Elero L1 blinds : How can I control them from HA?

Hardware
1

Hi,

I have blinds from the brand Griesser, I made a previous post about them here : Griesser 868MHz blinds - Can I control them from HA?

I have opened the remote control, that contains the following PCB:

IMG-20240118-210613-834
IMG-20240118-210613-8341920×2560 229 KB

IMG-20240118-210619-065
IMG-20240118-210619-0651920×2560 220 KB

It appears to be from the manufacturer Elero, probably using their protocol. From what I’ve read on this, there is an usb stick that would work but I can’t find a place that still sells it. I am also looking for more informations on how I could get this to work. I have the following questions:

  • As of 2024, what ways I would have to control my blinds with HA, emulating this remote? (soldering it is not an option, i am renting the place including the remote)
  • Is the Elero protocol the same on all devices? Can I be confident that a device named Elero would be compatible with my blinds?
  • Is there a place that still sells the Elero USB transmitter? Is there other devices that could replace it?

Thanks in advance for any answer, have a nice day

2

There are at least two Elero protocols - only one (the newer bidirectional one) can be integrated into HA.

Do you get any feedback about the blind’s state? If not, this is possibly the old, unsupported protocol (even the Elero USB stick doesn’t support it).

You can also check like this: switch off power to the blinds and press a button. Does it light red, indicating a transmission error? If yes, it’s probably the newer, supported bidirectional protocol.

3

Thanks a lot for your answer. I just tried your test and I see no difference when the blinds are powered off. Then it is the older elero protocol.

Is there absolutely no way of connecting them? Would there be a way by buying another remote, synchronizing it with the blinds (I don’t know if / how it is possible), and wiring its buttons to arduino GPIO?

Or would there be a way to record a signal on the 868mhz band and reproduce it exactly ?

4

Sure, that’s going to work. Depending on the amount of blinds you have, this could be expensive.

No, because the protocol uses rolling codes. One command can only be used once.

5

What I don’t understand is how Elero remotes sync with motors and why this can’t be reproduced with an equivalent chip on an open hardware.

6

Because the communication is encrypted and how this is done is a secret. Feel free to contact Elero and ask them for the protocol.

I have a ton of captures from the unidirectional protocol and I’m trying to understand it for several years. This summer, I will replace the remaining motors (some are broken anyway) and give up on this.

7

I see. Thanks a lot for all those informations, it helped a lot. I am renting the place so I can’t change the motors.

I will try to buy an additional remote to my blind’s manufacturer and try to wire it to an arduino. If it’s too expensive, then I will get 2 zigbee button pushers. It’s a bit silly and maybe not the most reliable but it should work.

Thanks again and have a nice day.

F*ck proprietary protocols. Why can’t they stick to IR.

8

It is not proprietary anymore:

9

@QuadCorei8085 We are talking about the unidirectional protocol here, and that one is still proprietary.

10

Hi,

I am looking again into connecting my Elero (unidirectional) blinds to HA. I’ve just seen that Elero seems to have what they call “Centero Home Gateway”. Is there a way I could get one of those and connect it to HA ?

Thanks in advance for any answer

11

Sorry to disappoint you, but the Centero Home Gateway does not support the unidirectional protocol either.

However, looking at your remote again, it was manufactured in 2017. If the motors are from the same year, it is unlikely that they put old motors with the unidirectional protocol in.

If you have a few bucks spare, you can hook up a cheap CC1101 868MHz module to an ESP32 and try to sniff for the new protocol. There is ESPHome code for this, see GitHub - andyboeh/esphome-elero: An ESPHome component to control Elero blinds using the bidirectional Elero protocol

12

Thanks a lot for the answer !

I will try that ! I already have a D1 mini lying around, that I used for a cancelled WLED project. I can flash ESPhome on it.

About the CC1101, I want to be sure to buy the correct one. I found this one, where the board is apparently only compatible with a frequency I have to choose : https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/1005003781140201.html
And this one, where I don’t have any choice. I assumed it supports all advertised frequencies ? https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/1005004333776584.html Which one should I choose ?

Thanks in advance, have a nice day

13

Get one where it specifically reads 868MHz. While the ones for 433MHz (your second link) will generally work, the range is significantly shorter due to the mismatch of the antenna circuit.
I do have some of the green, square modules, they work OK but the frequency might need tuning on some of them.