Anyone using smart blinds from SmartWings?

[TheA2Z]

They offer multiple smart options including zwave for Smart blinds and a 3 year warranty.   They sell on Amazon with good reviews or through their website.

I'm thinking of giving them a try.  Ordered some fabric swatches today.

Anyone using this with their ISY or Eisy?  How are they doing?  How long until the battery needs to be recharged?

Website: smartwingshome.com

[TheA2Z]

Looks like I'll be the Guinee pig on this one.  😉

I got multiple windows but ordered one to test it out.  Pros: Much cheaper compared to other brands.  Z-Wave 700.  I like that they are rechargeable battery operated and can be recharged after about 6 months depending on usage for windows where running wire will be a challenge.  For the other windows, Ill just run power so I never have to charge.

Con is they are made and shipped from China so delivery takes a while.  Will see how it goes when it arrives.

[tlightne]

@TheA2Z   I am running Bali zwave shades from Lowes. Had them for about a year. They work great. After 1 year I just recharged the batteries. They were at 43% so could have gone a few more months.  Looking to do a few more windows soon. Keep us posted..

[TheA2Z]

2 minutes ago, tlightne said:

@TheA2Z   I am running Bali zwave shades from Lowes. Had them for about a year. They work great. After 1 year I just recharged the batteries. They were at 43% so could have gone a few more months.  Looking to do a few more windows soon. Keep us posted..

@tlightne1 year, that is great.  Folks online were saying they went longer than 6 months depending on how big the shade is and how often they open and close it. 

I will most likely wire them to power to not worry about it, but I have a couple of windows that getting power to will be a bear.

How often do you open and close yours?  Not sure if you are using an Eisy or ISY, but how is the reliability of automated open and closing?  Do they even not respond to the command?

[tlightne]

@TheA2Z I open mine everyday 8am and close them 1 hour after sunset when the sun is higher in the sky. Two are on the west side of the room so I increment their closure in the afternoon as the sun moves. You can set them to close at a percentage. I am running Polisy and have never had them not respond to a command.  Zwave reports battery level so it is easy to monitor when they need charging. 

Edited July 4, 2023 by tlightne

[TheA2Z]

@tlightne Good to know.  Thanks.  Ill post later in month when I get the new shade installed and setup.

[TheA2Z]

Update: Got my first shade from Smartwings.  Size and accessories listed below.

Purchase: Although you can get directly on website above, I think it was about $30 cheaper on Amazon but looks like you get 2 year warranty on Amazon vs 3-year on their site.  I communicated with their support multiple times prior to ordering to ensure I had all the info I needed.  They were responsive, but they are in China so responses are delayed.

Install: Install was easy like normal shade.  Three brackets screwed over the trim of window for an outside mount.  Battery operated so no wiring. Wife loves the way it looks and quality of semi transparent fabric (ivory).   They do offer blackout but my windows I am motorizing are not in the bedrooms.  I got the 15 channel remote for manual control as well. Pics below.

 Adding the Zwave 700 device to Eisy was a piece of cake.  Created two nodes.  The control and battery node shown below.  It created another node called Power Management but not 100% on what it does.

Will play around with it over the next week.  If all goes well, I will order some more for my other windows. 

Edited July 7, 2023 by TheA2Z

[TheA2Z]

The new shade (not blind like my original post) has worked like clockwork.  It added immediately to Eisy with no issues which is not always my experience on battery devices.  When I open shade via UD mobile takes less than a second to move.  Very responsive.  Very happy with it so far.

I have 9 more windows to do in stages.  Ordered my next 4 with Smartwings website.  I was able to negotiate a discount with them since I was ordering over $2K worth.  Their site also offers a 3 year warranty vs 2 year on Amazon.

The 4 are supposed to be here tomorrow so fun in store for this weekend.  Two are huge at a little less than 110" wide.  One inside mount and one outside mount over French doors.  Should be fun.

[carealtor]

Not necessarily questions for just @TheA2Z...

Trying to wrap my head around some of this.

Are these remote systems for shades generally proprietary?  That is, if I purchase a z-wave shade and remote from SmartWings will the same remote work for z-wave shades from Blinds.com or Lowes or Bali, or wherever?  What about a Somfy based setup?  Is this a completely different standard?

[TheA2Z]

@carealtor In looking at the manual for the shade zwave motor and the Remote manual, they are two different frequencies.  Meaning the Remote is not a zwave remote.   See screenshots below.  One is zwave blind manual.  One is remote manual.

The remote is tuned to this shade and doubtful to work with other manufacturers.  

But, If you were controlling all of your blinds via a zwave controller and they were different brands but all zwave, then you could find a zwave remote or use UD mobile with Eisy to control.

You can order these smartwings shades with zwave 700, zigbee, homekit, matter, thread, wifi or bluetooth motor control.  I went with zwave as I have an Eisy controller. 

 

[carealtor]

32 minutes ago, TheA2Z said:

In looking at the manual for the shade zwave motor and the Remote manual, they are two different frequencies.  Meaning the Remote is not a zwave remote. 

I thought maybe that was the case.  Thanks for the thorough explanation. 

So, taking zwave out of the equation, I'm still wondering how proprietary these remote systems are between manufacturers and website sellers.  There must be some commonality.  I can't image everyone reinvents the wheel.

[TheA2Z]

36 minutes ago, carealtor said:

I thought maybe that was the case.  Thanks for the thorough explanation. 

So, taking zwave out of the equation, I'm still wondering how proprietary these remote systems are between manufacturers and website sellers.  There must be some commonality.  I can't image everyone reinvents the wheel.

@carealtorI feel your pain.  Unfortunately, unless you find an internet forum where some guy says he just tried this Somfy shade model # xys with a Smartwings or other brand remote model # XYS and it worked, you will never know.  Even then it might not work.  I havent seen any of the brands say they are compatible with this vendor remote or other.  

It is in the manufacturer best interest to make their remotes only work with their stuff to get you from switching brands.  Cue sinister laugh track with picture of a mean old corporation

I think your options are:

1. Ensure you are buying shades that you know work with Zwave, zigbee, etc so you know you can control with controller and controller remote devices.
2. Buy all same manufacturer shades.
3. Find online source of someone that is testing remotes with different shades to confirm.  Havent seen one but could exist. 
4. Find local vendor where you bring another brand shade to store and test with their remote before buying their shade.
5. Non-solution: Get a remote cubby for you 4 different shade manufacturer remotes.  
6. And if all that doesnt work other non-solution, fallback on human-automation shade opening and closing.  

I do like the automatic shades though although not cheap.  For some reason its one of my wife and my favorites.  Dont know if it is because its new or what.  All the other automation: lights, hot water recirc, leak detection and whole house water cutoff, humidity control, UV light control, etc are nice, but not as in your face noticeable, I guess.

[jfai]

... or get a Bond hub for all these different motor/fan RF remotes.

[TheA2Z]

Update: Got my next group of Smartwings battery automated roller shades in.  I have a total of 5 completed including 3 that are 110" wide (1 external mount in front of a double French exterior door with sidelights.).  Ordered directly through Smartwings website and worked in a good discount from them.

Wife and I have been happy with them as stated so far and they were a great price.

Now that I have more opening and closing at the same time in my Eisy program without wait statements in between them, occasionally one would not open or close.  I added a repeat 2 times statement and that takes care of it.  Not sure why it randomly would occasionally have one shade not open or close.  

Ive had for about three weeks.  Big shades still show 100% battery using twice a day.  2 little shades like 40" wide showing 93%.  Only thing I can think is the smaller shades dont have as many battery cells as they are smaller.  They are rated for 600 open close cycles so we will see.

I had one inside mount window that left a gap that you could see in due to very little trim around window.  On that one I bought some pvc outside molding 90 degree installed by window on sides, caulked and painted trim color.  Like $12 at HD.  Now no gap.

Just ordered my last group of 5 shades.  Two more big kahunas at 106" and 110" wide, two regular window 32" wide and a 63" wide.  Hope to get them in about a week and a half. They are a mix of semitransparent and blackout.

Edited August 3, 2023 by TheA2Z

[GTench]

@TheA2Zthanks for all this. I just bought my first Smartwings automated shade (Zwave) to try before hopefully getting more. I had a similar experience to you. It was easy to set up, added quickly to my eisy and works well. Delivery was faster than they indicated which was nice.

Gary

[TheA2Z]

6 hours ago, GTench said:

@TheA2Zthanks for all this. I just bought my first Smartwings automated shade (Zwave) to try before hopefully getting more. I had a similar experience to you. It was easy to set up, added quickly to my eisy and works well. Delivery was faster than they indicated which was nice.

Gary

@GTench Im pretty picky about stuff I buy.  Of course, I was concerned about buying them with not a long track record.  They have alot of good Amazon reviews so it was worth a shot. 

We have been really happy with these roller shades.  Glad it worked out for you too.

Just got delivery notice.  Last batch of 5 arriving Tuesday. 

[kewashi]

Thanks for sharing this guys. I had previously bought Z-Wave blinds from a company called Zebra blinds with good success. I have two of them and they work like a charm connected to my Hubitat Z-Wave hub, that is then tied into ISY via my Hubitat-to-ISY node server. I wanted to buy 5 more and found that they were bought out by a company called Select Blinds that switched from ZWave to WiFi protocol. https://www.selectblinds.com/roller-shades.html

However, they sell a bridge called "Select Connect" that supposedly can be used to connect their WiFi blinds to Alexa, Google Home, and hopefully also ISY and/or Hubitat. https://www.selectblinds.com/blinds-select-connect-smartphone-bridge.html

I have them on order and have been notified that they will arrive in a week. Once they arrive I will report back here how the integration goes. If anyone else has any experience with this company I would appreciate knowing.

[Ronald M]

On 8/6/2023 at 7:13 PM, kewashi said:

Thanks for sharing this guys. I had previously bought Z-Wave blinds from a company called Zebra blinds with good success. I have two of them and they work like a charm connected to my Hubitat Z-Wave hub, that is then tied into ISY via my Hubitat-to-ISY node server. I wanted to buy 5 more and found that they were bought out by a company called Select Blinds that switched from ZWave to WiFi protocol. https://www.selectblinds.com/roller-shades.html

However, they sell a bridge called "Select Connect" that supposedly can be used to connect their WiFi blinds to Alexa, Google Home, and hopefully also ISY and/or Hubitat. https://www.selectblinds.com/blinds-select-connect-smartphone-bridge.html

I have them on order and have been notified that they will arrive in a week. Once they arrive I will report back here how the integration goes. If anyone else has any experience with this company I would appreciate knowing.

Hi there how has your experience been with selectblinds and their select connect hub? 

[kewashi]

The quality of the blinds is top notch. I love them. My review of the connectivity is mixed. The WiFi connection is good and works reliably. Definitely get a Bond hub controller to connect it to your hub. I use a custom Hubitat integration and it works okay. Open and close are great, but the lack of Z-Weve support means you cant set it remotely ot a specific shade position. Most won't care so this will be fnie. The Apple homekit intgegration is a bit goofy but it works. Overally it is a solid product but far from perfect. I like the older Z-wave version of Zebra blinds much better but those are depracated.

 

[GTench]

@TheA2Z Thanks again for suggesting these. I have 7 of them installed now (Zwave) and 3 more on order (likely more in the future). The all paired easily on the first try with eisy. I set them up in 2 separate scenes - 4 in one scene and 3 in another because they are in separate rooms. They are automated based on sunrise and sunset and will go to 50% during the day if illumination is high based on data from my tempest weather station. They have so far worked flawlessly. Wife is very happy.

I ordered sample materials so that my wife could choose the fabric  and style she liked before I ordered them. I ordered mine from Amazon. I am in Canada and I discovered that this was a better price for me then I could get from the Smartwings web site which is in $US (after currency conversion). Smartwings said they could not match the Amazon price.

Gary

[TheA2Z]

@GTench Glad to hear they are doing good and Wife is happy (ultimate approval) 

We are still very happy with the Smartwings shades.  All are up and working great.  Since the original charge, I am in high 70s% on battery life after 2 months, so tracking at about 10% reduction a month.  Dont know if it will maintain linear decrease. but figure it will last 8 to 10 months on a charge.

 

[JeffR]

I ordered a Smartwings full blackout shade yesterday as a trial. Based on this discussion it appears connection and control with the EISY will be smooth.  I bought a remote but probably won't need it with UD Mobile.  I'll report back on mine after I receive it, but these shades sound promising.

Customizations:

Create a New Custom Size

Mount Type : Outside Mount

Custom Order Width : 36"

Width Fraction : 1/2"

Custom Order Height : 47"

Height Fraction : 1/4"

Reconfirmation : 36 1/2" W x 47 1/4" H

Contact Information :

Motor Remote Power

Motor Type : Motor work with Z-wave

Smartwings Smart Link : Not Required

Remote Controller : 5-Channels Remote

Solar Panel : Not Required

Valance Cover : Cassette with Fabric Insert

[GTench]

@JeffR According to the manual, there appears to be 2 methods for Zwave pairing. One is using button press(es) on the shade and the other is using button presses on the remote once the remote is connected to the shade. I could not get the first method to work for me but perhaps I did something wrong or was just impatient. I always used the button presses on the remote and that always worked first time for me.

@TheA2Zjust curious but which method did you use?

Gary

[peterathans]

Another Smartwings shade question - we're remodeling our kitchen and I'd like to use these on our new windows.  I'll be using the hardwired version (since I currently have access inside the walls to run low voltage cables).

I'm also using a Polisy with a Zmatter board, and currently have some Zwave devices but no Zigbee devices.

The question is, which interface should I purchase for the new shades?  I've been happy with my other Zwave devices so far and will use the same interface for the shades, unless there's a compelling reason to use Zigbee instead.

[tlightne]

I would stick to Zwave. The more devices you have the better the network.