[RELEASE] Graber, Bali, Somfy Virtual Cord Shade Driver - V2.0 - Dimmer , Max/Min Limits & Battery

I found a driver on the forums, that had support for battery levels on the shades. But I wanted some extra features such as setting shade Max/Min Limits and dimming features along with support for Homekit.

Features of V2:

  • Supports Open, Close, On, Off, Set Position, Start Position Change, and Stop Position Change commands

  • Battery Level reporting (once daily @ 6:00 AM) or on demand with the Refresh command

  • Tested with Rule Machine, webCoRE and Hubitat Alexa integration

  • Added Ability for it to act like a Dimmer Switch in HomeKit/Hubitat

  • Added Ability to Set MIN & MAX Open Values to not allow it to exceed a certain Up & Down Max per Blind so users don't have to set it per window with a remote.

  • Added Support if WindowShadeLevel is ever added to Hubitat like SmartThings.

  • Added Support to Customize the 100% Battery Threshold for Rechargable Batteries!!


How to Get It:

Github Project: github.com/cameronmoten/Graber_Bali_Somfy_Shade_Driver

RAW Code: (To Import into the driver or Replace Older Version)

raw.githubusercontent.com/cameronmoten/Graber_Bali_Somfy_Shade_Driver/main/graber-shade-driver.groovy

Installation:

  1. Create a new driver in the "Drivers Code" section, using the RAW Code link

  2. If you have existing shades, switch to this driver with each shade and set your logging preference (defaults to info)

  3. New shade Z-Wave pairing should automatically select this driver

  4. Refresh command will update battery level and shade position in the driver (It will update within 24 hours as well)

Notes:

  1. It has only been tested with the Graber Virtual Cord Shades but Somfy/Spring Window Fashions is the Zwave device which is shared across products so it should work for any that match. But no guarantee on all shades.

  2. Secure Z-Wave communication is not currently supported. The Graber shades don't pair with security, so this shouldn't be an issue with normal installations.

Advanced Battery Customization:

I use re-chargeable batteries in my blinds, and due to how the blinds measure battery usage you will never see 100% battery charge even with new batteries (usually only 25-75% Capacity). This allows you to customize the 100% Full Battery thresholds.

Example logs, my blinds on install with rechargeable batteries reported 50% full.
So I set the Battery Limit to 50% and the system will now report 

Window -- Battery level is 36%
Window -- REAL Battery level is 18% Before being Modified (18%/50%)*100 => 36%

Based off the original V1 Beta here -- [RELEASE] Graber Virtual Cord Shade Driver (Beta)

Hope it helps someone!

3 Likes

Thanks - Just installed this with my cellular shades and I am seeing battery levels for the first time. I look forward to being warned about low batteries vs. waiting until the shades stop in the middle of the window.

1 Like

Thank you! Do you know if this works with Google Home? I have it functioning now as a dimmer switch but when I tell Google "Turn On All Lights", the shades open.. (Driving me a little crazy)

Sadly it will still act as a dimmer.

The issue is hubitat doesn't support "WindowShadeLevel" like smartthings does.. So I can't make it pretend to be a window shade with levels/dimmers.

Feel free to make request to hubitat to add Capability "WindowShadeLevel"

FYI - I noticed I am getting this in the log (below). The shade is working fine. It is set to the default of 99. So I tried setting it to 100, and then 98. Then back to 99. When I set it to 98 and then back to 99 then the error stopped.

An update on this. I have three Somfy blinds. One reports 72% real battery level and never changes. The other two report 100% real battery level all of the time. So it appears that it is not working for me unfortunately.

@CamM This is terrific!

Our family lost our remote. In the process of adding this to my C7, I apparently reset the limits of how far the shade will close, so now it only travels about 4 inches. Can I fix the shade limit within Hubitat without trying to acquire a new remote (which of course don't seem available)?

Great job with this and any help appreciated!

Hello,

Looking for some assistance here as we've been having intermittent problems with our Graber rollers for quite some time now; the wife is threatening to go buy all new window treatments, as a result.

The problem we have is intermittent; sometimes all shades respond to our automations and switch-presses, and sometimes only some. And sometimes none. I've installed repeaters, done "z-wave repairs," removed and re-included devices ad nauseum, etc etc. I also tried several different drivers, the one mentioned in this thread appearing to be the most recent.

I can't seem to find the root cause of the issue but what it seems like is that these devices go to "sleep" at times and do not always wake up. I'm not sure if its the "sleeping" that's the issue, or the "not waking up part" that is truly the issue (I'd assume the latter because these are battery-driven roller shades).

The only "workaround" I've been able to find that works for a bit is to unplug the shades and plug them back in again - I then see them "connect" (green blinking light) to my hubitat network and they will then work for a period of time. Sometimes they just work and sometimes they do not work at all. I've attached a couple of screenshots of my device topology and the device list which shows two shades that are reachable and two that are not reachable (i.e. no routes).

Any advice, pointers or requests for additional information are greatly appreciated - I am technical so if more information needs to be dug out, please let me know.

Thank you all so much for any advice you have to offer.

Lou


Bumping this with the hopes someone can weigh-in? Thx