This video focuses mostly on the battery version, which gives you, the customer, a pretty budget friendly option that allows you to keep your existing blinds, but is still cheaper compared to retrofit blind motors from companies like Eve, for example. How do they fare? Watch to find out.

You can purchase the ZemiSmart Matter over Thread roller shade motor (battery) from Amazon.com (affiliate) links below, which cost you nothing extra but help us buy more products for review, to keep you informed on how products perform.

Amazon.com (Matter over Thread, w/battery)

Alternatively, you can purchase directly from ZemiSmart themselves via the link below;

Battery model (Matter over Thread)

Wired model (Matter over Thread)

The post ZemiSmart Roller Shade Motor w/ Matter over Thread (video) appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

CONTENTS

As these are custom blinds, there’s no standard packaging to pore over, although I can confirm that Smartwings took the utmost care in making sure the blinds were very well protected. This included double packaging, and measures to ensure the naturally long box was not easy to bend. With that, let’s move straight to the contents, which will vary depending on what extras – if any – you might order yourself. Starting with the roller blinds, which as they’re custom made, are going to have different material colours and types, and more. In my case, I opted for 50% Light Filtering material in white.

The company also offer three valance options for most of their blinds; A standard roller shade with no valance, which is what I opted for, as we already have a valance built into the window frame. The other two options are a square valance, and a ‘cassette’ type valance, that comes complete with material to match your chosen blinds on the front portion of the valance.

When it comes to fitting the blinds, regardless of the valance type you choose, the roller blinds utilise a sort of tracking system, so you don’t have the usual ‘bookend’ type brackets, but instead have brackets connected to the ceiling (or wall), which the tracking system clicks into. To me this is a much better option, as although you’re meant to fit these brackets in a way that they’re evenly spread out, you don’t ultimately need to be as accurate as you would with the other ‘bookend’ option. As my blinds aren’t too wide (50in / 127cm), the blinds only came with three brackets. If you get wider blinds, you’ll no doubt be provided with the required amount.

As these blinds use Matter over Thread, instead of a HomeKit code, you get a Matter code, although in practice, for HomeKit users, there’s no real difference when it comes to adding the blinds by scanning the QR code, which is already very familiar to HomeKit users, but less so for those in the Amazon/Google/SmartThings ecosystems.

One optional extra amongst a few is the remote control. In my opinion, this is a good one to invest in, partly as they’re so cheap, it barely impacts the overall price, but it’s a more familiar way to control the blinds for those in the household not so invested in smart home tech. It’s also a sort of failsafe, should your smart home as a whole, or the blinds in particular, simply stop responding within your smart home platform. The remote connects to blinds independently of your WiFi and smart home network, using RF433MHz to speak directly to your blinds.

In my case I kept it simple, so of the extras I could order, the only one I did opt for is the aforementioned remote. The remote options are broken down into three options; a five-channel remote in either black or white, and a 15-channel remote. As you can guess, these remotes would allow you to control up to 15 Smartwings blinds from one remote. These remotes can also be set to control all of your Smartwings at the same time if you wanted to group them.

The other parts included in the basic package are a set of screws and rawl plugs to fit the brackets into place. The motor situated inside the roller tube needs to be charged every few months. The company’s FAQ section states that generally, 600 up/down cycles are possible before you’d need to recharge that battery, although you also have to take into account the size/weight of the blinds, so the heavier they are, the harder the motor has to work, which in turn impacts battery life to a degree. Taking the number 600, that would imply that by opening and closing the blinds twice a day, you should get around 300 days or roughly around 10 months, which is pretty good.

The motor, which sits at one end of the roller tube is home to the USB-C port for charging. This area also features a small square LED that briefly flashes when the motor has been activated or will light up when recharging the battery. You also have a small button that can be used to open/close the blinds when all else fails, as well as being used for resetting the blinds if necessary. Incidentally, the option to choose which end of the tube the motor is placed is also offered.

If you want to avoid having to charge the battery at all, you can opt for the solar panel, which can be stuck to your window, and connected permanently to the motor via the USB-C port.

Putting all these things to one side, with the brackets screwed in place, mounting the roller shades was so easy, at first, I wasn’t sure if they’d actually clicked into place. They had, and so I can confidently say this was the easiest set of blinds to date, but not only for this reason…

APPLE HOME | MATTER

So far my experience with Matter hasn’t been perfect, but when it comes to purely using one platform – HomeKit of course – things have been pretty great, and installation and maintenance of my Matter products, which can still be counted on one hand at this time, has been the same experience as if they were regular HomeKit products. This is in part due to HomeKit always having been local, something that Matter offers too. This is a much newer concept to users of Amazon, Google, and SmartThings, who have traditionally relied on cloud connectivity between their respective platforms and servers for the relevant companies.

So when it came time to add my fitted blinds to Apple Home by scanning the code, I was fully expecting I’d need to set the upper and lower limits for the blinds. This has typically been the case for smart blinds, especially so with retrofit options where there’s no way for the motor to know what the fully open and closed positions are. Not so with Smartwings, as you’ve already provided the measurements during the ordering process, and as such the upper and lower limits are already set at the factory! In fact, the remote was also pre-paired, so once I installed the remote’s batteries, the remote and the blinds worked straight away. Very impressive. The open and closed limits also matched in the Home app, so I didn’t need to do anything.

The bottom bar also has the same Matter QR code, given that once the blinds are installed, the code on the inside of the tracking is no longer visible or accessible without taking the blinds down.

Even though Matter (over Thread) is used for these blinds, they show up just like any other HomeKit-compatible blinds, so you get one tile for quick open/close actions, along with a slider for percentage-accurate positioning.

In the settings section, you get to see the battery levels, along with all the usual options to include the blinds in scenes and automations, but you also get an option only seen with Matter devices, namely ‘Turn on Pairing Mode’. Once tapped, the app will generate a brand new Matter code to use with subsequent platforms. If you’re new to Matter (aren’t we all?) the way it works is that you initially add your Matter device to your platform of choice using the Matter code, and if you only use one platform, that’s all there is to do. However, if you have a mixed platform home, with some people preferring to use Google Assistant or Alexa, or only use an Android phone with SmartThings, for example, then for those household members to use the blinds by voice or app, you’ll need to add it to the aforementioned ecosystems. You would think you could just scan the Matter code on the device, but you can’t; once that code is used, it can be re-used for additional platforms, unless the device is removed and reset from the initial platform it was added to. This is where the additional code and pairing mode option comes into play.

Some platforms will generate an actual QR code to be used with additional platforms, whilst others, like Apple Home, will simply generate the numerical code, which you can copy.

SAMSUNG SMARTTHINGS | GOOGLE HOME | AMAZON ALEXA 

Using the Pairing mode option in the Home app was straightforward, although as you might experience yourself with Matter at times, adding a device to subsequent platforms doesn’t always take on the first attempt. In my case, it took just two tries to get the blinds into SmartThings, although I was warned that the blinds were not certified. This is because these Matter over Thread blinds are currently a beta product, and as such certification is still being sorted out, although from my experience I’ve not had problems at all so far.

Once added to SmartThings, I got a single tile along with the usual set of controls, one of which is a pause button, which you don’t tend to get in Apple Home. You can also set a preset position in the app, which is handy. SmartThings lacks its own fully-fledged voice assistant, and although Bixby is supposed to exist, I can’t say I’ve seen much mention of it.

I then attempted to add the blinds to Google Home via SmartThings using a brand-new pairing code. However, Google also noted that the blinds were not certified, and in this instance, Google wouldn’t, therefore, allow me to add the blinds, so that was that. However, I later noticed that the blinds were in Google Home and working. I assumed something went awry and just thought it was added via Matter, but on closer inspection, I noticed that the blinds were detected and added via my SmartThings account tied to Google Home, so it had connected using the old account/cloud-based method.

When it comes to Alexa, despite repeated attempts to add the blinds, my Amazon account failed to detect them. I was already aware this would probably be the case after failing to add a ZemiSmart blinds motor to Alexa, simply because Amazon is a tad behind in terms of what device categories are currently supported via Matter. So basically Amazon doesn’t support window coverings yet!

COMPARISON TO EVE MOTIONBLINDS

Around 18 months ago, I reviewed the first Thread-enabled smart blinds using Eve MotionBlinds technology, from a Swedish company called Omnia Blinds – you can see the video HERE, or read the written review HERE. They’re still in use and work great, although the delayed response times in HomeKit are still in effect, and have yet to be addressed. With this in mind, it’s worth comparing these blinds to Smartwings’ offering.

So both use Thread and although currently both Eve and Smartwings only offer their HomeKit compatible blinds with HomeKit over Thread functionality, Smartwings is due to release these Matter over Thread blinds sometime in July of this year. So whilst this might not be important to HomeKit-only users, for multi-platform homes, and people on other platforms that want to use these blinds, having Matter is a clear advantage. I’m sure Eve will deliver an update soon, but as it stands, Smartwings are actually following through.

Whilst Smartwings offer a nice selection of colours and materials, in general, Eve MotionBlinds outlets offer more, or at least this is the case with the aforementioned Omnia Blinds. Eve MotionBlinds are also offered by many retailers around the globe, although both offer free worldwide shipping, so that may not matter so much.

Both offer on-device control, but Eve provides proper tassels that you can pull, which is very convenient, whilst Smartwings only have the button located at the motor, which isn’t exactly convenient.

Still, Smartwings offer two valance options in addition to their standard offering, which isn’t the case with Omnia/Eve. When placing like-for-like orders via the website for both Omnia and Smartwings, the latter came out cheaper by around US$85, although that could be different depending on your local currency, and whether you would have to pay import taxes etc, compared to an authorised Eve MotionBlinds dealer in your own country.

In my tests, the noise from the blinds came out at around 45dB on average, compared to 40dB from Eve MotionBlinds. In reality, the difference is negligible, with 45dB still being more than quiet enough. In terms of speed, the two blinds were pretty much neck and neck, so there wasn’t much in it.

IN DAY-TO-DAY USE

My first contact with Smartwings goes back almost a couple of years when they approached me on the recommendation of a colleague in Taiwan, with a view to reviewing their products. As much as their products were HomeKit compatible, and looked great, they were using Bluetooth at a time when Thread was already clearly becoming the better protocol. As such, I politely declined the offer but asked them if there were any plans for Thread, which they confirmed was on their roadmap.

So, not only did they follow through on this, but they’ve now gone full steam ahead and taken Matter on board too, so they’ve really surprised me in a pleasant way. Are the blinds any good? Hell yes! When I first installed them, which as stated was ridiculously easy, I was bowled over that there was no setup needed once added to HomeKit. This isn’t something that normally makes a lot of difference to me but for people who just want to get stuff up and running quickly and easily, it definitely makes for a more pleasant experience.

Battery life seems about average so far, but I have noticed that hot weather, which we’re experiencing as I write this (34ºC outside, and 29ºC inside – even with AC) does affect battery life, which was very noticeable last summer with my Omnia blinds, where the batteries were draining at 20% per day. This changed once autumn/winter came along, with battery drain dropping to normal levels, but if you live in a hot environment, I’d suggest you temper your battery life expectations somewhat.

Alongside the ease of installation, the ready-to-go setup, the ordering process was also very easy, and delivery/packing was excellent, so do I have any complaints – not really, and they react really well in both Apple Home and SmartThings. As regards the latter, I currently use the SmartThings Station, making use of the button on the top of the hub to open and close the blinds, which react almost instantly. This is just one thing I appreciate about Smartwings, and hopefully, you will too once Matter drops. Recommended.

The post Smartwings Smart Roller Shades w/ Matter over Thread (review) appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

This brings us to ZemiSmart’s Smart Roller Shade Motor with Matter. This product has existed in previous incarnations for a long time now, with Zigbee, WiFi, Bluetooth, and RF433MHz versions, but now the company has jumped into Matter with both feet, resulting in a Matter over WiFi compatible product – the first of many, I assure you. What’s it like though, and does it play nicely with all platforms – including HomeKit? Read on to find out.

PACKAGING | CONTENTS

I’m sure many people don’t really care about presentation, at least compared to me, but aside from ensuring the product inside is adequately protected, I think it’s important to look professional via the presentation of a brand (this is my former marketing career coming out…). ZemiSmart has finally taken this aspect seriously, with properly printed, full-colour packaging that shows the product, comes with consistent brand colours, and most importantly for now, the Matter logo. Gone are the days of generic plain white packaging that could be from any manufacturer, thankfully. As this is Matter certified, you won’t see a Works with Apple Home logo on the box, as there’s not really any need for something like a window covering product.

All the relevant specs are shown clearly on the side of the box;

• Input voltage – 100~240V AC
• Rated power – 22W
• Rated current – 0.1A
• Rated frequency – 50/60Hz
• Torque – 0.8Nm
• Rated RPM – 25PRM
• Load-bearing – 4kg

According to the manual, there’s a more powerful version of this motor, although so far I’ve not seen any evidence of this product being available at the time of writing aside from the mention of it in the manual.

In the box, you get the motor itself, a manual in English, which is a lot more straightforward to follow than previous ones from ZemiSmart, and a pair of brackets to mount the motor. An end cap for the other end of your roller blind tube, a remote control which includes a wall bracket, a double-sided sticker, as well as screws and rawl plugs to fit the wall bracket.

THE MOTOR

As you can see from the image of the motor, this is not battery-powered, instead relying on mains power via the Live and Neutral wires connected to one end of the motor. This may not appeal to many, although you could also argue that the lack of having to wonder when to recharge an internal battery – that could fail – is also a selling point.

The motor itself is designed to fit roller tubes between 36~38mm in diameter, although the company also offer a smaller motor with Matter too if you have a roller blind covering a much smaller window perhaps, designed to work with roller tubes of around 25mm in diameter. That model doesn’t seem to be listed either, although I have it here, so it does exist!

When it comes to connectivity, the motor uses Matter over WiFi, utilising the 2.4GHz WiFi band for the furthest reach. It would have been great to see Matter over Thread here, but it is what it is. Previous versions of this device would have had the WiFi module inside the tube, but for this, the module is placed inside a box externally, with an instance of the Matter code stuck to it. There’s also an instance of this code in the manual.

Aside from the two wires for power, and the cable that connects the motor to the aforementioned WiFi module, there’s also a third wire that utilises the 433MHz radio frequency. This is to allow direct control from, and connection to the included remote. This remote control, which requires two AAA batteries, is a generic type provided by many manufacturers, not just ZemiSmart, but it works very well with the roller blinds, and regardless of whether you actually plan to use it or not, you’re going to need it for initial setup; with previous ZemiSmart roller blinds – HomeKit compatible or not – you could use the remote or the Tuya app to set the upper and lower limits for the blinds. As these blinds are Matter compatible, the Tuya app is no longer required, and can’t be used even if you wanted to use it, so the remote is the only option available to you in order to set up these limits. If you don’t set the limits, the motor will simply not work in any Matter ecosystem, even if it shows up.

ADDING TO APPLE HOME | HOMEKIT | OTHER PLATFORMS

Adding the Matter-enabled motor to Apple Home/HomeKit is exactly the same as adding a HomeKit device, which makes the process immediately familiar. Apple is well positioned for Matter on this aspect alone. As you can probably guess, in the Home app you get the one tile for the motor, along with a slider control to adjust the open/closed position of the blinds. The only differences are that in the settings for Matter devices, you have a separate option labelled ‘Turn on Pairing Mode’. This allows the already added device to be added to further Matter ecosystems. Whilst the Matter QR code can be used to add it to a single ecosystem (in this case HomeKit), once it has been used, you can’t use that same QR code to add it to other platforms, so the ‘Turn on Pairing Mode’ option generates a new pairing code, whilst also setting the motor to pairing mode. Each Matter ecosystem has such a feature, so in theory, you can add it to any platform in any order, and add it to another platform with a new code. Each new platform requires a new code, so the code generated during the pairing code process will only be valid for one platform.

Adding the blinds to other platforms was a bit hit and miss, to be honest, but this is less about ZemiSmart than it is about how Matter works, which is still a bit foggy in terms of what you need to do in preparation for adding devices to platforms other than HomeKit.

Here you can see the same motor in Google Home, and perhaps unsurprisingly, things are much the same as they are in Apple Home.

Here are the details for the same roller blind in the Samsung SmartThings app. Even though the roller blinds use WiFi, you still need a Matter controller for each platform, so in the case of Google I’ve got a couple of Google Nests Mini as well as a first gen Google Nest Hub (with display), and a Google Nest Hub Max (with display). The latter also contains Thread Border Router functionality.

For SmartThings I have Samsung’s latest SmartThings Station, which in addition to being a Matter Controller, is also a Thread Border Router, and a Zigbee hub. Oh, it’s also a wireless phone charger too!

Anyway, you can see that the ZemiSmart motor plays well with all of these platforms. At the time of writing, however, and during testing, I failed to add the motor to Amazon Alexa, which unbeknownst to me doesn’t currently support window cover devices. So much for Matter support on Alexa…

PERFORMANCE

As you might know by now, I’m not keen on getting more WiFi devices into my HomeKit setup unless it’s absolutely necessary, so this particular device – which I could find a place for – won’t be staying, solely based on the fact it uses WiFi. If it were Thread-based, that would be a different story. That’s not to say it’s not a good device – far from it in fact. Of all the roller shade motors I’ve tested so far, this is by far the quietest – although it does depend on things like what kind of weight it’s pulling. The responsiveness was on point, and when using the remote, it was almost literally instantaneous in terms of reacting.

Installation was really easy, although as I’ve done this kind of install a few times, I guess it might be less easy for some people, but inserting the motor into the tube and affixing the included brackets to the ceiling or wall isn’t the biggest of challenges, to be fair.

When it comes to responsiveness in multiple apps, I noticed that the status of the blinds would take a few seconds to update when switching from one app to another, but nothing to be concerned over, and in reality, I can’t see a reason why you’d want to. I think this is really another Matter issue if it can be called one.

It would have been good to see some included adaptors to allow it to work with other tube sizes, but I guess the motor is ostensibly designed to work within certain limits, and so it may be that the motor could be pushed beyond its capabilities if it’s installed in a larger tube, with potentially longer and heavier blinds.

The other point of concern is finding an outlet near enough to the motor. This might not be such an issue if it weren’t so short, which I find a bit of an odd decision. Sure, it’s designed to be short on the assumption that an outlet is nearby, but in reality, many older homes don’t have an outlet placed at the height you’d have the motor placed, so I think making the cord longer and allowing people to cut it to length would have been a more sensible option.

As I’m no longer using this motor beyond the testing period, it’s hard to know fully how reliable and long-lasting the motor is, but given this motor has existed in various forms for a few years now, it wouldn’t be hard to find reviews that reflect on this aspect more accurately.

All in all, if you don’t mind adding a WiFi device to your home, and want Matter, this is definitely a very budget-friendly option to be considered, as you don’t need to change your blinds in order to make them smart, which is a significantly cheaper option than the cost of purchasing new custom smart blinds.

The post ZemiSmart Smart Matter Roller Shade Motor (review) appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

PACKAGING

By now, Aqara has definitely created its own identity in terms of packaging, using Navy Blue and white as the featured colours. It’s hard to imagine how basic their packaging was back in 2017 when I picked up my first water leak sensor, so they’ve come a long way. The front of the box (for the International version at least) shows off the motor itself, along with the compatible ecosystems it can work with – Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, as well as others (IFTTT for example). The front also states in my case, that this is the ‘Rod Version’, as opposed to the ‘Rail Version’. As with nearly all Aqara products, this uses Zigbee (3.0) and as such requires a suitable hub. I found when installing this that only the M2 and M1S showed as suitable hubs, despite the G2H Pro also being present in my setup. The list of compatible hubs is sure to increase, however.

The side of the box gives you some basics, like up to 1-year battery life, a built-in illumination sensor (more on that later), and the maximum load (12kg or 26.5lb). The rear of the box has a scenario suggestion that includes a motion sensor and goes on to detail what types of curtains the Rod version is suitable for – curtains with grommets, or top rings in this case.

CONTENTS

In the box you’ll find the curtain driver, a rod hanger accessory (Rod Version only), a manual in English, Russian, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese, a USB-A to USB-C cable for recharging the internal battery, and a couple of items that I can only assume are to keep the curtains uniformly positioned – a set of eight curtain clips, and a rubber strip that connects to them. I say ‘assume’ as the manual doesn’t actually state their specific purpose. Needless to say, without any explanation, I didn’t bother with them, which seemed to make no difference at all to the functionality of the motor.

THE MOTOR

After getting my hands on the motor itself, I can confidently say that out of all the products Aqara makes, this is definitely one of the more sturdily built items. It helps that it has a fair bit of weight to it, but when it comes to the construction, it feels more akin to one of those portable phone chargers that feel like they’ve been permanently sealed shut! Nothing feels loose or has any ‘give’ that I’ve noticed, and so it really does put it up there with the likes of their door locks in terms of build quality, albeit with less going on.

The front of the motor has a tiny status LED, a button that can serve a few different functions (pairing, open/close etc), and an ambient light sensor. This sensor isn’t exposed to HomeKit, but in all honesty, it’s actually very basic; it’s not able to give you a reading of the amount of light (lux) it detects, and as such when it comes to including the sensor in automations (within the Aqara app only), it can only work off two distinct parameters – ‘weak ambient light’ or ‘Strong ambient light’. It worked well enough for this basic purpose though, so nothing to complain about, and if you really want to control the curtains with more accurate or specific light readings, you can use the Aqara light sensor, sold separately. The underside is solely home to a USB-C port, designed for recharging the internal 6,400mAh battery.

Here are some specs, should you be interested;

• Dimensions: 145.7 × 96 × 46mm / 5.74 × 3.78 × 1.81in
• Rated Current: 1.5 A
• Rated Torque: 0.2 N-m
• Wireless Protocol: Zigbee 3.0 IEEE 802.15.4
• Model: CM-M01
• Battery Type: Lithium battery (non-replaceable)
• Rated Voltage: 5 V
• Rated Power Input: 7.5 W
• Rated Rotor Speed:100 r/min
• Moving Speed: 12 cm/s
• Operating Humidity: 0~95% RH, no condensation

INSTALLATION

Note: If you’re already interested in this product, it’s worth first taking note of the requirements for the Rod Version to make sure this will work for you;

• First off, the curtain rod has to have a diameter of between 25~32mm/0.98~1.26in and cannot be a telescopic rod, where it’s thinner at one end than the other
• If your curtains come fitted with grommets (the rings are embedded into the curtains) there needs to be a 95mm/3.74in space between the outer edge of each grommet
• If you have ring top curtains (the rings are attached to the edge of the curtain), then the thickness of the rings should be greater than 4mm/0.16in

If your curtain rod and curtains fit the bill, you’re good to go.

Installation is quite straightforward, and the Aqara app (which I recommend you start with for the installation) takes you through every step;

• Select the E1 from the list of accessories
• Select your variant
• Select the hub it will bind to

• Place the Rod Hanger Accessory on top of the rod, and clips the arms in place
• Release the hooks on the motor to fully extend them by double-pressing the button on the motor
• Connect the hooks to the Rod Hanger arms, then retract the hooks by once again double-pressing the button on the motor
• Click ‘Done’

If you’ve ever installed a smart window covering before, you’ll know that you need to set the open and closed positions first. Without this, the motor doesn’t know what to do or when to stop. You then get two options as to how to set the motor up;

• Intelligent route setting or Custom travel setting – I chose the latter, as I had specific points I wanted the motor to open and close at
• Set the curtains to the fully open position using the controls on the screen, then click ‘Next step’
• Set the curtains to the fully closed position using the controls on the screen, then click ‘Next step’

You’re now set up and the E1 will also work in HomeKit.

Besides being able to open and close the curtains, you can create special scenes, labelled here as ‘scenarios’ whereby you can set the motor to open or close to a set position over a set amount of time. This option is also available with the Roller Shade Driver E1. If unlike me, you have two of these motors to control a pair of curtains, you can synchronise them via the ‘Create curtain controller set’ option. Finally, you can also set an icon which depicts either a pair of curtains or a single curtain opening from the left or the right.

IN HOME/HOMEKIT

In HomeKit, everything is a little more basic, with a single tile for the driver, a slider control to adjust the amount by which the curtain is open or closed, and a settings page that informs you of the battery level, whether the batteries are charging, and if there’s any obstruction to the drivers’ movement. Unlike some devices that have extra functions or features that only make themselves known in third-party HomeKit apps, the Curtain Driver E1 has nothing extra to share.

EXTRA FEATURES IN THE AQARA APP

Even though it’s nice to have everything – including automations – in HomeKit, there are occasions when it’s arguably better to create some of them in their respective apps and forget about them. This is usually the case when functions for a particular device just aren’t available in HomeKit, like the aforementioned light sensor automations as seen above. In fact, when it comes to some of them, they can be done without even setting up an automation as such, so the function works autonomously. The motor can be controlled physically too, which allows you to gently tug the curtain in an open or closed direction, with the motor detecting this and obliging by completing the procedure.

IN DAY-TO-DAY USE

Whilst my home has roller blinds, I’ve still been able to set up the E1 and put it to some use in a spare room, where privacy and letting a bit of light in are both as important. The room in question uses an Aqara roller shade motor T1C, but once closed, the room has no natural light. The natural light comes through this room’s window via further windows in the washroom, where our washing machines are. This means that if someone enters the washroom, they can see into the spare room. Closing the blinds fixes this, but there’s no natural light. Adding the Curtain Driver E1 fixes this, as whoever’s using this room can still have some privacy without sacrificing some natural light, by closing the curtain.

The question is of course, how does it perform? Surprisingly well. In all honesty, I had the feeling that this wouldn’t be much different to the ZemiSmart offering I reviewed not so long ago, but in actual fact, this is a lot faster, if a little noisier (around 35-37dB), and installation was way easier than with the ZemiSmart version, which wasn’t helped by very generic instructions.

Design-wise, the E1 is a lot bulkier, but then as it’s hidden behind the curtain, it really doesn’t matter, and even if it were visible, I do prefer the design of the E1 anyway. Due to the small extras you get within the Aqara app, this takes it even further ahead than the ZemiSmart offering, and so I’d have to conclude that the Aqara E1 is a better bet all round. That’s not to say the ZemiSmart one isn’t good, it’s just that the E1 is a lot more polished in design, ease of installation, and general use.

Of course, just as with the ZemiSmart offering, if you have a pair of curtains (you almost certainly would) then you need to double the price to accommodate buying two motors, which then makes you consider if it’s probably more cost-effective buying a proper motorised curtain rail. The issue here is that you have to ensure your curtain rail measurements are correct, to begin with, before even thinking about shipping such large items halfway across the globe.

On balance, the E1 does an admirable job, even if (and I’ve said this before), the idea of a motor pulling curtains is a little bit of a clunky solution. You just can’t please some people…

Full disclosure: Aqara provided HomeKit News with Aqara Curtain Motor E1 for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was made, requested or has not in any way influenced our opinion of this product.

The post Aqara Curtain Driver E1 – Rod Version (review) appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

One such device is their retrofit take on a curtain driver/motor, that sits behind your curtains, whilst gripping onto your curtain rail or rod. The result is that the motor rolls along the underside of the track, almost like a suspended monorail, dragging the curtain with it.

ZemiSmart sent their latest such device for us to test out and review, and whilst you should note that the apartment where I live – and test out products – doesn’t use curtains as such, I decided to purchase a set of curtains and a curtain rod from Ikea to test the motor out anyway (such dedication…). I made sure to test the motor out constantly and consistently for 7 days in a couple of temporary locations, so as to get at least a feel for how the product works, so if that interests you, read on.

PACKAGING | CONTENTS

If there’s one thing that ZemiSmart has yet to sort out (IMHO) is their branding. As it stands, a lot of their products come in either cheap or rather basic packaging, with barely a hint as to what’s inside unless you want to read the rather small print. I guess in many ways, as long as it keeps costs low, protects the contents, and is beneficial to the environment, it shouldn’t matter, so it is what it is. Nothing to see here really, with one exception; It does say “For blind [sic] and curtain”. Whilst it might work with some types of blinds that use a rail or rod, generally speaking, this is for curtains only, and even then that should be singular, as the motor can only pull one curtain. So, if you have a pair of curtains, which you almost certainly do, then you’ll need a pair of these motors.

Onto the contents, and starting off with the motor itself, which is 205mm/8.07in tall*, 40mm/1.57in wide, and 37mm/1.46in deep. Although it comes in two pieces, for the most part, it can be treated as one complete unit, as the cog section doesn’t really need to be removed at any point.

* The height doesn’t include the arms that connect to your rail or rod.

The front is home to just three buttons – open, closed, and stop/pause. The sides contain two ‘holsters’ which hold the arms that connect the motor to the rail/rod.

The underside of the motor is home to a recessed reset button, a micro USB port for recharging the internal battery, and a tiny on/off switch. Conversely, the top is home to the rubber-tread wheel that moves the motor along the rail/rod.

There’s a manual in English, and a couple of USB cables, one of which acts as an extender if needed.

Depending on which package you go for, you will probably get at least one remote control unit. This basic remote comes with eight buttons, the bottom two of which are only used in the initial setup procedure. The remote uses RF433Mhz to talk directly to the motor, whilst the motor talks to the Zigbee hub, which in turn connects to both your home network and HomeKit (you can read our review of the ZemiSmart Zigbee hub HERE).

Even though the remote is basic, I’ve found that it could actually be quite useful, especially if you don’t want to either get your phone out to control the motor or use Siri. One side has three buttons that essentially correspond to the three buttons on the motor (open, closed, stop/pause), whilst the other three are for preset open positions – 80%, 50%, and 20%.

The remote comes supplied with a couple of AAA batteries and a holder that can be wall-mounted, either with some included double-sided patches or with the included screws and rawl plugs. As already mentioned, with the direct connection to the motor, there’s virtually no delay from the button press to the motor kicking in, so don’t underestimate its uses.

ZemiSmart also includes a solar panel with a USB cable connected to a USB port. While this is great, it wasn’t entirely clear as to how you were meant to connect the panel to the motor, even though stickers were included. To me, I’m not sure I could rely on stickers to keep the panel stuck to the motor, although you may have more faith than me that the solar panel won’t fall off a smash into a few pieces. You could always mount it to the inside of a window, and with the included extra-long USB cable, that’s quite possible, as long as you don’t mind a cable dangling from the curtain.

Onto the final parts, which allow the motor to connect to your curtain rail or rod. The company include four separate pairs of arms, two pair of which are the same, just different sizes.

You get one pair of arms for curtain rods, one pair for I rail curtain tracks, and two pairs of arms for U-Rail curtain tracks of different sizes.

HARDWARE INSTALLATION

Installation was pretty easy, at least compared to the company’s Roller Shade motor, which itself wasn’t difficult. As you can see in the first image above, the motor, along with the arms, hold onto the rod, sitting behind the curtain. The motor should ideally be sat between the last and second last rings on the curtain so that it can pull the whole curtain along. Still, I did find that it helped to use a bit of wire to keep the end of the curtain tied to one of the two arms so that when the curtain motor is opening, the end of the curtain isn’t dragging behind so much. Maybe the company can devise a simple clip to do the same in future.

The rubber wheel needs to sit fairly tight against the rod/or rail in order to get enough grip to move everything in either direction. This is aided by the two holsters that the arms sit in, as they’re sort of spring-loaded, and can provide a little give when you affix the arms to the tightest position possible, which you do with the aid of gear teeth within the holsters.

It’s all fairly simple in principle, although if I’m honest when it comes to retrofit devices, this is probably one of the most ‘mechanical’ solutions I’ve seen, and just doesn’t feel right somehow. That’s not to say it doesn’t work, because it does work well enough. It just seems too reliant on a basic motor for my liking. That probably doesn’t make a lot of sense, I know – it’s difficult to explain, but it’s just my opinion of course. This also applies to other products that use the same solution, like CurtainBot or the forthcoming Aqara offering, so it’s not a reflection on ZemiSmart’s product in particular, an more of the basic way it works.

As this motor only pulls one curtain, to pull a pair of curtains coming from opposite ends of a rod or rail, you’re going to need two motors. If you only have the one wide curtain going from one side to another, then you’re good with the one motor of course.

IN APPLE HOME & TUYA SMARTLIFE APPS

Getting the curtains is quite easy, but as it’s essentially a Zigbee child device, just like with Aqara products, you’re going to need to pair it with the ZemiSmart hub first. Once paired, the device will appear in HomeKit and the Home app, although it’s advisable to set up the open and closed limits in the Tuya app first. As you can see, I already added it, and it’s showing up with a single tile.

In terms of HomeKit, as you might expect, things are slightly basic. Aside from the single tile, a long press will take you to the screen with the slider control, which allows for opening the curtains to a specific percentage of your choice. The settings panel offers nothing except the basics and doesn’t feature the motor’s battery level, which is a shame. You can see in the third screenshot that it’s connected to the ZemiSmart hub. Of the two accessories currently connected to the hub, aside from the curtain motor, we’ve got a ZemiSmart light strip, which we’ll be reviewing later.

In the Tuya app, you get the same options as the Home app, but additionally, you get the battery levels, and the previously mentioned options to set the curtain’s open and closed limits.

You can set the direction of the motor, as well as set or remove/reset the aforementioned limits.

Even though we’re really happy to see HomeKit integration, it’s worth noting there are also integrations with other platforms and voice assistants, including the obvious – Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and SmartThings – to the less common – Xiaodu, Xiaowei, DingDong, Tmall Genie, and Yandex. IFTTT is also an option listed elsewhere in the app. Siri isn’t mentioned, but as the devices work in HomeKit, Siri will work with any connected devices exposed to HomeKit this way.

The Tuya app also allows for some pretty neat scene/automation options that involve not just the common types of triggers, like location, or the status of other devices, but also weather conditions, which include temperature, humidity, general weather conditions, local sunrise/sunset times, and even wind speed. To use at least some of these, you’ll need to grant location access of course.

Although I’ve deliberately limited my use of the ZemiSmart hub for logistical purposes (I currently run 19 different hubs of all types…), which in turn means I don’t really use Tuya SmartLife, it’s still a rather underestimated app, with a lot of potential. the UI isn’t all that bad either.

THE MOTOR IN USE / FINAL THOUGHTS

As already stated at the beginning of this review, we don’t have curtains, so aside from me investing in some temporary equipment in order to actually test this device, it hasn’t really been set to good use. I tested it in a couple of locations (to test its signal strength connected to the hub), whilst also setting routine tasks to open and close four times every day. In this limited time, I found it to work without any issues and didn’t get stuck at any point, as I half expected, due to the manner in which it operates, there may well be an instance of it getting stuck. This was of concern due to the possibility of the curtain motor burning out. I’m not aware of any protection against such a situation, so that’s something to bear in mind.

As I also stated early on, whilst I have no issues with retrofit devices in general – I used the Nuki Smart Lock 2.0 for nearly two years and was very happy with it – on this occasion, I’m less sold on the more mechanical nature of how it does its job. That may not matter to you of course and is just a personal thing.

What I would say is that if you’re already deep into the Aqara side of things, like myself, it may be a good idea to wait and see what their forthcoming offering is like. Still, I think ZemiSmart offers yet another compelling option if you aren’t in too deep with any particular brand, and with the hub and devices being region-free, there’s a lot to like.

As regards sound levels, the motor averaged out at around 35dB, although my testing was far from laboratory standards, I’ll admit. The sound and volume levels will most likely vary depending on a whole variety of acoustic situations of course, so it’s not easy to give a definitive answer, but it was quieter than I expected.

Battery life is a difficult one to test, due to the limited time I was able to effectively test it. However, in terms of basic calculations, I’d say that the claim of 5 months between charges is probably about right. It will also depend on the drop length and weight of your curtains, of course, so your mileage may vary.

Summing up, despite being less than enthusiastic about the mechanism of how it works, it was better than I expected, and so, putting to one side the fact that you may need two of these, depending on your setup, it’s still a decent product.

Full disclosure: ZemiSmart provided HomeKit News with ZemiSmart Curtain Motor for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was made, requested or has not in any way influenced our opinion of this product.

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PARTS

ZemiSmart make a lot of products, but the packaging for them varies from basic, to very basic(!), and in this case whilst the packaging was more than adequate for transportation purposes, it was really just a white box, hence no images of the packaging. Everything was well protected though, so that’s the main thing.

The main piece, of course, is the motor itself, and you can be forgiven for having to do a quick double-take and ask yourself if this is the Aqara model, as the basic motor and design is one that you’ll see from a variety of brands. This model does slightly differ from the Aqara model in terms of the basic shape, but it’s essentially the same ‘type’ of product.

The front of the motor has three buttons and a single LED. The three buttons control the mode/direction of the blinds – up, down or stop, with the LED briefly flashing blue every time the motor is activated. The top end has a removable cover that houses the cog that pulls on the cord for your blind. The rear is even simpler, with just an inset to allow the provided wall bracket to clip onto.

The underside of the motor has a coax (barrel) connector for powering the device permanently, or for recharging the internal battery, alongside an inset reset button. This device is designed to work with roller blinds, but as blinds can come with beaded cords of different sizes, or even cords with no beads at all, three additional cogs are provided to work with the particular cord for your blinds.

The motor doesn’t directly attach to your wall, which is the job of the provided wall bracket. The motor clips into the bracket once it’s attached to the wall. My Aqara E1 motor came with a very strong 3M double-sided sticker which is in use now and is holding up pretty well so far. The ZemiSmart option doesn’t come with any such sticker, only a strange piece of card that seems to want to act as a guide for screwing the plate to the wall, only it doesn’t really work out that way, and as such seems pretty useless. This being the case, you’re going to either find a really strong double-sided adhesive strip or screw the plate to the wall as I did on this occasion. If you do go for this option (recommended), then you need to be sure of the position; if the cord is too slack when being pulled by the motor, it’ll not work. In my case, it was set pretty taut and works well.

In addition to offering various versions of this device (Bluetooth, WiFi, Zigbee, RF), ZemiSmart gives you the option of buying one of two different remotes to work with the blinds. In my case, I was sent the basic remote, with the other option capable of controlling up to five separate blind motors. The controls on the remote echo the controls found on the motor itself, nothing more, save for an included magnetic wall mount that comes with an adhesive back or holes for screwing it to a wall. No screws are provided for the remote wall mount, so you’ll have to source your own, although as it and the remote are very light, the adhesive strip will more than suffice.

This remote connects directly to the motor only, and as such has no smart functionality. It uses RF433MHz to communicate, so it’s both fast and won’t interfere with any WiFi signals in your home. The remote is powered by a single coin battery, although try as I might I couldn’t get the back to come off the remote, so hard was it attached to the main body. I’ll have to see if the remote survives when the time comes to attempt removing the back.

Some may think, given that this is a smart motor, with on-device controls, that there’s really no need for a remote. Although in some cases I’d agree, in my particular case, this has been placed in my elderly mother-in-law’s bedroom, and the location for the motor is too awkward for her to get to. With her not really involved in the HomeKit side of things to the degree that she would use Siri to control the blinds, I think the remote is perfect for her. As this is HomeKit compatible though, any wireless button would suffice. I’ve tested this out with an Aqara Mini Wireless Switch, and a ZemiSmart Wireless Button, and both work well and are really only fractionally slower than the dedicated remote. however, as the remote buttons are clearly marked with the relevant buttons, with one for each direction and a stop button, this makes using the remote totally foolproof, whilst a smart button may well confuse some.

ADDING TO TUYA SMART

Setting up the motor requires the Tuya Smart app, although once set up, there’s no need to use it going forward, and in fact, there’s little you can do with it anyway with this particular device. From the main screen, you select the + icon to add the device, then go to ‘Small Home Appliances’ and select ‘Curtain (Zigbee)’, which is a little confusing. Once selected, you just need to choose the hub it’ll connect to. After that, you simply follow the on-screen instructions to reset the device so that it can be ‘discovered’ by the hub.

Once added it’ll show up on the main screen. The interface to control the blinds is simple, but does the job, with up, down, and pause buttons, as well as a slider control. When the blind is opening or closing, the percentage it is open or closed as it moves will be shown on-screen.

There are very few options within the app, such as arranging which way the motor direction is set to, and a schedule option. I didn’t receive instructions with my motor, and as such had to ask ZemiSmart to send one to download. Unfortunately, the manual they sent referred to a section that simply didn’t exist in the app at all, namely setting the upper and lower limits, which is quite important really. Eventually, I got a different manual that had instructions on how to set the limits via the motor itself;

• Use the Up button on the motor to set the upper limit position
• Once in place, press the ‘set’ button once at the bottom of the motor
• The front LED will flash red once
• Press the Up button once, the LED will flash red once
• The upper limit is now set
• Use the Down button on the motor to set the lower limit position
• Once in place, press the ‘set’ button once at the bottom of the motor
• The front LED will flash red once
• Press the Up (not the Down) button once, the LED will flash red once
• The lower limit is now set

You can also set two ‘favourite’ positions. To do this you simply set the position of the blinds you prefer, press the ‘set’ button once, then the stop button once, and the position will be set.

It’s probably best to set this all up before you start fully operating the blinds from HomeKit, as without these limits, the blind motor will not know when to stop.

IN THE HOME APP/HOMEKIT

Once added to the Tuya app, the blinds will be automatically be exposed to HomeKit and show up in the Home app. You only get one tile, with a single press fully opening or closing the blinds. Long pressing the tile opens up the slider so you can set the open/closed percentage. What is slightly different about the ZemiSmart blinds in the Home app is that it actually shows the open or closed percentage of the blinds as they’re moving. This is the case in both the screen with the slider control and the tile itself. Whether that’s of any use is debatable.

The downside for the motor in HomeKit is that neither obstruction detection nor battery life is shown. The latter is the only really important one, as it’s designed to let you know when you need to recharge the battery. Hopefully, ZemiSmart can push an update to expose this, as it should be available as standard in HomeKit.

RF REMOTE

As previously stated, I think the remote is a really handy add-on in some cases, and after having tested it on and off for a short period, it really works quite flawlessly. Removing the need to create an automation is one of those few occasions when the simplest solution is the best one. I did test this out alongside two other HomeKit enabled devices to see if there was much difference in reaction times, and as expected, the remote was the quickest, due to its direct connection to the motor. That said, after having created automations to control the blinds using an Aqara mini Wireless switch, and a ZemiSmart wireless button, the time difference was actually minimal, so if you think you can make do with a spare wireless switch you have lying around, then it may be the cheapest option, although you won’t save much money.

IN DAY-TO-DAY USE

Ironically, my mother-in-law is away, and was at the time I fitted it, so I’ve not had the chance to see how she finds it all. She may be getting on in years, but she knows what she needs to do, and even uses my old Aqara Cube to get my attention when she needs help with something, so I can’t see this being a problem for her. With that in mind, I’ve had the blinds set to open and close at sunrise and sunset, respectively, as well as randomly test them via the Home app, and with Siri via the nearest HomePod Mini, and I’m glad to say it hasn’t let me down yet in the couple of weeks it has been on test. The only annoying thing is that I really don’t know how well the battery performs.

In terms of noise levels, it’s almost on a par with the Aqara E1, with just 3-4dB between them which is nothing you would be able to discern. At around 45dB on average, the motor is quiet enough to really be of no bother, and unless you were a light sleep sleeper, I dare say you could sleep through the noise of the blinds opening or closing. Speed is a different matter, with the motor being the slowest of the motors I’ve tested so far (Soma Smart Shades 2, Terncy Smart Blinds, Aqara E1, Omnia SmartBlinds). The window it covers has a 130cm/51.2in drop, with the blinds taking around 43 seconds to complete the down journey. That’s still not bad unless you’re in a real hurry;

• ZemiSmart Roller Blind Motor – 3cm/1.18in per second
• Aqara Roller Shade Driver E1 – 4.43cm/1.73in per second
• Soma Smart Shades 2 – 5.68cm/2.24in per second
• Omnia Smart Blinds – 6.56cm/2.56in per second (not retrofit)

Wrapping up, I think it’s great to have more choices and even though this does fall a little short in some areas compared to the Aqara model, it’s still a great budget option for those that can’t afford custom blinds or simply prefer the blinds they currently have. Add to this that there are no regional restrictions for the required hub or the motor, and it’s a compelling alternative for US customers, who are still unable to get the Aqara model. Speaking of the hub, however, if you’re already set up with the Aqara system and would prefer to not have another hub, it may be better to wait for such time when/if the Aqara model becomes available. They are pretty much the same product, but Aqara has better software, assuming you use the features exclusive to the Aqara Home app. If you only use HomeKit, it’s not as important, obviously. If I were to recommend this, I would suggest for the little extra cost, it’s worth getting the model with the RF remote.

Full disclosure: ZemiSmart provided HomeKit News with ZemiSmart Roller Shade Driver for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was made, requested or has not in any way influenced our opinion of this product.

The post ZemiSmart Zigbee Roller Blinds Motor (review) appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

So with my blinds installed, I’d like to be able to show you why custom blinds might well be worth the price (yes, I know I didn’t pay, but still), and why the addition of Thread is the icing on the cake.

PARTS

These aren’t the types of products you’re going to be picking up off the shelf, and as such there’s no retail packaging to talk of, although it’s worth noting that because the company ship worldwide, you want your investment well protected. I’m happy to say everything arrived without any form of damage, and given the blinds I ordered were quite long, there was a higher chance of them being bent. I shouldn’t have worried, as they took every precaution to ensure things like this didn’t happen.

Aside from the blinds themselves, you get a bag containing the required fittings, which are pictured above. Everything except for an included USB cable and bracket connector is in pairs.

The most important parts are a pair of brackets to mount the blinds. These simply screw to the wall or ceiling, with the blinds clipping into place. To hide the unsightly screws, you also get two bracket covers to make everything look nice and ‘finished’.

You only get one bracket connector (two pictured here). This fits into the end of the roller blind tube that doesn’t contain the motor, and clips into place with the wall bracket. You also get what I describe as end caps that, like the bracket covers, give a nice look to the whole ensemble.

Each set of blinds comes with a 3-metre USB-A to USB-C cable. This is for charging the internal battery, and in initial use, is also used as part of the pairing process.

There’s also an included setup manual in a selection of European languages – English, German, French, Dutch, and Spanish. It’s worth noting this manual only details the setup procedure once the blinds have been fitted and are ready to be installed into HomeKit. The fitting of the blinds is actually very straightforward, however, and really doesn’t need any real explanation, as long as you have the right tools.

THE ROLLER BLIND

One end of the blind reveals the motor as well as an attached clip that snaps into place with the wall brackets. The design is exactly the same as the bracket connector shown earlier but is part of the blind. The other end has an open hole for the bracket connector to sit inside, so essentially both ends of the blinds have a clip connector.

The motor end of the blinds has a selection that contains the USB-C port for charging the battery as well as for initial pairing, along with a recessed button for resetting the blinds. There’s also an LED that gives you the status of the blinds. In the middle of all this is a cord attached to a beaded chain and tassel with which you can manually open or close the blinds if desired. One thing that hasn’t been explained is the presence of two wires, which I can only assume are antennae for the Thread radio inside the tube.

Whilst the chances of me manually opening or closing the blinds is quite remote, the company make clever use of the tassel by hiding the HomeKit code within. Pretty cool, although it’s always wise to back up your codes, with myself (and indeed the Eve app) recommending Aaron Pearce’s excellent HomePass app.

FITTING

I already mentioned that the fitting process is very straightforward, but it pays to be prepared, especially if you have to fit two sets of blinds side by side like it did, as it’s not going to look great if your blinds are not straight or aren’t sitting at the same height. I used a Laser device to ensure everything lined up, and it really helped. As you can see, I fitted the brackets to the wall, and placed the bracket covers on, once they were in place.

In the image above I have one of the two blinds fitted, and once again the laser device really helped a lot. With the blinds in place, it only remained to fit the end caps, and it was all ready to be set up in HomeKit.

BLINDS SET UP

Here you can see the blinds have been successfully mounted to the wall to cover two very large sets of windows. This first image is with the can lights turned on.

This is a pic of the blinds once again fully open with the lights turned off.

You can see the pic above demonstrates the difference in light between the open and closed blinds. At this point, I should point out that the blinds I requested were what you might describe as ‘transparent’ or ‘see-through’ blinds. The reason behind this choice was quite simple. We live on the 16th floor with no buildings close enough to really cause any privacy issues, so we tend to like having the natural light come in through the windows. The only issue is that for most of the year it’s hot and sunny, and sometimes the sun – which hits these windows for most of the day – can be glaringly bright. We’ve already had a tinted coating added to the windows, but it’s not enough, so see-through blinds seemed to be the best of both worlds. At the time of taking these pics, however, the weather was dull and overcast – typical!

I should really mention that when Omnia was getting close to sending me the two sets of blinds for this review, they asked my preference, and I replied in a rather blasé manner that I wasn’t really bothered, as long as the material was dark and see-through. I soon regretted that, as they insisted on sending me a sample pack containing 27 different material samples, 9 of which were blackout blinds (letting no light through), with the remaining 18 samples all being see-through. I was truly blown away by not only the quality of the materials but also the subtle yet distinct differences in the patterns and colours. I really should have known better. In the end, I opted for Stockholm Black see-through blinds, as they match the black of the window frames they cover, and I couldn’t be happier, having been persuaded to take the samples to make my choice.

This brings me to one alternative open to me in Taiwan, which is the Fyrtur smart blinds by Ikea. I haven’t tried them out, so I really can’t give an opinion on their functionality or reliability. They are pretty well priced though. However, low prices come at a ‘cost’ in almost all cases, with Ikea only really offering one choice of blackout or see-through blind material. Add to this that although they offer a variety of sizes, these are fixed, as are the lengths, so ‘custom’ they are not. The final point is that Ikea requires their hub for you to operate and get their blinds into HomeKit, along with a Zigbee repeater. Of course, one could argue that because Thread requires a border router, the Omnia blinds also require a hub. That’s true to some extent, but the HomePod Mini and the 2021 Apple TV, whilst containing border routers, are primarily audio speakers and entertainment hubs respectively, with border router functionality thrown in. Add to this that if you have more than one border router if one goes down, the blinds (or any Thread device) will just connect to another working border router. This is not the case with the Ikea blinds or any Zigbee device for that matter, so when you start to add up what is offered by both custom blinds (exact sizes required, large selection of materials and colours), the price begins to make sense. After all, there are even more expensive smart blinds if you really want them, with the likes of Lutron for example.

SETUP FOR HOMEKIT

Adding the blinds to HomeKit is just as easy as adding pretty much any other device, although because the blinds need to go through a separate setup procedure, it’s important to do it right, which in this case involves setting them up via the Eve for HomeKit app. Before doing so, however, you do need to get the blinds into Pairing Mode, which simply involves plugging the USB cable into power and connecting it to the blinds via the USB-C port.

• Click ‘Add Accessory’
• Scan the HomeKit QR code
• Add to Home

Choose the room they’re to be located in, and rename them as necessary

• The blinds are added to your HomeKit Home

So far, so good…

Next, you’ll have to calibrate the blinds, which in actual fact isn’t as involved as you might think.

• Ensure the blinds are fitted (a given really)
• Select whether the blinds roll from behind or in front
• Select whether the cord position is on the left or right

Set the bottom position or lower limit. The blinds will start to unroll until you stop them. You can then adjust the position incrementally with the round buttons on the bottom half of the screen. Click confirm once happy

• The same procedure is carried out again, but in this case, you’re setting the top position or upper limit
• Once that’s done, the setup is complete, although you can also go ahead and set another position anywhere between 0 – 100%, which is labelled your ‘favourite position’ (fnarr).

IN THE HOME APP

The Home app, as you might suspect, offers pretty much the same as with all other smart blinds, and is very straightforward with one tile per set of blinds. A simple tap will fully open or close them, depending on the position they’re in at the time. A long press gives you access to the slider control, allowing specific opening or closing percentages. The settings section shows whether there’s an obstruction detected (maybe a plant was left on the shelf for example), along with battery levels and whether the battery is being charged or not. Other than that, it’s pretty ‘vanilla’.

EXTRAS IN THE EVE APP

The Eve app offers a little more, so on the main screen you get the tiles as standard, and like the Home app, a quick tap closes or opens the blinds. Likewise, a long press gives you access to more settings. At the top of the main screen for the blinds is a slider, although it’s not as easy to use as the one in the Home app due to the size difference. Below that is a Schedule section and some basic info on the state of the device within the Thread network.

Below the slider for the blinds is a tiny button that gives you access to log entries for the blinds and the usage. These logs are broken down into months and days, with each day containing entries that reveal the time the blinds were operated, and what position they were set to. Although this is welcome in some ways, I’m not really sure what use these logs are, in all honesty.

The Schedule section, as you might expect, is aimed at creating schedules for the blinds to open, to close, or to the favourite position if one has been set. The schedule can be based on a specific time and day, and can also be activated based on local sunset or sunrise. What’s clever about these schedules is that they’re stored ‘on-device’ so if your whole HomeKit setup went down, these blinds would carry on with these Schedules regardless.

One thing that I do like about the Eve app is that as long as you have at least one Thread-enabled Eve device, you get access to additional information regarding your Thread network. So in the second screenshot, you can see two Nanoleaf devices, which are the Essentials bulbs, both using Thread. Below that is the Eve Energy smart plug, which is labelled as Fan, as it’s controlling a fan. Below that you see both of the blinds, and separately at the bottom are three Thread border routers, which are my three HomePod Minis. To make absolutely sure the blinds are using Thread, you can click on the entry to get more Thread details.

One final hardly noticed feature is called Migration Measurements. This allows the settings for one set of blinds to be transferred over to another set, which removes the need for attempting to get both sets of blinds to match both the top and bottom positions, so you simply set up one set, migrate those settings to the other set, and they’ll match.

IN DAY TO DAY USE

I’ll admit I’ve not really had these blinds long enough to find out if there are any particular quirks, although I’ve done my best to find any, and so far have come up with nothing of note. When I first set up the second of the two blinds, as I was getting to the calibration procedure after installation, the app couldn’t connect to the blinds, so I initially skipped the setup, and returned to it in a few minutes, by which time it was connected again. However, after the blind was configured, I noticed that it wasn’t connected to Thread, but Bluetooth. I decided to wait and see if it would connect to my Thread network, but it didn’t, so eventually, I just removed the blind from HomeKit, reset the blinds manually, and re-added them, which I’m happy to say resolved the issue. I personally didn’t put too much concern into this, as I’ve experienced enough weird behaviour from all manner of HomeKit devices to know that these things can generally be fixed one way or another. As I’ve not had the blinds that long, I also can’t attest to battery life, which the company says on average should last a year between charges, although my first couple of days did involve opening and closing the blinds a fair bit. That said, after a few days of use, both blinds are still at 100%. In fact, I fully expected that I’d have to charge the batteries once they arrived, but they were fully charged. I guess these units are so new they’ve not had to sit on a shelf very long at all.

Speaking of the batteries, the company claim that the batteries used are designed to last 300 charging cycles. If this is true, you can expect to see these batteries outlive the blinds, you the owner and a few of your descendants! Even if the numbers were exaggerated, and the battery only lasted 3 months before recharging, that’s still 75 years worth of battery usage! Personally, I’d be happy with 15-20 years of service, as long as the battery did last a full year between charges, on average usage.

HOW DOES IT COMPARE TO RETROFIT OPTIONS?

Retrofit devices definitely fill a need for those on a budget or for people that are happy with their existing blinds, so in many ways, a comparison is unfair, as they are different devices. Of course Omnia’s offering involves the whole package, so if you have the budget and don’t already have blinds, the Omnia could be the perfect balance between cost and customisation. The Aqara E1 has served me well so far, and I have no complaints. It’s also a lot easier to fit, as the hard part of mounting the blinds is not a part of the equation. That said, there’s nothing quite like smart blinds that don’t give even a hint of the technology involved, which you can’t really say of devices like the Aqara E1, as it’s relatively large, and attaches to your wall in full view of everyone that happens to look towards the window and blinds it’s used for.

Soundwise, my rather unscientific tests (in the full video) do show that the Omnia blinds are really very quiet, but it also highlights what a good job Aqara have also done in keeping sound levels down. If I had used the Soma Smart Shades 2 as a test, it would not be the same story, as they are really quite noisy by comparison.

WRAP UP

It’s a bit of a cliché, but you do generally get what you pay for, and this is as true with the Omnia Blinds as anything else. The company prides itself on the materials used, and the ways in which they’re manufactured with protecting the environment in mind, so if like me this is something you care about, then allied with the custom options open to you, the additional costs do make a lot of sense. Still, whilst the last two products I’ve reviewed happen to be on the pricier side – the Thinka Z-Wave Gateway for HomeKit, and the Homam 64GB Smart Camera – in the case of these blinds, the price is a lot more justified I would argue. Of course, the question remains as to whether I would buy them had I not been sent them. The answer would be a firm yes – but only if I had the money in the first place. In truth, I may have paid out for a single set of blinds for our bedroom, as the windows that are covered by the Omnia blinds are rather wide, which of course bumps up the price, not to mention there were two sets of blinds needed. Maybe when I get a bit more cash and the Aqara E1 dies, I will invest in some more of Omnia’s products. Until that time, I guess you’ll just have to decide for yourself if you can indulge yourself. I think you should!

Full disclosure: OmniaBlinds provided HomeKit News with two complete sets of Smart Blinds for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was made, requested or has not in any way influenced our opinion of this product.

The post Omnia SmartBlinds With Thread (review) appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

In 2020, this was realised when I tested out and reviewed the Soma Smart Shades 2 (read the review HERE or watch the video HERE). I’ve been using the Soma product for over a year now, and generally, I’ve been very happy with it. I’ve really had no issues, except for a few minor, but insurmountable, details that I’d come to accept; One was that it wasn’t officially HomeKit compatible, and therefore the separate Soma Connect hub was needed. I’ve got no issues with using hubs, but to have one for the sole purpose of controlling one device, and it being a requirement to expose it to HomeKit – even uncertified – was a bit of an ‘ask’. Add to this the fact that the Soma blinds use Bluetooth to either connect directly to your iPhone or the hub, meant that quite often there would be an initial ‘no response’. This wasn’t as noticeable until I eventually started using a HomePod Mini, where I’d use Siri to open or close the blinds, whereupon I’d be greeted with the following response – “The Soma blinds failed to respond”. A second request would be successful, but it began to be all too predictable and a little tiresome. This is the fault of Bluetooth more than Soma, so even if they had official HomeKit support, I dare say the same issue would exist.

Fast forward to 2021, and Aqara release their answer to the Soma Smart Shades 2, with the equally wordy Aqara Roller Shade Driver E1. What are we getting? Well, it’s the same kind of device in terms of function, and it still needs a hub, as it uses Zigbee, but it’s officially supported in HomeKit, and as it uses Zigbee (Zigbee 3.0 in fact) reaction times are fast and reliable. So, today’s review puts this new device through its paces to determine if it’s a good fit for your home.

PACKAGING/CONTENTS

Aqara sent this – the international version – to me for testing and review purposes and as such will work in regions other than Mainland China. One obvious note to show it’s the international version is that “voice control via Apple Siri, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and more…” is emblazoned on the front of the box. You won’t find the ‘Works With Apple HomeKit’ logo, as this is a Zigbee 3.0 child device that requires a hub, and it’s the hub that does the handshaking with Homekit on behalf of child devices like this one.

The back of the box gives you some information on the device itself, including a typical automation scenario that includes the E1, an M1S, and a motion sensor. This particular automation example involves the seldom-used ambient light sensor within the M1S to detect when it’s too bright in the room (in the afternoon), thereby keeping the room from getting too hot, with the motion sensor detecting your return (in the evening) so as to open the blinds again. Obviously, this kind of automation can be adjusted to individual tastes or requirements, but it should be noted that if you’re going to use the ambient light sensor inside the M1S, logic dictates that it has to be in the same room as the blinds, as well as ensuring that the hub is in a place that can fairly determine the ambient light – so having it sat in a dark cupboard is not going to work! This is where the company’s own T1 Light Sensor could be of use, especially if you don’t have an M1S, to begin with.

The side of the box lists a set of features, that are, to be fair, par for the course with smart blinds. These include obvious things like automation support and app control, alongside slightly more unique features like user-defined opening/closing. The box also states ‘long battery life’, as well as ‘one-button control’.

The full contents of the box include the following;

• The Roller Shade Driver E1, including a separate wall plate
• A manual in the following languages: EN, IT, FR, DE, ES, RU, KR, JP, CN
• A large double-sided adhesive strip for wall mounting
• A set of screws and rawl plugs for permanent wall mounting
• three additional cogwheels *

Not pictured is a USB-A to USB-C cable for recharging the built-in lithium battery.

* The E1 comes with a standard cogwheel already in place, that’s suitable for a regular beaded cord

THE DEVICE

The E1 is a fair bit longer than the aforementioned Soma device, coming in at 42 x 37 x 165mm / 1.69 x 1.52 x 6.89in (W,D,H). The front has a couple of buttons, a hole for a small LED, and a removable head cover that protects the included cogwheel. The physical buttons allow direct control of the motor, so pressing the up or down buttons makes the motor retract or unfurl the blinds respectively if the motor is not actively moving at the time. if you press either button when the motor is active, it will stop the motor. The LED indicator in the centre has no function other than to show when pairing or updating its firmware and doesn’t light up when the E1 is being controlled.

The base of the E1 is home to a reset button that you’ll also use for initial pairing to an Aqara hub. Next to that is a USB-C port to either power the device permanently, or recharge it periodically with the included USB cable.

The top of the device has a removal ‘head cover’ that protects the cogwheel from coming into contact with anything that might get entangled within it. In order to allow the beaded cord for your blinds to move around the cogwheel, you’ll eventually need to remove two of the tabs from the cover, which is easy enough as long as you take care when you do it. I’m not sure why it didn’t just come with these tabs removed in the first place though. If you’re not familiar with how this works, essentially, the cord that you pull in order to open or close your blinds is looped around the cogwheel, and when the cogwheel starts to turn, it pulls the cord, thus opening or closing the blinds. It’s quite straightforward really.

The E1 comes with additional cogwheels for different types and sizes of cords, so hopefully, there’s a suitable fitting for most types.

PHYSICAL INSTALLATION

As you may have gathered by now, the E1 has replaced the Soma that was in the same location for the last 12+ months. As we’re renting, I elected, like last time, to rely solely on the double-sided adhesive sticker that came with the E1. The adhesive patch was really firm in the time I used it and figured the adhesive strip that comes with the E1 would be just as strong. Obviously, only time will tell.

The motor doesn’t directly connect to the wall, instead, connecting to the mounting plate that it clicks into. The mounting plate sticks (or is screwed on) to the wall. This is probably the only part you need to take much care about, as you need to make sure the beaded cord is as straight and possible, and reasonably taut, although not overly so. Once it’s all set up to your liking, you just need to remove the tabs on the head cover, so the beaded cord can move freely (as can be seen in the last picture above). With that all done, you need to configure the blinds within the Aqara app.

INITIAL SETUP IN THE AQARA APP

It’s a common thing for some Aqara product users to not want to use the Aqara app or to even set up an account, let alone log in. However, while there may be many Aqara devices that can be managed in HomeKit mode (i.e. not signed into the Aqara app), in the case of the E1 you do initially have to configure the motor, or you won’t be able to control the blinds in HomeKit. To do this, you first proceed with the onscreen instructions, so you know that when you press the buttons on the device, they go in the expected direction. They might not, depending on which way round your blinds are fixed around the tube holding the blinds, but if that’s the case, once you confirm that the direction the blinds moves in is not consistent with the controls, the app will simply switch things so that they match the direction from then on.

Once that’s out of the way, you just need to set the highest and lowest points you want your blinds to stop at, which is done within the app. After these steps are complete, your blinds are ready to use in both the Aqara app and HomeKit.

IN THE HOME APP

In the Home app, things are pretty straightforward, with just one tile to represent the blinds, as expected. Tapping on the tile closes or opens the blinds fully, whilst a long press reveals the slider, which allows you to set a custom position for the blinds. The Settings screen for the E1 shows whether an obstruction is detected, as well as the battery level and whether the battery is being charged. Aside from these, there are only automations or scenes with which to involve the E1, like many HomeKit accessories.

If you happen to use Siri to control the E1, saying “Set the blinds to 80%” will set the blinds to be 80% open, so setting the blinds to 100% will effectively open the blinds fully. Of course, with the reasonable power of scenes and automations in HomeKit, you can come up with all sorts of positions for the blinds to be set at, as well as have them interact with other devices that can trigger the blinds to open or close.

IN THE AQARA APP

The main interface panel for the E1 (which is pretty much the same for other Aqara blinds devices, like the Aqara T1C for example) has a graphical representation of a window including a roller blind, zebra blinds, or Venetian blinds. The graphic for the Shangri-La blinds is the same as the Zebra blinds. On all screens, you get to see the battery levels as well as Up, Down, and Stop controls. The blinds with the exception of the roller blinds, all have ‘Rotate Up’ and Rotate Down’ options. AS I don’t have these kinds of blinds, I’m not able to test these controls out, unfortunately.

Also on the main screen, you’ll notice a ‘Scenario’ section. This option allows you to set up special scenes that can open or close the blinds to specific positions, over a set period of time, ranging from as little as one minute, all the way up to seven hours and fifty-nine minutes. This doesn’t operate the blind motor at a slower speed, but instead, opening the blinds in increments, with periods of rest time between each incremental move that alter depending on the overall duration of the ‘scenario’. you also get a small set of icons to choose from. Unfortunately, at the time of writing, these ‘scenarios’ are separate from standard Scenes, as you can’t trigger them via automations, so controlling them has to be done from within the app. There isn’t even an option to set these up as Siri Shortcuts, so whilst I like the idea of the concept, it’s a little hobbled by the lack of any way to interact with it automatically.

The main settings page for the E1 is like most other Aqara devices, so you get access to location and name options, as well as logs and Zigbee signal strength. Additional settings allow you to reset the direction, upper and lower limits for the blinds, if necessary. You can also choose which type of blinds you’re using, with the aforementioned four options.

Finally, here are the options available when using the E1 as part of an automation or scene, which includes the basics, like open, close, stop etc., as well as ‘Open to’, where you can set a specific open percentage. You also get a couple of options called ‘Opening ratio+’ and ‘Opening ratio-‘. I haven’t worked out what these do I’m sorry to say, having only the one type of blind, although I suspect it may have to do with the other types of blinds the E1 is capable of controlling.

IN USE / THOUGHTS

I’ve already stated my feelings regarding the Soma option, and so it comes as no surprise that both official HomeKit support and Zigbee easily outdo unofficial support via a custom RPi, and Bluetooth. It’s slower than the Soma, which in its second iteration managed to increase the speed fourfold over the original version. That said, it’s a LOT quieter, and given these are used in a bedroom, that counts for a lot, and so I can live with a slightly slower motor. In my tests I came up with the following results;

Aqara Roller Shade Driver E1

• 4.43cm / 1.73in per second
• 46 seconds (open and close) to cover a length of 204cm / 80.31in

Soma Smart Shades 2

• 5.68cm / 2.24in per second
• 35 seconds* to cover a length of 212cm / 83.46in

* Mean average of closing and opening times.

So for the sake of eleven extra seconds, the much quieter operation is well worth it.

It should be noted – and has been in online forums – that the E1’s design is actually in use with other existing products by a few different manufacturers, so if you think it looks familiar, you’ve probably seen it before. Still, none of the other versions of this product uses Zigbee, with some electing for Bluetooth, whilst others, WiFi. Not only that, but none are HomeKit compatible, at least not officially, so that’s another thing to take into account.

I think overall, Aqara has brought something sorely needed to market that’s not only reliable and fast in terms of response but very well priced. If you don’t already have an Aqara hub, the combined price of the E1 and an Aqara hub still presents better value than the Soma, I’m afraid to say, as the cost of the Aqara hub pays for itself once you start adding other devices to it. This is not the case with the soma Connect. It could have been a different story for Soma, but the amount of time they’ve seemingly had in order to get official HomeKit support has been frittered away, with Aqara coming up and effectively pulling the rug from under their feet, although there are always going to be consumers that won’t buy products from China-based companies, so I guess there’s still a market for both.

In essence, this is a triumph for Aqara that hasn’t been too hard to pick up on, so I recommend it thoroughly.

Full disclosure: Aqara provided HomeKit News with the Roller Shade Driver E1 and Hub M1S for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was made, requested or has not in any way influenced our opinion of this product.

The post Aqara Roller Shade Driver E1 (review) appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

specifications

• Connection – Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g/n, 2.4GHz / ​WPA-Personal / WPA2-Personal
• Rated voltage – DC power supply 15V / 2.6A
• Operation method – Manual button control / APP control
• Applicable curtains – Roller blinds / double curtains / Roman blinds / blinds
• Motor torque – 1.96 N.m
• Motor speed – 41 RPM
• rated power – ​36W (Max.)
• Product Size – 140 (L) x 48 (W) x 54 (H) mm
• product weight – ​270g
• Operating temperature – ​0 ~ 40℃

The post Waciao VB1 Roller Blind Driver appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

*you can read our Xiaoyan Smart blind motor review HERE.

In the interests of being totally transparent about this product, especially for people that really only want to use officially certified Apple HomeKit products, it should be noted that this is not a certified device, and even then, you can only get the Smart Shades 2 to be exposed to HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, and Google Assistant via the addition of the company’s Soma Connect Bridge, which is also not a certified product, but a custom Raspberry Pi with the company’s own software.

SOMA SMART SHADES 2 – UNBOXING (1)

When I received the two packages, everything came in uncoated, recycled card boxes, which is great. It doesn’t give you any false impressions as to the product inside, and that’s a good thing. Not that I need my expectations either increased or tempered, but you hopefully know what I’m saying. The top tells it like it is – Solar Powered, Easy to Install, Fully Automatic – all accurate, and ‘Fits your existing blinds’ – also accurate. So far so good.

The bottom of the box gives a little more away, with mention of the lithium battery (1450mAh), Bluetooth connectivity (up to 30m range), and the maximum size of shades the motor can support, which is 2m x 2.5m in total.

The sides of the box also give you a bit more info on what to expect, which is just a well, as there’s actually *no accompanying manual! You can control up to ten blinds via the company’s own app, as well as set schedules for each individual motor. The other side of the box proudly declares “Wake Up with the Sun!”, which might not be appropriate for some of course, but essentially what they’re saying is that these blinds can interact with sunrise and sunset, as well as light levels, but we’ll get into that later.

* all the instructions you need are in the Smart Shades app

With everything out of the box, the contents are as follows;

• Smart Shades 2 motor
• Solar panel with power cable
• USB to 1/4″ jack cable
• beaded chain for roller blinds

Besides all of the stuff I expected to find, it was quite nice to get a replacement beaded chain – not that it’s required that you change your own chain, but in my case, the blinds that these will be working with have a rather long chain that pretty much hits the ground, and I wasn’t really keen on the idea of having the motor at floor level, so I went about switching the beaded chain over, which was as easy as expected. All going well so far…

THE MOTOR

The main component is the motor itself. This sticks to the side of the wall, although you can also permanently affix it with screws if you wish. The beaded chain feeds into the motor via a large opening at the top, which is divided into an ‘in’ and an ‘out’ created by the removable cover. The base of the motor has a socket for the included 1/4″ jack that you find on both the end of the cable coming out of the solar panel and the end of the USB cable that can be plugged into a USB power supply.

If it’s not already clear by now, the motor works like this; the beaded chain is fed through the cog that the motor controls. When the motor turns the cog, clockwise or anticlockwise, the cog pulls on the beaded chain, which in turn opens or closes the blinds. You can see that the cog has a set of recesses that correspond to the beads on the beaded chain, which allow the motor to effectively grip the chain and pull it one way or the other.

THE SOLAR PANEL

It’s a nice touch to include a solar panel with the motor, as Soma could have easily just included the USB cable. The solar panel does play a part in a couple of features of the Smart Shades, however, so it does make sense to include it if only to be able to make use of these ‘extras’ without expecting customers to pay more money.

Not only does the solar panel give the user the opportunity to recharge the battery in a cost-free and eco-friendly manner, but it also allows the blinds to open and close based on the amount of light. The solar panels are able to measure the amount of light, and then determine whether to open or close the blinds, based on an automation you would set up in the Smart Shades app.

Although you can keep the battery topped up by having either the solar panel or the USB cable (with a suitable USB power supply) plugged into the motor, there’s no real need. I’ve not been able to test how long the battery lasts on a single charge, but it should last around a month, although that also depends on a variety of factors, including how often the blinds are open/closed, and how large/heavy the blinds are.

SOMA CONNECT – UNBOXING (2)

As stated at the beginning of this review, on its own, Soma Smart Shades 2 isn’t HomeKit compatible at all, and will only be able to be controlled via the Smart Shades app on your phone, with a direct Bluetooth connection between the two. This is similar (in principle) to smart bulbs by Hue, or smart sensors by Aqara, in that they aren’t HomeKit compatible in and of themselves, and require a ‘bridge’ or ‘gateway’ to get them exposed to HomeKit – i.e. the Philips Hue Bridge or the Aqara Hub respectively. So in order to get the Smart Shades 2 exposed to HomeKit (as well as Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa), you will need the company’s Soma Connect (or your own RPi with the company’s own plugin). However, even the Soma Connect is actually not HomeKit certified as such and is basically a Raspberry Pi with custom ‘HomeBridge-type’ software to get the Connect exposed to HomeKit, and by extension, the Smart Shade 2 motor as well.

The front of the box mentions Apple HomeKit and Amazon Alexa, but it also works with Google Assistant, if you’re looking for that flavour of compatibility. The rear of the box makes it clear that this box is ‘Powered by Raspberry Pi’, so whilst it doesn’t spell out that it’s not a certified product, those with a bit of knowledge of HomeKit and HomeBridge will recognise what this box is at its core.

Almost everything you need to get the Soma Connect added to your network and HomeKit is in the box, which includes the Connect itself (a Raspberry Pi in a box), a USB > Micro USB cable, a Type A USB plug, as well as adaptors for UK (Type G) and EU (Type C, E, F) plugs, and a manual.

The Connect is essentially a Raspberry Pi, with the same collection of ports and outputs, which includes an ethernet port, four USB ports, a micro USB port for powering the device, an HDMI port, and a 1/4″ audio jack. You’re probably not going to need any of these besides the power socket and the ethernet port, and even then, the Connect comes with WiFi connectivity, so even the ethernet port may be redundant for some. The Connect also comes with an SD card preinstalled containing the aforementioned software to get the blinds exposed to HomeKit, Alexa and Google.

INITIAL SETUP

Adding the Blinds is initially quite easy; All you need is the ‘Smart Shades’ app (don’t look for ‘Soma’ in the App store), and once downloaded, you add the Smart Shades via the Hamburger menu at the side. As the connection at this point is via Bluetooth, the app recommends you be reasonably close to the motor to initially pair it to your phone. Once added, you need to calibrate the blinds, which involves setting the upper and lower limits of the blinds.

After that, you set up the Connect in pretty much the same way, initially via Bluetooth on your phone. The Smart Shades 2  should then be bound to the Connect bridge. Once you’ve got the Soma Connect paired with your phone, you can proceed to add it to your WiFi network. After being added to your network, you will then simply need to add it to the Home app. This is just like adding any other HomeKit device, so you click on the ‘+’ icon in Home, select ‘Add accessory’, then instead of scanning a code, select ‘I don’t have a code or can’t scan’ where the Connect should appear as a bridge device. Click on it, and then proceed to add the HomeKit code. The code is listed in the manual, and is, in fact, the standard HomeBridge code anyone familiar with HomeBridge will recognise – 031-45-154. You’ll be warned that the accessory is not certified, but you can proceed and add it anyway.

Once it has been added, it will show up in the Home app in Hubs and Bridges section, along with details for the Connect (although there aren’t any), along with any devices that are using the Connect, so in this case, you can see the Soma Smart Shades 2 now shows up in the Home app via the Connect.

After the Connect is added, the blinds will appear in the Home app like normal blinds, where you’re allowed to open and close them 100% or by a certain amount (although presently there are differences we’ll mention further down), choose an icon, and include them in scenes and automations. As with the Connect, the Home app will state that the blinds are not certified.

EXTRA FUNCTIONALITY IN THE SMART SHADES APP

In the Smart Shades app, you have some options for reconfiguring the blinds’ upper and lower limits, as well as group smart shades, if you have more than one. You can check the battery level, as well as see if the chargers – USB or solar panel – are connected. When it comes to automations or triggers, although you may want to create your automations within the Home app, the Smart Shades app does offer a couple of exclusive options in this regard.

You can set the blinds to open/close at a certain time of day or open with sunrise/sunset, which presumably gets its information on this from your phone and location within the iPhone’s system settings, but if you have the solar panel connected to the motor, you can also have the blinds open or close dependent on the amount of light that the solar panel reads. So, if the sun starts to set but it’s still relatively light outside, you may not want your blinds to close until it gets truly dark, so this option may be of some help. This won’t work unless the solar panel is connected to the motor as it would be when charging the battery, and won’t work if you’re using a USB charger.

When you set a trigger/automation, you can, of course, set the amount by which the blinds open, on a per automation basis, so if you want the blinds to only open 25% in the morning, based on light levels, but close 100% at a certain time of the evening, then this is possible.

The other exclusive option available within the app is called ‘Morning Mode’. With this activated, the blinds will open/close at a much slower speed than normal, resulting in quieter motor sound. There’s also an option to select the number of revolutions per minute (RPM), so if your blinds are heavier, you might want to select a high RPM number. Although this function is called Morning Mode, due to it being designed to open much quieter so as not to startle you from sleep, it can be used at any time of the day or night. I’ve been told by Soma that the different RPMs should result in different speeds, but in my brief tests, I wasn’t able to discern enough difference in speed between the available speeds.

IN DAY TO DAY USE

Prior to getting the Smart Shades 2, I’d heard mixed reviews on the original model, which is now no longer available, and so was a little trepidatious about setting this up. I’d heard that the original model was painfully slow, and although the new model was touted as four times faster, I was still not sure what to make of it, not having experienced the previous version. Happily, it would seem that, at least from my limited experience, these are indeed a lot faster. Our previous review for the Terncy Smart Roller Blind motor was quite impressive overall, and so this was up for a bit of stiff competition in my mind, not least in terms of speed. Surprisingly enough, the Smart Shades 2 was as fast as the Terncy when closing. When it came to opening the blinds, however, the Terncy was faster, but not by a lot.

In terms of speed for the Smart Shades 2, it’s faster at closing than opening, but this may be due to the laws of physics more than anything else, although there’s only a minor difference overall. The area of the window the blinds are covering is 212cm/83.46″ in height;

• Closing the blinds – 6.0cm / 2.36in per second (35.33 sec) to fully closed
• Opening the blinds – 5.37cm / 2.11in per second (39.46 sec) to fully open

Given that my window is possibly around twice the height of a typical window, you’re probably looking at only a two-second difference between opening and closing for most windows. Whether this compares well with the Ikea Blinds, I don’t know, but it seems fast enough for me.

It should also be noted that the motor is louder when opening, compared to when it closes. I’m assuming again that this is due to the motor having to work harder to pull the blinds up than lower them, and although I’m used to the higher-pitched sound of the blinds opening, I’m not sure if I’d like it to wake me up in the morning, which is just as well that Soma has introduced the Morning Mode option. To be fair, if you’re a light sleeper, chances are that any sudden sound is going to wake you anyway.

POTENTIAL ISSUES TO BE AWARE OF
Although I’ve been way more impressed with the product than I’d anticipated, given that it’s not officially HomeKit compatible, you do need the Soma Connect if you want smart home integration (the company have since informed me that if you are already an owner of an RPi, you can get their software at no cost). There’s nothing inherently wrong with having a bridge, and in many ways I actually like bridges (Hue and Aqara are great in this respect), but because the Connect itself isn’t HomeKit compatible, you’re essentially buying two products to get smart home integration, but still without any official compatibility, which to some might be a hard pill to swallow. Given that the smart blinds are Bluetooth-based, it would be great if the company was able to ditch the bridge, make the motor itself HomeKit compatible, and use a Home Hub (Apple TV, HomePod etc) for the HomeKit connection. I don’t doubt the company’s intention to give their customers a reasonable product, and a way of getting their products into HomeKit, so maybe the Connect is a stop-gap measure.

One other issue I noticed when using the blinds in HomeKit, was that with the Terncy Blinds (which are officially HomeKit compatible via the Terncy Home Centre bridge), when you press the tile in the Home app, the blinds will start to open, for example, and will show as ‘opening’ until the blinds are fully open, at which point, the tile will then read ‘open’. Additionally, if you press the tile halfway through the blinds opening, they will briefly stop before proceeding to go in the opposite direction. With the Soma Smart Shades 2, as soon as you click on the tile, it will show the blinds as ‘open’ (if you’re opening the blinds) even though they aren’t yet fully open. If like in the previous example, you press the tile again, the blinds will stop, but not proceed in the opposite direction. In some ways, I actually prefer this, as it allows me to stop the blinds at a certain point without having to open the slider in the settings section in order to set the position. Unfortunately, the side effect to this behaviour is that if you go into the slider section of the blinds, if you’ve stopped it halfway through, it will show the blinds either fully open or fully closed, even though they might be 30% open. The result of this is that you would then have to drag the slider further than they are, in order for the blinds to start moving, before finally, selecting fully open or fully closed. The good news is that you can bypass this aberration via a Siri voice command, so even if the blinds are 30% open and the slider is showing fully open, with Siri you can still fully close or open them. I asked Soma about this, and as expected, they were already aware of the issue. They assured me that this, along with any other outstanding issues, is being worked on and that a fix will be released to address further issues.

One thing that wasn’t an issue, but concerned me that it would be, was the default HomeKit code used. I already have a HOOBS box which allows me to integrate a few of my non-HomeKit devices into HomeKit, and it also uses the same default HomeKit code. I was worried that I would be unable to add two different devices (nay, bridges) into HomeKit with the same code. Thankfully it seemed to make no difference, and I was able to add it without an issue, so that’s something you can rest easy with.

One final point that I’ve not had an issue with so far, but seemed to be a reported problem with the original model, was that after a time, the motor would come loose from the wall, if the adhesive strips were used. I’ve not had the Smart Shades 2 long enough to conclude that the adhesive strips have been improved, but after using it for a month, I can’t see any hint at all that the motor is slowly coming unstuck. If this is a concern, then you always have the option to affix the motor more permanently, which in some ways may be better, as you can still unscrew the motor from the wall for whatever reason, whereas the stickers don’t afford this more than once.

WRAPPING UP

If someone wanted a recommendation for a smart blind motor that permitted the user to keep their roller blinds, would I recommend these? Yes, I would, with the proviso that if you want smart home integration, be ready to spend a bit more money for the Connect. Luckily, the one Connect can serve many Smart Shades 2 motors, so the cost becomes easier to swallow the more motors you need. Is it a perfect solution? no, of course not, especially if you want things to be installed with the minimum of fuss, and just want out-of-the-box, official HomeKit compatibility. But then these requirements, with the exception of Ikea, require a bit more money, and as mentioned at the start, you generally don’t get to use your existing blinds. The motor looks nondescript enough to fit in with most peoples’ surroundings, and aside from the maybe slightly more noisy motor when the blinds are opening, it does do the job pretty well. I’ve been using it for a while now, and I am way happier with it than I thought I would be, but I definitely would prefer official HomeKit integration, even if the cost was raised by maybe 20%. Hopefully, Soma can achieve this in the future.

Full disclosure: Wazombi Labs provided HomeKit News with the Soma Smart Shades 2 for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was made or requested.

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