The shades use USB interface for power. Most 12V/15V DC adapters with a USB plug would simply leave Data wires unconnected (i.e. only connect + and GND). However, the SWF DC Transformer connects the data wires to GND and it appears that the shade electronics expect that. When i spliced together the wiring in the USB extension cable, the 3rd party transformer worked like a charm
My only explanation for why some shades worked to begin with is that either the electronics are slightly different or, perhaps, the USB plug on the shade is simply wired differently to connect data to GND. I am too lazy to take down those shades to confirm.
Not sure if any of this was done intentionally by SWF but it certainly would be a clever way to prevent most 3rd party power supplies from working…
@alexanv1, I have done a little research on this. I am still running my shades off of the official lithium batteries but I have done some snooping into the wiring and it turns out that there may be a reason for the odd data pin wiring that you saw. When the shades are first initialized they can go into one of two modes: sleepy or repeater. The shade needs to know if it is powered from a transformer or from batteries. This information helps the shade determine which mode to initialize. To me this is reminiscent of the way that USB phone chargers use various arrangements of resistors between the data lines, +V, and GND, to indicate their charging standard (Apple, Samsung, etc.). This is not evil, it just keeps phones from requesting too much current from a charger. Of course, this situation might be simpler? Maybe grounded data lines is the signal for the shade know that it is connected to a transformer?
Are the data lines in the official transformer a true dead-short to ground or do they have a measurable resistance (in other words, is there a voltage divider in there)? Thanks.
Actually, I think I spoke too soon originally.
It’s possible I didn’t measure the voltage correctly at the board…
Here is where I am at:
I didn’t check the official transformer but the official extension cable only has + and GND wires inside it so the data lines aren’t connected at all
Using a 3rd party extension cable with all 4 wires:
i) Shorting the data lines to ground in the extension cable allowed the shade electronics to initialize but the motor wouldn’t run at all
ii) Cutting the data lines in the 3rd party extension cable gets everything working
iii) Using the extension cable “as is” causes the shade to not initialize at all - I suspect this is due to the fact that the data lines are shorted to each other at the 5.5mm to micro-USB adapter in the 3rd party transformer (which I think is standard for USB chargers without data)
The above also explains why 2 of my shades worked without any of this messing around. On those 2 shades, I was using the official extension cable which simply doesn’t have data lines connected (or shorted I guess).
The plug at the shade has all 4 lines connected so I suspect it’s also being used as a debugging\firmware update port\etc. The shade may have been confused when data lines were shorted or grounded and was going into a debugging state or something like that.
Either way, the simple solutions for using 3rd party chargers are to:
use any extension cable but cut the data wires
use the official extension cable
use a data-only USB extension cable but make sure the data lines aren’t simply shorted at the plug
This also explains why other folks that were hard-wiring to external transformers didn’t have an issue - most started with the battery case and just snipped the +/GND wires coming out of it and connected to external power (i.e. data lines were never connected).
As for how they detect battery vs. transformer… Perhaps they are simply looking at input voltage. The official plug-in transformer is ~15v where as the battery pack only gives you ~12v.
@alexanv1, thanks for looking into this. I do appreciate it. I considered the possibility that supply voltage is the signal that the zwave controller uses to determine its mode. You may be correct, but there is a complication. Graber strongly suggest that we use the Energizer AA Lithium batteries. In a fresh state, those can have open circuit values as high as 1.8v. That would give a fresh eight cell pack a voltage of 14.4v. That would make differentiating batteries from power supplies kind of tricky if we just look at voltage.
Anyway, this is not what you were asking about. I am glad that you were able to figure out your transformer issue.
I would love to find a way to switch some of my shades from repeater move to sleepy mode. They’re draining my batteries and doing multiple full factory resets hasn’t fixed it. I believe the latest firmware update would fix this issue, but I didn’t have time to request it from Zebra Blinds yet …
@neod192, the battery drain issue is what sent me down this path. The proper solution is talking to the manufacturer and replacing the motor on the misbehaving units. That is what I did. However, if I ever wanted to void my warranty, I wonder if there is a zwave configuration parameter that can be set. If so, the Z-Wave Tweaker DH might be able to set it. I have never found detailed documentation (down to the parameter level) for these motors so I never tried.
There isn’t anything major currently. If you’re looking to purchase today I can extend the same discount as June 7th. Today is the last day that we can offer it for the customers that missed it (we usually have a grace period so people can still get it if they missed out). Otherwise it would be dependent on the order. If it’s a larger order you can create an account, configure it and PM me the email on the account and we can see what we can do.
Edit: The SmartThings coupon still works for 36% off as well. You won’t see huge savings on the roller/solar shades since they are discounted to about the same on the site currently but, it will save anywhere between 5 - 10% on everything else.
@ZebraBlinds, I’ve tried messaging you directly, but haven’t received a response. I’m in need of a firmware update for my roller shades as they suffer from the issue and are on 11.02. I emailed support and they told me to message you here.
Some of the buttons to pair or manually operate the shades are not easy to reach, is there a way to roll the shade bar down when you have the integrated valance?
What do people do to get the wrinkles out? Some of mine have some wrinkles so I would like to straighten them.
Alexa isn’t picking up the blinds from smartthings, I disabled and reenables the skill with no luck. What am I missing?
Best I can tell these are motorized by remote only and have no integration with any smart home systems. Is that correct? I would need a bridge or something to get them integrated into smartthings? I’ve looked at every major brand of shade so far. I’d like to do motorized shades across my house, but I really don’t want to deal with all those batteries, which is why Zebra’s rechargeable battery pack is so appealing. Every other manufacturer has you using AA or D batteries and usually Lithium batteries. Its already pretty hard to find reasonably priced rechargeable lithium batteries and then I’ve heard that companies discourage their use.
@natekspencer I will reply by PM once I have some update on it. We just have restrictions on who we can provide it to and there are typically hoops to get through for anything beyond that.
@Wright100 Those aren’t smart motors so they don’t have any direct integration to SmartThings. One alternative is using the broadlink rm pro, but, that’s finicky at best.
We are testing a basic smart controller for it currently which would support up/down on a schedule and with it’s app + ifttt access later down the line. But, it’s still in testing and no concrete dates on release.
Ok thanks for the information. I’m guessing we will use a basic cheap shade and wait for something to come on the market that is friendlier to more than a one-off situation. I can’t imagine changing out 320 lithium batteries twice a year, not to mention the cost.
@Maklar Woops. didn’t see your post. Yeah you can rotate it but you would also have to set you limits again.
For alexa to discover it there are 2 ways. If you want it to work with both the SmartThings Classic and New app, then you would need to login to your IDE and switch the device handler to a dimmer switch.
If you’re only on the classic app, I would recommend the device handler linked on the first post.
No worries, I have been traveling for work so haven’t had time to get into it yet. Are they rotated by hand or do I need to take it apart and then put it back in?
@ZebraBlinds Neal, I purchased 14 Bali Roller and Solar shades and after adding to Smartthings I am also experiencing the firmware issue that is described in this thread (wish I found this thread before purchasing from Lowes). I have had multiple phone conversations with the Advanced Motor Tech team at Spring Windows Fashion support and while they acknowledge the problem they have told me product has instructed them not to issue any firmware updates or I should contact Samsung. As a result, I am stuck in the mud with these blinds in my house that don’t automate / function properly.
I am currently on version 11.02, is there any possible way to receive version 11.3 (or the latest)?
Thank you in advance for your support to the community.
