Just so I can write up a new schedule for a programmer to implement when he visits rather than wasting time doing that bit on the day. I'm not against paying the going rate for what is clearly a very complicated job, I just don't like wasting money!

The issue that prompted this is having some broken floodlights replaced. They are linked to PIR switches but also to the standard outside lighting. At the moment I can either have it all on (including floodlights) all the time (after dark) or all off with only the floodlights coming on if you walk in front of a PIR. Neither setting suits me.I want gentle outside lighting with the floodlights only coming on if the PIR's are triggered.

Within the control panels I have 21 x DIN-1DIMU4 units and 4 x DIN-8SW8

[mnh]

NorthDave said:

The main thing is to get a copy of the code which is running on the system - without this any one else will struggle to make changes, economically at least.

Changes may be as simple as you changing things yourself via an iPad or it could require a programming visit. It entirely depends on how the original company set things up for you. You would hope there would be some documentation relating to how things are wired.

Happy to help with advice and I can probably recommend someone localish if you do need programming help. We might be able to do things remotely but we are manic at the moment.

Thanks for your reply. Yes, I'm aware it would be useful to have the code. I used the company that were looking after the system for the previous owner when I moved in to get my Sky/Apple TV up and running.

I'm a little nervous of asking for the code until I decide exactly what to do as it implies I want to change provider and I have a sense that might not be well received.

This is a screenshot of the garden lighting control through the Crestron app. Is this the current app or do I have a dated version due to the slightly dated system I have? It seems quite old fashioned compared with Control 4 although it's similar functionality I suppose. I've also been told I can't have it on my phone - is that true?

[mnh]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I read somewhere that Crestron insist installers hand over the code to home owners - is that true?

There is no O&M for the Crestron system unfortunately.

Yes, I guess I just need to decide whether to continue with the existing provider or not and then go from there.

[NorthDave]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

It's not enforced - all Crestron can do is ask nicely.

To the OP - you shouldn't have any worries about asking for the code from the other guys. If they go bust tomorrow then you have no alternative but to reprogram. We see this happen all the time. They should have no issue handing it over and if they do kick up a fuss then you know you need someone else.

I would also ignore the timescales being talked about above. No one knows how much effort and cost will be involved without doing a survey and understanding your needs.

I'm still happy to recommend someone in your area if you need it.

[mnh]

Thanks both for the advice. I am mulling everything over for a while but may well take up your offers of contacts, thanks

[VEX]

Sorry, I have been off-line for a while. It’s been ‘an interesting time!’

Concur with all the comments above and happy to review your system if I am local.

V.

[Sporky]

mnh said:

I read somewhere that Crestron insist installers hand over the code to home owners - is that true?

I don't know if the residential market is similar to commercial (which I do), but I don't think that is the case - they can't insist a programmer hand over their intellectual property. There might also be licensing issues - suppose I've written everything from scratch (ha ha) - if you hand that over to a third party programmer who then uses it in their own work, you've just given away my expertise without my consent. Or, more likely, the code is a hodge-podge of standard modules, "borrowed" code from other jobs and so on, and the third party programmer spots that I've used something they wrote years ago.

We do hand over code on request - it is very often included in the O&M submission. I know of at least three independent programmers who will want a lot of money for the code, and will still insist on a licence agreement.