Home› AMX User Forum› AMXForums Archive Threads› Residential Forum

Lutron QS and AMX slow feedback

RicardoSiqueiraRicardoSiqueira Posts: 373
in Residential Forum
I am using the Duet AMX module in a project with Lutron QS lighting and Shading. I have 147 Lighting circuits and 50 shades. Everything is working but the feedback is slower than Lutron Illumination via RS-232. I am wondering if the problem is with the AMX Duet module or the QS network traffic. Anybody out there has similar experiences with slow feedback. On the previous Lutron non QS systems the feedback is almost instantaneous. On this current system, rooms with many lighting circuits take a while to report the Room OFF status in a Phantom keypad, something like 8 seconds. On rooms with 1 or 2 lighting circuits, 2 seconds. I am basically monitoring the OFF scene or OFF button status to report LED feedback of the room on AMX touch panels. I am also wondering, since QS is IP based, if network traffic is also an issue, which is contributing for the slow feedback. Client also wanted Levels feedback/control, which I am also monitoring and controlling, 180 levels. Is this too much maybe? Has anyone created a non Duet module that also supports feedback for LED (Button Status) who is willing to share it or is there any 3rd party module available for sale? How do you trap the feedback using the Lutron protocol. I am not sure if I will have time or have the expertise to write my own module at this time as client is moving in soon, and this is my first experience with QS. That's why I am seeking help here... Thanks!

Comments

  • trobertstroberts Posts: 228
    I have often had issues when monitoring that many levels, but another possible issue could be firmware in Netlinx. I had an issue, as you described, using a Homeworks system using Netlinx Master version 4.x everything else in the system was working fine and I had no errors in my logs, but just the feedback for Lutron was sooo slow. As soon as I rolled back the firmware to 3.6x my feedback was working as it should have been. What firmware is in your master?
  • RicardoSiqueiraRicardoSiqueira Posts: 373
    I've dedicated an NI-900 to communicate to the Lutron QS system. Yeah, I have firmware 4.1.373 loaded to the NI-900. I will try downgrading it to firmware v 3.60.453. For some reason I was having some issues on the NI-900 under v3 firmware and that's why I updated to v4, but I will try it again under v3. Are you using the AMX Duet Module and is your Lutron system QS? Thanks.
  • trobertstroberts Posts: 228
    I was using the netlinx module to Illuminations via ethernet. I know our scenarios are quite different, but just throwing out an idea.
  • DHawthorneDHawthorne Posts: 4,584
    I rolled my own module for QS, and I don't find it any slower than before ... though I might add, even Illumination and Interactive were never exactly zippy. Lutron systems are very chatty, and you have to parse all that. In addition, QS adds the annoying "feature" that feedback is now button based on keypads, so instead of getting the entire keypad at once, you get each button as an individual return string. Furthermore, you have to query for it. SO, if there is a lot of other processing going on, yeah, it's going to be much slower.

    My solution was to ditch any idea of an all-encompassing module, and just supply a wrapper to maintain the IP connection and queue commands. My commands to the module are really just pass-throughs to the QS processor. I'm not handling feedback in my module at all. I'm just parsing what comes out of the QS directly for what I'm interested in. Stripped down like that, it's acceptably responsive, but I wouldn't want to control a huge estate that way. I'm limiting myself to a few rooms of lighting and keypad control, not turning on and off every lighting load individually.
  • RicardoSiqueiraRicardoSiqueira Posts: 373
    I downgraded the NI-900 to firmware v3.60.455 and reduced the number of levels from 300 to 142 and it works properly now. Somehow firmware V.4.1.373 was processing the LED (Button Status) slower than the v3 firmware. In addition, the NI-900 was chocking with more than 200 defined levels. This is too bad, as newer firmware is slowing down things. I've also noticed that by using a NI-x100 instead of the NI-900 it worked a lttle faster. The 404 MIPS processor does better than the 304 MIPS on the NI-900. We are also noticing a slower feedback on a Pentair Duet module under firmware V.4.1.373 running on a NI-4100/256. I will have to check this on site and probably downgrade the NI-4100 to firmware v.3.60.455 as well.

    Be aware of firmware v4 and up. Somehow they made changes that are affecting processing of Duet modules that work well under v3 firmwares. Like any other dealer/programmer, I have a set of modules that have been working well for the past few years, but now they don't work as well. I called AMX tech support and they say that v4 firmware should work better, but so far on my experience some duet modules (Lutron QS & Pentair) work best under v3 firmwares. Any similar experiences?
  • a_riot42a_riot42 Posts: 1,624
    I just did a Radio Ra II system on a NI 3100 with V3 firmware with around 130 loads and feedback is almost instant. All feedback to buttons is based on the LIGHTSYSTEMSTATUS and KEYPADSYSTEMBUTTONSTATUS feedback from the duet module, and its so quick it seems like its a momentary button. I don't use define_program though, so that might make a difference but I am not seeing any lag at all. Its been a while since I've done a QS system, but I've found it to have a similar response. None of the Lutron stuff is slow from what I've experienced. Don't forget that if you have long ramp times, the feedback doens't occur until the level is achieved. You should be able to test it by watching notifications and looking at the time stamp. If you hit a button and the LIGHTSYSTEMSTATUS response shows up immediately then the lag occurs somewhere else in your code.
    Paul
  • trobertstroberts Posts: 228
    a_riot42 wrote: »
    I just did a Radio Ra II system on a NI 3100 with V3 firmware with around 130 loads and feedback is almost instant.

    Just curious, if you have time, update to v4 firmware and wee what happens to the speed of the feedback.
  • a_riot42a_riot42 Posts: 1,624
    troberts wrote: »
    Just curious, if you have time, update to v4 firmware and wee what happens to the speed of the feedback.

    I tested my code on a V4 system before transferring to a new system with V3. My test controller is running V4, and while I didn't have the RRII hooked up to it, I simulated feedback and it was quick. Not sure if I'll be able to test it with a real system, since I am not updating live systems to V4 yet. But I hesitate to think that a new firmware could affect feedback for only one device. I would think you would see slow feedback for everything not just Lutron QS devices. After hitting a button, how long does LIGHTSYSTEMSTATUS take to show up in notifications?
    Paul
Sign In or Register to comment.