Recent Posts

21

Tubular Motors: General Discussion / Replacement Drive Adapter

« Last post by AlanRW on February 04, 2018, 03:51:28 AM »

I am trying to get hold of three 25mm (1inch) drive adapters. Does anyone know where I can get them from?

22

Choosing a home automation system / Re: Controlling multiple motors independently

« Last post by homeblinds on December 11, 2017, 08:22:05 PM »

Thanks!

Meanwhile I plan to build a WIFI-RF bridge (similar to opennethome/jeelink combination) and a SmartThings app. This bridge will live on local home LAN, and the SmartThings app will talk to this bridge and control the blinds. Will keep you posted on the progress.

Part of the puzzle is to decode/understand the RF protocol between the remote and motor (will start a separate thread for that).

Thanks again for your response!
Abi

23

Choosing a home automation system / Re: Controlling multiple motors independently

« Last post by admin on December 08, 2017, 12:23:39 PM »

Hello, there's no question that z-wave is an expensive solution if you want individual control of the blind motors. Most z-wave users use it to control a group of shades, and use the remote for individual control.

Our BroadLink smart hub system is a very inexpensive solution if you need individual control; please see the application link here:

http://rollertrol.com/blind-motor-phone-app-introduction

I realize you are already using SmartThings, so I will check and see if anyone has made a bridging app between the two platforms.

Regards, Adrian

24

Choosing a home automation system / Controlling multiple motors independently

« Last post by homeblinds on December 07, 2017, 09:49:51 PM »

Hi,

I have 4 (and planning for 3 more) G series motors+blinds. All of them working well with the provided remote.

I also bought the RF transmitter and z-wave trigger module shown here:
http://rollertrol.com/store/en/all/253-zwave-group-control-starter-kit-for-blinds-and-shades.html

Got this working with SmartThings w/ z-wave device type being "Aeon Motor Controller":
https://github.com/bravenel/SmartThings/blob/master/Aeon%20Motor%20Controller

While doing the Z-Wave/SmartThings integration, I realized that the Z-Wave device can only represent ONE channel, and hence one motor (in my setup, as I do want all the motors on different channels, and do not want to group these). This is *severely* limiting my home automation setup Sigh. It seems I need to buy 1 pair of (RF transmitter+Z-Wave trigger module) for EACH of my motors, for independent control. That will be a pretty expensive setup!

I was hoping to tap into the collective wisdom of this list, to come up with a cheaper way to multiplex and control N motors independently.

Any suggestions/ideas?

Thanks in advance!
Abi

ps: fwiw I am fairly hands-on with soft/hardware, so open to any DIY solutions (it just needs to be order of magnitude cheaper than the present alternative of buying N transmitter+z-wave triggers :-)

25

Tubular Motors: General Discussion / Re: Tubular dc motor with battery and panel

« Last post by admin on November 27, 2017, 12:31:03 PM »

Hello, is this a unit you purchased from us? If so please contact us directly so we can look up your order history in our database system to see exactly what you have:

http://rollertrol.com/contact-us

Regards, Adrian

Adrian Biffen
Systems Administrator
RollerTrol Automation Systems

26

Tubular Motors: General Discussion / Tubular dc motor with battery and panel

« Last post by Wankel on November 27, 2017, 10:55:52 AM »

Hi. I have a problem with a tubular dc motor with battery inside. It walk a few cms and stop, other comand to walk and other ten cms and stop. When run a few times it run perfectly and with a lot of speed. It ocurrs when motor is stopped much time. It chargued by a solar power panel. Thanks

27

Tubular Motors: General Discussion / Re: Existing mounting bracket compatibility

« Last post by GlennR on November 21, 2017, 11:51:09 AM »

I had to trim the tab that slides into the center of the motor to make it narrower and I used a rotary tool with a cutting wheel for that. The modified bracket worked well.

28

Tubular Motors: General Discussion / Re: Existing mounting bracket compatibility

« Last post by Boman on November 20, 2017, 09:44:36 AM »

Hi, I would not expect those brackets to be perfectly compatible with our motors. You may have to drill a few holes and mount our (smaller) brackets inside of those. I would suggest you wait until you have everything at hand to decide the best approach.

Regards, Adrian

I'd be so interested to hear how it went.

29

Choosing a home automation system / Re: Controlling Blind Remotely

« Last post by admin on September 20, 2017, 04:57:17 AM »

Hello @lcsmith62, thanks for your posting.

The feedback we have from our Insteon clients is that the best way to control our blind motors is to use our z-wave control kit:

http://rollertrol.com/store/en/all/253-zwave-group-control-starter-kit-for-blinds-and-shades.html

This would assume that you have whatever Insteon module is required for it to control devices using z-wave.

With regards to Alexa, we're not sure if Insteon has provided the ability to interface with that type of voice control.

We know that it can work with Home Assistant (HASS) running on a Raspberry Pi.

Regards, Adrian

30

Choosing a home automation system / Controlling Blind Remotely

« Last post by lcsmith62 on September 19, 2017, 05:37:14 PM »

I would like to be able to make my roller blinds go up and down when I am away from home.  I have cats and they want the windows unobstructed.  So, if I forget to raise the blinds when I am on the road, I want to be able to.
I have an Insteon Home automation hub, and a broadlink zapper.  I also have an Amazon Echo.  I haven't hooked it up to the roller blind yet, but plan to.
Do I need to get another piece of equipment/software to accomplish my goal?  If not, how do I hook up what I've got to do it.
Appreciate any help you guys can offer.