Hi, Would appreciate any advice on options for a smart roller/roman blind system. I’ve seen some similar requests when searching threads, but they don’t quite fit what I am looking for so please help with my learning.
I am new to both Home Assistant and smart automation. However, I inherited some powered blinds, connected to a timer when moving into my home and am looking at replacing these as my introductory project. Probably much easier things to do first, and I plan to do a lot more, but getting some building work done soon and knowing what I can/can’t do will really help my planning.
The system I have uses Somfy Aries 4/14 powered wands, connected into an old 24 hour pin timer with a couple of switches, that either allow up/down manual control, or automation via the timer, no remote control or anything. It works great, and seems strong coping with some heavy home made multilayer blackout blinds on the roller, but I would now like to replace and have something linked into an app and then rollout to some other rooms.
Although the current system is connected to the mains, there are cables/trunking everywhere that I want to get rid of and I don’t want to repeat in other rooms, so I am hoping to find a battery powered solution. It has to have a strong motor as current blinds are pretty big and heavy (main room is close to 4 sq m). I’ll probably set up with some home made roman blinds so are likely to be equally heavy. Is a battery powered solution likely to be suitable and is there anything you could recommend?
I have seem Somfy do a Sonesse ULTRA 30 WF RTS Li-Ion wand, but struggling to find much info for a DIY project, most info I can find is via companies selling as part of a automated blind solution so details are thin on the ground.
I don’t really understand what this system connects to. They seem to come with handheld remote (which I am not bothered about if I can link to a Home Assistant system) but not sure if I need anything else. I can see Somfy sell hub units, but is this required if I am not bothered about linking via their system/app and link to Home Assistant instead. Presumably I need something to send/pick up remote instructions, but not sure what this is or what options there are.
My ideal vision is to have some battery powered wands installed in multiple locations around the house, which I can control via HA either to toggle up/down at press of a button on app/PC as well as being able to set on timers etc if I’m away. Again, not sure if I need more than just the wand or if I need a hub or something else before I can link to via HA.
I’ve also seen a few comments about what may or may not be available for HA to access, in terms of being able to do more than just issue up/down commands. I’d like to be able to stop at any position say ½ open, ¾ open etc rather than just fully open or closed, and for that position to be reported back to HA.
I’d also like to be able to monitor the battery status via HA so I know when to charge, especially if I need to do before going away.
It doesn’t have to be a Somfy solution, happy to go with any good option I can use with HA.
I also haven’t set up HA yet. Planning to go with a Pi 4 8Gb, but please advise if that doesn’t sound good.
Would really appreciate any advice that anyone is prepared to offer. I will keep track of what I am doing so can post details if anyone is interested once I’ve got it working.
We are compatible with HA and we ship worldwide. Sizes up to 259 cm/102 inches. You can take a look at our website