Battery powered zwave devices are usually sleepy to preserve battery life. I’m looking to get some Bali shades. How well are they likely to work? Meaning if I use an automation to open/close them based on when a light (used for showers) is turned on, will it be responsive? Or do the devices sleep for a long time to conserve battery (e.g. I don’t want to wait 30 seconds for it to respond)
They work fine. Occasionally I see a lag before they start but I’ve not attributed any lag to the device sleeping. It’s usually alexa>HA cloud lag or business on my Rpi or some other ZWave weirdness… Nothing attributable to the blinds.
Also when buying Bali (springs window fashions / Graber /Somfy) make ABSOLUTELY sure wherever you buy them from has a support channel to get firmware updates. Springs / Somfy only makes firmware available through your retailer so if you buy from a place that doesn’t have a good support channel you’re hosed.
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Thanks!
So I’m SOL if I take advantage of the 40% off sale Home Depot has running right now?
Yes. I wouldn’t.
There was a bad bug in the firmware pre 11.3 that caused the blinds to stall out. (it was particularly bad for people using SmartThings l, ask me how I know) the only fix is a firmware better than 11.3.
I bought mine full custom from an online retailer that supported thier blinds. All 10 of mine are happily on current firmware.
I saw many who bought thiers at Lowes/Home Depot try to beg /borrow firmware from others. Retailers won’t release the firmware for blinds they didn’t sell as they become liable if it breaks your unit.
YMMV, but i certainly would not. These things cost a ton on a good day with discounts. There’s zero way I’d also have it unsupported.
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Well that’s super disappointing, but glad I know ahead of time 
If there’s no way to guarantee I can get this 11.3 firmware, seems like a nonstarter for me. Looking online I have no idea how to find out if the retailer will supply firmware or not so might give the Ikea stuff a try.
Guessing this thread 
Unreliable operation between v3 Hub and Graber/Spring Window Fashions motorized shades (Somfy Zwave Plus) - #3 by nathancu - Devices & Integrations - SmartThings Community
I guess from that thread it sounds like Zebrablinds at least provides the firmware…
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I was going to add, that I have had mine for oh around 7 or more years and they are very responsive with local control. For a couple of years I used SmartThings and the response was very slow, so I eventually switched back to local control.
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Finally got my order from zebrablinds today. Came with a defective motor
Please see my post here - I was able to find a workaround for this random stalling issue in HomeSeer but not having much luck applying it to Home Assistant. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Just trying to get some more eyes on it. I assume others are struggling with the same firmware bug and lack of support.