Velux interface? Home Assistant has it

[smorgasbord]

New roof forced me to replace my Velux skylights, so now I have to deal with the new interfaces Velux supports. There appear to be two options:

1) Get an KLF 200 and use contact closure. At a discounted $225 for 5 things (skylight with shade is 2 things), that gets expensive quickly.

2) Support the io-homecontrol interface. This is apparently supported via Home Assistant, but I use eisy instead. Has anyone taken this up? I couldn't find in in Polyglot.

[IndyMike]

No experience with Velux or the interfaces.  However, a post on the HA forum indicates that the KLF 200 can handle far more than 5 devices.  I'd say clarification from the manufacturer would be in order:

VELUX America LLC 1-800-88-VELUX

https://community.home-assistant.io/t/how-to-control-io-homecontrol-velux-devices-blinds-somfy/88917/3

Please do post back with anything you learn.  Others will have the same questions.

[smorgasbord]

I did call Velux and luckily got the most knowledgable tech support person there, who begrudgingly sent me the KLF interface document (KLF API technical specification for klf 200 api-ver3-18.pdf).  I could upload that here, if anyone wants to take a look (warning: using it is not supported by Velux, so don't expect any help on it). It's got a mix of easy stuff like using the reset buttons, and then the Cat-5 connection for things, too.

My problem is that there are a limited number of "pockets" for holding keys in each skylight or blind, and there aren't enough pockets to have the simple remote that ships with the skylight AND the App Gateway AND the KLF200 contact driven Gateway. So, to use the KLF200 I have to reset the skylights and not use Velux's App anymore.

So, at this point my best solution might be to not use the KLF200 and instead use the Velux App and then connect that to Apple's HomeKit. If I do that, can I send/receive HomeKit messages to/from my EISY? Does that makes sense?

 

[smorgasbord]

On 8/11/2025 at 8:08 AM, IndyMike said:

However, a post on the HA forum indicates that the KLF 200 can handle far more than 5 devices.  I'd say clarification from the manufacturer would be in order

The KLF200 can handle only 5 devices/scenes/groups that require up/down or open/close control. There are only 10 input contact closure wires after all. The default is that when you pair a skylight, one wire opens and the next wire closes it. So with 10 wires that gets you to 5.

Now, instead of controlling a single device, there is the concept of groups. You can program a single Velux remote (KLI) to control multiple skylights or multiple shades. One set of KLF200 wires can control that whole group as well, but not the items in that group independently.

[smorgasbord]

Follow-up to my own post - I got the KLF200 to work. On the web configuration, there's a page where you can assign product(s) to input wires:

You can't see it here, but on the 5/6 input pair I've got two window openers controlled (would have to click the wheel to see and change that). 

But, there's also a "Channel" selector. By default, it's using Channel 3, which is "normal operation," but it looks like I could select 4,5,6,or 7 to get different operation behaviors. That might be a way to have more than 5 controls, but it wouldn't be useful for most things as if you can open a skylight you'd also want to be able to close it.

Anyway, I can now use relays in Eisy (Insteon or whatever) to open/close my skylights.

 

 

[IndyMike]

14 hours ago, smorgasbord said:

The KLF200 can handle only 5 devices/scenes/groups that require up/down or open/close control. There are only 10 input contact closure wires after all. The default is that when you pair a skylight, one wire opens and the next wire closes it. So with 10 wires that gets you to 5.

Now, instead of controlling a single device, there is the concept of groups. You can program a single Velux remote (KLI) to control multiple skylights or multiple shades. One set of KLF200 wires can control that whole group as well, but not the items in that group independently.

@smorgasboard, thanks for posting back with your findings.  Sounds like you have found a path for controlling some of your skylights.

My understanding is that Velux/Somfy use a closed RF protocol to interface their skylights/shades.  The KLF-200 can speak this protocol and connect to MANY (200?) motors.  You are correct that the KLF-200 is limited in the number of switch INPUTs that can be used to control the skylights.  

The value of the KLF interface is it's ability to communicate with other controllers (HA/EISY) that can operate the skylight(s) through it's API.  

That's my understanding anyway.  If it's incorrect, please post back.

https://community.home-assistant.io/t/velux-klf-200-pairing-with-somfy-io-motors-and-remotes/248075/14

[smorgasbord]

2 hours ago, IndyMike said:

My understanding is that Velux/Somfy use a closed RF protocol to interface their skylights/shades.  The KLF-200 can speak this protocol and connect to MANY (200?) motors.  You are correct that the KLF-200 is limited in the number of switch INPUTs that can be used to control the skylights.  

The value of the KLF interface is it's ability to communicate with other controllers (HA/EISY) that can operate the skylight(s) through it's API.  

That's correct.

For me, I don't have Home Assistant set up - I use EISY (with my old LiteTouch system for lighting) exclusively. So, this would mean learning yet another system (Home Assistant), figuring out what hardware to buy, load and set things up, and then integrate the KLF200. Certainly do-able, but I'm not looking forward to setting up a third home automation system in my home.

[IndyMike]

Got it.  Hope you're able to find someone to write a Plug-in.

[GTench]

On 8/14/2025 at 12:52 PM, smorgasbord said:

I did call Velux and luckily got the most knowledgable tech support person there, who begrudgingly sent me the KLF interface document (KLF API technical specification for klf 200 api-ver3-18.pdf).  I could upload that here, if anyone wants to take a look (warning: using it is not supported by Velux, so don't expect any help on it). It's got a mix of easy stuff like using the reset buttons, and then the Cat-5 connection for things, too.

@smorgasbordI have 3 Velux skylights myself. I would be curious to look at the pdf if you don't mind posting it

 

[smorgasbord]

OK, here's the KLF documentation.

KLF API technical specification for klf 200 api-ver3-18.pdf

[smorgasbord]

Just to expound a bit more. Velux now ships all skylights with remote-operated shades. So, when you get a skylight that also opens, you end up with two bulky square remotes - one for the skylight open/close and one for the shade up/down.

Now, you can buy a touchscreen remote from Velux that can be programmed to choose and control multiple items, BUT (and this is a big problem) the top-level menu is to choose Skylight Control or Shade Control.

So, if you're in a room and want to close the skylight AND lower the shade on that same skylight you've got a lot of clicking to do:

1) Select Skylights
2) Select the Group or Skylight
3) Close
4) Return to Main
5) Select Shades
6) Select the Group or Skylight (hopefully you created the same groups and/or renumbered the shades the same way)
7) Lower

I'd rather have a single Insteon I3 keypad with 4 buttons - top 2 for open/close, bottom 2 for raise/lower. That requires the internet interface to the KLF and some programming, which has been done for Home Assistant but not for EISY.

I've got 14 skylights, 8 of which open, so this is kind of a big deal for me.