Thanks for packing a lot of info into a really efficient delivery. Thank you for calling what you felt wasn't realistic / normal. All in all an excellent review.
I used a different method of automating our room darkening window shades. Morningrising 12v Electric Roller shade/blind motors fit inside a (metal or plastic) tube, with the shade material rolled up on it. The tube replaces the usual wooden shade roller. Motor unit comes with remote for control and fine tuning via RF link. Needs a single 12vdc power supply (although solar charged motors are also sold). For three adjacent windows I bought one unit with remote ($55) , and two units without remote ($50 ea). Each unit was programmed independently, then all were connected to a 12 vdc plug-in power supply (parallel connection) and now the single remote controls the three room-darkening shades perfectly in unison. I realize this is different than the units in this excellent review that use an external motor to control a looped chain, so this is not a criticism of that approach, just a possible alternative where traditional roll up/down window/room darkening shades are used. My motor units are inside the roller of each shade, so they are out of sight for a clean install. Good tutorials on setup, shade install and related tech details available on RU-vid. Amazon carries the Morningrising line of roller motors. Different sizes of motor diameter are available, so care must be taken to check that the motor fits precisely within the inside diameter of your choice of metal pipe or plastic tubing upon which you attach the shade material. I recommend buying the motors and taking one to the home improvement store to buy the tube material and make sure the motors fit correctly inside the tube. The $55 unit with remote was received in a day or two, but the two motor units without remote had to be shipped from China and took a couple of weeks. If I was to do it over I would just order the three units with remotes and use the two extra remotes as "spares" just to get fast shipping of the entire order.
WOW! This is what I've been waiting for an affordable blind tilt device, I won't be ordering it just yet due to poor integration hopeful for some of the Home Assistant users to port control for this device. Or just wait for another version that has better control methods. Thanks for the info on this product, can't wait to see what comes of it.
I've been working with another developer who wrote a library to control these from esp32's, a wifi to bt bridge that can be controlled via MQTT or HA. We've pretty much got most of the issues ironed out. Additionally, I've got these working on venetian (pull cord style) blinds. Pull blinds typically have a locking mechanism which means you need to either divert the string (just run it across the window, or use tiny pulleys) to circumvent the lock, or remove it all together.
Thanks for this analysis. Please be aware that AXIS does state that for the bead chains to work properly you have to remove all the bed connectors or large stops for the beads to run through the device properly.
I use Soma Smart Shades to control very large roller blinds. The first generation is very slow to do this, but they have worked consistently for 18 months. I have ordered the second generation since they promise to be ‘4x faster’. Anyhow, I had to replace my blinds’ chains with plastic infinite loop chains to remove the joining piece. This was pretty easy to achieve.
Thanks for the video!! Got some of the Zemismart and finally got the command to open and close them!! Trying to integrate with my HA, as soon as I have something I will share with the community! :)
@@TheHookUp here is a very early version of it that I spent the day doing it: github.com/ccmtozzi/zemirollshade, currently running in a Raspberry PI W. Very limited functionality, only open and close!
@@nikraby1939 yes! Take a look at community.home-assistant.io/t/zemismart-roller-shade-integration/148443/72. There is also another solution by buxtronix.. github.com/buxtronix/am43
I made my own with an ESP8266 controller and 28BYJ-48 stepper motor/driver for about $10 a piece - that includes the price of the custom 3D printed casing (obviously assuming my labor is free). Add another 5 bucks to that for a long micro USB cable and a 5V1A USB charger, and its a complete system for $15. Although the learning curve is steep (i'm a developer by trade and it had me scratching my head a few times) and introducing variables can be a daunting task (I have physical buttons on each unit besides the WiFi control), I still think it's worth it provided that you already have the tools required at your disposal. You get exactly how much effort you put in.
On my setup, I've weighted the 'down' side of the cord loop with enough mass to balance the force needed to pull the blinds up... and so, my motor doesn't have to lift the weight of my blinds. So, not only can I run my stepper motor at any speed, It doesn't consume huge amounts of power. Plus there's no 'pull back' if I stop the blinds in a position and so I power-off the stepper motor when idle.
Wow. Can’t believe people would get these for blinds that are within reach. I’m looking for something for windows that I can’t reach without a ladder. Thanks for the video.
Very detailed review, albeit somewhat biased against Axis Gear from the beginning. While I completely agree $249 each is steep, it’s also obvious to me the Axis Gear is far more attractive and better-made, plus it offers better functionality (which you point out). The Axis Gear company also notifies you of their periodic sales if you give them your email address, so you don’t need to pay full price. I scored a 60% discount last week and bought eleven, enough to outfit my entire condo. My home has several very large roller shades covering glass floor-to-ceiling panels throughout, including heavy blackout shades in the bedrooms, and the Axis Gears have had zero trouble operating them. Worth noting is the instructions clearly tell you to remove the larger chain-stop beads from the metal loop-style bead chains (if that’s what you have) to operate the Gears properly, so I did this when I installed them. Also, the latest version of the Axis Gear ships with a power adapter automatically (I now own eleven of them 🙃). If you want a much better-looking product (because these large-ish openers are very visible, for you and all your guests to see) with Zigbee and a touch-interface versus something actually named A-OK (apt considering its bargain-basement appearance), I recommend the Axis Gear. It’s still 50% off as of the date of my comment - a bit more than the Black Friday price I scored, but still affordable for folk with the means.
The extra money for Axis is that you can use it through google home and Alexa. There often on sale for 175. Which is still 125 more but for someone like me that lives in a big city and everyone and their mom could see in my apartment, I tend to close/open my blinds pretty often and doing that over voice is great. I have them on roller blind with no issue. The Axis comes with small connectors to replace on the chain
awesome & outstanding vid...I live in Scottsdale Arizona, and I am a talented McGyver.....And with a west facing living room, one window has a blind, I just need to programming to close when the sun hits that special spot in the sky and keep closed until just B4 sunset. Now to figure out the drapes
I purchased the Axis many years ago, when it was still in “pledge funding” and it took almost a year for them to deliver the product. I did so not for the novelty, but because I really needed this solution; I have a 96”x72” roller shade that covers a window that sits atop a stair landing, some 12 feet up high, so there’s no way I could manually open/close it. In my experience, the solar rail is garbage; it never charged the unit and it is just a gimmick as the unit ran based off the 12 AA batteries in the rail, and when these were depleted, the unit would stop working. I even bought rechargeable batteries and the solar unit never charged them. I don’t think the unit itself has an internal battery. I had to open the wall just beneath it, install an a/c outlet and run electrical wire all the way down to the next outlet so I could power this thing with the supplied a/c adapter (they finally sent me one after complaining multiple times about the solar unit, around the time they starting issuing it for free for everyone). All in all, it does its job, albeit noisy as heck, and the lack of connectivity protocol (I was the second wave to get hands on an unit so I’m stuck with bluetooth) means I’m stuck without home automation like the rest of my house, so I just made a schedule and let it do its thing. Rarely I will find that the schedule has failed, like it will “forget” to close the shades at night, so I get on the app and do it myself. Another quirk I found is when you want to lower the shade from an open position, the app will not sync with the unit in that so it won’t respond unless you first give it a raise higher command immediately followed by a lower command. Other than that, it has been working fine since I connected to power; I was getting tired of whipping out my 16ft ladder, prop it on the stair landing to switch batteries every 3 weeks or so. Good review!
10:10 on my heavy blind I used some plyers and was able to make a chain that is identical 360 degrees around. This worked! But with more weight about every 2 weeks the chain stretches and I have to readjust the motor a few cm down. I also had to modify it with mini screws on the slider so it won’t slide up. It’s a pain I need to find something else that is more reliable….
Maybe you can loop the blind string around the control wheel once to eliminate slipping. Could you try that, and see if it causes any issues or makes any difference in the control consistency? Thanks!
AOK have a few off the shelf Home Automation items which this would surely be able to connect into. Majority of the internal roller motors will work with it.
If I were any company, I'd make cheap smart blind controllers. So many people want these more than smart lights. Honestly, lights is just a flick of a switch, dealing with blinds involves chains, strings, turning gears... technology really missed the boat on this one. It's 2019, do I really have to learn electronics to do this myself affordably? It sounds fun... but still...
You mention a bluetooth to wifi bridge - I think a Raspberry Pi with the right scripting could be used to communicate with the Zemismart, it might even be something that could be done with a NodeRed plugin on the Pi. It could then tie into whatever home automation system you want (e.g. MQTT packet that ties it into other events like time of day, voice commands, etc.).
Nice! Blinds/curtains/roller shades are unexplored territory for me regarding home automation.. I'll probably wait for the IKEA smart blinds! I hope you review them once they get released!
One hack- I'm wondering whether if you put a counterweight on the side of the chain that pulls the blind up, that might well solve the motor straining issue.
Even when the chain-connector seems to run through the gear, it will shorten the lifetime of gear and chain. Ask your local window decorator for an endless ball chain. Bring the 'old' or measure the diameter of the balls and the height of the loop.
Thank you for that, I could not remember the name of that part. I get my blind parts from fix my blinds company and you saved me some time on my search.
I bought one zemismart. Worked with bluetooth but couldn't get it to open / shut on a schedule. Buttons worked just fine. Then after 6 weeks it stopped working. Gave it plenty of solar time but nothing . May need new batteries but it didn't want to have to buy new batteries every few weeks.
I brought 2 of the AXIS Gear for $149.00 each. I would like to see how direct sunlight vs indirect sunlight effects the usage. I live in AZ and sunlight is abundant, but the windows I have the units on don’t get direct sunlight all day.
I bought a bunch of the AXIS ones too - interested to hear about your experience. I haven't received mine and I don't have my shades installed yet so... hoping they come at about the same time... Some of my windows are high up off the ground so not sure how I'm going to change batteries in those if needed...?
Wow, too bad these aren't zigbee/zwave or have similar versions for a bit more. Much like you said, I refuse to pay that much money to convert all my windows, but I would pay sub $100 each if they could be controlled via home automation software (eg. Alexa, SmartThings, etc). Although the price is right, I can't really justify it if the connection is Bluetooth only...that said, for the Zemismart, I'm guessing they at least retain programming when not connected to a phone (for scheduled tasks)?
These are after thought solutions. They will never be good in any aspect. I realize buying a motorized shade and blinds can be expensive. But there are true "retro fit kits" out there for larger shades and blinds. I happen to be a "Somfy Expert" and certified Rollese Acmedia dealer. Rollese offer retro fit kits though Budget Blinds. They have built in Li-on batteries, have solar charging as an option, are quitter, have specific motors for specific window coverings, have smart home capability, have great apps that use wifi, and are hidden the head rail or tubes. They are more expensive then these by about $50 without the solar option at $300, but you are getting a system that will work with your existing window coverings, have true smart home integration, will lift shades up to and including 12ft x 12ft. Spend more now and not have to worry or buy something else later.
Can they be purchased and installed by a consumer or are they a dealer only item? The $300 price tag isn’t honest if you need to pay an additional $100 to get it installed.
@@TheHookUp unfortunately it is up to the individual budget blinds. I personally will sell them without install. Some products do need slight modification of inner parts (a ruler and hacksaw and about 2 min labor) but some don't need any modification. Everything comes with instructions too.
I have (2) soma smart shades at my house and (4) soma smart shades at my office. I have had them for less than a year and (2) of them are no longer functional. The other frustration is that they constantly fall out of configuration, so the roller shades will only go up partially and to reconfigure means starting over. I also purchased the soma hub for the office and for my house. It's basically a rasberry pi that allows you to link up to Homekit. These units are $150 each and the soma hub was another $100 each. I love the ability to control the roller shades with my phone and through a schedule, but am frustrated that the units are failing.
Recycle all that packaging. Thank you for the review and explanation. Hope you do updates as technology develops. I am looking for rolling blind motors. I am in a loft with large roller shades. My blind is geared to auto close with any pull on the chain so I would need it only for opening. What is the size where they do work?
great review on pretty much the common issue with all these smart blinds. Anyone had success on an exact blind like his neighbours? mine is stiff at parts and even though ive replaced/services the fittings, brunt and the chinese knockoffs both failed. Brunt only refunded after loud complaint on their amazon review page.
A few thoughts: (1) Did you test battery life without the solar panel? On the Axis, in addition to the internal Lion battery, there is a AA battery compartment. I am curious how long the AA batteries last with no solar (on our windows, we have no way to mount the solar panel due to metal screens that would need to be removed to mount). (2) Just a note that the Axis instructions now include a specific warning about replacing the end of chain connector with a smaller connector that Axis includes in the package, so it seems they addressed that concern. Would love to pull apart a unit to see what the actual specs on each motor might be... based on other user reports, the Axis motor seems much more powerful (maybe too powerful, as it ripped someone's roller shade right out of the roller).
I've got an Axis gear in my lounge and it's quite unimpressive - it's loud and slow and fails the WAF test. It also has poor zigbee range so I cant control it from my Vera Plus HAC. The only upside is that it will operate my huge 3m wide Roman blind.
Great review thanks! Im still not convinced there isn't a way to make the cheap one connect with home automation system using ifttt or a raspberry pi though..
Maybe, buying the device for parts and adding custom board with zigbee/zwave? Would it be feasible and worth it? Good project for The Hook Up i think...
I wonder if the Zemismart scheduling is held and executed in the devise (surely) or your phone which of course would need the phone/Bluetooth connected (Surely not!)
Thanks for the reviews, I can keep my money in my wallet now :) Ti:, wrap the cord once or twice around the rotating wheel of the controller for more grip. Or print a custom addon :-)
How about modding the zemi one with an esp8266 chip to use the motor and enclousure. Another thing, u should try zigbee2mqtt for home Assistant, it change my life, zigbee devices are really cheap vs zwave devices
Wifi would burn the battery really quickly. Using an esp32 you could make a hub that bridged Wi-Fi to BLE for all the blinds in your house. You'd just need to figure out the protocol.
Would love a look inside the cheaper one! Particularly how the limits work (potentiameter?). Would totally be interested in esp-01 these for OH controls.
@@TheHookUp I have done my own inside the blinds with a stepper motor and rotary resistor. But would be great to modify this to do the same. I wonder if you could maybe use a luggage handheld scale to test the torque it can manage? I am sceptical how well these can handle larger blinds.
@@TheHookUp I want to know cheaper one inside too! Can you make a teardown? Which motor and gears used? Stepper or dc? It has encoder? Please open inside and show some photos.
I created my own smart blinds tilt-mechanism using a servo, nodemcu, esphome, solar panels, and rechargeable batteries. All integrate to Home Assistant for less than $15. LOL
What solar manager and balance charging board are you using? Are you doing 2s battery? I've got one working right now with 3s, but I'm a bit worried that I'm not getting a good balance charge.
@@TheHookUp It took me a while to find the right combination. Everything would work well while using an USB power supply and then when using the batteries I would not get the same results. I am using two 18650 9800 mAh Li-on batteries with two 1.25W solar panels and I am using this (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-J66_8P043ko.html) capacitor/voltage regulator. I have an LDR that checks every hour and opens/closes the blinds (tilt) based on the light outside the window. Thanks again for all your videos. I have learned so much from you.
Could you maybe connect this via the Xiaomi version 3 hub as it has Bluetooth connection available? (only the v3 hub has the Bluetooth and Bluetooth mesh system v1 & v2 font have it)
That noise is awful lol! Your project motors are silent. I just bought and installed new blinds most of my choices did not have chains or strings. It really looks like the manufacturers are moving away from that design. Most have a rod to open blinds and you just lift from the bottom to put them up. These would really limit your choice of blinds.
Yes. I have it done and installed. I'm doing a bit of safety testing at the moment since charging Lipo batteries can be a bit tricky. I don't want to burn people's houses down.
Try Axis. I have installed 6 of them. My kitchen/balcony is 9 feet tall. Works amazingly well. Integration via SmartThings from Samsung. I also have the Lutron Serena honeycombs. One is blackout, one is semi-transparent. Do not get anything from Europe - I have one set from Estonia. Expensive, cheap design, terrible customer service.
