IBlinds installation

[bmsmithvb]

Ah. Very good.

I don’t think that this calibration issue is specific to just iblinds. My smart blinds has the same problem


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[dbrunt]

Yes and it's very annoying. I have 10 blinds and it has only happened with some. One of them has gotten really bad lately. Have to calibrate almost once a week.

So, what is happening that you need to re-calibrate?

[freeon]

So, what is happening that you need to re-calibrate?

When I close them they don't close all the way. And when I open they don't open all the way.

[dbrunt]

When I close them they don't close all the way. And when I open they don't open all the way.

I presume the battery level is >75%? Are you using the multilevel device or the on/off device?
Are you calibrating them with them fully lowered or are you raising them to reduce weight? I suspect that the recommendation to raise them up 1/2 to 2/3 to calibrate might cause an issue with the motor sensing enough drag to think it's at the fully open/closed position &/or a reduced battery level, when the blinds are fully lowered.

Not related to your calibration issue but I think is worth mentioning... Last night when I got home my kitchen bind 2 was still open. It found it was not responding to commands. I power cycled it via the on/off button on the battery and tried HS again. HS switch cmd 'on' caused it to close fully down, Another 'on' command caused it to close fully up. Next one set it to 50%. Then 'off' closed it fully down. I increased my waits before polling from 1 second to 5 seconds as I've noticed that polling then for status changes while they're operating causes them to malfunction &/or go completely 'brain dead'. This morning it was at 50% as per my dawn routine to open all blinds.

[freeon]

I presume the battery level is >75%? Are you using the multilevel device or the on/off device?
Are you calibrating them with them fully lowered or are you raising them to reduce weight? I suspect that the recommendation to raise them up 1/2 to 2/3 to calibrate might cause an issue with the motor sensing enough drag to think it's at the fully open/closed position &/or a reduced battery level, when the blinds are fully lowered.

The one I have to calibrate often is actually been plugged in on the charging cable for the past week. Just forgot to unplug it and had to re-calibrate again last night. I calibrate them fully lowered. I think the recommendation is to only raise them if they don't calibrate. I'm using actually using on off and multi level on this particular one. Maybe this is causing an issue. However all other blinds I only use on/off and I had to re calibrate a few of them. Although not as often.

[bmsmithvb]

Do you guys have a picture of what the device looks like on HS? Mine arrive tomorrow!


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[dbrunt]

Do you guys have a picture of what the device looks like on HS? Mine arrive tomorrow!


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[dbrunt]

The one I have to calibrate often is actually been plugged in on the charging cable for the past week. Just forgot to unplug it and had to re-calibrate again last night. I calibrate them fully lowered. I think the recommendation is to only raise them if they don't calibrate. I'm actually using on off and multi level on this particular one. Maybe this is causing an issue. However all other blinds I only use on/off and I had to re calibrate a few of them. Although not as often.

Strange. So for "all other blinds I only use on/off and I had to re calibrate a few of them" - On goes to more or less 50% and Off to 0%; When they "act up" and need re-cal, what percentages do the slats actually stop at?
What I have noticed with mine is that if I set to 98 or 99%/Closed Up and then use either On/Off to set to On (which should be 50%) they are not actually 50% open (or level) - they are more like 65% open; I need to go to 35 or 40% to get them level, However, if I set them to 0%/off/closed down, and then go to 50% they are more or less level. This seems to be due to slop in the motor/tilt shaft &/or the cording that tilts them. I've yet to tear into one of them to see if I can rectify that...

Before I modified my RaZberry Z-Wave interface with an external antenna rather than the PCBA one, I had Z-Wave communication issues with a couple of them (Bedroom & Kitchen 3). The test node connectivity would succeed but other functions were hit and miss. I live in a 1400 sq ft, three storey townhouse and my equipment closet is on the 2nd level, more or less in the middle of that floor, so actual line of sight distances shouldn't have been an issue. Kitchen blinds are 20-22', Living room/Patio is about 20' the other direction and Bedroom is one level up above the Living room so I'd estimate that to be about 30'. Bluetooth works over that distance so Z-Wave definitely should, but it wasn't reliable with my iBlinds; 3 other z-wave battery powered nodes that are a little further away than the blinds were fine though.

[freeon]

Right now they are all on or open as far as homseer is concern. Physically about half are perfectly open at 50%. The rest are slightly tiled down 5 or so degrees. When they are like this I don't even bother but they will get worst.

[bmsmithvb]

i just received my iBlinds kit -- got them installed without any issues!

Does anyone use a switch on the call or something along those lines to control them from in the room?

[dmiller]

i just received my iBlinds kit -- got them installed without any issues!

Does anyone use a switch on the call or something along those lines to control them from in the room?

I use multitap on a couple of switches for secondary control of tilt. My primary control is measuring brightness.

Z-wave dimmers with no load attached should also work.

Other controls:

-Blinds close on no occupancy during daylight hours (preserve floor and furniture)
-Blinds opposite TV close when TV is on (reflection)
-Homeseer Mobile can override everything (an event turns off all automatic processes for two hours)

[bmsmithvb]

I was able to use a spare Lutron Pico remote! That worked pretty well. Just would like to use the "Raise" and "Lower" (by increment). I have not figured that part out yet.

[Bigstevep]

dbrunt how are you showing HS4 grid in post 44 and using HS3 configuration? Jon00 links?

[dbrunt]

dbrunt how are you showing HS4 grid in post 44 and using HS3 configuration? Jon00 links?

HS4 grid? The first image is HS4 device view, not grid...
The HS3 page is accessible via http://<your_ip>:<your_port/deviceutility
It used to be the only way to be able to effectively edit status/graphics pairs in HS4 beta...