"Current Products" Zigbee e-wand - Driver Support?

Feedback, puhleez! What's it like? :slight_smile:

Work perfectly.

Open to 100, Close to 0. Open/Close by adjustments of 1 (reports partially open).

In Homekit (via Homebridge V2 by tonesto7) shows them as Window Shades. Can open full or close full by button tap. Also can hold button to adjust open/close state by % from 0% (closed) to 100% (open).

Siri works perfectly ie โ€œchange back lounge blinds to 20%โ€

In Home Assistant (via Maker API and https://github.com/jason0x43/hacs-hubitat ) it is the same - seen as Shade. Everything works as expected.

Excellent stuff @mike.maxwell !

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Excellent - thanks for confirming the new toy's working.

@mike.maxwell & @rlithgow1, thanks for the team-up on this!

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See the latest Hubitat live for demo

When Mike sends it back I'll have to try it out. My hope is I can plastic paint it brown to match my blinds

I painted mine.... works great !
Thank you TEAM for this driver update... Looking forward to the switch. You guys are AWESOME !

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Crap - I missed that there was a Hubitat Live session. Glad it's recorded so I can watch after. :slight_smile:

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What did you use to paint it? I was thinking of a urethane based paint but open to other stuff

Krylon ColorMax Primer and Paint. Satin.
good for metal, wood, plastic maybe more... whatever more is...

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e-Wand is in the building! :smiley: Had to do a little minor trimming on the right to make things fit, but worked out fine.

The rod is fairly large once you have it in place (not surprising since it holds six 2A batteries, motor, etc.) so we'll see how the WAF is when she finally notices it. May take a day or so, she tends to have tunnel vision when she's working in the office. This is what she's been asking for since I first automated the blinds, so it should be shouts of joy and angels singing. :wink:

The motor is slower than the iBlinds motor, and about the same level of noise but a different timbre. The main concern I'd have about the e-Wand is long-term reliability of the relatively small motor, especially managing a larger set of blinds, but manual control at the blinds is evidently a must in our house, and this is the one option that provides automation w/ability to tweak position or fully open/close manually.

What I'd like is a driver like the excellent one that @bertabcd1234 made for iBlinds, that includes a "dimmer" control option. That makes it compatible w/a wider range of apps (majority include dimmers, much fewer have shades), and can adjust dim level in percentage changes (e.g., reduce dim -12%), and I can use Google Home to easily control it (set xxxx to 25%).

Would also love to see the Temperature and Light sensor capability of the wands integrated if that's at all possible, but since those are controlled on the wand w/switches, I assume doubtful the wand does any reporting of temp or lux.

Hmmm... so we have a zigbee screw-drive actuator. What's the torque like?

I don't see any info on that in the included documentation. Maybe on their web site (link in OP)?

Sounds like you have evil plans in mind... :wink:

Another similar option is the Sunsa Wand, similar form-factor/design, screw drive in a wand. But that is cloud-linked, while this is local.

Also, what's going to be the best battery in these wands?

I typically only use NiHM rechargeables unless a device doesn't play well with them. The six batteries in the box were too old (wand barely moved) and I had to replace them right away. All I had six batteries of was some lithium AAs I had left over from another use, so I put them in. Any reason not to use the lithiums until they die, and should NiMH rechargeables work OK in these wands as well?

Iโ€™ve never used NiMH rechargeable batteries in HA stuff so now Iโ€™m feeling like Iโ€™m an Earth hater. I thought the lower voltage would cause problems. Thanks for that :wink:

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I'm using Eneloops on all my HE battery stuff, even the Mighty Mule driveway sensor and the Mailbox transmitter (12v, so TEN of tho$e). Work fine, but don't like cold weather.

Ewand devices do not support these attributes, I would have included them if they did.

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I figured as much...thanks for confirming. :slight_smile:

Any chance of a future update to the driver w/a "Dimmer" capability added?

If not for you I bet the Dinosaurs will still be here. :wink:

I use rechargeables in everything, HA or otherwise. I try them at least once, and if they perform/survive reasonably well I stick w/'em. I think the only place I'm not using them for D, C, AA, or AAA uses is in my Schlage lock, which I avoid because of the rapid fall-off at the end which might take me by surprise and leave me w/an unpowered lock. I use AAA rechargeables in a number of small flashlights around the house, adn the one down-side is that drop-off, where the flashlight will be working prety normally and then suddenly go dark.

Same issue (rapid drop off in teh power curve at the end) will affect using them in the e-wand, but not as mission critical as a lock.

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Me too. Thinking about it, the only things I could use rechargeable batteries in are the Hue motion sensors and Zigbee locks. The first Hue motion sensor I purchased before I switched to HE still has the original alkaline batteries in it, so I guess Iโ€™m off the hook.

:+1:

And I'm pretty sure the Dinosaur thing wasn't entirely your fault anyway.

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