2017 Vegatouch is very impressive

[Victory Blue]

Actually, it's downright cool. I've attached a number of screen shots for anyone that is interested. The system is very intuitive so I'm not going to include extensive explanations.

This is the main screen the comes up after touching the sleep screen to wake the system. Tank levels are on the left center with shore power and battery stats on the far right. Touching the lower left semi-circular area changes to the HVAC Screen. Moving the small knob on the semi-circular path will change the temperature setting in the named area. The center area has master controls for shades, light, etc.



This is the main HVAC control screen. The system can be put in auto with a temperature settings for both heat and A/C; the system switches between the two as necessary to maintain the temperature settings. Instead of zones the system uses "Front", "Mid" and "Bedroom" to designate areas. After changing the temperature in one area, touching "Sync All" at the bottom will change to the same temperature in all three areas.



As seen in the icons along the bottom each coach area has its own screen. So left to right it's home, living area, bedroom, bath, general settings (for slides, awnings and exterior lights) and system settings for screen background color, etc. Here are photos for each of those areas. The icon that's white tells which page is showing.

The very last photo is the sleep screen showing the day, date, time and the temperature in each area of the coach.

There's even a clean the screen button (on the settings screen) that blanks the screen long enough for fingerprints to be cleaned off. And don't miss the Theater Mode button on the Living Area screen that lowers all the front night shades and dims all of the lights.

BTW, the Crestron app running on an iPad works great, although there are a few functions (most notably HVAC) that aren't implemented in the app. The screens in the app look the same as the wall monitor screens.

Living Area


Bedroom


Bathroom


Slides, Awnings, Exterior Lights


System Settings (Inverters, Generator)


Sleep Screen

[Magic-carpet]

Nice..! Do you still have the ability to lower some shades and not others like you could with the previous style controls?

[Anthem1]

I wonder if the 2016 software can be updated to reflect the new changes?

[Victory Blue]

Originally Posted by Magic-carpet

Nice..! Do you still have the ability to lower some shades and not others like you could with the previous style controls?

Yes, the shades can be controlled individually. On the living area and bedroom pages there are buttons down the left side that go to separate pages for lights, shades and A/V.

[bevandtomH]

Very nice!
Single best thing they've done, and they've done a lot right in my opinion.
My brain(as small as it is), can "toggle" between functions easier in that format than a whole bunch of control panels scattered about.
Put another check mark on the plus side of the ledger.
Victory Blue, glad you posted and look forward to more as you learn.
Thanks much.
Tom

[Mr_D]

WOW, that's nice!!

[hawgguy]

We are getting there - imperfect, but much better. Especially the HVAC.

[brianw8602]

Have the multiplex switches been eliminated throughout the coach?

[TonyDi]

Very nice!!

[Victory Blue]

Originally Posted by brianw8602

Have the multiplex switches been eliminated throughout the coach?

They are not gone but there are fewer of them. For instance, the big strip that was behind the passenger seat is no longer there.

[brobox]

Originally Posted by Victory Blue

They are not gone but there are fewer of them. For instance, the big strip that was behind the passenger seat is no longer there.

That is good news....I still stand there trying to find the button I want as they are not in any kind of order on mine. I had the shades reprogrammed and now all of the buttons are scattered.

[derba]

I think it's fantastic! is this panel within reach of the driver while enroute? That would be something I would really like. Explaining to my kids or wife, or guests what 'system' and 'mode' and 'zone' and Aquahot 'Electric' no, now 'Burner' etc while they run to the bathroom to press buttons while enroute is not fun.

I would really like to be able to control everything, including lights from the driver's seat.

If that screen was next to, or in place of, the rear view camera always on monitor, that would be terrific.

I have a 2, 5 and 8 year old and then I'm driving with them and their friends sometimes. Guests' parents have no clue what to press.

Just my 2 cents.

[Victory Blue]

Originally Posted by derba

I think it's fantastic! is this panel within reach of the driver while enroute? That would be something I would really like. Explaining to my kids or wife, or guests what 'system' and 'mode' and 'zone' and Aquahot 'Electric' no, now 'Burner' etc while they run to the bathroom to press buttons while enroute is not fun.

I would really like to be able to control everything, including lights from the driver's seat.

If that screen was next to, or in place of, the rear view camera always on monitor, that would be terrific.

I have a 2, 5 and 8 year old and then I'm driving with them and their friends sometimes. Guests' parents have no clue what to press.

Just my 2 cents.

The screen is permanently mounted on the wall next to the 1/2 bath door in the B floor plan. But, if you use the Crestron app on an iPad or iPhone you can do almost everything from the drivers seat. "Almost everything" because there are some features (not many) not implemented in the app.

[Cruzer]

I just wrote up an article on the 50th anniversary 2017 Foretravel IH45. That $1.4 million coach uses the same system. It is very nice and does minimize the use of all those switch panels, although you still will have (and want) some of them so that you don't have to go to one place every time you want to move a shade or turn on a light. One thing I liked about Foretravel is that the switch panels used blue lighting to indicate an "on" condition, just like Entegra and everyone else, but replaced the white "off" light with red lighting. This wasn't so bright at night, minimized glare and was easier to read. Sort of like why submarines use red lighting at night I guess.

I do plan on adding this to our 2016 but it's not a simple replacement. The existing Firefly system has a main trunk buss that runs the length of the coach. The shade controllers access the trunk via network drops. The Alta controller for the slideouts also taps into this buss. There are no interfaces with the HVAC, entertainment system or plumbing as of 2016.

The biggest difference is in the controller. All light circuits are controlled by the G5 controller in the mid-bath. The G5 looks like a big fuse panel but it is actually the main controller for the Firefly network. All the switch panels communicate with the G5 by sending it unique codes. These codes are then programmed into the G5 (via a laptop port) so that the turn on or dim whichever circuit is on the G5. The backside of the G5 has a number of connectors to the 12 volt lighting circuits as well as the network connections to the main trunk buss so that it can receive input signals from the switch panels and send output commands to the shade and slideout controllers on the network.

The 2017 uses the G6 controller. This is a square controller that has 8 slots on the backside that accept various component boards, much like a motherboard on a computer accepts video cards, hard drive controllers, sound cards, etc. One type of board has analog outputs for lighting circuits. Another similar board is dimmable. Other boards can communicate with plumbing, inverters, HVAC, entertainment systems, etc. There is also an AGS board that replaces your standalone AGS. Some of these boards utilize auto-resetting circuit breakers so the need for all those fuses is now eliminated. Larger circuits utilize push-to-reset circuit breakers on the face of the G6. It's a nice system that is very expandable. If need be, multiple G6 controllers can be used on the same trunk buss, as was the case with the Foretravel.

In my case I would add a G6 controller and place it in my basement. I would retain the existing G5 controller because there is no way I could fit the wider G6 into the existing cabinet and I wouldn't want to extend and fish all those 12 volt circuit wires that are behind the G5 down into the basement area. The G6 would then be used to interface with items not currently on the Firefly system. I would add the thermostat and HVAC interface module because I feel that the thermostat control in the VegaTouch screen panel is the best feature and probably worth at least half the reason to upgrade. I would also interface with the SeeLevel tank monitoring system by replacing the SeeLevel 709-P3 panel with a 709-P3-RVC panel, which is the same but includes RVC communication so that it can send tank level info to the Firefly system. I would then interface with the dump valves, add an electric water fill solenoid (already have the black tank flush set up that way) and be able to automate the dump/full/flush operation of the plumbing system or control it manually from the VegaTouch screen. Having the ability to control shades, slides and lights from the VegaTouch is a given. Not sure about the entertainment system yet because it requires IR interfaces to talk to the TVs and other equipment. My DirecTV DVR remote is IR in the bedroom but RF in the front and I never can get the Bose remote to do everything it should - most likely because of the RF/IR blend up front.

I would then put one VegaTouch screen in the rear bath and one up by the galley or hall area. That would make it very convenient to check or operate the plumbing or HVAC system from either location.

Not sure if Entegra does this or not but the IH45 had four user defined "scenes" and an "away" mode. Pressing on button puts the shades and lighting in the desired position and fires up the entertainment system automatically if you select that mode. There's usually a night mode and day mode. The fourth mode is generally programmed as an "away" mode. You select that button just before you leave the coach. It will shut off the water pump, engage the AGS, set the lighting and shades to wherever you have programmed them to be, and then lock the entry and compartment doors 30 seconds after you leave the coach.

Pretty high tech stuff