I only have 1 shade being controlled with the ZRTSI but it always responds instantly. How far is the ZRTSI located from your ST hub and from the motors it’s controlling?
The ZRTSI is about 10 feet from the hub. The shades are are farther away, but I haven’t had any issues with the farthest shades. Oddly, it was some of the closer shades that didn’t fire.
I have never used shades but have you tried grouping them? Have your actions trigger 4-5 shades at a time rather than all in one shot. Worth trying. On a separate issue we are speculating time outs in cases where we are trying to turn on/off 13 hue devices using a single action which leaves out a bulb or two. Geko also faced something like that (not on hues though). So, basically long running actions which may hit 20 secs or so.
This may be unrelated but worth keeping an eye on.
Also, I am wild guessing at this time.
Hi Matt,
Do you still have some discounts on the ZRTSI controller? If so, I’m definitely interested.
Thanks.
Russ
I’ve seen similar issues with turning on/off 10+ GE Link bulbs where one or two sometimes get missed, so another data point to suggest large groups might cause issues.
I concur! This is a new word I learnt. 
I can’t seem to find the ZRTSI on either Costco or Home Depot. I can build the blinds and add the motor and remote but no ZRTSI. Do you have a link to the addon? Thanks
I think it is listed on the Lowe’s web site. I went in to the store to make my order, though. I recall that the ZRTSI was less than $75.
Am I correct in assuming that motorized tilt is cheaper than motorized lift? I see those are two of the basic options on the Bali site. Can anyone who has ordered Bali motorized blinds comment? Thanks!
Bali only offers motorized tilt on horizontal shutters. There is no lift option for the wooden/ horizontal shutters.
Roller or roman shades obviously only have a lift option as they can’t tilt open like wooden/ horizontal shutters can.
As the blinds themselves, without motors have different price points for shutters vs. fabric rollers, you would have to first determine those prices. For my particular project I found tilt motors added $110 to each wooden/horizontal blind order, regardless of the initial cost of the window covering. For my roman shades, the lift motor added an additional $210 to each window covering.
Hope that helps.
Thanks @chriswood1001, that is precisely the information I was looking for. Knowing the price difference between the two types of motors will certainly help in making an initial budget before speaking with a sales rep.
@mbial I sent you a reply a ways back but I’m not sure if you got it.
I see there’s a WiFi bridge (Somfy myLink) coming soon, any thoughts?
Hi Benjamin,
Just to give you an idea, I ordered roller shades with a basic white vinyl blackout shade and the approximate cost per shade (for windows that are approx. 72" high by 35" wide) was $240 including the motors. I ordered when there was a 20% off sale, so that helped some. Also, I opted to fill my own battery tubes and was able to get packs of lithium ion batteries for around $13 per 8 batteries. The installer mentioned that they last about 1 year. If you opt for professional installation, make sure to tell them you do NOT want the installer to program the shades for you. The installer in my area (who installs for Lowes) wanted to charge $35 PER SHADE to program them. I have 13 shades so that seemed like a complete waste of $$!
Hi,
@mbial Sorry, I don’t know how to PM in the forum. I am interested in a discounted ZRTSI controller.
Thanks, Jo
Somfy has a new product coming out any day called MyLink. It seems to allow full control of the shades via iOS or Google app. Not integrated with SmartThings but really who cares – it’s still on a phone app and will probably have IFTTT integration at some point. Plus it already has timers, etc. built in.
Seems to cost $200. Cheaper than ZRTSI but with a deal, roughly the same. Anyone have any idea which I should purchase. About to get my shades installed next week. I’m leaning towards MyLink because it seems clear that Somfy is supporting that now, instead of the ZRTSI.
And do I have to do anything to install the ZRTSI or is it just plug and then program? I am not purchasing a remote, is it possible to set up the ZRTSI without a remote? (I am getting a decora wall switch).
Anyone have any info about MyLink?
I haven’t seen MyLink yet, but the website doesn’t show any hardware…just software. That said, I believe there are pretty huge advantages to being able to integrate with SmartThings (being able to open/close blinds based on a state or in response to another condition). If costs are basically equal, I’m not seeing any real advantages to MyLink - only a loss of some really nice features. Just my $0.02
I purchased the Somfy Z-Wave to RTS bridge from Matthew Bial on this forum. I was able to set it up with SmartThings using the instructions included with the unit. It took about 5 minutes. There are 3 basic steps to the process. 1) Pair the base ZRTSI with SmartThings 2) Pair each channel you want to use, in my case I only needed 1 channel to control all of my blinds simultaneously. 3) Program each blind to work with the ZRTSI bridge using the remote that came with the blinds. These steps are explained in detail in the manual and the instructions are straight forward.
I can now control my blinds using SmartThings. With one button press to my Aeon Labs remote, my house enters sleep mode, which automatically closes my blinds, turns on my noise maker, changes 2 house thermostats to a lower temperature and shuts off all the lights. When I wake up, the process is reversed.
Thank you to Matt, Somfy and SmartThings for making this possible!
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Great to hear it @Ryan_Wilmot
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I have five blinds i want to automate with smart things and can not find an affordable solution, any idea of how much to estimate if I went with Somfy?
Take a look on eBay for used Somfy motors…I was surprised how many were available and their low prices. The key is that they need to be RTS controllable. That said, it’s not particularly expensive to motorize roller shades, but curtains are a different animal completely. There are very few options beyond having a motorized curtain rod made in the case of those types of drapes.
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