Smart Window Blinds / Shades

got an ETA?..

Nope.

As with all pre-production products… “They’re ready when they’re ready”, unfortunately. I’m impressed with the working prototypes, though… And the team. But I never trust ETAs.

Nice video, thanks! So is there any microcontroller built in to mysmartblinds? In other words, if you turn your phone off, will the blinds still continue on their last known schedule?

Yes there is. So basically when you set schedules per blind or per “room” group, you are programming the blinds to open and close at a fixed time or a dynamic “sun tracking” time that adjusts the event time as the days get longer or shorter. For me, they open at 7:30 am and close around sunset each night. Your mobile device does not need to be around for schedule operation. Of course you can use your phone to manually open and close the blinds if you wish.

There was a recent firmware update which claims to extend rechargeable battery life to about 12 months between charges for typical use. Even with the old firmware I was not seeing much battery charge status drain.

One note, on the latest version of Android (Nexus 6 @ 6.0.1) I had issues getting the firmware updates to complete over Bluetooth. Switching to an older Android tablet everything completed quickly and I notice the older version of android is quicker to open connections to the blinds after logging into the app. So the Bluetooth issues with Android Marshmallow devices continue. Not a problem limited to MySmartBlinds.

In case y’all haven’t notice the main FlipFlic Topic update, it’s Kickstarter launched ~3 days ago and is 60% funded already…

Honestly, FlipFlic’s early campaign success (so far) is very much due to superior marketing and PR investment. They hired the best. Didn’t hurt they included my picture and bio in the campaign team too (or at least I hope it doesn’t hurt :worried: :scream: :wink:).


1 Like

Just bought the Bali Autoview Motorized roller shades. There is no need for the interface anymore. They are the new motors from Bali. Got them up and running with smartthings but they are a generic switch with on/off. So they roll all the way up and all the way down. You have to program the remote and the blind. I lost control off the physical remote but I am going to call Bali to get and advanced tech help to see if I can integrate both. The rep last night said I should be able to and I can but it looses the setting after a while which is weird. So far happy with it. Wish Smartthings had them as an app for better integration.

I am new to this so with time hopefully I can learn more.

Do you mind posting a link to the model you purchased.

Costco, Home Depot sells them not sure who else would sell them.

Lowes still has the old motors. If they try to sell you the ZRTSI controller they are the old motors.

I bought mine through Costco.

Not sure I like the new autoview. The old system you could get a remote that could control multiple blinds (nice when automation was acting up), now you have to buy a remote for each unit. Having 15 sets of motorized blinds, and only needing 4 remotes (one for each room).

Did a quick price on one window without a remote and it is about $45 more than I paid a year ago (17% increase), adding a remote is another $36, which would have increased the cost by about 30%+ per window that now needs a remote.

I do have a few more windows I need to cover, luckily I think there are a 1 to 1 parity to remote to shade. Can a remote control multiple shades? Can you skip the remote and just do home automation? Not sure I like this, having an alternate way to control devices is a top concern for me.

@barrios35

You may be able to replace the device type with the @e_sch to give it a better interface. I use this one with my ZRTSII blinds and it works well. Still basically a dimmer switch underneath.

1- 2 button remote is included with each motor for my purchase. You have the option of buying the other remote that was not needed.

I believe you can setup a 2 button remote to control a group.

When I set it up I needed the remote. Not sure if there is a work around.

I agree with that too. I need to get the remotes to work with the shades again just in case something goes south. Not to mention you set upper and lower limits.

Thanks for the code. Just got the hub last night. Still learning my way around it.

Do I just copy and paste? Or is there something I need to do first? Sorry first time ever doing this with the smartthings.

I get this

You can check out this and ask me for help as well. Graber and Bali are from the same company and pretty much use the same systems. Graber is their premium product sold usually only through dealers and Bali through the bigger chains.

There is a remote available to control a single group of autoview or virtual cord shades.

You can copy and paste it. Make sure you are in the “My Device Handlers” tab

The latest is here:

https://github.com/imnotbob/SmartThings-1/blob/Develop/somfy_shades.groovy

1 Like

Knew I should have tagged you. I was running an out-dated version.

I wanted to sent a big thank you to Zebra Blinds. Their YouTube link got me to add the remote as a secondary remote.

Now the shades are controlled primarily with the hub and then the actual remotes that came with the shades.

The device was recognized as an outlet but was able to switch it in web api to a dimmer. Now I can adjust the shade instead of switching on/off.

2 Likes

Thanks Ben and Eric for the contribution. Going to add it and see how it goes.

If you need help with anything in the future just ask.