Hardware quest, here: shutter/blinds integration

Hardware
1

folks,

ive been using tasmotized sonoff dual r2 for my shutters, they are working fine, no issues since December 2019, but if the server/wifi is offline, controling the shutter from inside the shutter box with a single button, well it either s***s or is not do-able… and i did not pull a cable out for an emergency button, was lazy back then :slight_smile: and that has been occasionally an issue regarding the WAF (wife acceptance factor)

since i had the luck of acquiring shutter control switches fitting my old house installation, which i have no intention to replace any time soon, since im pretty fond of the design and quality, I now want to ditch the R2 and replace with a new thing and add my newly acquired old shutter switches for a traditional feel, but automated sun controled operation.

i also want to unclutter my wifi, too many clients, too mutch traffic. hence my tendency to add 230v zigbee stuff to extend the zigbee network all around the house.

i found zigbee controllers that also accept inputs from an “old style” switch.

however, they are from tuya and claim to be in need of a tuya hub…?

while i like tuya products as much as any other el cheapo and mostly working hardware, i dont like the tuya cloud (i usually call the china cloud “klaut”, cause German klaut means stealing and is pronounced almost like cloud, you wouldn’t know the difference if your not a native German, and it expressly states my intention towards it, i tray to avoid it at all costs) in short anything that floats around my home network and has its origins in china first of all is blocked from access to the WAN and on-top is either hacked with something like valetudo or outright rebranded e.g. tasmotized.

so now i want something similar for my shutters.

can i go ahed and use a zigbee thing like this one. (no affiliation and all tracking BS removed)

i do currently run an ikea tradfri hub, and its pretending to be ET phoning home and therefore is as talkative to WAN as any tuya, and it tends to forget its zigbee hardware, i have to relearn lightbulbs at constant stream. just using it cause my wife got convinced by an ikea sales person that she also needs the hub, well now i have one. planing to replace it when we get more zigbee stuff.

would like to hear what you guys are using and for what reasons?

thanks
Manny

2

I use Fibaro Z-Wave shutter controllers. Purely local and have hard-wired controls so will work no matter if HA is offline.

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3

We have Bosch Rolladensteuerung 2. We use them with the Bosch Controller but they are labeled to be working with zigbee2mqtt.
With their App they are highly configurable, are very small and have inputs for physical switches.

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so i found two from nous

(you might have to select the curtain moduls as i deleted all tracking garbage from thr links)

https://www.amazon.de/NOUS-Leistungsmessung-Trockenkontakte-erforderlich-Kompatibel/dp/B0D4RJKJ7W

and

https://www.amazon.de/NOUS-Leistungsmesser-Trockenkontakte-Kompatibel-Assistant/dp/B0D4S2XD5Z

any recommendations?

i already have a nous a1z, but it does not report any consumption data… dose that work with ZigBee? maybe my ikea tradfri hub is to outdated?

5

The Zigbee one only works with a zigbee 3.0 hub. Check if your hub can do that. But the rating is not so good and the reviews give a bad first impression.

The Wifi one seems to be good because Tasmota works well with HA. You can select power metering for the energy monitoring you want. 9 reviews are not enough to get a good impression but at least they are all 5 stars. So if I had to pick I would take that one.
Mind that Wifi uses a little bit more energy than Zigbee and you dont expand your Zigbee network with that one.

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thanks for your thoughts

7

so i went with both, and the zigbee device has no power metering, otherwise work3d fine, but could not figure out how to unlock the interlock for other usability… why ever, the zigbee plug a1z does have power metering, so zigbee is capable, and the b3t is basically the same hardware just an other library for zigbee… maybe even the same radio module but i didnt check that. i dont understand that product policy from nous.

so in the end I did send the zigbee stuff back. and ordered 25 of the b3t from nous with theo ahrends tasmota preflashed, so im free to switch over to esp home if i want to, and am not stuck with a leaky chinese cloud that might work but also might not.

i integrated them into my many shutters and awnings. and now operations are just like before, by the old dumo switches, but now they are also part of my night time shut out, i love it.

and it played off already, one old (1997) awning motor got stuck and the power meter alerted me to the high consumption … happened right while i was using automatic shutter calibration on that awning. an other feature i really like with the esp32 chips. one only needs to slightly retune it for convince and its done. took about 5 mins each.

i also automated my dual speed fan in the basement, in cooperation with a zigbee $3 thermometer/hygrometer from AliExpress… i had the sonoff here for tests, found it needs manual integration and was billed at 23€, so i did sent it back and ordered 10 for $30 via ali.

so far im totally happy. there is even a housing available to stick em on a DIN rail in a junction box. i love it. now i will add automation to a lot of lights, like you can use it old fashioned style, but also an aqara fp2 can trigger it if presence is detected and its dark.

would have preferred ZigBee, but then ive got a dedicated IoT wifi anyway…

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