So far I am using Shelly relays with Somfy standard current powered rollers with 4 cables and it works really well. Unfortunately, it seems it is not possible to add the Shelly relays to the battery powered rollers? Are there any battery roller blinds compatible with HR which will work with WiFi? Many thanks!
Lutron has some roller blind products. You won’t be able to connect directly to them though. You’ll need a Lutron bridge.
Bill, many thanks for your reply! I talked to the technician who is in charge of the roller blinds, and they use A-OK battery powered blinds which they connect to the Smart Life Tuya hub to translate the 433.92 MHz radio frequency to WiFi. He told me that, in fact, any hub that will use this radio frequency might work to control the A-OK blinds…? HR has already a plugin for Tuya, right? Do you think it might work? Will it be better to use another hub with that frequency? Many thanks again!
By the way, one alternative will be to use a Lutron bridge with A-OK battery roller blinds, since I am not sure whether I can find Lutron shades in Spain?, but the manual says it communicates at 434MHz frequency and I am not sure wheteher it will be compatible with 433.92 MHz, I guess yes, right? Sorry for my lack of knowledge, but it is quite complicated to understand all the products, brands and compatibilities (not all the bridges support radio frequencies), and before buying the bridge and roller motors I need to be sure that I buy the right ones!.. Many thanks!
Tuya is a bit of a hit & miss as far as which devices it exposes through their API that we are using. I can’t really give you a definite answer. Lutron would be better.
Ok. It turns out that Lutron only sells the RA2 Select system which runs at 868 MHz in Spain and Europe, because of patents. In addition, Lutron doesn’t seem to be compatible with other brands’ devices, so basically you need to use Lutron battery roller motors. Could you confirm me that RA2 Select at 868 MHz is compatible with HR? Many thanks Bill.
A technitian from Lutron told me that the battery rollers need 8 regular batteries at least!, depending on the size… Is this advisable? Are rechargeable batteries better?
Finally, I just received a A-OK battery roller and the Tuya hub just to test, and unfortunately, although I was able to add the hub to HR, HR does not find any roller when syncing… Is there anything I could do to try to sync the Tuya devices?
Many thanks Bill
@fargas I don’t know how much I can help but I have a couple pieces of information. After looking through all of the shade options, Bali Autoview I found were the marriage of the best quality and the best price. They are Z-Wave so you will need a Z-Wave hub but there are many hubs that are compatible with HR.
Also my shades used 8 batteries per shade, or the bigger shades used 16 batteries. The good news is that if I put them up and down once per day, they will last 1.5 years. On newer shades I have ordered, I did use the rechargable battery pack so I wouldn’t create so much waste. I haven’t had them long enough to know their lifespan.
One last thing I will say - after lithium ion battery prices tripled in price, I challenged myself to convert the battery powered shades to plug-in power. I was able to do this everywhere except on doors. If you could use plug-in power, then it sounds like your Shelly relays will work? There are many ways to get creative to hide the power cord.
Greg, thanks a lot for your recommendation, I just sent an email to Bali Blinds, let’s see if they are available in Spain.
I will not be able to hide the power cables because the house where I need to use the battery motors has old stone walls.
I am not sure whether I could use the Shelly relays with the plug-in power motors as you suggest, because the relays need 4 wires…
Many thanks again!
By the way, are Somfy rechargeable battery motors compatible with HR? This is another possibility in Spain, although expensive… Many thanks!
Bali brand uses Somfy motors. And yes the Zwave ones are compatible with a hub. I use ISY and Home Assistant and I know they are both compatible with HR. I use the website Costco Bali to buy my shades because they are the most affordable. For a basic fabric zwave rollershade 30" x 40" it’s probably around $200-250.
Greg, are you referring to Z-Wave PLUS Module - Universal Devices ?
Or this Universal Devices ISY-994iZw Home Automati ISY-994IZW B&H Photo (bhphotovideo.com)
They all seem to be out of stock… ;-))
How do you connect the ISY bridge to HR? I do not see any device source with this name in HR?
I had a look into costco, do you think it is possible to buy the motors and build the blinds with your fabric (by the way the blinds will be placed outside the windows)?
If the Bali blinds use Somfy motors, this means that they should be also compatible with HR, right, or not necessarily? Do you think whether the Somfy motors might be compatible with any z-wave bridge that will be compatible with HR, like ISY?
By the way, I contacted Lutron and they told me that they will not produce any roller motor with rechargeable batteries in the future, that is too bad…
Many thanks Greg!
Not sure what other devices you are using for automation but the Bond bridge with Hubitat to HR with Somfy RTS motors works nicely.
Dan, many thanks for your reply! That’s very good news! I’d like to use the battery roller motors with a bridge directly compatible with HR, and if possible a wired bridge… Is it possible to connect the Bond bridge to HR or you need to do it through Hubitat? Many thanks!
Greg, are you referring to Z-Wave PLUS Module - Universal Devices ?
Or this Universal Devices ISY-994iZw Home Automati ISY-994IZW B&H Photo (bhphotovideo.com)
They all seem to be out of stock… ;-))
The first link is just a z-wave board that you add on to their hub, so not that. The second link is to their old hub which they don’t make anymore. You can buy one on eBay or buy their new model called Polisy
https://www.universal-devices.com/store/
But unless you use Insteon, I would not use ISY. Instead, I would use Home Assistant. You can use an old Raspberry Pi and add a Z-wave dongle. It will be a learning curve but I think you will have fun with it.
How do you connect the ISY bridge to HR? I do not see any device source with this name in HR?
https://community.thehomeremote.com/t/isy994i-plugin-ver-8-0/999
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I had a look into costco, do you think it is possible to buy the motors and build the blinds with your fabric (by the way the blinds will be placed outside the windows)?
My experience is not building your own motors with your own fabric. My experience is buying the blinds already together with the Somfy motor. So unfortunately I cannot answer your question.
If the Bali blinds use Somfy motors, this means that they should be also compatible with HR, right, or not necessarily? Do you think whether the Somfy motors might be compatible with any z-wave bridge that will be compatible with HR, like ISY?
To my knowledge, Somfy motors are not directly compatible with HR. You will need a bridge, or a hub. The Somfy Z-wave motors are compatible with any z-wave bridge.
https://linkdhome.com/articles/best-zwave-hub
By the way, I contacted Lutron and they told me that they will not produce any roller motor with rechargeable batteries in the future, that is too bad…
Lutron are nice but they are very expensive. When I got my blinds from Costco Bali they were about half the price of the Lutron ones.
I also have a set of shades that I got for $95 each! A great bargain. I don’t know if you have access to them. They are Allen + Roth brand from the store Lowes. I used the Bond bridge and integrated them into Home Assistant which is how I can communicate with them in HR.
Greg, thanks a lot for all the information, it’s really helpful!
I’m working with a roller and shades technician who uses motors form different brands and fabrics from different manufacturers, and he designs and installs the most appropriate custom roller shade for your project.
I didn’t know that the Somfy motors were compatible with any z-wave bridge. That’s good news because in Spain you can find them easily, although they are quite expensive, especially the battery motors. Therefore, he was proposing A-OK battery motors which work with a Tuya Smart bridge, but unfortunately, although I was able to add the bridge to HR, the synchronization process doesn’t work (I tested it with a roller that they lent me). I asked the representative if he could find another Tuya bridge which I could try with HR.
My technician also told me that the Lutron blinds are quite expensive in Spain, and they only work with the RA2 Select bridge that works at 868 MHz, but I don’t know if it is compatible with HR, I guess yes?
I’m going to ask for a Somfy battery motor to test it with HR. So, from the list of z-wave bridges, which one would you recommend me? I checked the list against HR and found out that the only one which appears in the HR devices list is the Hubitat Elevation, but I’m not sure whether it’s compatible? Would you recommend me any?
I can recommend Home Assistant. It’s freeware that can be loaded on most OS’s, including a Raspberry Pi or Windows. It has a community of developers who create plugins and it has the most comprehensive list of compatibility I have seen. Home Assistant is compatible with HR. You can buy a Z-wave dongle which is compatible with Home Assistant. Look - it even has Spain electricity hourly pricing
Hahaha, yes, the prices of energy are quite high these days in Europe and we try to use energy when these are low, which could vary even every hour depending on your type of contract…
What is the advantage of having Home Assistant with Home Remote? Connecting a bridge to HA and then connecting HA to HR won’t it add more latency? I would try to avoid as much middle software as possible, right? Wouldn’t it be better to have a bridge directly compatible with HR? What’s your opinion?
By the way, do you know whether HR is compatible with Lutron’s RA2 Select at 868 MHz? Bill didn’t ask my question yet. If it is, I will try to borrow a bridge from the distributor to test it with Somfy battery motors…
Many thanks Greg for all your insights! I really appreciate them!
Home Assistant is the bridge. So it’s HA to HR. No middle software, no latency. And I don’t know about Lutron.
Greg, I have been reading about how and where to install HA and it can be installed on a Synology NAS which I use as file server! So that might be a nice solution, what do you think? I have seen a list of z-wave compatible dongles with HA, and one of them is the Aeotec Z-Stick 7 USB stick (ZWA010). Do you have any experience with it or some others?
Yes, I also use my Synology NAS for various other things. Please let me know how it performs. I don’t know a lot about different brands of Z-wave dongles. I use other Aeotec Z-wave devices and I am happy with them. My dongle is https://www.amazon.com/Z-Wave-Stick-Assistant-HomeSeer-Software/dp/B07GNZ56BK/ref=sr_1_2