Hi Dirk,
Zemismart / Tuya
My Zemismart (Tuya) chain drivers are entering their 6th year of use, no signs of wear (by changed sounds) yet.
These are cloud enabled wifi drivers, but it’s also possible to control those locally by 433MHz (Brel app!)
They also can be controlled locally by using the Tuya Local app.
The newer models are very big indeed, and more expensive compared to the Aqara’s you mentioned.
Aqara
Since I try to push the use of clouds and hard-to-hide wiring away, I have added 2 Aqara zigbee Roller shade drivers E1 for 6 months now, I picked the model with rechargeable batteries (USB-C).
And supported by the Aqara app
When using one Open/Close round a day, they last for about 6-8 weeks driving a huge rollershade (W3.0m * H1.8m);
at around 40% they start to lack enough power (I was surprised it just can drive that heavy shade);
BUT, they last for up to 16 weeks driving a smaller bedroom shade (W1.7m * H0.9m)
These Aqara drivers are much more sophisticated, like there’s 3 motorspeed settings (with z2m that is), and they’re waaaay more quiet.
Note:
- Both these models do not respond to manual chain moving to trigger it.
- In case of malfunctioning, they are clipped off of the wall in a sec to move the chain by hand.
