Build Equinox CERV User manual

1
CERV WIRELESS TOUCHSCREEN CONTROLLER
USER’S MANUAL
REVISION 1.1–11/06/13
BUILD EQUINOX
1103 N. HIGH CROSS RD
URBANA,IL 61802
1-773-492-1893
USER’S MANUAL

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CONTROLLER OVERVIEW
While the CERV contains the complex algorithms to keep your air healthy and comfortable, the CERV Wireless
Touchscreen Controller exists as your gateway to customize the CERV to fit your needs best. The wireless controller
allows you to set your heating and cooling setpoints, VOC and CO2 ventilation setpoints, as well as configure the CERV
for use with its auxiliary add-ons, such as the back-up electric duct heater and the wireless ventilation switches. The
touchscreen interface was designed from the ground up to be simple and intuitive, retaining a high degree of usability
without having to worry about getting lost in a series of menus. This guide serves as a reference to allow you to
maximize your understanding of how to configure the CERV to serve you best.
Contents
Home Screen
3
Heating and Cooling Setpoints
4
CO2/VOC and Ventilation Setpoints
5
Trigger Ventilation
6
Wireless Ventilation Switch Setup
7
Auxiliary Device Setup
8
CERV Operation Mode
9
Display Settings
10
Status and Alerts
11

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HOME SCREEN
OVERVIEW:
The Home screen displays the current temperature, relative humidity, VOC, CO2, and status of the CERV. It
additionally provides quick access to other screens, such as heating and cooling setpoints, status and alerts, and the
top menu. The color of the screen, along with some of the icons, will change depending on the current mode that the
CERV is operating in. The possible modes are:
Assess –The CERV is recirculating air throughout the house in order to obtain accurate readings of the home’s
overall health and comfort. When the CERV does not need to ventilate or heat or cool, it may simply sit in its
off mode, where approximately every 10 minutes it will do an assessment for 2 minutes.
Vent (Heat/Cool/Setpt) –The CERV may decide to ventilate the home for various reasons. The CO2/VOC
levels may have gone above the setpoint, a wireless ventilation switch was triggered, a timed ventilation event
may have been started, or the CERV may have simply decided that it is more efficient to heat or cool the home
with outside air. If the home is within the heating and cooling setpoints, but the CERV is ventilating, the
screen will be green and the current Mode will show Vent Setpt
Recirc (Heat/Cool/Setpt) –When the inside temperature is outside the bounds of your heating or cooling
setpoint, the CERV will go into a recirculation heating or cooling mode as long as it has detected that you do
not need any ventilation.
Off –The CERV has determined that your air quality is acceptable and your inside temperature is satisfactory.
It will conserve energy by turning itself off. After every 10 minutes of sitting off, the CERV will do an
assessment.
Other Notes:
The colored bars below the CO2/VOC readings indicate how the air quality levels are compared to your
setpoint. Green indicates that your air quality is acceptable, yellow indicates that the pollutant level is nearing the
ventilation setpoint, and orange indicates that the pollutant level is above the setpoint (where it should start
ventilating).

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HEATING AND COOLING SETPOINTS
OVERVIEW:
In this screen, you may configure your heating and cooling setpoints for the CERV. Please see the following figure
for an explanation of how the setpoints work.
The check box will submit your changes to the CERV, while the X will cancel the changes made to the setpoints.
To view the help screen (which contains the figures above), you may press the ? box.

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CO2/VOC AND VENTILATION SETPOINTS
OVERVIEW:
In this screen, you may configure your ventilation setpoints for the CERV. Please see the following figure for an
explanation of how the setpoints work.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
We often recommend that you set your Ventilation Setpoint to around 900ppm, as studies have shown that levels
above 1000 can indicate that a home may have bad odors as well as negative effects on productivity, alertness,
and general comfort. In the case that the CO2 and VOC sensors do not pick up specific elements that you may be
sensitive to, you may also set a minimum ventilation level. A minimum ventilation level will devote a portion of
the CERV’s operating cycle to ventilation, whether or not the sensors indicate it is needed. The figure above gives
rough estimates for what the equivalent ventilation rate is, however, these may vary depending on the blower
flow rate.

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TRIGGER VENTILATION
OVERVIEW:
From the Trigger Ventilation screen, you can choose to force the CERV into a ventilation mode for a specified
amount of time. Say you know you are going to be cooking or producing a high amount of humidity, you may
decide to have the CERV start ventilating before its sensors detect that ventilation is necessary.

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WIRELESS VENTILATION SWITCH SETUP
OVERVIEW:
If you are using our wireless ventilation switch add-on, you will need to configure the ventilation length for when
the switch is pressed. Your configuration may vary depending on whether you are using the battery-free wireless
rocker switches (PTM265) or the transmitter wired inline with an existing wall switch or light (ERM-DAC). This is a
configuration that is mainly dependant on the occupants.

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AUXILIARY DEVICE SETUP
OVERVIEW:
If you have an auxiliary duct heater connected to the CERV, you will need to configure the setpoint for when the
auxiliary heater turns on. The following figure indicates how the auxiliary heater is used by the CERV.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
The auxiliary heater setpoint is limited as to always be below the CERV’s heating setpoint. This means that the
auxiliary heater will only turn on if the CERV is actively trying to heat the air. It is recommended that you set this
setpoint a few degrees below the CERV’s heating setpoint.

9
CERV OPERATION MODE
OVERVIEW:
In most cases, you will want to let the CERV use its own internal algorithms to determine which mode is best,
however there may be scenarios in which you may want to specify that the CERV may only operate in ventilation
mode, or that the system should just remain off.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Unless you are positive that you need to switch the CERV out of Auto mode, we recommend that you do not
change this. The CERV’s recirculation mode (which does not occur in Vent Only mode) is a very important part of
its operation, and helps to distribute air around the house to keep your air quality and temperatures uniform.

10
DISPLAY SETTINGS
OVERVIEW:
In the Display Settings screen, you can configure the auto-off feature of the screen. If there has been no
interaction with the screen after the amount of time specified in Display Timeout, the touchscreen controller will
disable the screen to save power. Simply touch the screen again to turn the display back on.

11
STATUS &ALERTS
OVERVIEW:
The Status & Alerts screen allows you to see when various events are occurring. The icons represent the
controller’s wireless connection, timed ventilation events, auxiliary heater status, and switched ventilation events.
The icons are as follows:
If the CERV detects that there is a problem with the system, such as a malfunctioning temperature sensor, an
error reference code will be displayed on the line with the yellow warning symbol. This will aid us in determining
exactly what is wrong with the system and what needs to be done to fix it.