iBlinds - Disabling a z-wave command

Configuration Z-Wave
1

I just installed an iblinds motor on one of my blinds to test out. When setting the position (via slider or calling the cover.set_cover_position service) it goes to seemingly random positions, including going well beyond what the min and max positions should be. open_over and close_cover seem to work well.

I contacted iblinds and they’re looking into it, but I figured someone here with HA experience may know. They suggested disabling the Multilevel switch Get command and /or the BinarySwitch Get command after the SET (position) command is issued. I’m not familiar with how to disable z-wave commands. The node does not have any Node Config Options when viewing it in Z-Wave Node Management.

Any idea how to disable these commands?

2

This is through built in z-wave?
I have mine integrated through smartthings.
If it forgets where it is position wise it’ll re-callibrate regardless of what platform your on.

I’ve also had issues with it occasionally getting stuck asleep.

3

Yes, this is through built in z-wave. I actually have SmartThings in my home as well, but was having a lot of issues getting these to pair with either that or my HA Z-Wave stick. I had to move my HA setup right next to it, despite there being a powered switch 5 feet away and being surrounded by other successfully paired Z-Wave devices. I’m guessing because this is encased in the metal header railing for the blinds. I can’t move my SmartThings hub closer as easily (its the Samsumg Mesh Wifi and needs to be plugged into my router… although there is another auxiliary hub also about 4 feet away). I was hoping once the issues are resolved I will be able to move my HA setup back to a reasonable location.

Customer support said they’ve seen this issue before and will look into it, but suggested I look into the suggestion above. I just don’t know how to disable a Z-Wave command in Home Assistant. To be honest, I’ve never even heard of that before. Never had any issues like this with any of my other devices.

4

Dropping a the (temporary) solution with the help of iBlinds Support in here to get this working with OpenZWave on HA, in-case it helps someone else:

Note: this is a temporary solution while iBlinds work on a full solution

There is an issue with the solution where the ‘get’ has been removed from the config. This is because OZW was triggering a get while the blind was still rotating to position, causing some weird command race condition and sending the blind haywire. iBlinds are working on solving this - the easiest solution would be to delay the ‘get’ command until the blinds had finished - but I have no idea how to do this just yet - I’ll update if myself or iBlinds figure it out.

This is assuming you’ve already connected the iBlinds to your zwave network successfully and have it in Home Assistant (I didn’t have any problems with this part, the magic just happened).

Before you start, turn off home assistant or it’ll just overwrite your zwave config when you restart!

In your home-assistant directory, there should be a file named zwave_*.xml, open it and look for a <Node> entry with manufacturer “HAB Home Intelligence LLC”.

It should have a huge section of <CommandClasses>, you want to replace the entire CommandClasses block with the following:

<CommandClasses>
			<CommandClass id="38" name="COMMAND_CLASS_SWITCH_MULTILEVEL" version="1" getsupported="false">
				<Instance index="1" />
				<Value type="byte" genre="user" instance="1" index="0" label="Level" units="" read_only="false" write_only="false" verify_changes="false" poll_intensity="0" min="1" max="255" value="1" />
				<Value type="button" genre="user" instance="1" index="1" label="Bright" units="" read_only="false" write_only="true" verify_changes="false" poll_intensity="0" min="0" max="0" />
				<Value type="button" genre="user" instance="1" index="2" label="Dim" units="" read_only="false" write_only="true" verify_changes="false" poll_intensity="0" min="0" max="0" />
				<Value type="bool" genre="system" instance="1" index="3" label="Ignore Start Level" units="" read_only="false" write_only="false" verify_changes="false" poll_intensity="0" min="0" max="0" value="True" />
				<Value type="byte" genre="system" instance="1" index="4" label="Start Level" units="" read_only="false" write_only="false" verify_changes="false" poll_intensity="0" min="0" max="255" value="0" />
			</CommandClass>
			<CommandClass id="112" name="COMMAND_CLASS_CONFIGURATION" version="1">
				<Instance index="1" />
				<Value type="list" genre="config" instance="1" index="1" label="Auto Calibration Torque" units="" read_only="false" write_only="false" verify_changes="false" poll_intensity="0" min="1" max="5" vindex="0" size="1">
					<Help>Changing the Auto Calibration torque will allow you to change the initial calibration torque.</Help>
					<Item label="Calibrate using default torque " value="1" />
					<Item label="Reduce calibration torque by 1 factor" value="2" />
					<Item label="Reduce calibration torque by 2 factors" value="3" />
					<Item label="Increase calibration torque by .5 factor" value="4" />
					<Item label="Increase calibration torque by 1 factor" value="5" />
				</Value>
			</CommandClass>
			<CommandClass id="133" name="COMMAND_CLASS_ASSOCIATION" version="1" request_flags="2">
				<Instance index="1" />
				<Associations num_groups="1">
					<Group index="1" max_associations="5" label="LifeLine" auto="true">
						<Node id="1" />
					</Group>
				</Associations>
			</CommandClass>
		</CommandClasses>

Note, if you previously did this and had an issue when setting to 0%, a min value of 1 in the SWITCH_MULTILEVEL fixes this.

1 Like
5

I always have to set mine to 1% to close mine… :woozy_face:
Facts of life I suppose.
Anybody have any troubles triggering the include/exclude functionality.
I can’t pair mine for the life of my all of the sudden.
I’ve spammed all of the buttons. Flipped the power back and forth.
I’m at a loss…

6

I had to move my HA setup with the z-wave stick right next to the blinds or else I couldn’t include/exclude, despite having powered devices right next to the blinds, and battery powered devices working without issue much further away than the blinds were. I still have my HA setup there, although I need to move it further away (its just sitting on the counter next to the blinds currently). Hopefully it still works. I assumed this was because the z-wave blinds device is enclosed in a metal railing in the blinds and couldn’t get a good enough signal.

7

Thanks!.
I had my stick pretty darn close to it last night when I was trying…
It might get replaced by my ESPHome blinds project sooner than later…

8

Odd, mine’s also in a metal blind rail 2 floors above an Aeotek Z-Stick Plus in a RasPi 3b and I had no issues paring.

I always have to set mine to 1% to close mine…

Copy in the above and your woes will disappear :slight_smile:

9

Does anyone know if the pasted in solution is still required? It’s been a few months since that was posted, hoping the iblinds people got around to fixing it…

10

I dont think so, i asked on their forums and they ignored me. I think they dont give a shit about HA at all and seem to barely care about their product. Really upset I spent so much money on them. They havent released a firmware update to fix all the issues ever, i am wondering maybe their hardware doesnt support firmware update sand we are stuck with this broken code.

also, its still not in the openzwave database, shouldnt they submit to the database if they care about their product? they only sell 1 product afterall.

1 Like
11

If you’re looking to save your investment I have my one set in Hubitat and there’s a very good HACS custom component for Hubitat.