So after searching all over the place including looking into the possibility for paid options like remootio, shelly, ismartgate etc etc I finally found a diagram that shows the two pins you need to bridge to activate the roller shutter.
Honestly the simplest little project suitable for basic level DIY.
You need some power converter to get 5v from the board, I used a 220v to 5v buc converter but you could also go for a 24v to 5v converter. Whatever you use it needs to be compact as there is limited space in the control box and you are able to easily get it in there if you follow this guide.
Open the panel and connect 220v or 24v to 5v converter from either the 220 input or the 24v input to the esp microcontroller. If you look closely at your panel you will see that ports 10 and 11 are labeled 24v ! positive and negative.
In the photo you can see the two options, AC on the left for AC buc converter and DC24V on the right, note the red is positive. My BUC converter is not showing in this photo but is down below connected accordingly.
You then need to connect the 5v to a microcontroller I used the ESP-01/01S which is an ESP 8266 with integrated relay, this unit together with the BUC (220v to 5v)converter fits perfectly in the Axroll housing, just make sure you use plenty of hot glue underneath the boards to ensure well insulated…not much space for a box and I have 4 of these running perfectly for nearly a year.
You could try fit a D1 mini or other but you will then need more space for the relay board etc etc…
Now that power is connected just connect the relay to ports 14 and 18
Not convinced its critical but I wired the following
Normally open — to pin 14 on the Axroll
Common — to pin 18 on the Axroll
What is critical is that you do not wire to the normally closed or you will end up locking out the remote function with a C06 error, whilst it will still operate you will loose your ability to trigger the remote…not ideal.
What is also critical is to set the proper switch orientation in your software, in my case this was inverted.
To ensure I had the trigger duration accurate I included a Number template but this is probably an overkill and you could get away with a simple 200ms delay
My code is as follows (put your own values on the xxxx obviously):
esphome:
name: kitchen-blind
friendly_name: Kitchen Blind
esp8266:
early_pin_init: false
board: esp01_1m
# Enable logging
logger:
# Enable Home Assistant API
api:
encryption:
key: "xxxxxx="
ota:
- password: "xxx"
platform: esphome
wifi:
ssid: !secret wifi_ssid
password: !secret wifi_password
# Enable fallback hotspot (captive portal) in case wifi connection fails
ap:
ssid: "xxxxt"
password: "xxx"
captive_portal:
# allow independant web access
web_server:
#Track wifi performance
sensor:
- platform: wifi_signal
name: "Kitchen blind wifi"
update_interval: 600s
#template to setup a slider to set the run time of the relay
number:
- platform: template
id: inching_on_time
name: "Inching on time"
optimistic: true
restore_value: true
initial_value: 0.2
min_value: 0
max_value: 2
step: 0.2
unit_of_measurement: seconds
entity_category: config
mode: slider
#Switch for esp 8266 with single integrated relay
switch:
- platform: gpio
name: "Kitchen Blind"
pin: GPIO0
id: "trigger"
inverted: True
on_turn_on:
then:
- switch.turn_on: trigger
- delay: !lambda 'return id(inching_on_time).state * 1000;'
- switch.turn_off: trigger
# Restart from Home assistant
- platform: restart
name: "Kitchen Blind Restart"
This integrates perfectly with Home assistant
PLEASE NOTE:
This does not monitor blind position !!! there is no intelligence or sensing, you could add these sensors BUT my current blinds are ‘dumb’ im not doing more than I currently have which is a remote trigger for up and down.
The choice of ESP used here was entirely for compactness to fit right into the original unit, any larger would not have fitted, any sensor wires will also need to be run externally. If your unit is in the box for your blinds it could be done I guess but not really critical to me.