I recently bought new roman curtains for my living room. There was an option to buy IR-operated curtain motors for an additional € 250,- per window. I have 4 windows in my living room. I don’t want to spend that much extra (yes, I’m also Dutch ).
I’m now looking for an alternative (cheaper) solution. At several Chinese webshops you can buy Bluetooth controlled ‘chain curtain motors’ (see picture below). This might work stand alone, but I also want to integrate this with Homey (f.e. via IFTTT).
Not sure if these are cheap enough https://www.somasmarthome.com/ but there are two apps for Homey to control these, one direct via Bluetooth and one via the Soma Connect box.
Try searching for Soma Smart Shades on google for a local price (£99 in UK)
They used to mention a touch sensitive button on the front of the shade device but I don’t see that now.
I only have the tilt devices and they don’t so I was going to setup up z-wave or Lightwave button to control them but still haven’t got around to it. As I have then opening and closing on a light sensor / time range I just forget about them.
I use bluetooth remote for my alarm system and Homey can pick them up so I use them for presence detection. I also used the bluetooth version of the Soma app which works but the range was not good so they were unreliable, hence switching to network access to the Soma connect box.
So Homey does connect via bluetooth but has limited range in my experience.
You might have to create an app to control them via the Bluetooth unless they are a copy of the Soma.
Homey can send and receive Bluetooth data but an app is required to convert that to the up and down control interface in Homey.
Small update; I found another alternative that might work with Homey. It has both Wifi and RF (433 MHz) control. It should be possible to control via the Homey - Broadlink app.
Just ordered one via AliExpress for € 60,-. Lets give it a try
You can also set-it up via the Smart Life app. This is an exact copy of the Tuya app, but then with IFTTT integration. That makes it possible to control with Homey via IFTTT.
I’ll post an update here once I received an tested one! Shipping takes about 3-4 weeks…
Good news, the controller already arrived. I mounted it next to the curtain and it works really good! I have rather big blinds (2,5 x 2,3 m). No problems with lifting at all. One note; it’s not very fast, it takes about 90 seconds to completely lift/close. Nevertheless, for me that’s fine.
Integration with Homey works via IFTTT (linked with the Smart Life app). It also works with the Broadlink RM pro+ (433 mHz), but I had some problems with connecting Broadlink to Homey. No idea why, but I will try it again later. I also have several Echo Dot devices in my house; you can also control them via Alexa (Smart Life skill).
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