anyone have experience with the curtain zwave control from monoprice?
complicated-easy scale to setup??
any caveats?
Monoprice Curtain Z-wave module
Thanks in advance!
You may already know this, but for those who donâtâŚ
These devices assume your window coverings already have motorized closing, now you just want to retrofit zwave control to that installed motor.
They donât include anything to physically move the curtain.
Control a curtain or projection screen motor using this Z-WaveÂŽ Curtain Relay Module from Monoprice!
If youâre starting from scratch, you might want an all in one unit instead.
Anyway, as far as your ease of installation questions, I guess the first point is what motor do you have.
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Smartthings did see the device but as a dimmer. Odd but thatâs what it did.
I plan on hacking it anyway and using it for a low cost garage door momentary switch.
The reason this is seen as a dimmer is because the dimmer isnât really a dimmer. There is no device class for âdimmerâ in Z wave.
Instead, both the dimmer and this device are using the âmultilevel switchâ command set. That is, instead of the switch that just goes on/off, this is a switch that goes through multiple levels in moving from 0 to 100%. As does a dimmer.
Smartthings couldâve called their generic device handler for this device class âmultilevel switch.â But since the vast majority of these devices are going to be dimmers, they went with âdimmer.â 
Hi all, retired engineer with HW+SW background joining, just starting with Echo and some z-wave devices, dismayed at the gaps in ability using Echo to control smarthome. Also surprised at how technically complex smart home world is, my mom could never go buy a hub and a wemo switch and get it set up. It is fragmented with many separate device and hub makers and apparently no single standards committee helping to bring them together. Itâs a brave new world and the techies are the only ones who can dabble at the moment. Reminds me of the early days of Windows 3.1 where you had to know IRQs and manual registry editing to get your home PC to play nicely, and to add a new device. I am sure it will evolve but hope the regular folks donât all get tired of trying and give up, before things come together and become simplified. My impressions, different from what I was expecting.
But, weâre smart folks and weâre paving the way, everything we do moves the art forward so itâs all worthwhile even if itâs arduous at this time. My first desire was to voice-control my family room ceiling fan, which already had an RF remote. Not a tall order, but surprisingly no plug and play solutions. I could buy a partial solution if I spent a lot of money. I wanted to be able to say âAlexa turn on the fan to highâ and it would happen. I was also hoping Alexa would understand multiple lexical eqivalences, such as âAlexa, turn down the fanâ, âAlexa put the fan on highâ etc.
So after a week of reading and some noggin work, what I came up with is two z-wave monoprice curtain modules providing 4 separate momentary pulses, driving a spare RF fan remote through optocouplers. I have 4 IFTTT channels set up to recognize âAlexa trigger fan lowâ etc. I got this working and spent $45, and still have my original remote fan working as it did. Hereâs what I learned about the curtain module.
It runs on 12VDC, has 3 output which are open drains (like open collectors) referenced to ground (neg 12V lead), and pulse on for one second using the default timings the module comes with. I originally thought I was getting 3 channels, but the STOP line is a pre-pulse which is asserted one second before either the UP or DOWN lines. So, when you send an ON signal to the device (either install it as a dimmer, a switch, or a z-wave relay, all work the same), you immediately get a one second duration low pulse on the STOP line, a one second pause, then a one second duration low pulse on the DOWN line. If you ignore the STOP output as I have, there is a 2 second delay before the DOWN pulse begins, plus the small delay getting the command to the z-wave device. I have a Smartthings hub which works well so far, and is fast sending to z-wave in my simple 4 device network (2 curtain modules, 1 window sensor, one noname wemo switch eqivalent).
Sorry so long ⌠so after a straightforward device discovery and assigning as z-wave relays named Curtain switch 1 and 2, I have 4 pulses available by commanding 2 devices on or off each. The pulses still occur if you recommand ON if already on. I took apart the RF fan remote and probed around, found that the 5 buttons are matrixed with 5 dip switches for unit code, and there is no single common line for the 4 buttons I needed to connect to. So, I went with optocouplers, 4N29 is what I had four of in the junkbox, generic bipolar phototransistor devices. Probing I learned which end of each button was the positive signal and tied the collector of the opto output to it, the emitter to the other side of the button, then drove the cathode of each LED through 560 ohms from the curtain module UP and DOWN outputs. The LED anodes connect together to the curtain module +12V input. I use a 12VDC wall wart to power the curtain modules but not the RF remote, but could with a divider or regulator as the optocouplers provide isolation to the buttons.
From ST app, I then have 2 relay devices I can turn on or off to change fan speeds. Currently using IFTTT but now looking at how to create a Smartapp that will recognize the 4 fan commands and drive the 2 devices, and hoping I can store or read current state to allow the extra voice commands to make it higher/faster or lower/slower.
Interesting stuff but takes time. I scoured boards and couldnât find anything close to what Iâm wanting to make, so it will be a while before I can post a followup with something suitable to give to others. Groovy, Github, ST app creation is new to me. Unless someone wants to collaborate and jumpstart me!
My next project will be garage door open/close with a status feedback from the magnetic switch. The switch will initially tell the driver to not activate the button to close, if already closed. I have 2 doors so another curtain module will push the opener buttons. The challenge is getting the status back as voice by asking for it. I will also be exploring push notifications to the Echo using the Echo remote and the simon says method. A hack for sure but the only way at this time. I really need alerts and want to hear them in Alexaâs voice.
Cheers -Grant in KC
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Hi, any updates on your work with the Monoprice Curtain Module?
Td
Hi Grant,
Just wanted to thank you for your simple and complete explanation of exactly how the Monoprice 11992 Curtain Module works. I had thought that it was a multi-channel switch and I would have had to write a device handler to talk specifically to three separate switches in order to control my Metechs electric curtains.
It turns out to be so much simpler, I just have to connect the appropriate wires to the Metechs controller and it works. The Metechs senses when the curtains are completely open or completely closed, so the simple pulse from the Monoprice is all that is needed.
Thanks again.
Trevor
Hey. Brand new to Smartthings but Iâve been using a VeraLite for years. Now itâs a slave controller to my new Smartthings hub as the master. Anyway you can set the timers for open and close in the Monoprice curtain control by setting variable 1 and 3. In Verlite UI5 I configure parameters 1 and 3 by setting them with the 1 byte decimal format and putting the seconds I want then hitting configure. I have no idea how to do this in Smartthings but I bet someone knows. Just thought someone might want to know this. I had to figure out the parameter numbers because the instructions are worthless.
I am interested in this as well.
My device was initially discovered as an ordinary switch. Long story short, I did a lot of searching and reading to get here.
Here is video showing exactly how I got the Monoprice Module working.
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So I picked one of these up as a possible alternative Z-wave implementation that doesnât involve a ThingShield, especially now that those are discontinued. 
That said, mine is not behaving as Iâd expect and Monoprice claims they donât have the spec sheet (they also donât appear to be selling them anymore?). For those not using it with a conventional curtain control, can you confirm that youâre seeing -12V on the respective control wire when you send the module the appropriate command via ST?
That looks awesome. What do you use for a motor? Did the monoprice switch get added to Smart Things as just a plain on/off switch or were you able to set it up to run for x seconds and then stop?
The only way I could add mine to ST was as a plain on/off switch.
The motorized curtain rod is the METech brand. https://www.metechs.com/
The SmartThings Hub sees the device as a switch. The command is âturn on curtain.â However you can say "close curtain."
I did not have to do any changes to the timing of the switch. The curtain rod adjusts for that automatically during the installation. The switch just sets the curtains in motion <> or ><.
I love the way it works.