Back in May 2025, I finally ordered and replaced the manual shades in our home with a combination of motorized and manual shades. After communicating with folks here and after doing some further research, I chose to go with Bali (part of Graber) since I could see samples at my local Lowes, but ultimately placed the order through Costco which has a special relationship with Bali (also a Costco shareholder). The process was seamless and they all arrived VERY WELL packaged, undamaged, missing no parts, and the order was exact. My particular order was packaged in Mexico, and each shade was individually wrapped and contained a note from the person who packed it. A nice touch.
When placing your order, they provide detailed instructions on how to take measurements to ensure a perfect fit and how to install. The also provide a form where you can enter all your measurements in one place, along with a LABEL that they actually put on the packages so you know which shade is for which window. Installation was very simple (mine were all inside mount) and were fairly large windows (which has an impact on battery life). I chose the rechargeable Li-Ion battery pack over the pack that takes replaceable batteries. I bought 6 chargers (inexpensive) so I could do bulk recharge if needed. They are basic plug bricks with a USB-C connector. Charging takes 3-5 hours depending on depletion.
Prior to committing, I spent a LOT of time communicating with the guy who works with BALIās motorization technical support who is most familiar with Home Assistant. He and I discussed at length the integration with HA, how it all works, which shades work best, battery life, what is reported to HA, and all the capabilities it supports; he was extremely helpful. Only after I was satisfied did I place the order. I chose the battery hanger that hangs from the top rail of the shades behind it, out of sight (from the inside), versus the one that attaches to the window frame (for external mounted shades). The battery can be seen from the outside, which bugged me, so I decided to buy some frosted window sheeting that you put on with water and a squeegee, and really liked the result. You can see it in this photo.
These shades are added just like any other ZW device. The only difficulties I had were with the most distant shades. I had to keep waking them up repeatedly so HA could finalize the initial interview and integration due to the long, multi-hop routes. The appear as shades in HA, and HA reports both Open/Closed status as well as intermediate, and they update as they are moving, intermittently (it is not a smooth display). If I stop the shade at 35% open, that is what HA will show. I have found occasionally that HA will show the incorrect state of the most distant shades (the same ones I had trouble adding initially. I contribute this to the extreme range). I talk more about this later. Here is my dashboard:
From this point forward, I will only be discussing the motorized shades I bought. I purchased the 1/2" double cell cellular shades, with smart shade motorized lift, Z-Wave & Bluetooth, with the rechargeable Li-Ion battery pack, 6 chargers, and 1 Premium Remote. The total for these was just shy of $3k. given the quality of the shades, the motorization, the -Wave integration, and ease of order/installation, they were worth every penny, and Iād do it again.
Iāve waited before posting my experience to assess the battery life so I could report on it. Bali (and the tech support guy) note that battery life depends on a number of factors, such as how often articulated, size of shade, type of shade, and distance from the controller. The most optimistic values I saw ere 2 years, with 1 year being ātypicalā. The tech guy said that his experience was more like 6 months if you use them every day. I typically open all of them every morning and close them all again every night, so on average, one cycle per day. They are all the same material, although their sizes vary sometimes considerably. So, I suspect the major factor affecting my battery life is distance from controller, at least my battery data seems to indicate that.
In the table below, Iāve listed each window along with the battery levels at two different dates, along with the estimated distance the shade is from the controller, the width and height of each shade, and the number of floors and walls between the shade and the controller. They are either 1 floor or 2 floors below the floor where my ZW controller is. I recharged 3 of them on 8/6, which Iāve indicated by shading. I donāt know what to make of the DS Middle, other than it is probably the furthest away from any solid powered repeater, like an in-wall light switch (which are all over the house). But it does seem to bear out the theory that the length of route and number of hops plays a roll in the battery drain. Although, it also could have nothing to do with it. But the data is here:
One last thing: the Premium Remote is very nice, with 12 channels that you can program to any combination of shades. Below I show how I programmed mine, which just fits with my number of shades. As you can see below, I can control any shade individually, or as a group, for example all upstairs or all downstairs, or just those in the master bedroom.
Very simple to program. The button battery life could be better IMO. Even though I have wake time set at 6 hours, I see a small LED on the remote flash every 5 minutes or so, regularly, so I donāt know whatās going on (and havenāt called in to support about it yet). But it is definitely worth having it. It stays in the MBR, and works great for the 5 on the floor below too. Pressing it makes all the shades move at (almost) the same time, whereas using HA, you can see the traffic flowing on the network (thereās a small, 1-2 second delay before each shade moves in turn).
At any rate, I hope this helps someone else struggling like I was trying to find a solid Z-Wave motorized shades solution. My experience with Bali/Costco has been fantastic, and I donāt hesitate to recommend them to anyone looking for such a solution. Just a heads up, you will initially work on the Bali website setting everything up, then youāre transferred to Costco to place the order. Costco does some weird stuff in how it groups everything together in the order, with none of the details you see on the Bali site just before being transferred. It concerned me, but was told thatās just the way it works between them. As I stated earlier, my shipment came to me as ordered and in perfect condition. Shipping was only $75 to Alaska, which was excellent for 3 fairly good-sized, heavy boxes.
Cheers!
EDIT: Adding a few helpful details.
My blinds are all Product Code: CRZB in Z-Wave-JS UI, FW V14.7, SDK: v6.82.0. My Multi-channel Premium Remote is MCZ1, FW V12.3 and is set up to use Z-Wave comms (it appears in HA as a device, but talks directly to the blinds - I guess like a scene controller). All devices seem to report battery levels correctly and consistently to HA. I can control them equally well with both HA and via the remote. I periodically have some shades not respond to HA commands, especially when they are part of a Group, predominately those the farthest from the controller. This was true with my Aeotec Z-Stick 5+ controller, which I have JUST replaced with the HA ZWA-2 controller. Iāll report back here whether that improves the failed commands.
Also to note if you have multiple shades and a z-wave remote. The Bali tech told me that in order for the remote to work correctly/reliably, it must have a node HIGHER than any of the shades it controls. I did not test this since, if you follow their instructions, the remote is added AFTER all the shades. But if you end up adding additional shades, you may have to re-include your remote to move it up in node count if you are having issues.
Also, the āhubā they sell, is indeed a hub, NOT a repeater, which any powered Z-Wave device should act as. If you are controlling with HA, you do not need the Bali Hub.
Below is a few questions I asked before purchasing and the responses from the Bali tech. They may help some with similar questions:
(1) Realistically, how long would a charge last on the rechargeable Li-Ion battery pack assuming a daily full cycle, and are they pretty reliable, i.e., not have to be replaced regularly. I believe the Costco/Bali site said 2 years, but the Lowes site says 1 year (or maybe that was in your documentation). Just trying to set expectations.
This will depend on the size of the shade, but as a rough estimate we anticipate 6-12 months. Larger sized shades will draw more than a smaller shade, so the range is intended to capture large size differences.
<<<< Iāve only had ONE blind last 6 months of the NINE and itās at 42%, surprisingly. All the others have been recharged. I would assume 5 months MAX on avg for daily cycling. >>>
(2) From the drawings, it appears the rechargeable battery is slimmer than the battery case. Is that really the case, or are the pictures deceiving? Also, the battery case has an optional attachment bracket, but I donāt see one with the rechargeable. Is the rechargeable inside the blind casing, or is it attached to it the back of the top bar, or will it need to be separately mounted? I could not find that answer in the installation instructions.
The battery packs are similar, but they do vary slightly. The reloadable battery packs are 9 1/4" x 1 1/4" x 7/8" (WxLxD) and the rechargeable battery packs are 8 9/16" x 1 7/16" x 15/16" (WxLxD).
(3) You mention the percentage slider, which I assume will let you move it to tell ZWave to move the blind to that open/closed position. Is that really true? does the blind keep track of its position so that you can change it from, say, 50% closed, to 80% closed by moving the slider (like a dimmer?). Or does it have to go to one full extend (open/closed) first to determine where it is before moving to a percentage position?
This is correct. The motor maintains memory of its positioning and reports it back to the controller. Shades can be moved from one intermediate position to another without needing to hit either limit first.
(4) Do the remotes work via Zwave, or do they use Bluetooth? I was thinking of getting only a single Home (premium) remote to control all shades, and I would like To know if I can control shades downstairs from upstairs with the remote, or would it be line-of-sight or Bluetooth range? that would determine if I need to buy a second, perhaps Room, remote.
The remotes do work via ZWave. You may be able to control shades on another floor with a single remote, however, this can vary based on the range and the construction of the building. If you wanted to try to start with one remote, another can be ordered after the fact if signal propagation is an issue. A second remote will be fairly easy to set up, given that your Home Assistant will be what is actually maintaining the network; a second remote would just be paired to the Home Assistant and then it can find shades on the same network directly.
(5) Questions about your app: In order to control the shades or do OTA FW updates, are we required to permit the shades themselves to connect to WiFi (other than normal internet connections apps have via the iPhone iOS)? In other words, to manually manage the shades via Bluetooth on the iPhone, we arenāt required to connect the HW to our WiFi as we would in order to control, say, a door lock, with a vendors app to control it remotely from home. I will be, of course, using Home Assistant for all management, both local and remote, and do not allow any of my automated devices to have their own WiFi access. Local Bluetooth between the iPhone and the blind motor controllers is fine. If the App manages the internet access via iOS to download the FW from your servers and then uses Bluetooth to connect to the shades, that would be perfect, and actually, what I would expect. Can you confirm?
Our motorization app, by itself, will communicate with the shades via Bluetooth ā this would be a local control option only without use of our ZWave gateway, which you do not need since you are having Home Assistant fill this role. The shades are incapable of connecting to WiFi directly, so it would require being within Bluetooth range of the shades with the app loaded on your phone/tablet to be able to control them and push OTA firmware updates; OTA updates are also done over Bluetooth.
I plan to have a single Home remote for all motorized shades, and one charger, and order rechargeable Li-Ion battery packs for each motor. I would like to be able to control each motorized shade both individually and perhaps, as two distinct groups, i.e, the 4 upstairs, and the 5 downstairs. Iām assuming that will be possible with the Home remote and with Home Assistant. As indicated in #4 above, I assume the remotes work via ZWave, and therefore I can control the shades from anywhere in the Home with the Home remote.
I am not incredibly familiar with Home Assistant, but I believe this can be done via setting up rooms as I understand it. Outside of that, setting automations that you can manually trigger to move a group of shades should also be doable. The remote can definitely achieve independent control as well as the groups you specified ā due to a channel limitation on the remote, however, you would not be able to put all 9 shades on a single channel at once. The remote has a max of 8 shades assigned to a given channel at a time.
Additionally, I would recommend considering an additional charger or two given your number of shades. One charger would work, however, please be aware that the battery packs arrive only about 30% charged due to shipping regulations. A full charge cycle for a completely depleted battery pack is about 4.5 hours. The more chargers you have, the less charging cycles you need to go through. We recommend 1 charger per 3 shades; I am personally partial to a 1:2 ratio instead, as this allows one to get through both charging cycles in a day with some leniency.
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I addressed how I programmed the remote to create groups above. I will also add that I did purchase 6 chargers and found that to be too many (but they are cheap). Iām looking now to buy a couple more rechargeable battery packs to have at the ready to rotate into the system when a battery goes dead. Otherwise your shade is inoperable the 3-5 hours it takes to recharge the battery pack. Also looking at picking up a directly power supply plug just to have a means to control a shade if all else fails.
