Somfy Motorized Blinds (Z-Wave)

Did you get my message?

Thanks … I think you are right. Smart to future proof.

One more update, official post will go up by thursday or friday, We are introducing a new product with built in Z-Wave, no ZRTSII needed. I’ll post links as soon as they are up.

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Sounds awesome … I am still evaluating options so this is now on the list.

I just installed one in my home today, will be posting a video tomorrow as well as information.

As promised, I have posted the Z-wave integrated blinds/shades here: Z-Wave + integrated blinds/shades: Custom Graber Virtual Cord Shades

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Another option to control RTS (Somfy), IO and other devices is the TaHoma box:

I just created the SmartThings integration:

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HELLO THERE!

I have installed FOUR Bali z-wave blinds. These are the new SOMFY units with z-wave native motor drives. They will “discover” as “Dimmer Switch” - and for the most part they work. I have successfully created two routines - “shades up” and “shades down”. The units do offer feedback via z-wave so you sometimes get updated slider indications.

In my case, the blinds are cut as long as the motor wants to run end-to-end so my “shades down” is actually about 10% on the dimmer setting - i got lucky here.

The response time on the on setting blind position is somewhat exaggerated - probably due to a “wakeup” or whatever.

But it is kind of cool that i can actually adjust in “smidgen” increments.

When the SmartThings dev team builds the handler for this i hope they have a “zeroize” or something so we can set the open and close positions and save some “presets” would be nice.

Chris

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Chris, are these the Zdmi modules?

Would be the same as these, both are manufactured by the same company. Bali is the big box store brand and graber is their premium brand and only sold through dealers. Z-wave is directly iintegrated, no modules required:

Hey did you get the pricing? Interested in the actual cost of blinds or shades. Not sure if you chose blinds or shades.

Which website? Can you share please

How did you do this exactly? As a primary remote? As a secondary remote to the motor? As a secondary remote to the remote? etc etc. There is a bewildering array of options in the manual. I take it you just put the app into “connect new device” mode first?

Yes - the motor unit has a button on it. Press and hold and the internal led starts to blink.

Set the discover mode in the app and voila! It pairs.

For what it’s worth, This is the device string in my “SmartThings” devices:

zw:F type:1107 mfr:026E prod:5253 model:5A31 ver:11.00 zwv:4.33 lib:03
cc:5E,80,86,72,5A,73,85,59,20,26,25,7A role:07 ff:9A00 ui:9A00

Ah, thanks! Yes, got it working too. After talking with the Somfy support, what I learned is that you need to first reset the device by pressing on the motor unit button until it goes amber. That disconnects it from the remote (assuming the installation guys set that up for you). Then you put the ST into discovery mode with “connect new device”. Then you press the motor unit button until it starts blinking green and then let go immediately. It’ll show up in the app as a z-wave switch. Whether it is “on” or “off” is arbitrary as you can set its present state to either one in the app under the item settings. Unfortunately there doesn’t appear to be a way to have the blinds controlled by both the remote and Smart Things. If someone knows of a way to do this, I’d love to hear it. I also tried doing this with alarm.com but they don’t support Somfy blinds alas.

Just last weekend I got my new blind all set up in the “ideal” way. Now ST can control up/down/position (shows up as a dimmer switch) and the up/down remote that came with the blind works as originally. You should look at the video @ZebraBlinds posted, it describes the process very well. The only thing I had to do beyond the content of the video is to go into my device list and manually change the device type of the blind to “Z-Wave Dimmer Switch Generic” since it had shown up as a non-dimming switch.

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HI “theprof” - mine actually showed up as a dimmer switch. 100% illumination is open (up) and 0% is closed (down). I have my ST app setting to 10% a few hours before sunset and 100% an hour or so before sunset.

Works pretty well. The update time for the %level number is not rapid

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The blind can be controlled by both the remote, st or even a minimote. You can find instructions here:

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Hi jh0, how did you change the device type? I tried with the app but didn’t see any way to do so. It’s still showing up as a switch rather than as a dimmer. I also clicked on the link you provided but it just took me to the Smart Things account where I can buy things.

Joe