Automating a motorized awning

New here, so hope I do this right. I have a circa 2002 Sunsetter motorized retractable awning. It has no remote, but has a hard wired rocker switch to make the awning go up or down. Its a press and leave it rocker, so when the awning gets all the way out it automatically stops (I don’t have to hold the button the whole time).
I’m hoping to make it a smart awning by either swapping out the switch or attaching some sort of smart plug to the outlet. Haven’t seen a smart plug that has other than on/off so thinking that isn’t an option.
Any ideas?

Welcome! :sunglasses: sounds like a good project.

There are probably options for replacing the switch, although as always, small details matter. In particular, what’s the voltage on the line that the switch controls?

Another very simple alternative would be to add a robot button pusher. These exist, and there’s one that has an integration with smartthings. I use these in my own home for several different applications. It has the advantage of not requiring that you make any changes to the existing set up. You just add the button pusher. :sunglasses:

The cost is about $40 for the controller and then about another $30 for each button. So if you’re only using one, it’s probably a little more expensive than just replacing the switch would be. But again easy. If you have a use for more than one then the per-unit cost comes down because the controller is being shared.

This is the one that has a SmartThings integration, although you could also use it just with Alexa if that’s all you need.

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Agreed, interesting project…

So first thought is here: Apparently theae things mat actually have Somfy guts and be compatible with the MySomfy interface. See here:

If that doesn’t work… Maybe a good case for STAnything?

Would require replacing the switch with the Arduino and relays if you go that way but you coukd build a controller and with limit or tilt switches have a pretty cool setup.

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We should ask here what the model number is for the awning. The fact that yours doesn’t have a remote makes me think it’s probably not one of the ones that’s using z wave. But that’s the first rule of home automation: “the model number matters.“ :sunglasses:

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Hi John, were you able to find a solution for this, if so could you share it with me, in my case I do have a remote but I don’t have a switch to control the awning, the ideal solution for me would be to find a zwave/zigbee controled motor. I do have a sun/wind sensor but the two can counteract each other causing the awning to be opening and closing consecutively, so I need a better more controlled solution.

If you have the somfy remote, you can look into the ZRTSI z-wave controller.

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