Controlling 2" Wood Blinds

[ORNVM]

I've done quite a bit of searching and i'm not coming up with much in the way of what people have done to control mini blinds. I've found tons of stuff on roll up blinds, but i'm looking for something to control tilt on some 2" wood blinds (Venetian style):




I dont really care about rolling them up and down, but would like to be able to have HS3 open the tilt on them to a mid point at certain times of the day or shut them based on room temperature/ etc...

I came across this somfy product: Tilt Motor, which looks like it will get the job done. And i see there is a hs3 plugin for the somfy URTSI-II module which should talk RTS to the above motor, but i only see roller blinds listed in the plugin description and not sure if it will send commands like 50% open instead of just up/ down like a roller blind.

Has anyone implemented this plugin and somfy control module with tilting blinds? between the URTSI-II module (seems to be about $350ish), plugin ($30), the shade module motors ($120), battery tube or hardwiring a PSU ($40), there is quite a bit of startup cost to that scenario, but scales back quickly once you add more shades. Still though, its a bit more than i want to pull the trigger on without some assurance that someone has tried these and they all play nice together.

I've also seen some hacked together stuff with arduino and servo motors on the web, but i'd rather have something a little more "for the purpose" to drop in the head rails instead of having to fab something to fit.


What are other people doing for shade control of these types of blinds, or is everyone else just doing roller blinds?

[Rupp]

I'm using the Power Ease devices I bought at Lowes and from fellow board members ten years ago. I can't believe it's been that long. These are one of the game changers in my home automation but sadly the company quit making them. 10 years in and they all still work great. I change batteries about once every three months. It's a shame someone else didn't pick these up and manufacture them as the quality is outstanding. Here's a picture.
http://board.homeseer.com/showpost.p...8&postcount=30

[Rupp]

I found something similar but much more expensive and it's hard to say if they are still being developed as the site is a bit odd.

http://www.intellitilt.com/

[kideon]

second the question I've been wanting to do this too

[Blade]

I have one of the Power Ease devices as well. They really work well.
I wish I could get more

[b_weijenberg]

Somfy RTS can also be controlled by the RFXCOM plugin and RFXtrx433E.
Receive also Oregon sensors and control European RF appliance/dimmer modules and more, see the whole list of supported devices in chapter 2 http://www.rfxcom.com/Documents/RFXt...er%20Guide.pdf

[austin]

I was hoping to achieve ventian blind tilt automation as well - was thinking of a Somfy motor and a Fibaro roller-shutter FGRM-222
I came across these two threads
http://bugs.micasaverde.com/view.php?id=4996
http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php?topic=24050.0
Does anyone know how this might work in the context of Homeseer & Z-wave?

[austin]

I was hoping to achieve ventian blind tilt automation as well
Does anyone know how this might work in the context of Homeseer & Z-wave?

Found the answer via http://board.homeseer.com/showthread.php?p=933869
Somfy Wirefree (RTS) Tilt Motor plus
RS232 (Somfy Universal (RTS) 16 Channel Interface (URTSI II))
or
Z-Wave (Somfy Z-Wave Universal RTS Interface ZRTSI)

[b_weijenberg]

or RFXtrx433E with the RFXCOM plug-in:

[austin]

or RFXtrx433E with the RFXCOM plug-in:

Definitely - the URTSI II or ZRTSI are waaay too expensive

[hjk]

Blinds?

or RFXtrx433E with the RFXCOM plug-in:

So, help me here if you would -- if I wanted to control blinds and use the RFXtrx433E with the RFXCOM plug-in, what hardware would I need in this scenario?

I have 4 areas in my house with those 3-part windows -- big window in the middle, 2 smaller on the sides. They all have separate blinds. What all would I need to control, say, one of these setups? For example:

1 x RFXtrx433E
1 x RFXCOM plug-in
3 x Somfry...?

Thanks

[b_weijenberg]

If you have already Somfy RTS motors you only need the RFXtrx433E and the HS3 RFXCOM plug-in.
The RFXtrx433E can control up to 40 Somfy RTS motors.

[hjk]

If you have already Somfy RTS motors you only need the RFXtrx433E and the HS3 RFXCOM plug-in.
The RFXtrx433E can control up to 40 Somfy RTS motors.

Ah, that's not bad. I'm assuming I will need one Somfy RTS motor for each window, so my "cluster" window will require 3.

Do you have a site that sells these, so I can check prices? Are there different models? I'm really not very mechanical.

[jayman13]

I'm gonna try it. Looks like a weekend project...

[ORNVM]

I finally got a few of these setup and, although fairly expensive, they work awesome!

I got my tilt motors here: http://www.automatedshadestore.com/s...ds-pid120.html

Beware of their shaft selection guide, i found an error on what it recommends for the levoler blinds sold from lowes. Check the actual shaft you need, not just the chart. Most blinds also need a head rail adapter depending on the size of head rail you have. So you need Motor, shaft adapter, headrail adapter, and then either a power-supply or battery tube.

Then for the controller, I picked up a RFXtrx433E make sure its the E version. I was going to purchase that from the HST store, but the one they have is NOT the E version. got it directly from rfxcom shipped internationally, got to the US in about a week and some change. Very easy transaction.

For the clustered windows (i have some of those too) you DO need a motor for each headrail, but you can share a powersupply. I spliced 3 together on the same battery tube, I then set my event to open and close them to run them one after another so they all 3 dont draw at the same time. I have another window i'm able to use a power supply for that supplies enough power for all 3 motors at the same time.

You can grab the RFXCom app to simulate the remote control to program limits the first time, so you do not need to buy a RTS remote for setup.

I've had mine setup for about 4 months now, haven't had to change batteries yet, they open and close automatically once a day at sunrise and sunset. I think one has missed the closing signal once in all that time.

Really impressed with how they perform. there is a great install video on the site above showing how to modify the blind. pretty straight forward after watching that. I used a dremel with a cut off wheel to chop off the rod and that even made it simpler as i could do it in the head-rail without removing the rod.