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

I have been able to automate my blinds but one of them doesn’t respond. I have played with it but it won’t respond on the automation. I can get it to respond as a single device but not with all my other blinds. Any thoughts? I am wondering if there is something wrong with that Blind but it does respond as a single just not in automation with the others. I tried resetting and reassign and exchanging the battery pack but nothing has worked. Any ideas are appreciated.

If it responds as a thing but not in an automation it might just be an issue on ST’s side. Can you check with their support? Usually its a problem with the motor only if it doesn’t respond in ST at all. One more thing to check is if you have duplicate devices in ST, I know it’s happened to me before since exclude didn’t work properly the first time.

Okay. Thank you. Do you have a video on how to exclude? I just went into the website and removed it and then reset it but maybe I need to do something else?

Sorry about the late reply. Travelling currently with limited access to the internet. Here is the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omuZdQ9gNFE&feature=youtu.be

Are there going to be any discounts for the blackfriday? I see other competitors having discounts.

Updated, 10 chars

For one of the room, I have a need for a top down shade. Basically, I want a way to have an opening at the top ( say for better view of sky at night) and rest of middle and bottom part closed.
One of the options I was exploring was to have 2 shades; one at the top for the top opening and one near the middle and control them separately but the downside is that when completely open middle shade rod will be blocking little part of the window.
Any other recommendations? Is Zebrablind planning to introduce any top down shades in near future?

There is currently no ETA for TDBU motorization with HA integration. Sorry I can’t say much more.

Hello,
I received and installed two z-wave motorized shades from Zebrablinds today. I ordered blackout roller shades for the basement where I have my TV in order to cut out the glare on the TV during the day. The blinds were relatively easy to install. One bracket on each end. Install the battery pack and they are up. Took longer to find my tools than to do the install.

We decided to order inside mount shades as the window frame/casing is very deep and that’s what my wife preferred. We mounted them fairly deep in the frame close to the window and behind the old cellular blinds mounted at the front of the window frame/casing. For now we have kept the old shades up so we can have either option of blackout or some sun. The old blinds also act as a valence as I chose to order the roller shades without the additional valence.

The programming was done just as described in the zebrablind youtube video but I had to watch it a couple of times to get the exact sequence right. My blinds joined Smartthings as a generic on/off switch. I went into the IDE and edited the device to make it a generic dimmer switch so I could get the “open 50%” option to work.

I integrated them with Alexa and now I can say “Alexa, Shades On” or “Shades Off” or “Shades to 50%” to my echo dot and the shades will go up or down.

There is a gap of about 1/2 inch between the window casing and the left and right sides of the blinds. I will have to wait until daylight to see how much light leakage comes from the sides. I could potentially put in some sort of decorative side curtains to block the light on the side gaps. I could have also considered ordering shades that would have mounted on the wall in front of the window to get better coverage but given the choice of function or looking the way she wants…my wife will always pick the latter…so that means whatever I do I have to convince her it was her idea. :slight_smile:

The remote comes with a small clear bracket to mount the remote to the wall next to the shades. I thought that was a great idea to keep them organized and in a logical spot. My wife announced it was the worst idea ever so they are not installed. I think we will mainly use voice commands for remote control so the remotes are going in a drawer never to be found again I think. There is a button on the shades themselves that will allow manual control anyway.

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Thanks for the update!

Btw, if you don’t end up using the remote, my original post has a device handler for it that you can use to program it to control lights etc.

SHIPPING INFO UPDATE:
Due to a large number of Black Friday and holiday season shopping orders some roller/solar shade orders are experiencing delays. Our team (mainly Joe) is notifying those affected.

Cellular, Roman and Natural shades are not currently experiencing any delays.

Heyy

Do you have a solution that would be good for someone building a new home? I am running 16/4 to every window in my home (19 windows total), and all the wiring is going back to a closet in in the middle of my house. I see that these zwave shades are meant to run on AC power or battery, but wouldn’t the AC power just be converting the AC to DC???
What I am hoping is that I can use my existing home run wiring to have all of the power being handled at my head end.

I know somfy makes RS485 shades, which was going to be my original intention, but your shades are so well priced, and zwave seems to be the way of the future, I would prefer to use your zwave shades in their place.

What do you recommend for someone in my situation?

We do have a multi motor power supply which you can hook up at the head location and use your own wiring with. I’ll put up a link to it as soon as I am back in the office.

Perfect! Yeah I saw that when I read the first post more closely. So getting 2 of those power supply units & running 19 shade motors off of it wouldn’t be too crazy would it? They’d likely never all run at once, but just wondering if you’ve seen these done in homes or businesses with lots of windows. Also my only worry is that since its wireless, interference due to distance or cross-talk could occur. My home is going to be 3500 sq ft in 2 stories, so I don’t expect any overly long distances, but I just want to feel confident before I commit to this. Seems like a way better solution than going RS485.

Here you go: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B62Iui2hJtitcHhITzRVWEtJb1U/view?usp=sharing

Only the specs for the 12v power supply is relevant. The other’s do not apply to the z-wave shades. The power supply can power normal somfy motors or the z-wave motors. For the z-wave motors each multi motor unit can power up to 10 roller/solar, natural and roman shades and up to 8 cellular or pleated shades.

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Sorry, another question, the motor terminals for the 12V supply have 4 pins, 2 for power and 2 for RS485. I take it I can leave the RS485 terminals empty and just use the power wires, right? I assume when applying power to the motor, it also applies power to the zwave transmitter on the same wires, and they don’t require separate power.

You shouldn’t have any wireless interference. Just make sure you have a robust z-wave mesh with atleast one repeater in between the furthest shades and the hub.

The largest we’ve personally dealt with is 82 shades spread over 8000 sqft.

Yep, no need for the RS485. You can ignore them; you only need to power the motors themselves.

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Yep, no need for the RS485. You can ignore them; you only need to power the motors themselves.

For those following this thread, the current coupon’s expire tonight.