Tubular Motor Comparison Table: Select Size

RollerTrol™ Tubular Motor Selection Guide

Bulletin - 3 Levels of Blind, Shade, & Window Control

remote control blinds, shades, window/skylight openers Level 1 - RollerTrol™ Simple Remote Controls: We designed our system so that you can start out with our simple wall mount and hand held remotes for our shade/blind motors and skylight/window openers, then upgrade later to a more advanced system. Your investment is preserved as any remotes you purchase will still work, even if you upgrade to level 2 or 3 later. The remote control signals will be 'learned' and used by the higher levels of automation (see our blind & shade automation guide).

Level 2 - BroadLink^® RF-IR Blaster Automation Hub: See our affordable blind and shade hub, operated by Android and IOS apps. This RF-IR blaster hub can learn RF radio signals for our blind motors and skylight/window openers and IR learning for TV. Convert old phones and tablets into WiFi home automation controllers! You can also add support for voice control systems such as Alexa^® and Google Home^®.

Level 3 - Z-WAVE^® Blind Automation: This protocol is often used in home automation systems. We have a Z-Wave interface for roller shade and blind motors, and Z-Wave control of our skylight and window opener systems. You can also use Alexa^® and Google Home^®.

Mermet^® Custom Shades: For those of you wanting a more complete solution, we are also offering high quality shade and blind fabrics from Mermet^®, mounted on standard tubing. Our motors just slide in and lock in place - no fuss no muss! Please check our Custom Blinds and Shades website for info.

Our high quality RollerTrol™ DC tubular motors with state-of-the-art remote control systems are precision engineered to exacting standards.

These motors are perfect for making custom remote control window blinds and shades, skylight shades, projector screens, awnings, banners, conveyers or any application where you need a rotating tube.

We hope the following information and specifications will help you make the right choice when selecting a motor size, but please feel free to contact us at any time if you have any questions.

The most important factors when choosing the right motor for blinds or other applications are power requirements, drive size, lift capacity, and control options:

Input Voltage: All our DC motors operate on safe 12v DC. You can operate them from a large RV 12v battery with a trickle charger (makes a great UPS), or use our 12v AC/DC adapters. We also have motors with built-in batteries that require no wiring at all.

Drive size: 18mm adapters fit 1" (25mm) OD tube, 35mm adapters fit 1.5" (38 mm) OD tube, 36mm adapters fit 1.75" (45 mm) OD tube (Please note: wall thickness on tubing varies; please check inside diameter to see if drive wheel fits inside)

Lift capacities: Mini Series: 4 lb (1.8 kg), Standard Series: 6 lb (2.7 kg) and 12 lb (5.5 kg)

Control options:

1. Blind and shade motors with built-in radio, using our multi-channel remotes. You can later expand your system with our BroadLink^® control system, allowing you to control your blinds (and other devices) with phone or tablet PC.

2. Blind & shade motors, and skylight/window openers with no built-in radio, using our external receiver, or your own system

Tubular Motor Comparison Matrix: (*key specifications in yellow)

Part Number	Radio	Lift lb/kg	Drive OD in/mm	Typical Tube OD in/mm	Torque Nm	RPM	Volts	Idle Current (mA)	Max Load (mA)
Standard Series - With Internal Battery (25mm housing diameter)
TMKP-1-RB	Y	12/5.5	1.37/35	1.5/38	1.5	32	12	0.07	1500
Standard Series: (25mm housing diameter)
TMDP-12-25-15-32-R	Y	12/5.5	1.37/35	1.5/38	1.5	32	12	0.07	1500
TMDB-12-25-7-28-NR	N	12/5.5	1.37/35	1.5/38	1.5	28	12	0	1500
HEAVY DUTY MAXI Series: (35mm housing diameter)
TMDP-12-35-45-9-R	Y	45/20	2.4/60	2.5/64	10	9	12	0.07	4000
TMDG-12-35-45-9-NR	N	45/20	2.4/60	2.5/64	10	9	12	0	4000

Making the Right Choice:

The first step is to calculate the weight of your intended load. If your application is for shades, blinds, screens or any other project that uses fabric or some type of material on a roller tube, you may first want to read our article about how to calculate blind or shade material weight. Note that the length or weight of the roller tube has little effect on the motor requirements, but the diameter of your tube and the fabric or load weight does.

The lift capacity ratings do not include the weight of the tube as it is not being lifted, only rotated. The maximum load on the motor occurs when the shade is in the down position and the retraction is started. As the shade rolls up, the load decreases.

The motors have built-in "smart" load sensing circuitry on the internal motherboard and will simply stop if you exceed the lift capability. They will not be harmed.

Also, our specifications are conservative as we measure them by lifting a dead weight all the way up, which is not what happens when a shade is retracted (as previously mentioned above, the load is reduced as the shade retracts).

The motors also have a momentary torque "burst" at startup that allows them to momentarily lift more than the rated lift capacity. The load rating is "continuous lift capability".

Once you have an idea of your load requirements and tube size, use the table above to select the right motor (mouse over the table cells for explanation of a particular parameter). You can also see more detailed information and further comparison information by clicking on the model number of the motor in the table. This will take you to the appropriate page in our tubular motor and automation product catalog.

We sincerely hope you enjoy using these advanced tubular motors; if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at any time!