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Problem with motorised curtain track

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mike

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Jun 7, 2012, 1:57:45 PM6/7/12
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An elderly relative has an electric curtain closer that's stopped
working. A visitor didn't realise it was automated and tried to drag
the curtains back manually.

Now, the motor still turns but the curtains only draw back halfway.

When the same thing happened a couple of years ago, she ended up
sending the motor off to be reconditioned (It's a Silent Gliss system
but these particular motors are discontinued).

Can anyone suggest what's gone wrong and how easy these things are to
fix? It seems to me the motor doesn't need reconditioning if it still
half works.

Thanks in advance.

Andrew Gabriel

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Jun 7, 2012, 2:46:23 PM6/7/12
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In article <74c6aece-3950-4b10...@d6g2000vbe.googlegroups.com>,
These are popular for home automation, so might be worth asking in
a home-automation group too.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

CJ

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Jun 7, 2012, 5:48:42 PM6/7/12
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Hi
Not being familiar with curtains but working in automation of
door/screens/gates etc it is most likely the forcing of the curtains has
upset the run parameters of the drive system.(B*&&(*ed up the timing) .
Check the drive system, if the curtains are drawn by a cord or cable look
for a limit stop on the line,or if driven through a gearbox look for a
rotation counter of some kind .(Probably mechanical).
If the curtains are closed by a rod ie a sliding rail or pole check it has
not been forced along it drive line causing the limit to be reached.
I would assume the system is of basic mechanical design and not electronic
with torque sensors,load monitors and tachometer motor control but if as so
often I am wrong find the control card for the motor and look for a reset
switch (most have them for this scenario usually a small clixon switch on
the pcb.)
A photo would help good luck .
HTH
CJ

"mike" wrote in message
news:74c6aece-3950-4b10...@d6g2000vbe.googlegroups.com...

newshound

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Jun 7, 2012, 6:17:16 PM6/7/12
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On 07/06/2012 22:48, CJ wrote:
> Hi
> Not being familiar with curtains but working in automation of
> door/screens/gates etc it is most likely the forcing of the curtains has
> upset the run parameters of the drive system.(B*&&(*ed up the timing) .
> Check the drive system, if the curtains are drawn by a cord or cable
> look for a limit stop on the line,or if driven through a gearbox look
> for a rotation counter of some kind .(Probably mechanical).
> If the curtains are closed by a rod ie a sliding rail or pole check it
> has not been forced along it drive line causing the limit to be reached.
> I would assume the system is of basic mechanical design and not
> electronic with torque sensors,load monitors and tachometer motor
> control

I don't know either, but that would be my guess too. Something may be
broken and it might not be easy to fix.

Dave Plowman (News)

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Jun 7, 2012, 6:52:45 PM6/7/12
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In article
<74c6aece-3950-4b10...@d6g2000vbe.googlegroups.com>,
Are these self contained units - or a basic corded system with an add on
motor? I have a couple of sets of the latter, and they are pretty simple.
Basically, the motor is on a hinge, and when the curtains get to the end
of their travel, the motor 'pulls itself' up the cord and trips the limit
switch, which stops the motor and resets for the opposite direction next
time the switch is operated.

Apart from the rubber grommet which grips the cord, very little to go
wrong. Mine are both some 40 years old and still working fine. The motors
appear to be Garrard turntable ones. ;-)

--
*If I throw a stick, will you leave?

Dave Plowman da...@davenoise.co.uk London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Brian Gaff

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Jun 8, 2012, 3:30:01 AM6/8/12
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Usually teeth off the nylon gears from what I've found. Hate the ruddy
things, a nice rod to pull them manually seems fine unless they are in an
inaccessible place of course. One would think the designers would make
provision for manual closing but often this is not the case.
You might be lucky and find something like the cord is slipping but...

Brian

--
--
From the sofa of Brian Gaff -
bri...@blueyonder.co.uk
Blind user, so no pictures please!
"mike" <mike...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:74c6aece-3950-4b10...@d6g2000vbe.googlegroups.com...

T i m

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Jun 8, 2012, 4:11:16 AM6/8/12
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On Thu, 7 Jun 2012 10:57:45 -0700 (PDT), mike <mike...@yahoo.com>
wrote:
When our Silent / Gliss stopped working it was because it had 'lost
power' (strength?). Seeing the price of a replacement I stripped the
control / power unit down and replaced the largish cap in there (all
easy) and all was well again. ;-)


YMMV etc.

Cheers, T i m

T i m

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Jun 8, 2012, 4:16:30 AM6/8/12
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On Fri, 08 Jun 2012 09:11:16 +0100, T i m <ne...@spaced.me.uk> wrote:


>When our Silent / Gliss stopped working

<checks> Actually ours is a 'Swish' unit but I believe became / went
to Gliss?

Cheers, T i m

Dave Plowman (News)

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Jun 8, 2012, 4:36:05 AM6/8/12
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In article <jqs9lp$l6c$1...@news.albasani.net>,
Brian Gaff <bri...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
> sually teeth off the nylon gears from what I've found. Hate the ruddy
> things, a nice rod to pull them manually seems fine unless they are in
> an inaccessible place of course. One would think the designers would
> make provision for manual closing but often this is not the case.

Just poor engineering if the gears strip. But not reflected in the price.
The systems I have with separate motors can be closed by hand. If you have
a power failure.

--
*Make it idiot-proof and someone will make a better idiot.

mike

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Jun 8, 2012, 6:11:44 AM6/8/12
to
On Jun 7, 10:48 pm, "CJ" <m...@here.com> wrote:
> Hi
> Not being familiar with curtains but working in automation of
> door/screens/gates etc it is most likely the forcing of the curtains has
> upset the run parameters of the drive system.(B*&&(*ed up the timing) .
> Check the drive system, if the curtains are drawn by a cord or cable look
> for a limit stop on the line,or if driven through a gearbox look for a
> rotation counter of some kind .(Probably mechanical).
> If the curtains are closed by a rod ie a sliding rail or pole check it has
> not been forced along it drive line causing the limit to be reached.
> I would assume the system is of basic mechanical design and not electronic
> with torque sensors,load monitors and tachometer motor control but if as so
> often I am wrong find the control card for the motor and look for a reset
> switch (most have them for this scenario usually a small clixon switch on
> the pcb.)
> A photo would help good luck .
> HTH
> CJ


Thanks for all the helpful replies.

I got a call this morning saying the motor was still whirring but the
curtains now wouldn't open at all.

Will have to get over there and see if I can get inside it armed with
the info provided here.

IIRC the motor hangs down behind the curtain on a sort-of plastic
stem. I think the system must be about 10 years old, came from John
Lewis and wasn't particularly cheap. The fitters they sent hacked it
in to a circuit in the loft - I forget what particular mess they made
but it was something ridiculous like the curtains not working if the
wall lights were turned off at the main switch rather than the pull
cords.

Never been particularly impressed with it. When it works, it works
and it fulfils a need for an arthritic person with poor grip but the
design and robustness seem to be needlessly lacking.

Alan Deane

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Jun 8, 2012, 6:48:31 PM6/8/12
to
I have a Silent Gliss motorised curtain track. It needs the endstop
position to be programmed, otherwise it parks in the wrong place, much
as you describe.
It may be the same model as yours, or at least have the same programming
method.

I have a scan of the instructions, the first page covers programming. I
have uploaded it here for you:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/16040113/Silent%20Gliss%20powered%20curtain%20track%20instrutions.pdf

(watch word wrap!)

Alan.

mike

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Jun 9, 2012, 6:13:51 AM6/9/12
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> https://dl.dropbox.com/u/16040113/Silent%20Gliss%20powered%20curtain%...
>
> (watch word wrap!)
>
> Alan.

Great stuff. Thank you very much for that. If it's not the same
model, hopefully it will work the same way.


Andrew

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Jun 17, 2012, 7:05:02 PM6/17/12
to
if it is the ex-swish system that uses a fibre glass belt with holes
punched into it that the motor engages with, then magenta electronics
does repairs and spares. This system has no end-detection, it seems to
rely on measuring the stall current as the curtains hit the fully open
or closed position. The problem is that the holes in the fibre glass
belt eventually wear to an oval shape and then when the curtain hits
fully open or closed the drive cog spins and fails to generate a stall
situation.


zwge...@gmail.com

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Sep 5, 2015, 11:53:59 PM9/5/15
to
在 2012年6月8日星期五 UTC+8上午1:57:45,mike写道:
Sell:
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