Shades - what works? what doesn't?

I am interested in getting some shades (roller) that I can automate with Hubitat. I see Graber and Lutron in the Compatible Devices List. I have Lutron Caseta Pro Hubs (2) for lighting. I would be interested in positive or negative experiences with those and other brands. Not looking to do the whole house but perhaps six windows in three rooms.

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I can't speak for Graber, I do have 13 or 14 Serena Honeycomb shades and I would use them again without hesitation, inexpensive?, nope, worth it?, yes in my opinion.

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Have you gotten to testing the IKEA Shades yet?

no, and in north america they only sell black out rollers, which likely isn't what you would deploy to an entire house.
I will fetch one of the ikea rollers once they get their stock sorted out as I do have a need for one or two of them personally...

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Awsome. Same here.

Hi Mike:

I got a Graber Cellular Shade to try out in my office. It pairs as Device, not identifying with the Generic Z-Wave Shade. Once I switched the driver over, it seems to be working well. Here is the pairing data:

The two-button remote that came with it identified (correctly, I believe) as a Somfy 2 Button Controller. Here is the pairing data for that:

Take care!
Eric

Was there a specific product name for this?, or is Graber Cellular Shade it...

It seems to be a product of many names . . . depending on where you look. Ordered from ZebraBlinds, the packing list calls it "Graber Cellular Shade". The installation instructions have branding by "Springs Window Fashions" which also appears to be the source listed on the packing list. The name showing on the two-button remote as well as on the shade is Graber. The names on the stickers (with the various certifications and fine print) all say Somfy Technology. The detailed instructions for using the remotes and performing Z-Wave pairing and association has the "Springs Window Fashions" name and says "Powered by Somfy".

So I think Graber Cellular Shade is probably appropriate. :nerd_face:

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And for anyone who buys these shades, the shades were already paired with the included two-button remote control. The button/shade exclusion (I suppose it's more properly a dis-association) procedure they provided did not work for me. I couldn't get Hubitat to see it when I tried to pair. I figured it must still be paired with the remote and it was.

I ended up having to perform a reset - shown in this snip:

As soon as I did this, I was able to pair with Hubitat.

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@mike.maxwell do you know if the serena honeycomb shades or at least the mechanism would work with say an already installed honeycomb blind made by Bali? I have blind already but would be interested in making them motorized after the fact.

Sorry, I have no idea.

@mike.maxwell I bought some more of these Graber/Somfy shades. They are working well with the Generic Z-Wave Shade driver but I noticed one thing I am hoping you can investigate - I see them logging battery level in the device log but there is not battery level shown on the device page and when I attempted to add them to my battery dashboard the icon came up gray with no value. Is it possible to add battery support? Thanks!

Personally, I'm looking for z wave motors to open and close my existing shades that have a metal chain on a roller connected to the side of the window. you do it by hand now, but i've seen motorized clamps for the bottom. trying to figure out something to smarten it up.

So, how dog-proof would you say these are? One of our dogs --- she's a sassy Shiba Inu --- has gotten wrangled in our venetian blinds and destructively ripped them out of their enclosures twice, now.

Roller shades seem to be the way to go, since she can't get wrapped around anything.

Edit: chungus in question:

The ones I got are cellular shades. Zebra Blinds also has roller shades - I don't know if they are the same manufacturer and mechanism as the cellular shades. I think the cellular shades would be shredded by a dog quite easily. Most of our window sills are high enough as to be dog resistant.

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Q for @mike.maxwell - When I look at my shades in the Google Home app, I notice that they are identified as Device Type "switch". I suspect this is part of the reason that the only way I can get Google to do anything with them is to tell Google to turn them on or off (works sometimes). Is passing the correct device type to Google something Hubitat will be able to do or is it something Google is ignoring? Or is it a little bit of both? It would be nice to be able to move the shades under voice control. For me that's something I use (now) more frequently than the ceiling fans (which I tend to leave on or off for long periods).

Axis Gear is a great product to automate roller shades. I have three in my house. They integrate as a generic zigbee dimmer. Can be powered by outlet or batteries and solar panel. Expensive, but my have been flawless for several years.

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I have been looking at Axis Gear for a while. I noticed a discussion where some are creating drivers for it and had issues. Setting this as a generic zigbee dimmer would be much easier. Was that all it took?

How did you complete pairing? Just hold the motor button for 3 seconds and then hubitat will detect it while in inclusion mode?

I'm almost certain I just followed these directions (after removing the remote that was shipped with the shades and was paired with the shade at the factory).

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