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My Crestron Project
A few weeks ago, I posted about my displeasure with Crestron anbd my belief, that a system such as theirs does not really belong in our buses. Jon made an excellent comment, when he stated that he would be unable to open his pocket doors in the event that the Crestron system goes down. It can and it will. I tested that theory just yesterday. With Crestron down and pocket doors closed, you will have a very tough time to pry them open! I had to go into the breaker panel and switch off all of the breakers controlling the Crestron system. That released the doors becausde, in my case, the doors dumped the air and with the pressure gone, I was able to pull the doors open.
But that is not exactly what my post is about. My beef with Crestron is, that every time you want to make a change to the system, yhou need to have the software updated. Just think of installing a new TV.
My Crestron components are date from 2005-2006. In electronic terms, ancient. No USB, no HDMI, no Apple Airplay etc. – While you can add most of this to an existing Crestron installation, you will be paying big bucks to do so.
So … I started my journey to remove all non-essential Crestron equipment.
This is a fun project because you will be encountering many, many cables. If your converter did a good job, each one is labelled to tell you what it is good for. In my case, 50:50. I have some labels with notes on them. I do have others with just a number on them.
So I had to look at my wiring diagram and the component itself, to figure out which cable wenbt from where to where and did/does what.
Every cable that I have unplugged has gotten a new label. For that puirpose, a Brother label printer becomes invaluable. I was able to pick one up for under $20 and the label cartridge that was included does still provide labels. I am probablyt close to the end and will have to pick up a new cartridge, just to be safe.
My biggest project is Audio and Video or AV as they geeks would say.
I have purchased a couple of Sony AV receivers. One for the front system and one for the back/bedroom system. That set me back by $800 for both. Each receivers has so many capabilities, my current Crestron does not even come close.
Not only that, I researched the current values of my Crestron components and was shocked to see, how little they are worth today. Well, I should be able to recoup some money by selling them to you or on eBay. … 🙂
I have had to re-terminate all of the speaker cable connections because they did not have the typical banana type connectors that I need to plug them into the Sony. Identifying the cables was relatively easy. I have a good wirting diagram and with my new labels attached to every one of them, I know exactly where each one of them goes.
I jury-rigged the set-up and, voila, I was listening to the Lennon Systers on my front Bose surround sound speakers.
By the way, do you know, how much a Crestron 7X200 amplifier weighs? I sure did not and almost dropped it on the floor because I did not expect it to weigh that much. I looked it up online. A whopping 95 lbs. !
So far, I have got the radio part figured out. The next step will be to search for and identify the cables which connect the front TV to the electronics cabinet 30 feet away. Needless to say, that I want the TV to work with the surround sound system. I found some cables with labels implying they connect to the TV. That would be good news. Otherwise, I would have to try setting up wireless HDMI.
Anyway, I do not want you to fall asleep reading this post.
Here below, I will try to attach some photos.
Cheers,
Ronald
I have more but ithe upload did not seem to work.
Anyway, anybody interested in some used Crestron equipment? Just contact me.
One thing I want to end before posting this is, that I will not be able to remove the entire Crestron system. Due to the fact, that my pocket doors, my shades, my lighting and some other things srer being controlled by Crestron, I am stuck with it because it would be cost prohibitive trying to change all of that.
Cheers,
Ronald
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11 Replies
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Ronald,
If you’re trying to post multiple pictures you have to add a space with your enter key after the picture to start a new line.
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There area lot of home-automation products available now.
You might want to check out Insteon or Lutron.
I use the Insteon Hub in my home and it can automate nearly everything from lighting to ceiling fans to latching relays. As an example, I can open and close the garage door from anywhere…..and I get a text message whenever that happens. You can set up scenes so that lighting comes on at sunset as an example. And, since it is connected to your wireless router, you can monitor and control everything from your easy chair or from accross the country.
Might just be worth looking into….
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Ron,
If you are still at Parliament, ask Ben what your options are for controlling the other items. They most likely don’t need replacement. You could probably use most any wireless dry contact controller for your blinds, as just one example.
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Hi Gil, I had Ben ovcr in the bus yesterday. He is not a friend of Crestron. Pretty much for the same reasons that I am not a fan.
The way I am approaching this now is, to remove all of the components which have to do with audio and video. That is the bulk of the components. I have removed 5 pieces out of 8 components, already. I do have 2 components to go. All of the removed equipment deals with audio and video.
As indicated in my prior post, this represents a lot of weight. The amps in themselves weigh a combined 200 lbs. and the additional components add more pounds to it.
I am leaving the Crestron “brains” which contains or manages the software. So far, knock on wood, everything else is still working as expected. That is to say, the lighting, the shades, etc.
Once I have removed the 2 additional components, labeled Front TV and Bedroom TV, I will be down to bare bones.
I will also have removed enough hardware to make ample room for the 2 new Sony AV receivers. As mentioned, already, these receivers have many more capabilities, for a heck of a lot less money, than the Crestron hardware which I have or am removing.
FWIW, I have listed equipment on eBay.
The saga continues …
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OK, I have disconnected and removed the last Crestron AV component. What you see in the picture is the brains, where all commands are being executed and where the software resides. So far, everything is still working as expected. Now, I have removed 7 components, one stacked on top of the other, and all handling AV audio and video.
All of this will be replaced by 2 Sony AV receivers, which will do much more than the Crestron and cost thousands less.
Well, the next exiting part of this job will be to trace wires to determine, which casn be snipped.
The speaker wires have been identified, already, and they will all be re-used in conjunction with the new Sony AV receivers and the existing Bose surround sound speakers.
Cheers,
Ronald
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Where or where … ???
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Nice labels Ron….:)
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Someones trash is somebody elses treasure?
Needless to say, that I want to be rid of the Crestron hardware that I have removed.
I put the 2 amplifiers on to eBay last night. I could find only 1 reference, where someone else is offering a used amp for $999 – I priced mine at $500 for one and $850 for both, plus packing and shipping costs.
They sold this afternoon to somebody out West. Now I will get my exercise when I drag these 95 lbs. behemoths out of the bus and over to the UPS Store … 🙂
The really nice thing about this sale is, aside from removing 190 lbs. of weight from the bus, the $850 which I received do very nicely cover the cost of the 2 Sony AV receivers I had bought on Amazon. I bought an 840 and a 1040 which do have all the bells and whistles.
BTW, Tom, thanks for your label remark … 🙂 … I do not know exactly how many wires I have labelled but it is a lot! I labelled them with the location from where I unplugged them. Just in case of unforeseen problems. Most of these cables can be removed now. But I have to go easy on that since I may need this or that wire to repurpose it.
This PM I have started tracing wires and have hardly put a dent into that task. I had to remove a leather covered rear wall inside a closet in the bedroom. Fortunately, it is fastened with Velcro. I got lucky and found at least 4 wires I can trace back to the electronics cabinet. Noty only that, after I removed the wall, I found a big wire chase with more than ample space to run any extra cables. So rather than wasting time and effort on reterminating CAT5 wires with CAT terminals (they have a Crestron plug now), I can just pull some HDMI cables through the chase and be done with it. That is the bedroom. The front living room may be a different story.
This is a very time consuming project. I have probably got at least 10 hours into it and will probably spend double that number of hours on the new setup. But I think it is worth it. I am replacing 2005-2006 technology with 2014 technology.
Cheers,
Ronald
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Good Luck Ron !!! You have taken on a huge project but will be glad when it’s all done.
We saw you parked at Parliament… we were there for 5 days last week… was ging to stop and say hi but everytime we passed by you were gone…. shopping most likely.
Hope it all goes the way you want it to.
Cheers,
Diane & Larry
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Ron,
When I re-did the HD dish and tv in my Liberty, I used a wireless HDMI from Iogear and it works great. Didn’t want to fool around with running new cables.
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You might want to hang on to the AV switches. Put them on flea market. I have to have my shop replace about 3/4 of the burned out relays. You can’t buy these switches anymore and there’s not many folks that want to replace the relays when they burn out.
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