Disclosure: Zemismart provided this unit free of charge for testing.
Zemismart reached out and sent me their MTP1 Matter over Thread blind driver to test, so here’s what I found after running it with a Homey Pro (Early 2023).
The device
The MTP1 is a retrofit motor that slots into your existing roller shade, zebra blind, Venetian blind, or honeycomb blind. It’s battery powered with USB-C charging, so zero wiring and It connects over matter via Thread, no hub needed.
Installation
Dead simple. Two screws to mount the bracket (or adhesive tape if you can’t or don’t want to drill), snap the motor unit in, feed your beaded chain through the adapter and you’re done. About 5 minute. The motor clips out easily for charging without taking the bracket down.
Pairing with Homey: the one hiccup
Here’s where it gets a bit odd. When I went to add the device,the Homey suggested a community app instead of the official Zemismart one, even with the Zemismart app pre-installed. The device shown in that other app looked like an Zemismart device but didn’t match the MTP1, which would definitely confuse an end user seeing that popup.
However, when I ignored the suggestion and paired with the generic Homey Matter app, it connected almost instantly. Like, properly fast, probably the quickest Thread device I’ve paired with Homey. In the past ive had devices that would literally take my hours to connect, by trying over and over again. Also it hasn’t disconnected once, which tend to happen to other matter over thread devices in my network on the Homey.
So if you grab one: use the generic Matter app, skip the Zemismart one. Hopefully they sort out the app recognition.
Day to day
The motor’s got real strength behind it, even on a medium-weight blackout blind it hasn’t skipped a beat. Setting the open/close limits is easy, and once calibrated it stays properly within those limits. (With maybe a cm drift up or down every now and then but it doesn’t really get out of control)
Now, about speed: there are three speed modes: slow, normal, and fast. That’s the good news… you can only switch between them by turning the knob on the motor itself tho. Nothing exposed via Matter or the app, so you can’t adjust it from Homey. The nob cycles through the speed modes by turning it in the same direction again.
Normal and fast are what you’d expect. Slow mode, tho, it’s really slow. I thought it might be a viable option for a bedroom since lower speed usually means quieter operation, but you still hear the motor straining. It’s not silent by any stretch, just slower and slightly less loud. If you’re a light sleeper, neither mode is going to cut it in a bedroom. An actual smart blind would be a better fit.
One thing that caught me of guard: once the motor is installed, you lose manual chain control. You can’t just reach up and pull the chain anymore, you’re fully dependent on motorised control. If the battery dies or Thread drops out, the blind is stuck wherever it is until you sort it.
Battery life I can’t speak to long-term yet, but USB-C charging is nice. One small thing: mine showed up almost completely flat out of the box. Not a real problem, just a slightly underwhelming unboxing. A bit of factory charge would have been nice
Bottom line
For the money it’s a solid way to smartify existing blinds without running wires or replacing the whole setup.
