Motors for blinds

🌎 Around the World 🇪🇺 Europe
1

Greetings,
I'm new to Hubitat, coming from Smartthings. I really enjoy Hubitat but I have a question.

I'm looking for automate the blinds of my house. But when I try to search I find everyone is talking about blinds like Ikea and I want to automate "hard blinds", like this: IMG_20200322_135520.jpg - Google Drive

I need to motorize the blinds so I'm searching for Hubitat compatible motors to upgrade my blinds.
Anyone can help please?

Thank you in advance.

2

From what I remember of my time in Europe, to open these (very heavy) blinds you need to pull a tape
You would need a VERY strong motor, with lots of torque, to get these to open.
To close them, don’t you need to first pull on the tape then release it?

I have not heard of anything that is capable of doing this.

The only way I can think of doing this would be to use a separate motor with something like the Fibaro roller shutter controller, then a bespoke app to control it

If anyone makes motorised controllers for this type of blind then you could probably do some kind of automation conversion.

Andy

1 Like
3

I don’t know the answer to your question.. Just wanted to say welcome to the community...

4

Hello and welcome to the community! I don't have an easy solution for you, but I also have hard blinds (though not exactly the same style as yours) and I have automated them, though it was very much a DIY project for hobbyists. Not an off-the-shelf thing for typical consumers.

I documented it here, mostly for myself, so that I would be able to quickly build more sets by following my own instructions.

I have a hunch your blinds could be done similarly, but it would probably have a number of differences from my implementation.

Good luck and please report back if you find something!

1 Like
5

Thanks for answers.
Yes lately I been thinking on implement a generic motor and add a fibaro device for control it.

6

Hi there,
I think one of the poissible solutions for you (and I have implemented it in my house) is to have a motor (any motor should do but I think Somfy is a good roller manufacturer) controlled by a wall electric switch. You should then buy a roller shutter module (to be installed) in the electric box or in the motor case above the window.
The Fibaro Roller Shutter 3 works fine for me. Just note that the Fibaro roller shutter is a Z-wave device and there is no official driver for it yet.
I have copied a driver from the Smartthings comunity and made the required changes and it works fine.
You can look it up here

7

Thnaks Amithalp,
I just received the motors and have to install them.
Thanks for the Fibaro driver, I thought it had driver already, I will check when install the motors.

Tbh I would like a roller device which is Zigbee and comptabile with hubitat...as I find fibaro device a bit expensive. Any ideas?

8

Not sure about zigbee but you can use the Shelly 2.5 which is a WIFI module and costs about half the price.

9

Thanks again,
Do u know if Shelly 2.5 are compatible with Hubitat or Do I need a custom driver for it?

10

You need a custom driver for it to take advantage of the roller mode. There used to be a driver but that developer has left Hubitat and took down his drivers.

11

Damnit, today I receive the Shelly modules and as your say I will not be available to use them because there is a lack of driver?
What I can do then? There is a way to get this driver somehow?

Thanks.

12

write a driver or you're out of luck

13

I'm not a programmer :frowning:

14

Guess you are sol..... maybe @mike.maxwell will code a driver for it one day or you can go ask the Shelly people to write one.

15

I thought hubitat had more compatibility with devices >.<
I will hope for a driver but i have no much hopes :(((((

16

I agree -- this is what happens when a few people decide to ruin it for the many. Good luck...

17

tbh i was reading the full post of the shelly driver and I saw someone was doing a driver for it so i decided to buy it without finishing the thread.
Then when I finished it i saw the author of the driver fully removed it because some kind discussion...so sad about it when I bought Hubitat they said the community was very good.

18

Have you checked Hubitat compatible devices list? I'm sure there is another device that can accomplish what you need.

I think Hubitat community is great, for example there are a lot of Xiaomi devices that work very well with community drivers. But if you buy a device that is not on the list I mentioned above, make sure that there is a community driver first.
I also made that mistake at the beggining and I had to wait until someone release a driver.

19

I'm using 8 Flush Shutter | Make your shading system smart. Remotely control shades. at home, fully compatible with HEU and working with existing driver Qubino Shutter Model. Just had to install them to work with Hub and the existing wired wall mount buttons.