Main Control Units

Main Control Units (MCU) are the heart of lifestyle automation. These units check the time, poll control panels, network ports, RS232 ports and I/O ports searching for actions and events. Once activity is detected, the relevant program is activated and commands issued to the appropriate actuators and sub-systems as originally envisioned by the user of the system.

Selecting a Main Control Unit

The Main Control Unit features, construction quality and upgrade options are critical to the final trouble free operation of the system.

There are lighting control systems, heating control systems and Personal Computers stuffed with software that attempt to emulate Main Control Unit functions. Outgrown lighting or heating systems will never have the functionality required for sophisticated lifestyle control and PCs are, even now, too unreliable to handle this kind of real-time control.

Security systems that have evolved into main control units have been somewhat more successful. An example of this is Cytech Technology's Comfort 8001Pro. This unit provides basic lighting, heating, security and communications control capabilities. It is popular amongst the home automation diy-ers. The base unit retails for a mere £400 ($600) with full configurations probably closer to £2,000 ($3,000).

The unit is capable but will be stretch for large complex installations (an "Ultra" model is in development with added features). You can read more about this unit and related accessories in the Home Controls web site. All in all, this is a remarkable unit and no doubt will become more capable as new versions get released and communication standards become more widespread.

A similar security-plus-control unit is the Home Automation Inc.'s OmniPro II. This unit has better control panels, provides better connectivity to lighting control systems and has the added advantage of interfacing with Crestron systems - thus having access to a wide range of touch panels and additional control logic. Below we set out a quick comparison of features for your information:

'Proper' main control units

While capable the units above will stretch to control a medium-size home and thus specialised main control units are available from various manufacturers. Our standing advice is to select a MCU capable to inteface with the devices you intent to use (ie. has enough IR, RS232 & RS485 ports) and provides the best integration with wired and wireless local touch screens.

Custom Solutions' Home Vision Pro is considered by many as the "entry level"' home automation MCU. As such it has improved communications over the Comfort system described above: 4 RS232 ports, up to 20 analog inputs, up to 88 digital inputs, 8 bi-directional digital i/o, 64 digital temperature sensors, up to 40 high voltage (240VAC) 6A relays, up to 17 infrared output jacks. LAN port is in development (as of July 2003). There is no built-in security support and (to date) no Lutron (other than using one-way infrared interface or custom programming via RS232), EIB/KNX or CEBUS interfaces. The retail price of the basic unit is circa £700 ($1,000).

It lacks two-way control panels. Control is either from a PC, internet browser (with additional software) or infrared commands which can be issued from a Philips Pronto remote for example. In practice, this means that it is not suitable for installations which are large-ish or where ease-of-use is critical - but could prove suitable for small installations and persistent diy-ers.

Another popular main control unit is JDS' Stargate. Black/white LCD panels, 3 RS232 ports, 1 RS485 (which can connect in hub mode allowing connection to up to 31 RS485 devices), up to 80 digital inputs, up to 40 analog inputs, up to 40 digital outputs. An optional module (which is really a must) allows control over LAN/web. The cost of the system is around £1,300 ($2,000). Drawbacks? No colour touch screens, too few RS232 ports.

A more suitable main control unit for sophisticated installations is the rack-mounted Crestron's PRO2. This is one of 8 different control units supplied by Crestron, so even if one runs out of inputs or outputs, it is always possible to upgrade to a larger unit preserving the investment in wiring, touch screens, programming and interfacing to other subsystems.

The PRO2 control unit comes out of the box with 6 RS232/RS422/RS485 ports, 8 analog/digital inputs, 16 digital outputs, 8 relay outputs and 100Mbps ethernet. These can be almost doubled using up to 3 expansion cards. The unit can be controlled from any two-way Crestron panel (see Wireless and Wired Touch screens), browser or touch phone.

In addition Crestron has developed interface for Lutron systems and many audio/video distribution systems. Other interfaces (C-BUS, CEBUS, KNX, and X10) can be installed with a relatively small amount of programming.

The competing AMX NetLinx Integrated Controller NI3000 offer similar features.

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