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Keypad Design debate
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ident
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Joined: Wednesday Aug 9th, 2006
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 Posted: Saturday Apr 14th, 2007 03:30 am
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This is a picture of a competitors keypad which was sent to me as an example of an attractive keypad. Do others agree that Comfort should go for this type of look in a future design? Do you think it looks good? or not?


Attachment: elk keypad.jpg (Downloaded 94 times)

on4cet
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 Posted: Saturday Apr 14th, 2007 12:32 pm
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I think it's gorgeous ... But you knew that already !

 

Kind regards,

 

Bart

 

BMagalhaes
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 Posted: Sunday Apr 22nd, 2007 05:05 pm
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Hi everybody,

As a Security Keypad I should agree that it has a good look but....

From my point of view Comfort's  target is the Home Automation market and for this market we are very far from having a good solution based on the KP04.

The 'entry' Keypad should be something like this tow examples.

Although they don't do as much as our KT01 they have the look that a customer buying Home Automation is looking for!

So my opinion is that we need to have a new aproach regarding the KP04 and to have it going the the Home Automation Look and not Security panel one.

Attachment: Card_ecr.jpg (Downloaded 175 times)

BMagalhaes
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 Posted: Sunday Apr 22nd, 2007 05:05 pm
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Another example

Attachment: imagens_vivimat.jpg (Downloaded 179 times)

Last edited on Sunday Apr 22nd, 2007 05:08 pm by BMagalhaes

garym999
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Joined: Saturday Aug 19th, 2006
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 Posted: Tuesday Apr 24th, 2007 09:47 am
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In some respects this is the most important item in the comfort line up as it is the one the client sees & uses everyday. It's look, feel and ease of use are going to be all factors in satifying themselves that they have spent wisely

Sorry to say I don't think it is that smart after you take away the Blue LEDs.

Lets get away from plastic and consider the finishes. Sure plastic can be the base option but we need to portray value and optional decor plates are needed. Flush mounting is another option required.

Cursor control is very intuitve but we would need more interation from the LCD for that to be of value (home control menus, status messages, alarm logs).

I also tend to agree that the security aspects limit it's appeal and some quick access function keys might be a nice option.

 

 

 

luis.dias
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Joined: Wednesday Aug 23rd, 2006
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 Posted: Tuesday Apr 24th, 2007 12:25 pm
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Hello...

I must agree with the coments...
Actualy the biggest problem of the Cytech system is the Keypad.
The Keypad is what the user see and see every days.
In this days, the houses have better and better look, the design it's very important... and the actual keypad's don't match the way!
We need a new keypad, a very pretty one, flush mounted, with several options of finish, steel, glass, etc.
The new houses have alot of glass, steel, wood, etc... and we need to have a product that match the design of the house. We can't sell Cyetch products without the keypad, but the customer don't like the keypad...

Thanks for the atencion... and worry up... we are lossing the boat!

Best Regards,

Luís Dias

ndh
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Joined: Sunday Apr 30th, 2006
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 Posted: Tuesday Apr 24th, 2007 07:36 pm
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Could one style be the 'white glass' style of the new SCS?  Think that is similar to a CTouch Colour style (from memory) also.

So it might be possible to create a family with white as a popular / neutral colour?

Prototyping in due course might be 'relatively' easy in perspex. 

Nigel

ndh
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 Posted: Wednesday Apr 25th, 2007 02:55 pm
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Just further 'food for thought' / concepts. 

The attached photo is a Gira EIB switch in the top (with LCD) and the bottom an SCS both just (resting) in a Gira E2 Anthracite frame. Incidently there is a slight colour difference between the two.

So we have LCD and 12 switches / leds .....

Can go landscape of course.

Nigel

Attachment: PICT0589.JPG (Downloaded 95 times)

Last edited on Sunday Jun 10th, 2007 05:13 am by

ident
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 Posted: Wednesday Apr 25th, 2007 03:08 pm
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Dont forget that one constraint all these designs do not have is the need for a speaker which is loud enough  to be heard many feet away.

garym999
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 Posted: Wednesday Apr 25th, 2007 04:39 pm
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Don't flame me but I'm not a big fan of the Gira switches. They look OK just don't feel that solid. Same goes for the feel of the pushbuttons and for a keypad it is imperative that they feel right.

One thing seen here is how they keep the bezels simple. The central swich cluster is contained in a single retangular hole.

Another option might be to look at a dedicated touch panel. Obviously this will bump the cost but it need not be alot. This panel is used to control a heating system and costs £300 retail.



 

Having mentioned the above I think I'd just like a neat LCD and switch combination.

BMagalhaes
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 Posted: Wednesday Apr 25th, 2007 11:37 pm
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Gary, that's a very nice touch panel!

Another example could be the new Touch Screen from BTicino MyHome range of products.

For this entry line we don't need a touch screen with the performance of KT01 or Convergent's one. We do need a new Keypad to replace KP04.

The new Keypad that I imagine is a touch screen based like this...simple but elegant!
As I have already referred before...the design is 90% of the new Keypad's success!!!

For instance when you get into the Security menu you could get a display like this:

123
456
789
*0#

So you could have a touch with 3 x 4 lines.

The need for the speaker can be a problem as if we have a too small Keypad the mic would be t close to speaker.

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BMagalhaes
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 Posted: Wednesday Apr 25th, 2007 11:41 pm
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This is the software used to configure the BTicino touch screen.

Attachment: bticino software.JPG (Downloaded 149 times)

garym999
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 Posted: Thursday Apr 26th, 2007 07:11 am
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Like that, very simple and clean.

palmlodge
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 Posted: Thursday Apr 26th, 2007 10:57 am
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I have the Heatmiser LCD panel in my hall.

Fits onto a standard UK square box, and a beveled edge.

 

If youre thinking of having something mor than just an alarm panel, then LCD is a must. That panel cost me £225 (circa USD$450). It's cheap(ish) but does have a passive tft matrix (so not that crisp). The touchscreen element is a bit hit and miss and could be more sensitive. Certainly, not good enough to act as a sign in panel.

 

The current Comfort/CBUS panels are just way too expensive and too "fat". Heatmiser manage this panel at a reasonable cost, and it talks RS485 back to the other thermostats.

ndh
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 Posted: Wednesday May 2nd, 2007 03:03 pm
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Just to continue my white glass theme.

This is a new MK range that I happen to have seen switch & socket samples of this  week.  The glass is quite big compared with say Gira.

http://www.voltimum.co.uk/cm.jsp?action=view&cat=1&subcat=1&viewmode=details&cmid=6767&brand=MKU

 

 

garym999
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 Posted: Wednesday May 16th, 2007 08:28 pm
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Does not concern the design, but functionality...

What about these....

Link1

Link2

Links take a while to download and not sure how long they will last.

As it is flash driven I wonder if it could be embedded into a touchscreen with comfort sending the text to speech?

Want to play?

BMagalhaes
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 Posted: Thursday May 17th, 2007 10:29 am
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Gary, don't get me wrong but I think that your option is way out of line with what we are still trying to achieve....a substitute for the KP04!

Don't forget that we will always have to look for the final price and it doesn't seem to me that a Keypad with text to speech could be the entry Keypad solution.

:)

garym999
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 Posted: Thursday May 17th, 2007 11:04 am
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You are absolutely right but it does not harm to throw out the ideas. The important part of this is picked up other threads

http://www.comfortforums.com/forum22/364.html

http://www.comfortforums.com/forum56/413.html

and that is customising the speech for Comfort. These demos are based on text to speech engines which would be a great way for Comfort extend its vocab, voices and languages

A direct quote from a client before we even got to the subject of Comfort...

"The system needs a dialer and the keypads/control panels need to look good not the normal plastic things."

I'm looking to get custom panels made for the existing KP04's as we speak.

slychiu
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 Posted: Sunday Jun 10th, 2007 05:50 am
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We are considering embarking on a facelift for the keypad without changing the injection mould tooling. They involve  modifications and colour changes which can be done relatively easily but at the same time hopefully will enhance the appearance
Please note that we are considering changes to the existing mould only at this time, this is  NOT a completely new design, which is for a later time, so complete flush mount, fancy shapes etc are out

We will do a new completely new design in due course but this takes time. This is an interim step,. IT DOES NOT REPLACE A NEW DESIGN IN THE FUTURE!!!


There are two proposed designs/colour schemes

1 - aluminium /silver similar to the Gira Aluminium frame
2 - white

This is Aluminium (side profile) - Note NOT a metallic material

Attachment: KP04 Silver2 small.jpg (Downloaded 98 times)

Last edited on Saturday Jul 7th, 2007 02:25 pm by slychiu

slychiu
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 Posted: Sunday Jun 10th, 2007 05:51 am
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This is an angular profile for Aluminium/Silver colour
We will do a new completely new design in due course but this takes time. This is an interim step,. IT DOES NOT REPLACE A NEW DESIGN IN THE FUTURE!!!

Attachment: KP04 Silver1 small.jpg (Downloaded 98 times)

Last edited on Saturday Jul 7th, 2007 02:25 pm by slychiu


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