Some time ago, I researched using an RF bridge to add my motorized blinds to HA. I never got around to it, but would like to try again.
I know there was a device a lot like the Logitech Harmony that did both IR and RF, which I really liked, but I can’t for the life of me seem to find anything about it anymore… is that device still around and can anyone recommend it?
Otherwise, I am seeing a lot of talk about a Sonoff RF bridge. Can anyone speak to their experience with this device and RF blinds?
Are there other options out there that are recommended? I’m just trying to see what others are using that has worked well for them. Thanks!
EDIT: I remembered that Broadlink was the name of the RF hub I’d looked at a while back. I don’t hear much about it these days… so I wonder if anyone can recommend using a Broadlink hub?
The specific blinds shouldn’t matter. I’m just looking for an RF hub that plays nicely with 433mhz since that seems to be the most common frequency for blinds and most RF remotes in general. I will potentially use the hub for more than just blinds in the future, that’s why I am not as focused on the specific blinds.
To clarify a bit further, I have roller blinds that don’t have existing motors, but I plan to add motors to them that operate on a 433mhz frequency.
Just from my experience on this. I do have 433 MHz blinds and I did not manage with several attempts to get them working with the Sonoff RF hub.
After cooling down from the frustration I got an http://www.rfxcom.com/ hub and got the things rolling in just minutes…
Expensive, but worth every penny…
It ABSOLUTELY matters. Not all devices control all things per @BebeMischa’s experience.
433 isn’t the only solution, there’s solutions for Zigbee, Zwave, and Somfy’s RTS protocol…
If you’re looking for motors, you’re going to have to identify what motors work with your blinds then what hubs/solutions work to connect to those motors. For mine I went Graber (Springs Window Fasions / Somfy) Zwave. No hub required - just my existing Zwave network.
I’ve already had the blinds installed for years. They’re just a generic 1.5" OD roller blind. The only retrofit motor solution I am aware of for roller blinds is a motor that operates on a 433mhz RF signal. I know there are adapters for zwave, zigbee, and the like, but in most cases I have seen they just translate the RF signal to zwave or zigbee to talk to the hub.
If you know of retrofit motors with something other than a 433mhz radio built in, I’d be happy to hear about them.
Thank you! Personal experiences with this sort of thing are exactly what I am looking for. It does appear that item is out of stock, and I’m not even sure if I can get it in the US at a reasonable price, but I will certainly keep an eye on it.
If you look at the Motion Blinds integration page, you can see that there are lots of brands offering a blind solutions using RF.
Motion Blinds, Brel and others have retrofit solutions. These ones mentioned here use a proprietary RF two way communication protocol using their own bridge. If you use that bridge, you also get state information about the positions of the blinds. So as others have stated, integration might be possible, but it won’t always work though a generic RF solution.
The same goes for a lot of RF controlled hardware. Not only are there multiple ways of modulating signals, but also a lot of remotes use a rolling code scheme that cannot be replicated.
Huh, interesting that the Motion Blinds integration supports so many different brands… too bad it looks like it only works with Apple HomeKit. I know Home Assistant is capable of integrating with HomeKit devices, but I’m not a fan of using Apple stuff.
And thank you for reminding me of the Aqara motor! I had forgotten about that one. I honestly thought it was discontinued or something since the usual suppliers I shop at have had it out of stock for forever. I guess it’s just another casualty of the supply chain shortages.
I have been using Broadlink IR/RF for several years. I control motorized curtains (RF) and other devices without a single problem.
I got the RF codes using broadlink manager and everything works reliably in HA.
I use RFLINK (https://www.rflink.nl/) for controlling my motorized blinds (Brel motors) for some time now without any problems. RFLink has a HA intergration.
The Motion Eve line is thread based, not “just” Homekit. All the other ones are not Homekit, but simply using a RF to wifi bridge as a way to access them through local lan using the Motion Blinds API.
Weird, when I was researching it last night after you linked it, their material said that it uses HomeKit, but support for Thread is “coming soon” and then later getting Matter support as well.
So I was just going based off of what they had listed on their homepage… maybe they’ve got Thread support now, but they haven’t updated all of their marketing to reflect that.
I appreciate the info!
I use Bond Bridge. It works well. Great range and never an issue connecting to anything in a 2800 sq ft house. I, also, use it to control my fireplace, awning and I am sure at some point when my older ceiling fans take a crap I will use it for those as well.
WARNING: You have to go with the Bond Bridge Pro if you want to adjust your shares to a specific percentage closed/open and the Pro is much more spendy. This is a recent update from Bond, and honestly I am pissed about it and haven’t upgraded myself and may be looking around again.