Help me fix Silent Gliss/ Rako roller blind controller

[terence]

My Silent Gliss roller blind controller is broken. Its a motor driver for the electric roller blinds made by Silent Gliss. The actual unit is made by Rako.

Symptom: the LED responds to the radio signal from the remote control. But the blinds would not go up. There are relay clicks but nothing else seem to happen.

I replaced the relays but it did not seem to help. The unit is really expensive (close to £300) so it'll be great if it can be repaired.

What can I do? Any suggestion will be much appreciated.

Pictures here:
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i164/terence8888/IMG_0656.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i164/terence8888/IMG_0655.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i164/terence8888/IMG_0654.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i164/terence8888/IMG_0653.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i164/terence8888/IMG_0657.jpg

 

[Resqueline]

Since the relays clicks I'd expect the problem to lie elsewhere, not on that circuit board. A pic' of the underside would be nice though. Do you have a multimeter?

 

[terence]

Thanks for the reply and help!

Picture of the underside:

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i164/terence8888/IMG_0661.jpg

The bottom of the picture is where the little brown circuit board is (it says 45400 RRFQ1 433.9 on the other side. I suppose this is the radio circuit).

A description of this can be found here http://www.onidserv.com/resources/rako/doc/racub_spec_en.pdf

I do have a multimeter.

Cheers!

 

[Rleo6965]

It seems the board was working . Did you try apply ac 220v to the blind motor or +12V on DC motor ? if any.
This is the only way to know which is not working. It's much better if you use ac outlet with circuit breaker. For safety. AC motor might be defective or stuck up. Check ac motor for circuit breaker that tripped off.

Don't forget to removed motor wires from controller.

 

[Resqueline]

Ok. All that board does is close one of two contacts. It does not provide power to the motor. You'll need to provide information about the motor setup.

 

[terence]

The information on the motor is very terse (probably deliberately so). It says Motor-20 Series, 230V. A little more information here.

http://sgnet.silentgliss.com/allmedia_aps/BCM/printjobs/preview/SGGB_TB_RB_4870_20120104.pdf

I think what this thing does is: when the down button is pressed, it closes the relay to apply mains (so there is no need for other power supply) to the motor which runs to lower the blinds. . When the blind hits where it's supposed to stop (this is adjustable at the blind, not the controller, to suit the height of the window), somehow the controller knows about it and opens the relay and the motor stops.

When the up button is pressed, same thing but the polarity reverses so the blinds goes up.
(question: can you make a ac motor go in reverse by reversing the "polarity"?)

What I suspect is that the controller always "thinks" that the end-stop is hit and therefore opens the relay straight away.

Many thanks for your help again!

 

[Resqueline]

You can have an AC motor reverse by making it with three leads, one common, one for forward, and one for reverse.
The end stop switches are then connected in series with the corresponding directional leads. Thus it can always be reversed.
I don't believe the power for the motor comes from the controller. It comes from the motor connections and are only routed via the controller.
I therefore also believe that the relays do not open when the end stops are reached, it's only the end switches that open.
So if you have a break in one of the directional leads/ motor windings then the motor won't move back once it has reached the end stop.
If the system has an electronic revolution counter and programmable stops then the above does not apply.
We'll need a photo of the blind/ motor connections.

 

[terence]

This is the schematic for the blind system (p.4, the unit is 0919)

http://sgnet.silentgliss.com/allmedia_aps/BCM/printjobs/preview/SGGB_TB_MC_0450_20120104.pdf

thanks!

 

[Resqueline]

Ok, studying all the info closely I see power is routed through the controller, and I was able to make a rough (guesstimate) schematic diagram of it.
Neutral is routed straight through. Live is first going through a Circuit Breaker (CB1) and then through the two relays (only one active at a time).
In the motor there will be one or two limit switches, one capacitor, and a motor with two windings.
If you measure the resistance on the motor you should get a reading between N & L1, the same between N & L2, and the double between L1 & L2.
Depending on if a limit switch has been activated you may not get a resistance reading from either L1 or L2.
If you measure the voltage out from the controller you should get mains between N & L1 in one direction, and between N & L2 in the other direction.
There is a reed contact (glass tube) that makes me expect that the controller is to be placed near the lower travel of the blind.
There would then be a magnet in the lower end & edge of the blind, activating the reed switch when it comes near.
Or the magnet switch may have a completely different function altogether.

 

[terence]

Thanks for all the work done, it's incredibly helpful.....

Now, the controller does not need to be at any particular location. It's placed in the ceiling void in my case. I think the magnetic switch is there to set the channel. It works like this: you put a small magnet neat the unit and a LED will flash. The controller will hunt for radio signal from the remote control. You hit the open button on the remote control and the controller will be "paired" to the remote.

Hope this explains it.... thanks!

 

[lathyrus]

Hi Terence, did you ever manage to fix this Silent Gliss controller? I have exactly the same problem with mine (0919 control module).

 

[terence]

Unfortunately not. I have a spare lying around so have been using that. But the busted one is still somewhere and would love to be able to fix it. I also bought a RAKO controller (RACUB is the model) which should be compatible with it. RAKO makes the Silent Gliss unit but sell at a much lower price. However, the wiring is more complicated than the Silent Gliss. Not sure it works but I bought it as a spare from ebay.

Share your finding if you managed to get further than me! Good luck