(affordable) Zigbee in-wall switches specifically for shutters

Hardware
,
1

Hi all,

I am in the process of building and my house has around 25 shutters of varying sizes. Unfortunately, my electricity switches (Schneider) were already installed by the time I got acquainted with home automation and HA. I am now weighing my options regarding how to make those switches smart.

I have followed some interesting replies in this thread, but all options I’ve seen so far are either crazy expensive (60-160EUR), or just not good enough (I want to be able to “sync the state” between HA and my manual switches when they are controlled manually).

Most of my wall points adjacent to shutters have one shutter switch (see pic below) and one light switch next to each other:

[Album] imgur.com

The idea of putting a dual state-syncing* zigbee switch in there is very tempting, because a good one will act as a zigbee relayer as well. But again I haven’t found a sane, affordable option. I’m now contemplating going the WiFi way with the Shelly 2.5 which has some nice functionality built-in and looks reliable, but as I said it adds another protocol, plus I don’t get the extra network effect from the switches.

My requirements:

  1. Zigbee
  2. Small enough
  3. Syncs state
  4. (obviously) supports up/down

I am currently using deConz but as I am very early in the journey, I’m flexible enough to switch.

Thanks in advance!

* What I mean by state sync (example): When the shutter is brought down 50% using the manual switch, its state is updated in HA.

1 Like
2

The closest I’ve come to is the Aqara LLKZMK11LM but I’m wondering whether this will work to control shutters elegantly.

3

Thank you for including the link to my thread in your post, since it pinged me on my email and make me casually search for such a Zigbee controller for the shutters once again. :stuck_out_tongue: When I was doing my research few months ago there were only Ubisys’ ridiculously expensive controllers, controllers with the touch panel and of course the WiFi ones. However, now when I searched for it, the first result on the list is this thing:

I’m truly excited - already bought one, will give it a try once it arrives and post my thoughts here. If it’s as good as Tuya Zigbee dimmers, it might be the first proper Zigbee in-wall shutter controller that doesn’t cost more than the smart home hub and doesn’t look like a cheap toy, since I can use the buttons of my choice with it. :grinning: Considering that there are two listings on allegro where 22 people bought 44 controllers, I’m not the only one excited about it. :stuck_out_tongue:

1 Like
4

Hey @konpon96, glad I got you excited, please do update with your findings! Is this website reliable, does it ship internationally?

Also, do you know these two meet the criteria for what I listed (meaning: sync between state when shutter is controlled manually), and do you know the difference between them and the Aqara one I listed above? I have also found some controllers by Tuya that look like this one, have you gotten to try them?

There’s also this guy which seems to have two buttons for setup, but I couldn’t find price or availability, nor do I understand why it has 5 pins instead of 6.

5

Allegro is the Polish ebay equivalent - it’s as reliable as the seller there. The ones I posted have like 99% of positive reviews and sold thousands of things so they are certainly reliable - I used to buy Aqara devices from one of them and he already shipped me the Zigbee shutter module.

The one below ships to some EU countries, however the shipping outside of Poland seems pricey (25-80 PLN depending on the country):

The Tuya controllers from Aliexpress that you posted look like exactly the same thing I bought. However, I prefer to buy my stuff on Allegro since it usually arrives after 2 days and prices are very similar. I don’t know how they work yet - I’ll know once I get mine and attach to one of my shutters. :stuck_out_tongue:

As for the square Aqara relay, I remember reading that even if it’s attached to the shutters, it’s still seen as double button switch. This means there is no possibility of figuring out if the shutters are open, closed or something in between. Even worse - it might be possible to open both closing and opening circuit that could lead to the shutter motor being damaged. Interestingly, 15 days ago there was a commit to the ZHA handlers repository which added the toggle for enabling so-called interlock capability, which means the both settings mutually exclusive - enabling one switch disables the other one - so at least it’s possible to avoid destroying the motor. Still, if you check the custom handler file, you will see that it registers the relay as DeviceType.DIMMABLE_LIGHT - there is no mention of making it act as a shutter controller.

Below you can find the review of the relay, translated with Google Translate. I like how the first picture immediately shows that it doesn’t fit European round wallboxes. :stuck_out_tongue: Aqara already released the European version of their in-wall relay - I tested it and it’s only a 1-gang light switch, there is no 2-gang version and no mention of the “shutter controller mode” even when used with Aqara hub.

https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https://hejdom.pl/blog/11-xiaomi/274-aqara-przelacznik-pod-puszkowy.html

The Sunricher shutter controller you posted looks pretty decent according to the description - seems to try very hard to be compliant with Zigbee standards, offering all the stuff like working without Zigbee network coordinator, Zigbee Green Power etc. However, as you said - no price or availability. I’ve searched in Google for its product number (SR-ZG9080A) and the very first link was its manual:

Looks like the S1 S2 pins are for the switch, Q1 Q2 are for the motor, L N are for the mains and one of Ns goes to the motor:

2020-12-29_201715
2020-12-29_2017151366×1243 106 KB

1 Like
6

@sk229 I’ve tested the Tuya module and have both good and bad news. The module is properly discovered as a shutter controller, with up/down/stop capabilities and possibility to set the position from 0% to 100%. Position entity in HA is updated whenever the module stops the shutters, either automatically or by us hitting the stop button. It’s possible to use monostable buttons with it (thank God) and pressing the button starts or stops opening or closing the shutters.

2021-01-09_235410
2021-01-09_235410427×1022 30.7 KB

2021-01-09_234938

Now, the worse part. The module doesn’t try to figure out when the shutters are fully open or fully closed, although it should be able to do so by monitoring the current pulled by the shutter motor - if it’s supposed to be opening and the motor stopped pulling current then it means it’s fully opened, isn’t it? Instead, it relies on us entering the “calibration mode” where we have to close the shutters, start calibration, open the shutters, click “stop” once they fully open, close the shutters, click “stop” once they fully close and finish the calibration. Long story short - it relies on time it requires for the shutters to fully open and close to determine the position. Without calibration it randomly stops in the middle of opening/closing and insists that the shutters have reached the end. I’ve found out about it in this github issue in deConz repository:

This is another vendor-specific attribute which is a real pain when it comes to working with ZHA. Home Assistant has an attribute browser for each Zigbee device, but these two Tuya-specific attributes - Calibration (0xF001) and some Motor Reversal (0xF002) - are not present on that list when I checked it. Assuming there is no way to sniff out those non-standardized attributes, the thread above might prove itself invaluable for a developer who chooses to write a custom ZHA handler for that device. If only there was a way to specify attribute ID and its value manually, I would be able to give it a try, but I don’t see any possibility to modify the attribute list anywhere in HA.

2021-01-10_020008
2021-01-10_020008585×1173 69.2 KB
.

Interestingly, since you’re using deConz, you might be able to actually calibrate the module since they already have this custom channel attribute implemented. :grinning:

2 Likes
7

Hi
Any news about this module?
Thanks

8

Thanks for the update @konpon96!

I never understood the difference between monostable and bistable buttons, even Googling has led me to confusion. Can you please explain in layman’s terms?

How much of a big deal is it? I have over 20 shutters in my house so if it’s very time consuming and not very reliable it’s going to be extra problematic for me.

I’m now trying out ZHA and liking it much better than Deconz + Phoscon. Any updates in general about this shutter controller, would you recommend it/something else?

Also, is it true those only work with the Tuya Zigbee hub?

9

Hi,
This is the part what I couldn’t find out how to do in ZHA. I mean “start the calibreation” and “finish the calibration”
How can I do it? (even it is depending on time not the current)

10

I’m also wondering about this and I guess the only way to get this supported is to add some details in the Github repository “zha-device-handlers”. Unfortunately my units haven’t arrived yet so I can’t do it myself. In general, I find ZHA’s support for shutters/rollers very slim compared to Deconz/Z2M.

11

@FaBRiK @sk229 I’m not sure, but my guess is that if Tuya opted in for using the ZCL-compliant manufacturer specific cluster to implement their calibration functionality, there would be no need of writing any handlers - the option would simply appear under one of the dropdowns. Looks like instead of doing it the legit way they went creative just like Xiaomi does with their Aqara Zigbee devices, where almost every single one of them needs a custom handler.

Maybe they’ve released a firmware update for that curtain module and cleaned up their mess, but I highly doubt it, since it would break the already existing integrations. What’s more, I didn’t check if it’s possible to update Zigbee device firmware from Home Assistant and I don’t have Tuya gateway to do it.

12

@konpon96 Thanks for the answer. Yes the attribute and the whole Tuya cluster is missing from ZHA. I opened an issue. As I seen Domoticz already covered the issue.

Anyway the Sunricher module mentioned above looks much better and useful for me, but I couldn’t find any way to purchase anywhere. Thai is the Z-Wave version, I could find the Zigbee, but it is overpriced: ROBB Smarrt Rolluikmodule 400W Zigbee - ROBBshop

1 Like
13

Can you link to the Github issue you opened so I can follow it?

14

Sure: ZHA Tuya attribute missing in TS130F curtain module · Issue #46146 · home-assistant/core (github.com)

1 Like
15

Well, compared to ubisys shutter controller with their 150 EUR price tag, I’d call the one you posted truly affordable. :joy:

https://www.ubisys.de/en/products/shading-devices/shutter-control-j1/

1 Like
16

Oh, I’m not sure we’re talking about the same module. I think @konpon96 has the QS-Zigbee-C01 in-wall module which I’ve also ordered.

17

Sorry for not responding to that one, I’ve completely missed it. :grinning:

I never understood the difference between monostable and bistable buttons, even Googling has led me to confusion. Can you please explain in layman’s terms?

Bistable button has two states - pressed and not pressed where it either opens or closes the circuit. The example could be a simple light switch. Monostable buttons close the circuit only for the time they are pressed and as soon as they are released, the circuit is opened. They’re most commonly used for the doorbells - that’s why they are also called doorbell buttons. However, due to the nature of the smart home where the light could be controlled not only through the button, but also through the central gateway, they do not close/open the circuit which leads the power to the light itself, but rather give a short signal to the in-wall module with wireless capability (WiFi, Zigbee, Zwave etc) which manages the actual light power. This leads to a benefit of not having the switches all around the house in random states where some of the lights were switched with the use of a button while another were controlled through the automation or the mobile app.

How much of a big deal is it? I have over 20 shutters in my house so if it’s very time consuming and not very reliable it’s going to be extra problematic for me.

Well, I can imagine it’s at least few minutes spent with each shutter to calibrate it properly once the setting is there. I wouldn’t call it a big deal, since it’s a one time job - unless you like to reset your smart home gateway often and the module forgets the calibration settings after reset. Obviously I didn’t have a possibility to check the latter part. :stuck_out_tongue:

I’m now trying out ZHA and liking it much better than Deconz + Phoscon. Any updates in general about this shutter controller, would you recommend it/something else? Also, is it true those only work with the Tuya Zigbee hub?

As you can see from what I posted, it works fine with ZHA - the only thing missing is that calibration functionality, since it’s not implemented in the ZCL-compliant way. Personally I’d prefer such modules to expose only the minimum functionality with Zigbee (eg. open shutters, close shutters, stop opening/closing, set specific percentage) to limit the chance for manufacturer going creative with implementing non-compliant ZCL clusters while the extras are controlled through the physical buttons on the module itself.

The module @FaBRiK linked above looks nice - it’d be good to find the manual for it, check out how the calibration procedure looks like and if it requires using manufacturer’s gateway or rather the buttons on the module itself. In the former case the chance that calibration is implemented in non-compliant way is much higher. If it’s the latter one then I’ll happily pay extra for not having to rely on any custom handlers - it’s still much cheaper than Ubisys and even cheaper than Fibaro. :stuck_out_tongue:

According to the comments the module works with deCONZ, but has some problems. The person who made that comment didn’t elaborate on it, so I can’t really say what could it be.

18

Thanks for the explanation!

Yep, only problem is I already have the switches installed so if it’s not in-wall I can’t use it. Did you get to open a PR for the QS-Zigbee-C01 in the ZHA device handlers repo? I’m waiting to get mine so I can get the device signature.

19

Yes I have the same. Since I just started to use zigbee devices, I changed to zigbee2mqtt this afternoon. And the calibration works well.

1 Like
20

Very interesting @FaBRiK. I have also switched back and forth between ZHA and Z2M. I’m leaning back towards Z2M now after trying it for a few hours and going back to ZHA…let me know how you like Z2M