I recently installed some Graber Virtual Cord Shades and found that the built-in Generic Shade Driver does not support battery reporting (by design). I developed this driver to mimic the behavior of the generic driver + add battery reporting. It is my first "from scratch" Z-Wave driver and only tested by me, so I'm marking it Beta.
Features:
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
Create a new driver in the "Drivers Code" section, using the RAW Code link
If you have existing shades, switch to this driver with each shade and set your logging preference (defaults to info)
New shade Z-Wave pairing should automatically select this driver (untested by me, so no guarantees)
Refresh command will update battery level and shade position in the driver
Notes:
It has only been tested with the Graber Virtual Cord Shades on my hub, but other Springs Window Fashions products will probably work if they use the Somfy motors (like the Grabers do).
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.
Please report any problems, questions, or bugs to me.
You mentioned that you tested with the Hubitat Alexa integration... What I have struggled with since I switched from ST to HE was the inability to group my shades (e.g., the two shades in the bedroom as "bedroom shades") when giving commands to Alexa. So I have either had to give the command to individual shades, or utilize Alexa routines, which is not ideal.
What I would love to do is be able to say "Alexa, set the bedroom shades to 50%", and any shades assigned to my bedroom group in the Alexa app will all be set to the 50% level. Do you happen to know if your driver will help get me to the promise land?
@sdjme My Alexa integration allows me to open or close my shades as a group. So, I can say "Alexa, open the shades" and all of the shades in my sun room open. Here's how you could do it for setting shades to 50%:
Create a virtual switch on your hub, call it something like "Shades 50 Percent". Enable auto-off for that shade so it turns off automatically.
Create a rule that uses "Shades 50 Percent" as the trigger. For the rule action, set up your shades to be positioned to 50%.
Make the "Shades 50 Percent" switch available to Alexa in the Amazon Echo Skill.
Go to the Alexa App and create a new routine that turns on the '"Shades 50 Percent" switch when you speak the phrase "Alexa, set the shades to 50 percent".
I have 3 routines set up this way to open, close, and set my shades to 50%. They work great!
@Pegasus If you are looking at Z-Wave shades, you can connect directly to Hubitat using my driver or the stock shade driver. BTW, I noticed that Zebra Blinds is having a big sale on Graber Z-Wave shades right now. They are who I bought mine from and they were great to work with. Here is a link to the sale info:
Thanks for the info and for creating the driver. The installer told me about a sale starting the 14th that will get me about the same off without the minimum. I only need this for one large window in my foyer that is 10 feet up the wall -- which is why I am paying for the shade install rather than me doing it.
We're pretty confident about our pricing. I always recommend comparing prices since the industry is known for offering deep discounts on extremely inflated prices. So a 45% discount through us can be lower than a 45% discount through someone else (and in a few cases 60% discounts quoted locally).
That said, sometimes the pricing might make sense in your situation with a window that's hard to access to install.
We have installer referrals which you can find here: Find an Installer. They have their own rates which you would need to work out with them.
That said, DM me past this, especially with what kind of shade, fabric, size, and power option you were looking for and I can check pricing for you on the products.
Don't want to clutter this thread with information that doesn't directly pertain to it.
Wanted to say thanks for the work here, I extended this to be a Version 2.0 of this 1.0 beta that supports Dimming the Shades & Setting Min/Max Software Limits. If anyone else wanted those features.
