Just moved into a new house, and it has a motorized rolling shutter over one of the living room windows. The existing switch is a 3 position switch:
Middle position - motor off
Upwards position - motor on, shades up
Downwards position - motor on, shades down
Ideally I’d like to swap out the switch with a smart switch with similar capabilities, but if that’s not possible, I’d consider wiring relays into the box.
Here’s a video of the switch
Does anyone have a suggestion for a way to swap in a smart switch? Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!
I haven’t seen a three-position switch like this in the smart home marketplace, but here are some ideas to consider.
I have seen two- and three-button (relay) switches such as these, but they use Tuya software and require flashing to Tasmota/ESPhome firmware for local control. I flashed some a few years ago, but currently-available offerings might have new chips requiring further research. Using custom firmware you can program three buttons to be up, stop, and down; with two buttons you can program double-tap or hold-and-release to stop, whatever you want.
A behind-the-switch dual relay like a Shelly 2 or Zooz ZEN52 (z-wave) has inputs to detect when a switch opens/closes, which might work with your existing switch (although the position would get out of sync with the motor when being remote controlled). A momentary (spring-return) dual-pole rocker paddle is more user-friendly, but maybe you can find one cheaper than this Leviton.
Two smart devices would also work — a relay for the motor and a switch for user input. I use Zooz ZEN76 paddle switches with my shades: HA automation detects button up/down/hold/release and send commands to the (also Z-wave) shade motor. The ZEN73 would also work if you prefer your existing look. This method relies on HA to be up and running for the shades to work, unless you use direct associations (Z-wave) or other peer-to-peer control (Tasmota and ESPhome devices can also control each other).
Nobody knows what’s going on behind that switch. Could be AC or DC, polarity swap or whatever… You need to examine further. Probably 2-ch Shelly can do the job.