Power supply for bali/somfi blinds

[masman]

I am not sure where to post this question but here goes. I have 6 bali motorized blinds. These are zwave blind motors (somfy) and they are battery powered. I have been trying to determine what I need to provide power through a 110/12 volt power supply. When I talk with Somfy they send me to their combination power panel/distribution panel equipment. Their distribution panel provides a RS485 data bus that I do not need since all of my blinds are controlled directly over my zwave network through Homeseer. The question is, will any 110/12 volt power supply work provided I can feed at least 1 amp to each 12 volt motor. This would only require a power supply capable of providing 12 volts at 6+amps given that all motors went to work at one time. To be on the safe side, probably need to double the amps to provide sufficient starting power. Has anyone installed this kind of power supply. Will it work? Not sure where else to turn as all the sources that I contact immediately start discussing the Somfy 485 bus equipment that I do not need.

[sparkman]

masman Is the motorization the AutoView style (https://www.baliblinds.com/motorization/)? If so, then the power supply is 15V DC/1.6A with a USB style connector. The model number on mine are GT-41130-2016-1.0-W2. Who did you buy your blinds through? Should be able to get them from the same place, or try Home Depot as they sell the Bali z-wave blinds.

[tlampen]

I found a solution that works pretty well and really only cost me around $15.

What I had:
1. 3x Bali Blinds
2. 6x AA Battery Packs (3 broken + 3 working)

What I bought:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MT5WVCG...roduct_details

The AC/DC converter I bought is adjustable with many different connector pins. In testing, I found that using the micro-usb connector pin and plugging directly into the blinds did not work using any of the voltage/Amps. However, if I plugged it into a battery pack (removed all the batteries) and then the battery pack into the blinds, it works perfectly.

For my setup, I have two rooms, with one room having two sets of windows next to each other. This allowed me to use one converter to power both windows. I set the voltage/Amps at 12V - 3A and use the wire pin adapter to connect wires to each of the empty battery packs. For the battery packs, I soldiered the other ends of the wired to the battery springs. Both blinds can operate at the same time without any issues. Below are some pictures I took last night. Sorry that some are blurry. I will update them when I get a chance.

I hope this helps someone!

[mulu]

I am using a 12V power supply similar to this MeanWell PSU https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0109IMRPS...2v+power+suppl It's located in a central area and then I have wires going to the windows. I bought some USB cables, cut off one end of the cable and soldered it to the cable that runs to the shades. Then I just plugged the USB cable into the shade. You might want to get a 12V PSU that allows adjusting the voltage by at least 10% (most can do that) so you can adjust for voltage drop if you have long cable runs and/or the cable has a low AWG (or in general relatively high resistance).

[gregkinney]

tlampen Thank you for your comment. I was trying to convert some Autoview shades from battery to AC power and it wouldn't work so I jumped on google and found your comment. I left the battery pack (empty) in-line and it works now. However, I feel that I am worse off because I can't understand why and it's driving me insane. I even called Springs Window Fashions customer service, who normally have nerdy tech support that love to dive in deep but it doesn't appear they do anymore beacuse they couldn't even understand what I was talking about. Do you have any idea why this is the only way I can convert these to AC power, by leaving the empty battery tube in-line?

[gregkinney]

I just found what might be the answer here with this snippet:

I figured I'd find a replacement power supply but am having no luck outside of requesting a quote from the Chinese company who makes this one (GlobTek). It puts out 15V at up to 1.6 amps...through a micro USB connector. Pin 1 is +V and pin 5 is ground - not exactly a standard. I found one unit on eBay that can output up to 15V and has a changeable micro USB tip...but it doesn't share the pinout, nor is it clear what the max current is at 15V (it's variable output).

So if the female micro usb port on the shade motor is a non-standard pinout, then the generic 15V/1.6A power supply I bought with assumedly a standard pinout would not power it. But maybe the male end of the battery pack which plugs into the shade motor is non-standard pinout but the female port at the opposite end of the battery pack converts it to a standard pinout?

[tlampen]

I just found what might be the answer here with this snippet:



So if the female micro usb port on the shade motor is a non-standard pinout, then the generic 15V/1.6A power supply I bought with assumedly a standard pinout would not power it. But maybe the male end of the battery pack which plugs into the shade motor is non-standard pinout but the female port at the opposite end of the battery pack converts it to a standard pinout?

I think you are right. Also, I am guessing the 15V/1.6A is also correct. My solution has been working since October but I my adapter just died this week because I think it was being overloaded. I was running two shades at the same time so it was pulling 3.2A when the adapter was only rated to provide 3A. I am going to try a 15V/4A adapter and see if I can get more than 6 months out of it. If that doesn’t work I will just buy two adapters so they have more than enough Amps to provide.

[mulu]

Where do you have your adaptors? Sounds like they are not where the shades are because you are powering at least two shades from the same adapter. If possible I would just get a PSU like this. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0109IMRPS...2v+power+suppl The disadvantage is that you probably want to have it in a case as it has 120V/240V exposed (only protected by the plastic cover over the terminal) but if you go to a central place to power all your shades it probably doesn't matter.

As for the connection at the shade, the company refused to install anything else than the battery compartment or their expensive central power board. So I had them install the battery compartment. I left it there and just bought some cheap micro USB cables with pigtails. Then I connected those to my central PSU.

I also changed my events so they don't move all shades at the same time. It's not really because of power but I think z-wave has some issues if I try to control multiple shades at the same time. It's noise over a longer amount of time but each shade only takes like 30s so it's not too bad. For in the morning I also delay the first movement about 15 seconds after motion is detected. That way the bedroom door is closed the noise starts (in case the better half is still sleeping).

[gregkinney]

Great suggestion by mulu, I love the idea of a central PSU. Also great idea to stagger run times. I thought there was something wrong with my z-wave network because if I try to run all 3 shades at the same time, it only works 75% of the time. tlampen I use an individual adapter for each shade. Not a very sexy solution, but this curtain hides it nicely.