I'm a bit over/underwhelmed, after searching for help integrating Graber shades with my HE. I have two windows with a single, regular remote that works with the group. I added a shade and the remote to the HE, but can't seem to see any integration. Also tried adding a shade control to the dashboard. It's not clear to me whether I should be trying to bind to the individual shades or to the remote, which driver I should be using, etc. I tried the Generic Z Wave Shade driver. Trying to send Open/Close commands doesn't seem to do anything. One thread talked about secondary devices, but I wasn't quite following that line of thought.
If your Graber shades are like mine (I got mine from ZebraBlinds) all the paperwork said Springs Window Fashions and the electronics appeared to be Somfy. Each one of my shades came with a two-button, Graber branded Somfy controller that was paired to the shade that is was packaged with.
In order to pair your shades (assuming they are like mine) to Hubitat you need to do a reset of the shades. Once you have done the reset, the shades pair easily (Mine are paired to a C-4 Hub as the C-7 didn't exist when I got my shades. I have not yet tried to move them to a C-7 hub). The driver I am using is the Generic Z-Wave Shades driver (I think that was automagically selected when I paired them).
Doing the reset removes the association with the two-button controller. I have never experimented to see if you can have the shades paired with the Hubitat Hub and also have an association with the two-button controller. It sounds like it might be possible.
The two-button controller will pair and operate as a Somfy 2-Button (Z-Wave) Controller. I have a box full of them as I rarely have a use for them. I use Lutron Picos for most of my shade controlling.
Once the shades are paired with Hubitat you can write rules to manipulate them. I don't do much automation with them, I have setup Lutron Picos as button controllers to control them in each room. You could have them open/close at a specific time or based on a certain lux level if you wanted to do that.
Hi Eric. I've reset and repaired these quite a few times, trying to get it right. I have the same setup that you have. My instructions state to pair each shade and then the remote. Are you suggesting that I only pair the Somfy remote? I have 50-60 devices on my network, but this is the first time I've encountered trouble like this. I must be missing a key z-wave primary/secondary concept. Sorry, I've re-read your response several times. Now I'm thinking you're saying to unpair them from the remote and go directly to the hub. But ... then you mention the remote, as well.
I don't use the remote that came with the shades, that's why I said I have a box of them. It will pair as a two-button controller but it does nothing until you create some kind of a rule that uses it. I think the only time I've used one of those is so we have a remote that is easy to hide in your pocket that we use to turn the christmas tree on and off and thrill the grandkids.
My shades are paired directly with the hub and they work fine.
Thanks again. I've had an interesting journey with this process, having followed those instructions previously, without any luck. Since then, I had installed the Springs custom driver, per another post, and tried to switch to that driver, again, without luck. I just removed everything and repeated the same pairing (minus the remote) and this time the shades were discovered as Springs shades, instead of generic z wave. And they work with the hub and dashboard.
It's unclear to me why the instructions talk about pairing the remote after the shades, or if it's possible to control the group, instead of the shades individually. I will continue to experiment, first by pairing the remote to the shades as a secondary, hoping that doesn't wipe out my hub pairing. It's crazy that it's taking me 10x longer to pair the shades than to install them!
Well, I think I have solved the issue. It was pairing the remote to the shades. From my findings, you cannot pair the remote to the shades "as a secondary controller", as the instructions and video all claim. The moment I do that, the devices are dead to the HE. I have to remove and re-pair them, minus the remote.
I will next try to either user their remote to control the shades via the HE (paired to the HE, not the shades), or via a spare pico. I assume that I can no longer using the shade group, if that's even a benefit. It's not like I could get them perfectly synched, anyway.
I have about 10 Bali shades in my home (same as Graber, same parent company Springs Window Fashions and Somfy controls).
I was able to reset each shade, associate it with the hubitat and then associated it with the remote. You have to make sure you are doing an additional association rather than going through a full reset and repair process (I can't remember the exact terminology.).
I was able to associate each shade with the hubitat and each remote with the hubitat and THEN associate each remote with the shade (the hubitat is NOT using a rule to forward the button press to the shade). I was also able to associate a fancier multishade controller with the hubitat and then also with each shade.
I have been using a dimmer driver rather than the shade driver. It isn't perfect but you can set the shade to a percentage open which I like.
