Vertical blind slats motor- retrofit - BT range?

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Hi!
I am new to Home-Assistant and home automation.
I am currently in the process of planning how to control my
Vertical Blinds ( Slats ) with home control.

The blinds are allready installed - and by the look of it - i am not able to
retrofit a motor inside the housing.

So i have been looking at other options.
by searching here - and on google . have found some different options.
that all seems to fit my needs.
Movez ( allthough it seems like “vaporware”
and Soma - which i can see is fully supported.

However my types of blinds is supporting both
tilting and open/close with 2 wires:

see the picture:

IMG-1738
IMG-1738500×666 84.8 KB

So i would eventually need 2 devices pr. window - unless someone has made something smart that can have both wires connected to different motors in the same unit?

I am therefore thinking about starting out with the tilt function - as i can use this to prevent my house from getting too hot when the sun is on.

Any suggestions here are more than welcome.

Now - the next problem.

Of all the decies i have found - none of them uses z-wave og zigbee - they all seem to be using
BT 4.0

How are your general experience with BT and range?

i have a 2 story house
and a utility room in which my server is placed.

how are you guys handling the BT range? is it a problem that i should worry about?

Hope to get some inputs :slight_smile:

Have nice day.

br Ronni

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If you have access to a 3D printer, this works great for adjusting the angle of the blinds through Home Assistant.

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Hi Martin.
Thanks for your reply.
I think it will take to much effort - espacially since i need it to be battery powered - and controllable - as well as “ok” looking :).

But the "principle! is spot on though.

I am more or less looking for a “turnkey” solution - that will work with home-assistant - using batteries.
So Soma still seems to be the “way” to go - however - the range is still my concern.

So hoping for somone to chime in - with their experience in in bluetooth blte range inside a house :slight_smile:

br Ronni

1 Like
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Hi All!
Ok - did some more research.
right now i have the following “options” as i see - that would fit needs.

  1. buy the SOMA + Bye the soma connect - or make my own using a rpi3 with their image
    my concern wiht this however - is that i am afraid that i will not be able to cover my house. I live in 2 story house - so i might actually end up having to buy / create 2 or more controllers. The would require addtional hardware - and actually alot of work.

1,5) would it be possible to use the: https://github.com/zewelor/bt-mqtt-gateway/wiki to control it? because then i can add some RP Zeros to my home - that seams a little more easy to do.

    • talking about the bt to mqtt - would i be possible to use this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/153693705328

It is super cheap - and it bascially has all the functions that i need - but i am not that strong in BT communication - but maybe some of you guys have tried this out?

br Ronni

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and again - i answer myself - but just did some broader searching - and found that someone actually managed to talk to theese:

So i think i will give that a try :slight_smile: