Shades from Blindsgalore (Neo Smart Blinds Controller) Integration?

Hello, new to the forum, and fairly new to home automation. So far, have been able to connect a lot of things in my home to my Echo device, without a HUB. I have used the Smarthings app for some of them. Soon, I need to consider a HUB. I just ordered a set of motorized shades from Blindsgalore. To integrate with voice, they sell the Neo hub, and the salesman also told me that the wink hub would work. I don’t want to end up with more hubs than necessary, and am considering a Smartthings hub. Has anyone used a Smartthings hub with blindsgalore, or know if it will work?

There was a time this would not have gone unanswered. Did you ever try these blinds with SmartThings? Considering them too.

It uses the Neo smart hub, which is from an OEM who sells them to various window coverings companies. It’s Wi-Fi and a proprietary 433.92 MHz, no open API. So no direct integration.

http://neosmartblinds.com/smartcontroller/

However, it has an echo integration which allows its scenes to be activated through an echo routine. So you could use that as a “man in the middle” integration. :sunglasses: But you would still need to have the additional hub and use their app to set up the scenes.

http://neosmartblinds.com/smartcontroller-integrations/#scAlexaRoutine

FAQ: Can I trigger an Echo Action without Speaking to It?

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Hi folks. Although I’m a member of the SmartThings forum, I’m an owner of a Hubitat Elevation hub and not a SmartThings hub. The two have similar approaches to drivers, for those unfamiliar with the Hubitat Elevation. Anyhow, in my search for drivers for my newly acquired Neo Smart Controller for our outdoor blinds, I came across this thread. I thought others might do the same, so I wanted to provide you with info on a driver I have created for the Neo Smart Controller with support from a fellow Hubitat Elevation owner, Brian Wilson. You can find it here.

I got the API docs from Neo. The Neo Smart Controller supports HTTP GET commands with a simple syntax, so it was fairly trivial to build a driver for it. I’ve been using it now for a week or so and it has worked flawlessly. Someone in the SmartThings community might like to port it over to SmartThings - an exercise I understand is pretty straightforward. Enjoy!

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Hi bigrizz, thanks for the info!! So I would still need to purchase the Neo controller in order to use your solution, is that correct? Your solution won’t work directly on my motorized shades?

Hi Naadimre. Yes, you need the Neo controller. The Neo controller sends the RF signals to the supported blind motor.

Has anyone seen or created a device handler yet based on this API?

Any luck with this on smartthing? I’m getting my Louvolite blinds fitted in 2 weeks and they use the Neo controller.

Has anyone had any luck integrating the Neo hub and ST? I’m getting my blinds fitted this week and would love to be able to automate in SmartThings.

If not, what’s the workaround? Is it possible to trigger Google Assistant commands from ST?

I had mine fitted a few weeks ago and so far I’ve not found a way to integrate them with ST. I use alexa.

I managed to get mine working, but the handler calls the Neo Smart Connector from the cloud and not locally. I had to create some port forwarding on my router to test and it only seems to communicate in unsecured HTTP.

My Alexa integrates properly so I can operate it in a secured manner that way, as it authenticates against the web app.

Personally I am in two minds how to handle this kind of thing, either build something in AWS to handle external calls and apply some security before making my own calls back onsite, or just use another platform. I want to integrate my light sensors for automation so still looking for an optimal way.