I’m in for a number of these in the near future. I see you have coupons that expire tonight, but it’s a bit too soon for me to commit, as my house will not be finished until May, 5 months from now. Once I have all my other costs accounted for, I’ll see what I have left and buy a handful of these to start off with. Don’t plan to do all 19 at once, but probably do the public spaces and master bedroom to start.
Excited for this! So glad I randomly stumbled on this. As for the mesh network, I am going to have z-wave light switches throughout the house to act as repeaters. Should be good to go there!
In ST using something like Core or even SmartLighting (and if they support recognition of double and triple taps) you can set it to open to a specific percentage or a fully open or fully closed position. If you are looking to have the shades stop when you double tap, you might have to make a custom DH to send the stop command. It really comes down to what ST itself will let you do since all the shades really do is listen and respond to the commands being sent.
Hope that helps! Also feel free to PM me any time.
Today (December 24th) is the last day for 18% off on Z-wave shades. On the 25th it will go down to 12% and finally on the 27th it will be 7%. Use the coupon from the coupon thread (link in first post).
Neal, videos are great. Got my new blinds working on my SmartThings and also got the individual (small) remotes to work. I have two blinds in the bedroom and also have a remote that opens and closes both blinds at the same time. Is there a way to integrate that remote back into the system. I’ve already added it to my devices but not sure how to proceed since there are two blinds to add instead of only one.
No, I have borh blinds integrated to ST and the individual remotes for each blind are working also. I have a larger remote that operated both shades together. That was my primary control before I integrated the blinds to ST. I’D like to continuing to use the big remote when nevessary but not sure how to mate it to the two blinds.
So the steps would be the same. First add the remote to the ST network, then simply pair the remote to each shade using the steps shown here: https://youtu.be/8mTF8uF7jnE?t=1m58s
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@ZebraBlinds, Thanks for all your info in your posts. What are the current commands that work with Amazon Echo?
From what I read above this is what I have gathered:
Alexa, …
Shades On - Fully closes blinds
Shades Off - Fully opens blinds
Shades to 50% - Moves shade to 50% closed. (Is this in increments of 10%?)
Are there any commands for “Align Shades”?
I am pretty sure I read somewhere you can group the shades so you can command one or more based on group names rather than specific shade names. Am I able to say “Turn off Kitchen Shade” or “Turn off main floor shades”
@theredmoose
Shades can usually be moved to any percent (+/- 1 - 2%). So basically if you tell it to go to 12% for example it will usually end up between 11 and 13%.
There is the following smartapp by @whoismoses that lets you do it on ST’s mobile app: [Release] Shady - Group your shades & blinds and control as a single device
It basically lets you add all your shades into one group and if you tell it to move to a certain position all of them will move there. Using it you can tell the group to go to a certain position through Alexa.
One thing you need to note is that the limitations for commands are between ST and Alexa. The shades themselves simply pair as a switch or dimmer switch, and have their capabilities. The following DH by @whoismoses brings additional features: https://github.com/ericvitale/ST-Z-Wave-Shade/tree/master but I don’t think it offers an align shade command through Alexa. To overcome that you might have to use a custom Alexa integration for ST such as AskAlexa or Echoassistant.
What are you guys using for AA batteries for these shades? Personally this is one area I find that brands like Lutron & Qmotion have a big advantage in that they use way less batteries (large D cells) and they last longer. On these z-wave shades by Bali & Graber if you have a larger window you have to use an extra battery bank so that is 16 AA batteries per shade. So with 2 larger windows that is 32 AA batteries total! A lot to deal with!
Also you need to use Lithium Batteries according to the manual which are much more expensive.
Are most of you guys using rechargeables or throwaways? What has your experience been?
Lithium ion is recommended since after extensive testing from the manufacturer they lasted the longest. Your regular Alkaline batteries will work as well, not sure how long they are expected to last however. At our office we use 2800mah Nickel Zinc Batteries and it lasts us a good 6 - 8 months before needing a recharge. The only issue we have had with these is some arriving DOA and having to be replaced.
Edit: 2800mah… the 4000mah ones are just coming in for testing.
Edit 2: Also the battereis should be 1.5 - 1.6v. Without atleast 1.5v per battery the motor really won’t function and will be erratic.
Thanks for the reply. I find that having to replace 32 AA batteries every 6-8 months is a lot. But I guess it is the price you pay for the savings you get over the Lutron and other higher priced battery powered motorized shades.
If I will look into the Nickel Zinc batteries. The other issue I see is charging. I can only find 4 bank chargers for NiZn batteries? an 8 or 16 bank would certainly be a lot easier due to having to use so many batteries.
