ok, I understand the need/concept of shade groups (a collection of shades), but what is/was the original motivation for them, i.e., their "real" purpose?
I "get" that it simplifies the programming if you have a large number of shades that you need to control at the same time (just enter the name of the shade group), but couldn't you accomplish the same task by specifying all of the shades individually? Or just include all of them in a "scene" and use that? Or is there something else that I am missing?
Which leads to the practical/real world question: I have a client that has a sun/sitting room which has 8 roller shades on 3 walls; 2 on the left, 2 on the right and 4 on the far window; there is a seeTouch kp on the wall in this room for control. From what I can tell, I have several options; I can put all 8 in the same shade group, put the 2 on the left in one shade group, the 2 on the right in a shade group and finally, the 4 shades on the far wall in their own shade group. Or I can even put each shade in it's own shade group. Control via a single button on the seeTouch (OCS) can certainly be obtained for all of these shades depending on what how it's configured (obviously, the more shade groups the more entries on the programming tab).
For the most part, these shades will all be raised/lowered in unison, but I can envision a need to raise/lower these separately (by wall location) due to the sun (the far wall faces due west) which implies, to me, that these shades should be configured with 3 shade groups; 2 on the left, 2 on the right and the 4 on the far wall; the programming for the seeTouch would, basically, raise/lower all of the shades at once, control for each "wall" will be determined later (either with a table top kp or third-party control system).
Since these shades are in the same room, IHA was requested; is there any interaction between shades in a group (and with any other groups in the same area) that have IHA specified when they are in motion if they are "asked" to move? I guess what I am asking here is "does IHA only "work" with shades configured in the same group or does it "work" for all shades (in multiple shade groups) that are in the same area"?
When the processor sends out a cmd to a shade to "move" are the cmds sent simultaneously to each shade within a shade group? If multiple shades groups are specified in the programing, are the cmds sent out sequentially by shade group ordering?
any insight/guidance/clarification is appreciated
thanks