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Roller blind motors in australia


nickmc

Question

Hi everyone,

 

Just wondering if anyone knows a good supplier of motors for roller blinds in australia, preferably melbourne. 

 

I have existing rollerblinds and wan to motorise them, preferably with solar power. 

 

So far, everyone i contact says i need to buy brand new blinds. 

 

Any help or recommendations would be great.

 

Cheers,

Nick

 

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Guest fat
24 minutes ago, nickmc said:

So far, everyone i contact says i need to buy brand new blinds. 

 

Depending on the size and type of the tubes you have your blinds made from you may have to buy new blinds or have them rolled into new tubes. 

 

Standard roller blindshave a tube that is too small for a motor to go into and they also don't always have the right grooves inside them for a motor to attach to

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Heya I have 32 automated battery radio blinds that I control from Fibaro through Domoticz and a RFXcom 433e.

 

I started purchasing Rollertrol from Canada about 4 years ago and they have and still are great have 12 of them.


Recently I have been getting Intro blinds from a supplier in Sydney and they work on AC114.. very reliable and they have all the adapters for my Luxaflex tubes.

R

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    Hey there @rgiddey

     

    Thanks for the reply. I am afraid it mostly went over my head! I am deally looking for something that can just work with HC2, without any extra software or setup :)

     

    Cheers

    31 minutes ago, rgiddey said:

    Heya I have 32 automated battery radio blinds that I control from Fibaro through Domoticz and a RFXcom 433e.

     

    I started purchasing Rollertrol from Canada about 4 years ago and they have and still are great have 12 of them.


    Recently I have been getting Intro blinds from a supplier in Sydney and they work on AC114.. very reliable and they have all the adapters for my Luxaflex tubes.

    R

     

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    Hey Nick, I did all the calculations for 5 blinds to get me started on this and ended up with 32 =)

     

    So when it comes to motorised blinds you have 2 options:

     

    1. Hardwired blinds that would need an electrician to install.

     

    Equipment required:

    - 240v Blind Motor for each blind

    - Fibaro Roller/Shutter

    Pro:

    - Fibaro Roller/Shutter shows in the app as a blind and is easy to use.

    Con:

    - Cost paying for motor, plus wiring, plus painting

    Cost estimate AU

    Blind Motor ($300) + Fibaro Roller/Shutter ($110) + electrician getting 240V power to motor + Painting as there will be holes everywhere - think about putting a powerpoint at the top of blind.

    So 5 Blinds = $2050 equipment +Electrician +painting etc - Easily a days work for sparky +800

    Total $2850

     

    2. Battery/Solar powered.

     

    Equipment required:

    - Wireless battery motor 

    - Remote control from motor manufacturer - They all operate on 433mhz

    - Device to replace the remote - RFXcom 433 Transmitter/Receiver (These are not infrared - the are RF - Radio Frequency)

    - Raspberry PI - Fibaro dont support a remote replacement (RFXcom) so it needs to be installed on a device that can be controlled from the Fiabro.

    Pro:

    - No electrician required

    - Solar Powered

    - Remote control as backup control

    - Much cheaper setup

    Con:

    - Need to run a second device to replicate/act as the remote control

    - Shows in Fibaro as a Virtual Device (really makes no difference when you start using scenes)

    Cost estimate AU

    Blind Motor with solar ($230) + Raspberry Pi ($100) + RFXcom ($150)

    So 5 Blinds = Equipment $1250 and you dont need to paint or get an electrician.

    Total $1250

     

    As you can see I did a lot of research and its absolutely amazing now, I have voice control through Amazon Echo Dot - Have 5 of them in the house... I can say "Alexa open Bedroom Level Blinds."

     

    Further I have all my blinds opening and stopping light scenes from turning on... my electricity bill has reduced by around $1200 a qtr just by automating all my lights and blinds.

    Cheers, Rich

     

     

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    Guest fat

    I didn't put power points above my blinds. I had the sparky drill a small hole just above the architraving and run the power cord up into the roof to wire in. It made it much neater that way

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    Sure what do you want? have 32 Blinds motorised in house.. let me know what you want to see and will take some snaps. Also have Somfy awnings 9metres x 4 Metres.. even have battery blinds running 12 3.3M blinds... that blew me away !!

     

    BTW only had awnings installed around 4 weeks ago... had scened setup to close when raining heavy... put a 1 instead of a 0 in Domoticz and they opened in rain had 15mm/hr in 10 mins collapsed...arrgghhh

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    Thanks @rgiddey

     

    Bad luck with the weather..

     

    It was more the installation of the motors and roller shutter modules

    Plus any pics of the solar aspects of the blinds .....

    Amy makes and model numbers would be great 

     

    Do you find the solar ones have enough power ? 

    5 hours ago, rgiddey said:

    battery blinds running 12 3.3M blinds..

     Also interested in how these are working and what make / model they are ? 

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  • Hi @rgiddey thanks so much for the detailed repsonse. I have been travelling and too busy to reply until now. 

     

    How difficult is the raspberry pi setup? I am attracted to the lower cost, but equally concerned about my limited (i.e. NONE) knowledge of raspberry pi and how that all works.

     

    I have been told that putting motors in my existing blinds might be tricky. Did you have yoru blinds made motorised from the start or did you retrofit? And where did you get the solar powered versions from?

     

    Thanks for all your help - it's really appreciated. 

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    Hi @nickmc

     

    for the raspberry setup, I uploaded a brief manual last year. The setup is quite simple, have a look at the manaul. If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer.

    I have this setup running now for 1 1/2 year, no issue at all. Can control all my Somfy blinds through a VD from my HC2.

     

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    Hi @Nickmc

     

    I uploaded this document a while ago, but here it is again.

     

     

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    One additional remark: only the Somfy RTS motors can be controlled this way.

    Somfy also has motors controlled by i/o-control protocol, but as far as I know no one has cracked this protocol yet. 

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  • Tanks for all your help guys!

     

    I have done a bit of research and I think the Raspberry PI is a bit beyond me.

     

    Is there somewhere you can buy them all setup for this kind of setup?

     

    Are any of you in Australia and willing to help me get it working? @rgiddey where in Aus are you?

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    On 8/19/2017 at 10:19 PM, rgiddey said:

    Sure what do you want? have 32 Blinds motorised in house.. let me know what you want to see and will take some snaps. Also have Somfy awnings 9metres x 4 Metres.. even have battery blinds running 12 3.3M blinds... that blew me away !!

     

    BTW only had awnings installed around 4 weeks ago... had scened setup to close when raining heavy... put a 1 instead of a 0 in Domoticz and they opened in rain had 15mm/hr in 10 mins collapsed...arrgghhh

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    Hi Ridley,  Did you end up with the hard wired version?  I'm doiing a hous eand keen to see what switch you used for the hardwired blinds.

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