Controlling shades from ShowRunnerCLC™ is a paid feature that can be purchased either with the initial ShowRunnerCLC™ order or added after-the-fact as an additional charge. When shades control or integration is ordered for ShowRunnerCLC™, it is vital to ensure that the BOM includes any required hardware is also ordered.

While we strive to always provide accurate and complete information, bear in mind that we cannot guarantee that any information provided here will be 100% accurate and up-to-date: always check manufacturer product specifications to verify features and compatibility prior to ordering hardware.

Crestron Shade Controllers

Crestron shades are included in all ShowRunnerCLC™ orders, but hardware will not be fully defined in the configuration unless the required information is provided prior to configuration shipment. If the required information cannot be provided with the original order, it is recommended to order SR-SDC for additional after-order Crestron shades support.

ShowRunnerCLC™ provides native support for most Crestron shade controllers as well as integration with shades controlled from third-party Crestron processors via Ethernet Inter-Systems Communication (EISC). If integration with a Crestron shades controller or system that is not detailed below is required, reach out to Chief Integrations directly to see about potentially adding support to ShowRunnerCLC™.

Supported Hardware

ShowRunnerCLC™ includes support for the following Crestron shade controllers:

• C2N-SDC and C2N-SDC-DC
• CSC Series Controllers (discontinued)
• CSA-PWS10S-HUB-ENET (controlling QMT-series motors)
• DIN-2MC2
• Ethernet Inter-System Communications (Crestron-to-Crestron)

For any integrations over Ethernet, the lighting network must be configured such that the lighting control processor running ShowRunnerCLC™ can communicate with all required hardware.

Information Required

In order to fully define shades in the ShowRunnerCLC™ configuration, the following information must be provided by the Agent. Incomplete information will result in incomplete hardware definitions in the shipped ShowRunnerCLC™ configuration.

Non-EISC shades:

• (Required) Quantity of shade controllers
• (Required) Quantity and location of each shade motor to be controlled
  • For all controllers, we must know which shade motor (i.e. window and room) is connected to each output
  • For systems with multiple CSA-PSW10S-HUB-ENET, we must know which HUB is the Cresnet primary

EISC shades:

• (Required) Type of EISC integration (TCP or UDP)
• (Required) IP Address and IP-ID of non-ShowRunnerCLC™ processor
• (Required) Joins to be used for shade control and feedback (see table below; not all features are required for all integrations)

Third-Party Shade Integrations

ShowRunnerCLC™ supports integrating with a wide range of common shade control manufacturers, but this integration is not included in basic ShowRunnerCLC™ orders and requires the SR-SDN additional feature. If integration with a shades manufacturer or system that is not detailed below is required, reach out to Chief Integrations directly to see about potentially adding support to ShowRunnerCLC™.

Common Integration Methods

While most third-party shade controllers have proprietary integration protocols specific to each manufacturer and model, there are common industry standards which dictate the wiring and hardware requirements to integrate third-party shades with ShowRunnerCLC™:

• Contact closure (Relays)
  • No standard specified length limitation (individual shade manufacturers may specify cabling and distance limitations)
  • Relay control can be susceptible to voltage drop or EMF interference: it is highly recommended to locate the Crestron controlled relay as close as possible to the shades interface being controlled
• Serial RS-232
  • 50' maximum distance per specification
  • Point-to-point communication mandates a one-to-one relationship of Crestron RS-232 interfaces to shade RS-232 interfaces (i.e. there must be one RS-232 port available on the Crestron system for every RS-232 shade interface; depending on the shades design, a single shades interface may control many shades so it may be possible that a system with many shades only requires one RS-232 connection to the Crestron system)
• Serial RS-485
  • 4000' maximum distance per specification (individual shades manufacturers may specify lower cabling and distance limitations, and real-world conditions may reduce the actual maximum distance that can be achieved before system performance is noticeably impacted)
  • Multidrop communications allows for daisy-chain and star wiring topologies, up to 32 devices per Crestron RS-485 interface (shades manufacturers may specify lower device counts)
• TCP/IP communication (including HTTP/HTTPS, TelNet, etc.)
  • Standard Ethernet wiring limitations apply

Below is a non-exhaustive table showing which pieces of Crestron hardware have interfaces for each kind of integration (all processors are capable of TCP/IP integration provided the network has been configured correctly):

Contact Closure (Relays)

ShowRunnerCLC™ can use output relays on Crestron hardware to control shades provided that the shades controller is capable of accepting a contact closure input for third-party control of the shades. 

Hardware Requirements

• Crestron devices with output relays must be specified (refer to table above for commonly specified hardware)
• Two Crestron output relays must be available for each zone of shades to be controlled
  • Depending on the shade hardware and the job requirements, it may be possible to combine multiple shades to be controlled together onto a single pair of Crestron relays
  • Contact Chief Integrations if the shades manufacturer specifies either a single or more than two contact closures for third-party integration
• Standard command outputs are as follows:
  • Open: close relay 1
  • Close: close relay 2
  • Stop: close both relays simultaneously
• It is recommended that shade interfaces be installed as close as possible to the Crestron relays controlling them to prevent issues from voltage drop or EMF in the wiring between the relay and the shade interface

Information Requirements

• (Required) Quantity and location of Crestron devices to be used for contact closure shade control
• (Required) Quantity and locations of shade zones to be controlled
• (Required) Information associating each shade zone with a pair of relays
  • E.g., if a CP4N is being used then we must know which shade(s) in which room(s) are controlled by relays 1 & 2, which shade(s) are controlled by relays 3 & 4, etc.

Draper IntelliFlex I/O A\V Gateway

RS-232 or RS-485 integration supported

Lutron Sivoia QS

RS-232 or TelNet integration supported

Lutron Quantum

RS-232 or TelNet integration supported

MechoNet Network Interface (MNI)

RS-232 or contact closure integration supported (reach out to Chief Integrations if RS-485 integration is required; contact closure integration is only available if Mecho wall switch ports are not being used)

Mecho SolarTrac4

Only BACnet integration supported

Nice DMBM

Only RS-232 integration supported

Somfy Digital Network (SDN)

SDN RS-485

SDN PoE Gateway

SDN UAI+

Somfy URTSI II

RS-232 or RS-485 integration supported