Opportunities for Roller Shutters

[cplpro227 (Dominik Ramb)]

Hello @ all!

I’ve started my smart home with Mi Light LEDs but now I want to expand my home controlls.
Because I don’t have KNX, is there any opportunity to control my roller shutters? Maybe a simple method?

Is there an opportunity that is not as expensive as KNX?

Thanks a lot in advance!

Best regards,
Dominik

[Brain0verflow (Christian)]

Hi Dominik,

take a look at this https://www.fibaro.com/en/products/roller-shutter/
You also need a zwave controller for this actor.

[cplpro227 (Dominik Ramb)]

Hi Christian,

thanks for your quick reply.
I checked that out and it seems very good.

Can I use the Fibaro although I am using simple roller shutter controls?
How do I connect that Fibaro with my roller shutter and which
ZWave Controller do you recommend?

Best regards,
Dominik

[Yann]

Here’s another one: http://qubino.com/products/flush-shutter/

[cplpro227 (Dominik Ramb)]

@Yann

Thanks a lot!
I see there are lot of solutions with Z-Wave technology.

Can I also use my standard roller shutter controls when I connect it to the actors?
Sorry, I am really beginner that way!

Which Z-Wave Bridge can you recommend?

[Yann]

I am new as you, I only saw the Qubino webpage here, so I though this might be interesting for you

[cplpro227 (Dominik Ramb)]

Ok

Yes, I think this solution works like the Fibaro Actor.
I have to check out where I can buy it the best way (Germany) and then I just need a
Z-Wave Bridge (Controller)… I hope somebody can recommend a controller for me.

[Yann]

This might help:

Which hardware for roller shutters?

Hi there, I’ve just started with openhab and already connected my Hue lamps as well as my Sonos speakers successfully. I’m now keen to expand my hardware, but am wondering how to best control my roller shutters. Unfortunately, I cannot easily access the shutters themselves easily without destroying my walls, so I thought about placing the hardware into the switches (similar to what can be done with light switches). To me, it seemed as if Homematic/EQ3 products were working very well with OH, an…

[LarsK]

I use 16 Homematic actors (HM-LC-BI1PBU-FM). If you live in one of the markets were they are sold, I can strongly recommend them.

[cplpro227 (Dominik Ramb)]

Thank you, @LarsK …
How are the Homematic Actors working?

Install them as Switch like the simple Roller Shutter Controls and then I need a Homematic Bridge?

How would openHAB control my roller shutter? Time in seconds how long it takes to close / open?

Best Regards,
Dominik

[phate (David Schulz)]

@cplpro227: I meanwhile have a Z-Wave network up&running with OH1 using (as of now) 3 Fibaro FGRM-222 roller shutter actors in my flush sockets. I live in Germany as well in a house from 1950. The server is located in the basement and is equipped with a Aeonlabs Z-Wave USB stick as a controller. On the ground floor floor, there are 2 smart sockets (if you know, what I mean ) by Aeonlabs installed before washingmachine and dryer and in the 1st floor, there’s a roller shutter installed in my daughter’s room. There are some more Z-Wave devices active that are not wired (smoke sensor, heating thermostat, multi sensor, door/window sensors, etc. pp.), but as the wired devices build up a mesh network, these are most interesting.
I can confirm that the devices provide a very stable RF connection and so far, I’ve not yet had any single incident with a device being unreachable. I’ve had to change my wall switches to push buttons though in order to stay on the save side - I’ve had the wiring done by an electrician and everything worked out like a charm. With one exception:

One of the three FGRM-222 carries an additional “v2 5” on the packaging and I’ve not yet been able to include this actor via HABMin. It works fine with the push button switch, but HABMin just can’t find it at all. I’ve tried including it while moving the roller shutters up & down, tried it was described in the manual (removing power consumption from the actor, putting controller into include mode and than serving actor with power), I’ve tried changing the zwave binding jar, restarting OH couple of times - Nothing. As far as I’ve read, those v2 actors should as well be supported by the binding, so maybe it’s just that my actor is broken. I’ve ran out of ideas here - Any suggestions are appreciated. Other than that: Be aware of v2

[LarsK]

@cplpro227
You need either a CCU (central unit of the Homematic world) or you have to install homegear (e.g. on a raspberry) and use a homematic usb stick or a Lan adapter.
The most Homematic devices do have internal timers. You just configure the time the rollershutter needs from completely closed to completely open and vice versa. After this you can even set the rollershutter to a wanted level (e.g. 30%). This is very helpful if you are interested to build an automatic shadowing (using the azimuth provided by the astro binding).

[cplpro227 (Dominik Ramb)]

@LarsK
That sounds nice…
That CCU is an expensive central unit.

Do you know If the USB Stick works with a Synology NAS?
My openHAB is running on the NAS right now, but maybe I want to switch to Raspberry.

[LarsK]

Sorry I don’t know if this would work with a Synology NAS.
The CCU2 is just 99€. Not really expensive for a central unit. The benefit of it is the low learning curve when it comes to bind the actors to the unit.
The benefit of homegear on the other hand is the flexibility and the possibility to have it on the same device as OpenHab (e.g. the raspberry).

[cplpro227 (Dominik Ramb)]

@LarsK

How many devices / actors can I connect to CCU2?
Unlimited?

[LarsK]

Theoretically it’s unlimited. But as the system is using a free but regulated frequency, each sending device has to take care of the duty cycle. As the central device will have to handle all the communication with all other devices, it will sooner or later deal with it. In such cases the LAN adapters can be used.
I guess 100 devices should be possible just with the CCU or the USB stick.

[cplpro227 (Dominik Ramb)]

Ok, 100 devices is enough!
I hope I can test it as fast as possible.

I can’t decide between Homematic oder Z-Wave?
Do anyone has experience with both methods?

[LarsK]

Well. I have both. Zwave and Homematic. But just Homematic rollershutters (as during the time I was buying them there was no real zwave alternative).
The benefit of zwave is for sure the concept of the meshed network (non-battery devices do route the traffic if a device is hard to reach from your central point).
On the other hand, it seems kind of still proprietary when it comes to firmware updates of actors. One of the things that is quite easy in the homematic world (especially with the ccu).

[cplpro227 (Dominik Ramb)]

Ok …
You wrote about non-battery devices with Z-Wave… But Homematic don’t need a battery?

I easily replace the old flush socket with the new Homematic roller shutter flush socket?

I think, the CCU and Homematic could be the best solution for me… last question:
Is it right that the CCU brings a specific UI for all my connected Homematic devices? Here I can easily change the settings and update the firmware?

Thanks a lot for your help, @LarsK!

[phate (David Schulz)]

short update: The reason for the problem with FGRM-222 v2 was the guy sitting in front of the monitor who was apperently unable to perform a proper inclusion it’s now working just perfect.