Shades and Blinds
Learn how to control blinds and shades with contact closures.
Last updated
Learn how to control blinds and shades with contact closures.
Last updated
Mira Connect makes it easy for users to control the position of shades, blinds, awnings, and other window treatments directly from the Mira Connect control system.
Mira Connect controls shades and blinds either through contact closures connected to a third-party shade or blinds motor controller, or directly through Lutron Quantum/QS Stand-alone or Mecho Shade controllers.
A contact closure is a switch that can be open or closed. This switch operates as a button press for blinds and shades motors, telling the motor to move in a particular direction as long as the button is held. Typically at least two contact closures are required - one for initiating 'up' motion and one for 'down' motion.
Shade motors often support a 'start' motion and 'stop' motion control that can be wired into the contact closures, or operate like a 'garage door opener' where one press starts motion, the next press stops motion, and a third press reverses direction of the motion.
While the types of motor control interfaces vary by manufacturer, Mira Connect offers flexibility for supporting press-and-hold, press-to-start, and press-to-stop shade and blind movements.
Once a contact closure device has been added to the room, Mira Connect will connect to the device and report a valid connection if the device is found at the specified IP address. Mira Connect automatically detects the number of relays on the device once it connects to the device.
If you don't have a contact closure device yet, can click 'Simulate Equipment' to use Mira Connect's built-in equipment simulators. This will allow you to continue to build the user interface before you have the actual equipment.
If you need more than three relays to control multiple sets of shades and blinds, add more than one contact closure device to your room.
Once you've set the IP address of the contact closure device in Mira Portal, there are no other settings to configure on contact closure devices. Shades and blinds settings are configured using the Shades menu in Mira Portal.
If controlling the shades and blinds directly through a Lutron or Mecho Shade system, add the Lutron or Mecho Shade equipment to the room.
Next enter the IP address of the system and any authentication credentials and then navigate to the SHADE CONTROLS tab.
In Mira Portal, the window treatment controls are configured on the room's Shades tab as shown in the following figure. Click ADD to add Shades Controls.
Click Add Shade Control with Contact Closures to add contact closure control.
While at least one contact closure must be defined for shade control, typically there will be Position close and Position open controls defined.
A Position stop function can also be added if the window treatment controller supports it. Note that tilt increase, decrease, and stop can also be configured following these same steps.
Start by entering a label for what to call the blinds/shades in the Mira Connect user interface. In this example, we'll call the shades control 'North Windows Blinds'.
Next, expand the Position Close control to start adding the first contact closure. Start by selecting the desired icon for the shade control on Mira Connect and then click ADD CONTACT.
Multiple icons are available to make it easy to support different types of window treatment motion.
Next, select the desired contact closure device that you had previously added to the room. When there is only one contact closure device that has been added to the room, it will be selected by default. When there is more than one contact closure device, select the desired contact closure device to configure. If no contact closure devices have been added to the system yet, you must add the contact closure device before you can proceed. You can simulate the contact closure device after you add it if you don't have a real device yet.
The contact closure can be configured to have the contact closure closed when activated or open when activated. By default, the state will be closed when activated.
The contact closure switching can also be configured to only be active when held (Momentary while Held is the default for blinds and shades) or can be activated for a given duration (Momentary for Duration) or can be held active (Latched).
After adding the Position Close contact closure, expand the Position Open control to add a position open control. To add Tilt control actions, expand the Tilt controls and select the desired contact closure device and ports as described previously.
Once configured, the summary of the shade controls wll appear as shown in the following figure. Click UPDATE to add the Shade control to the room to create the user interface on Mira Connect.
Mira Portal makes it easy to add multiple sets of shades to the room, such as for sheer window shades and blackout shades. Tilt controls can also be added for controlling blinds. Mira Connect controls shades with either press and hold controls or press to start controls.
To get started click ADD CONTROL and enter a label for the shades and blinds, click 'Show Position Controls' to show the controls on Mira Connect. Next select icons for Open, Stop, and Close actions. Typically only open and close actions are required.
If controlling tilt actions on blinds, enable the 'Show Tilt Buttons' and select icons for Increment, Stop, and Decrement controls. Typically only increment and decrement actions are required. The Shade Controls Preview shows the Mira Connect user interface.
Next, select the 'type' of control used to move the shades. The control types to use is determined by how the shades were configured by the lighting integrator and configured for A/V control. Confirm with the lighting integrator about which control methods have been exposed for the A/V system. Typically 'Button Press' or 'Shade Group' will have been available for A/V control.
Supported control types include:
Area Raise & Lower
Button Press
Scene Raise & Lower
Output Raise & Lower
Shade Group Raise & Lower
Once shade controls have been added, Mira Connect's user interface updates automatically to show the shade controls with the label and icons you've selected.
If you've also enabled tilt controls and another set of shades, the user interface on Mira Connect will appear as shown in the following figure.
Mira Connect controls many audio/visual devices without requiring any programming. And now, with just a few clicks of your mouse, you can create an intuitive user interface for controlling shades and blinds using contact closures or directly with Lutron and Mecho Shade systems.
This article describes how to add shades and blinds to your room with contact closures, or directly through a Lutron or Mecho Shade, and how to configure the system in .
To add window treatment control to your system with contact closures, start by adding one or more contact closure devices to your room in and clicking ADD from the equipment menu as shown in the following figure.
Scroll to the Contact Closure devices and select the desired contact closure product. Mira Connect currently supports the X-400 series and the GC-100, iTach, Flex, and Global Connect product families for contact closures/relays. If you need to support for a different type of contact closure device, contact .
A commonly used contact closure device is the Global Caché which provides Ethernet control of three independent contact closures, numbered 1, 2, and 3 as shown in the following figure.
Next, enter the IP address of the contact closure device and press ADD EQUIPMENT. A best practice is to set static IP addresses for all equipment used with Mira Connect so the IP address doesn't change over time. If more info on how to set a static IP address on a Global Caché device, click the link on the ADD equipment dialog.
See the or the for additional information for adding shades and blinds with Lutron or Mecho Shade.
See the for more information on the supported control types or the for additional information.
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