Z-Wave + integrated blinds/shades: Custom Graber Virtual Cord Shades

Awesome. Thanks Neal!

I tried the device handlers mentioned way up here, but I’m not sure how I would monitor remote/shade battery status with smartthings? I don’t see that mentioned in the properties for each device.

I have 4 Bali Autoview roller shades, a remote for each, and a 3-button remote for controlling all 4.

Shade battery status should start displaying using the following DH by @whoismoses : https://github.com/ericvitale/ST-Z-Wave-Shade/tree/master

I don’t think it shows on the remote, I would have to double check.

I apologize if this has been asked before, but is there any plan for a Z-Wave version of the skylight blinds? I know you can hook the current motorized ones in using a bridge, but I’d rather not deal with that. We’re still in the early stages of home automation and my wife isn’t completely sold so anything overly complicated will not go over well with her.

Thanks!

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None expected soon. That’s all I can really say at this point.

Happy to report I got my 5 shades installed this weekend! Had to jump over several hurdles along the way (most of my own making). Thought I’d share some tips customizations that have helped me thus far.

  1. Shades initially paired as Z-Wave Switch Generic (not dimmer). This has been discussed at length in this thread. As suggested I went into the ST IDE and edited the devices to Z-Wave Dimmer Switch Generic.
  2. Shades On/Off in ST was exactly opposite of what made sense to me. When fully UP they showed as On and fully DOWN they showed as Off. The FAQ sort of addresses this via this video. Unfortunately doing this caused my remotes to become switched around (RemoteUp sent Shades down and RemoteDown sent Shades up). However, it was more important to me to have ST working/reading logically than having the remote working logically.
  3. Added ericvitale’s Z-Wave Shade device handler. Which added battery info and some other cool presets to standard Dimmer Switch config.
  4. Discovered you could pair one Graber/Somfy remote to multiple shades (just repeat the secondary Z-Wave controller pairing sequence outlined here. A button/hardware solution is ideal for kids, grandparents, and quick smartphone-less interaction.
  5. Lastly, I installed the device handler for the remotes and used the other four remotes and installed them throughout my house as light switches and another as a garage door opener.

Having @ZebraBlinds (Neal) as an avid ST community member makes all the difference in the world and therefore I highly recommend any of you considering SmartBlinds/SmartShades to go with @ZebraBlinds! I’m sure you’ll be more than satisfied.

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  1. It’s weird, the ones I have to play around with have mixed results in ST (some connect up as a switch by default while others a dimmer switch) and connects as a dimmer in Vera Plus.

  2. The manufacturer and somfy considers them fully open as ON and fully closed as OFF and that’s how the shade is supposed to respond currently. As far as I am aware I’ve only had 2 requests in the past year and a half to have them reversed.

Yeah. I it makes sense looking at it from a brightness perspective. On equals (uncovered window) maximum sun brightness and Off equals (covered window) minimum brightness. But that just doesn’t flow with the way I think about my shades. In my head Off should equal the state my window is naturally – uncovered/unshaded and On should equal the new enhanced state of my window – covered/shaded. But I guess my preference is the outlier. I wonder how the Lutron Serena Shade/Blind device handlers work?

To my surprise my wife agrees with the manufacturer designation of On as Open and Off as Closed. So it’s official. I’m the weirdo. Nonetheless, I changed the Z-Wave Shade DTH to reflect my dyslexia. This very case perfectly illustrates what I love about SmartThings. A solid platform with nearly infinite possibilities to customize & personalize your smart home. Plus a brilliant community of like minded folk who offer guidance and share great ideas!

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Just a preview of videos to come :grin:



Just a quick unofficial video, showing the sheer shades operating at my home. PS: better videos coming the following week.

@ZebraBlinds, hey Guys, getting a bit overwhelmed with all the options etc. Do you guys offer pre-sale consultation for my project? i need help in understanding what to buy/get based on my requirements.

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We don’t do in-home consultations but we do help our prior to purchase with walking you through options and narrowing down what might and might not work. You can contact our customer service from the number on the site Mon - Fri, 9 am - 6:30pm or if you want to speak to me just PM me on here with your number and a time you will be free and I’ll give you a call.

Are there lithium ion batteries or a 12V DC to micro-usb adapter? I tried connecting my generic 12V li-ion battery to one of my blinds, but it just turned on and didn’t accept commands. I’m guessing your battery packs communicate with the blinds somehow? The 8 AA battery packs are pretty annoying, since 2 of my alkaline battery packs already lost their charge in less than a month.

Lithium ion AA’s are available on amazon, but we’ve had pretty good results with a few 1.5v high capacity rechargeables as well. Costco’s kirkland alkalines with 1.5v has lasted us between 2 - 6 months (lots of varying factors). Lithium ions have gone for 6 - 12 months.

A plugin in transformer is available if you have a wall outlet closeby.

Do you have any experience or suggestions for motorized curtains instead of blinds? I know Somfy makes a Glydea kit for motorized curtains and it has a built in z-wave controller.

We have experience with the Glydea motors but not with the z-wave interface since we stopped selling the motors after a while. They are excellent but we just ran into issues with customers who weren’t willing to troubleshoot the curtain tracks and provide us with the relevant information without an in home visit when and if problems arrived. Normal blinds and shades are usually far simpler to troubleshoot since you don’t have a track system involved.

One thing I can tell you is that the z-wave integration would most likely be similar to the ZRTSI implementation (open, close, preset position), but I could be wrong. Sorry I couldn’t be much more help.

Do you recommend anything else for curtains? Or do you just do motorized blinds/shades?

We haven’t really looked into curtain motors all that much after our initial experience about two years ago. I know some members on the ST community have used the DOOYA motors: https://community.smartthings.com/search?q=dooya

I used a dooya curtain track and used this video as a guide:

You’ll also have to buy / reuse curtain panels along with this. I also had to get curtain clips, which I got for $2 from Ikea.

One thing I wish I realized is the ‘curtain bunch’ takes up 13" of track space when you center open. So you want to make sure you have at least 13" on each side for your curtain so it doesn’t partially cover the edge when it’s open.

Cost me about $130 + $40 + $3 = $173 total for it, not counting the curtain panel which I reused.

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