Chowmain Airtopia driver Installation and Usage Guide

Airtopia driver

Installation and Usage Guide

Revision:

Date:

Authors:

1.2

Wednesday, May 06, 2015

Alan Chow

Contents

Overview ............................................................................................................................................................................. 3

Features .............................................................................................................................................................................. 3

Change Log .......................................................................................................................................................................... 4

Driver Installation ................................................................................................................................................................ 4

Adding the driver to your project ....................................................................................................................................... 5

Programming other commands .......................................................................................................................................... 7

Licencing .............................................................................................................................................................................. 9

Figure 1 - Example user interface

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Overview

The Airtopia is a device that allows you to take control over leading split system HVAC units using infra red control with feedback from a temperature sensor and CT energy clamp. The Airtopia device will utilise its online cloud database to find the correct code set for your HVAC split system and as such eliminate the time consuming and tedious task of learning IR codes. For more information about the Airtopia device please visit their website

(http://www.airtopia.global/).

Our driver enables us to integrate infrared controlled HVAC systems using the Airtopia hardware into the Control4 system with feedback. This provides a total solution for what would be a one way system.

Features



Heat, Cool & Auto HVAC modes supported.



Auto, Low, Medium, High & On Fan modes supported.



14 – 34 degrees of Set Point supported.



Temperature feedback onto navigator screens.



Power Usage Feedback into a variable for use in programming or other drivers.



Default values to be sent for non Control4 compliant functions o Horizontal Swing Mode o Vertical Swing Mode o Quiet Mode o Powerful Mode o Long Mode



Other functions accessible via the Control4 programming tab. o Horizontal Swing Mode o Vertical Swing Mode o Quiet Mode o Powerful Mode o Long Mode



Use the original HVAC remote and it will feed back through the Airtopia to Control4 with the new status of the system.

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Change Log

Version #20150505 - 05-MAY-2015



inIRt has been rebranded to Airtopia. Driver has been rebranded to suit.

Version #20150407 - 07-APR-2015



Resolved issue where logs on 2.6 systems would fill out controller storage causing system stability issues. This only effects systems where people have set the debug logs to 'print and log' or 'log' and have forgotten about it over longer periods of time.

Version #20150217- 17-FEB-2015



Resolved issue where proxy would turn off then on again

Version #20141119- 19-NOV-2014



Converted from C4I to C4Z filetype

Version #20140722 - 22-JUL-2014



Initial Release

Driver Installation

1. The driver you have downloaded will be in a zip file. Double click on this file to open it in your preferred zip program (WinZip, WinRar, etc.).

2. Extract the c4i file to the My Documents\Control4\Drivers directory. If you are using Windows 7 or 8 this will be extracted to the Libraries\Documents\Control4\Drivers directory.

3. You are now ready to add and configure the driver via the Composer Pro software.

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Adding the driver to your project

Note: Prior to starting this section please first set up the Airtopia device by following the installation manual included with the product. In order to maintain reliable communications you will need to set the device up as a static IP address or have a DHCP reservation for the device.

1. Launch the Composer Pro application and connect to your project

2. In the ‘System Design’ page select the ‘Search’ tab on the right hand side.

3. Type in ‘airtopia’ in the search field and hit the enter button

4. Double click on the ‘Airtopia Climate Control’ driver to add it to your project

5. Highlight the ‘Airtopia Climate Control’ driver on the left hand side of the System Design page.

6. Select Celsius for the Scale type

7. Select ‘True’ in the dropdown box for the ‘Show Driver Config’ property.

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8. Set up the IP Address for the unit. The port should be left as default unless the manufacturer changes the port number in future.

9. Due to limitations in Control4 no additional controls can be added to Control4’s user interfaces apart from Mode and Fan Speed. As such properties have been given to provide a means to always set up the defaults for when you turn on the system for the following.

Note: If the Default is set to ‘do not send’ then it will not send a command for that particular function.

10. You should now be able to view the Device Status by changing selecting ‘True’ in the dropdown box for the

‘Show Device State’ property.

11. You will notice that the Connection Status is set to ONLINE. If it is OFFLINE then you will need to make sure that the unit is on the correct IP address.

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Programming other commands

Due to limitations in Control4 no additional controls can be added to Control4’s user interfaces apart from Mode and

Fan Speed. As such commands can be programmed to fire using the Control4 programming tab. This can be assigned to

Custom Button press events or assigned to zigbee keypads on the wall for example. Note that not all mode changes are available and are determined by the unit you are using.



Horizontal Swing



Vertical Swing (0 = 0°, 1 = 22.5°, 2 = 45°, 3 = 67.5°, 4=90°, off = default rest position)



Quiet Mode

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

Powerful Mode



Long Mode

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Licencing

Chowmain drivers require a valid licence to use the driver. Drivers can be purchased from our distributor Houselogix however all Chowmain drivers come with a 48 hour trial. We recommend that prior to purchasing a driver that you test the driver out to ensure that it will work with your hardware and will meet your requirements. This trial system is built into the driver and is activated when you first add the driver to the project.

Upon adding the driver to your project you will notice the following fields in the driver’s property page.

The Activation Status will tell you the licencing status of your driver. If you are in a trial period it will display TRIAL with the amount of time remaining until the trial is over.

Once the trial is over you can purchase a licence from our distributor Houselogix . Upon receiving your licence enter this into the Activation Key field. The Activation Status will then advise what it is checking with Houselogix to verify that the licence you have entered is valid.

If it is not valid then the activation status will reply FAILURE – INVALID KEY

If the licence is valid for the driver / your controller’s mac address then the activation status will change to ACTIVATED.

The driver will work as long as the trial is active or you have a valid licence.

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