Glad things are (for now?!) going OK.
I see this w/other devices as well...particularly Z-Wave Plus devices, which if left to their own devices are supposed to be able to work out improvements in their routing on their own. I had a case of myself this AM w/the blinds. One of them showed up initially w/a somewhat odd routing and a 9.6kbps connection speed. Looked back a little later and routing was improved and 40kbps speed. All I did was wait a bit. 
Not working now.
Alexa, set Blind 1 (or Blind 2 or Blind 3) to 50 (or 100 or 0) works sometimes changing one blind at a time.
A few times Alexa answered "You can only set the volume between 1 and 10".
Google home gets confused and thinks "blinds" is lights some of the time. So maybe Alexa thinks you're talking about some other device.
Yeah, mine is set as a blind device type as well...problem is when I say "Close (or Open) the Family Room Blinds" GH sometimes has heard "...the family room lights."
Just wondering if Alexa is doing the same thing sometimes and misunderstanding what you're saying.
Yes.
Me: "Alexa, open the living room blinds."
Alexa: (turns on living room lights, because apparently "opening" is a thing you can do to lights)
Me: "Alexa, open the living room BLLLLLIIIIIIIIINNNNNDDDDZZZZZZ," while frantically reaching for a button/switch to turn off the lights.
Alexa: (opens the blinds) 
Exactly...but you forgot to include:
Family: "Ha ha ha...boy, you sure are an amazing home automation expert. Thank goodness you aren't automating the oven, the house would have burned down by now."
So I opened up one of my V3 units thinking I would fish out the antenna to get better reception when I install it.
However, I don't see anything that looks like an antenna - anyone done this before and have any idea what I'm looking for? You can't tell from this pic, but there isn't anything on the other side or underneath of the PCB at the top. The only blue wire is connected directly to the motor...don't think that's it.
Maybe the option to do this isn't there on the V3? The instructions I found were for the V2:
4. External Antenna. Use your included hex wrench to remove the motor lid and carefully extend the blue antenna through the small hole in the lid and then replace the lid. Making the antenna external will eliminate one obstacle for the Z-Wave wireless signal and help improve the strength. From: iBlinds V2 Troubleshooting
The antenna is the 'square wave' looking thing on the vertical circuit board next to the white gear. If there is no external wire option installed then it doesn't exist (or at least not pre-installed). It looks like there may be a solder pad to the left of this, check the silk screen on the board to see if it indicates that it's for an external antenna. Most likely not, but there's no harm in looking.
Edit: Based on the location of this antenna, you'd want to have this on the room side if possible. Plastic doesn't affect RF signals much. Metal however (the motor) will block the signal. If you're having marginal coverage then you want to take any advantage you can.
Thanks! It appears there isn't an external antenna option installed/included. Here are some close-ups. Not sure if there is an intended option to add on an external antenna. Is it that "Wire Ant" hole at the top?
We'd definitely need some feedback from iBlinds to be 100% certain but the solder pad next to the built-in antenna is labeled 'WireAnt' for a wire antenna. They must've included that in their design as a just in case. If you have any soldering skills then check with iBlinds to see what can be soldered to that pad to improve coverage.
I have a soldering iron, I have solder, I have limited soldering skills (been how many decades since I've done any soldering?!?). 
I am going to send their support team an email right now on it.
Wondering what type of wire would be best for this - standard twisted electrical wire, or solid wire, or ?
It's been a while since I've done antennas, so please don't do anything until you get feedback from iBlinds. But I recall length is as, if not more, important as type (stranded vs. solid). According to calcs you'd need a wire ~3.1" long and 18 to 22Awg would work. My concern is that there is a resistor connecting both the internal antenna (R6) and another one connecting this pad (R8). R6 may need to be removed, I don't know. So before you even consider doing anything you'd need the blessing of iBlinds before any modifications.
Thanks for the feedback and the cautions, I appreciate both! I've just emailed iBlinds support about it, to find out if there is an external antenna option on the V3, and if so, what should I do/not do while enabling it so I don't fry my blinds motor (or me). 
I'll pass along what I hear...hopefully the external option is supported, I just cannot keep this one blind connected.
I had mis-read this earlier. 3.1 inches! Not feet. Can you explain (layman's level) a little how the calcs work? Very interesting.
Ran across an article a while back on this. Seems the Zwave frequency for the US roughly cycles at around 12.99 inches (there are charts to look this up), recommended antenna lengths are 1/4 or 5/8 of the cycle length depending on who you read.
You start with the full wavelength which is a factor of the speed of light and the frequency of the signal. That, as @thebearmay pointed out, is ~12.99". Then, also as the bear pointed out you can then use a factor of that wavelength for the actual antenna (1/4, 1/2, 5/8). Running through the math you're probably closer to 3.25" (12.99" x 1/4) than 3.1".
Thanks, @wecoyote5 & @thebearmay, I would have just put a really long piece of wire on it by myself.
I seems like adding an external antenna, if it's only 3.25" long, will barely get the antenna physically up/out of the blinds enclosure, which I assumed would be the goal to improve reception. If I need more length to get the antenna out of the enclosure, I think you're saying I can also use 1/2 and 5/8 as the factors, so I could also use a wire 6.49 (1/2) and 8.1 (5/8) if I wanted to. Or is there a drop off in efficiency using the larger factors? And should I aim for vertical or horizontal orientation?
I did find something I had missed before, what looks like the spot for the antenna to exit the motor case - I hadn't noticed but there is a small hole near the area on the PCB where the antenna solder point is. Looks like it's there to feed the antenna up/out of the motor case w/out drilling any new holes. It's offset about around 3/4" to the right from where the antenna would be soldered for some reason.
You can use the 6.5" and you want it parallel to the HE's antenna radiation pattern. You'd need to determine the orientation of the HE's antenna (I think that was discussed in another thread) and factor in how you have HE's actual box mounted.
i.e. I think that HE's ZW antenna radiates vertically so if you mount your unit flat then your antenna should be vertical. Picture the hub in the middle of this, the vertical lines radiate from the hub in this pattern. You'd want your wire to be parallel with those lines, so in this case vertical.
Cool, thanks. I have my hub sitting on a hutch on an office desk, so it's in a "normal" orientation so vertical looks like the way to go. I'll confirm your expectation on the orientation.
Looking forward to hearing back from iBlinds support on if/how the external antenna can be set up. Given they retained the solder point and the antenna exit hole in the case, I'm hopeful that this will be relatively simple to do. [Fingers crossed.]
Download the Hubitat app
