iBlinds Issues

Wow - color me impressed, I could only get my wife to allow me to automate blinds on five windows. :wink: Can I visit?! :slight_smile:

With S2 is the recommended approach these days, should provide better communication/reliability on commands and not adversely affect the mesh.

For the closing part, you could compare the "beat them until they are all dead" app (my name) aka the All Off app that Bravenel created to your own close/check/try again process. HIs app sends "Off" commands (which the blinds support) to the selected devices and follows up automatically politely but firmly bludgeoning them until they all report off. :slight_smile:

My iBlinds are inside pretty thick older metal blinds housings and it seems to take a very strong signal to reliably control them. Even w/just five blinds I did not achieve iBlinds perfection until I upgraded to the C8 (and then C8-Pro) and (def a YMMV option) changed my C8 Z-Wave antenna to this super ugly antenna.

The blinds still only connect at 40, but they always work, no drop-outs/missed actions. One of our more respected members likes this antenna which is not nearly as ugly. :slight_smile:

I also have one blind motor (the older 3.0 HW) that has started to drag when opening/closing, so wondering if it is on the way out...it responds to commands reliably, but is noticeably slower than the others, even w/the same settings in the driver.

Mine started to work perfectly once I created separate rules for downstairs vs upstairs.

I opted to use the โ€œrepeat whileโ€ condition which checks if any blind is open or closed and continues the action until they all comply. Within the loop it refreshes status and commands it to open or close.

The interesting part is that one blind, and always the same one, initiates the action first and then the rest follow shortly after.

So regardless of all my attempts to create a synchronized event they will open and close independently at different times. Some days with a bit less lag than the next.

I am using the c7, so it may not be an issue if I decide to update to the c8.

My only real complaint other than the latency is the fact that the button doesnโ€™t initiate a tilt motion (i.e. tilt while pressed until you let go) so it kind or sucks that for manual control you can either close them completely or open them at their last tilt setting.

It feels like a programming miss if you ask me.

Anyways, I have 10 blinds total with an 11th one which I am trying to fit into a tiny window.

I donโ€™t regret them at all since they were still a fraction of the cost than what I was quoted for other options.

2 Likes

I only get 40 even with good antennae.
I have messed with them for years and one thing they don't like is a group command.
I have always had to loop with a delay to each device. I find 5 secs works without issue.