Full Disclaimer: We are dealers of Graber products, all our products are made to order at custom sizes and options.
This thread will contain all information from Jan, 2018 onwads (until discourse removes my ability to edit it) and current discussion on these and the original post will be regularly updated with the latest information.
What are Graber Virtual Cord Z-wave+ Shades?
Graber’s virtual cord shades utilize Z-Wave+ to operate and unlike other systems do not require a bridge. This means it can be directly integrated with Samsung’s SmartThings and other home automation systems. In SmartThings, it works as a dimmer switch to control the shade to any percentage and using Smart Lighting it should be able to run locally (with a compatible DH). The motorization is manufactured by Somfy, but the system is designed by Graber (Springs Window Fashions).
I need to completely reset my shade and start over, what do I do?
Ans: To reset the shade, press and hold the button on the headrail. The button will flash green and eventually flash red. Once it cycles through all the colors and stops, the shade is reset. To double check simply tap the button and the shade will only move around 3 inches up or down. Notes to consider: When resetting the shade, its recommended to have the shade in a halfway open/close position vs fully open or fully closed; this makes things a lot easier to trouble shoot. Also when resetting a shade, you will have to repair the remote to the shade and set the upper and lower limits again.
What are the available power options?
Battery (8 or 16 AA 1.5V batteries, depending on a single or dual battery case, battery power recommended for 10 shades or less), Recharageable 3100mah Lithium Ion Battery Pack, DC Transformer (plugs into any wall outlet), or a 10 Motor power supply that you can use for custom wiring in your home.
Can I use my own wiring for power?
You can while using the following multi motor power supply: Graber-motorization-multi-power-supply-specification.pdf - Google Drive
Only the specs for the 12v power supply is relevant. The other’s do not apply to the z-wave shades. The power supply can power normal somfy motors or the z-wave motors. For the z-wave motors each multi motor unit can power up to 10 roller/solar, natural and roman shades and up to 8 cellular or pleated shades.
Can I connect these to Amazon’s Echo or Google Home?
Yes, you can. Connect your Echo or Google Home to ST and enable access in ST for Echo or Google Home to control them. They work exactly like a dimmer switch, so turn on/off and set a specific percentage level.
What is the difference between Graber Virtual Cord and Bali Autoview?
Both are made by the same company with the key difference being Bali is a big box store brand while Graber is their premium line of products. You will notice slight quality differences where Graber is just a bit better. Pricing wise depending on the source you can usually get Graber for around the same price or lower than Bali.
Compatible Official DH
Springs Window Fashions Device Handler. This should be auto assigned when you add the shade. If not you can find it in the device type drop down.
Compatible Community DH and SmartApps: All Credit goes to @whoismoses for his wonderful work!
ST-Z-Wave-Somfy-Remote: Lets you use your z-wave virtual cord remote as/like a 2 button minimote. You can use it to trigger things, routines, CoRE pistons, etc.
ST-Z-Wave-Shade: Shows additional information such as current battery levels and has preset open positions and one customizable preset.
At this point I am fairly certain Solar is on the back burner. There hasn’t been any updates on that front yet. There are some additional accessories incoming in march but no solar yet.
36% off all Z-wave Shades, Coupon: Christmas-Zwave (expires Dec 25)
45% off all Z-wave Shades with extended lead times (8 - 14 weeks, usually 8 - 10 weeks), min order value $2000: Christmas-Zwave-E (expires Expires Dec 25, limited number of orders)
*NOTE: Lead times are typically 3 - 5 weeks for most orders however some orders have experienced an additional 2 - 3 week delay. Notices are sent out as we see delays.
Delivery is usually in 2 - 3.5 weeks since it goes in a manufacturing queue. If any orders are expected to go past that due to material shortages etc, we notify you as we get a notification.
Top down isn’t available with the z-wave motors. The only motorized cellular we have with top down only works with the included remote. You would have to do a massive workaround with something like a broadlink rm pro and ST to get it to work.
You don’t have to ‘dim the shades’ Glen. Use the community provided DTHs and Shady smart app. When you expose the resulting devices to Alexa, use the Alexa app to create a custom routine to ‘open the blinds’ (turn on) or ‘close the blinds’ (turn off)
Thanks for the reply! Sorry to be a pest, but I just want to ensure I’m understood and therefore getting the right information.
“Massive work-arounds” are not what I seek on this. I would want top-down / bottom-up blinds… but it would be understood that the ‘motorized’ aspect would only be for the more traditional bottom-up component. The top-down function would remain manual.
The integration with SmartThings would be a luxury. It is not essential. The dual functionality is likewise not essential… but we’re exploring all options at this time.
Right now that’s simply not available. Its either bottom up motorized, top down motorized (on one product only, and only works with it’s remote) or TDBU corded or cordless with no motorization at all.
I ordered 4 of the LightWeaves Graber Virtual Cord Blackout Roller Shades from your company in the fall and love the product. However we’ve been having SmartThings issues since the start. It’s been intermittent so I haven’t given it the attention it deserves to get it resolved but it is something I want to sort out now as it was a good deal of money we spent…
The issue seems to be exclusive to the SmartThings integration and not with the included remotes. We use 2 of our 4 rollers far more frequently than the other 2, opened and closed daily as opposed to just a couple times a week at the moment for the other 2. So as it stands I have only noticed the issue with the 2 used daily but have not ruled the other 2 out. When we go to bed we have a SmartThings routine to do a bunch of things in our home, one of which is closing the rollers. We are using the custom DH you shared in this thread, originally found that in your old thread. The problem is that we will issue the “bedtime” command and half of the time the rollers go down 4-6" and stop. The light starts to flash red on the motor. If we get up and use the remote we have to press “up” to let it return to fully open and then press “down” to get it closed. But if we try to finish the close via SmartThings and not the remote we have to toggle the shade from “on” to “off” a bunch of times until it finally starts to respond again. It can take anywhere from 5-20 toggles before it starts moving again. I have excluded the rollers from SmartThings and re-paired them multiple times and am unsure what else to do at this point.
Please advise what I can do in this situation. I would really like to get this sorted out as SmartThings integration was the driving factor in our decision to purchase these rollers. It was a lot of money for us to spend to not be able to reliably use this function.
Can you please send an email to support@zebrablinds.com or support@zebrablinds.ca depending on where you bought it from so we can open up a troubleshooting / warranty request with the manufacturer? Just include your order number and paste the contents of the post into the email.
They will get back to you within a day usually and will basically try and get some troubleshooting done with the manufacturer. Then based on that will proceed as needed.
First of all, thank you for your help in this community.
I have my virtual cord motors set up with Smartthings and they work great MOST of the time. However sometimes, one of them (always the same one) does not respond to the smarthub instructions and shows as offline. If I issue the command a couple more times or navigate to the device, it often magically comes to life. A couple of times I have had to wake the device by physically pressing the button on the right side of the blind. Its almost like its not listening for its commands.
Have you ever come across this? How have you fixed it?
