I used to think that automating curtains and blinds was an absolute gimmick.
But then I was sitting in the lounge room one evening as the sun was setting and my
automation to start fading on the lights kicked in.
I found myself thinking - wouldn’t it be great if my curtains and blinds closed automatically
at the same time?
It is great….
It’s not a gimmick.
In this video I’ll show you how you can automate opening your existing blinds with
this Zemismart Zigbee Blind Controller and your curtains with this Switchbot smart curtain
controller.
I’ve been using these for a few weeks now so I will share the pros and cons that I’ve
experienced and finally I’ll show you how you can connect these into your Home Assistant
and show you how I’ve made some of my favourite automations.
Let’s start with the Zemismart Zigbee Blind controller.
This is simply a white-labelled Tuya blind controller which means you can find dozens
of different brand names rebadging the exact same looking product.
I’ve not used any of these other brands, but I am sure they look, behave and function
the exact same way.
This model is designed for the roller blinds I have that are opened and closed with a chain,
but there are many different types of controllers out there for different types of blinds including
Venetian and vertical blinds.
I paid 60 US dollars for the controller and in the box I received the curtain motor, a
charging cable, mounting screws and a few different gears that you can swap in and out
to work with the type of chain that you have on your blind.
I had a plastic chain on my blind originally and it didn’t work well with any of the
attachments, so I replaced the chain with this infinite metal loop chain that I bought
on Amazon.
It’s worked flawlessly since then.
This device has some really cool features.
Firstly, it’s really simple to install.
You just find the attachment that works best with your blind, find a good position to mount
it and I stuck it to the wall with double-sided tape.
Secondly, it has a rechargeable battery which means you don’t need any wires permanently
attached to your window frame.
I’ve been using this for a couple of months already on a single charge.
When it does come time to charge it up you can just plug the included cable into the
bottom and charge it with a USB charger, then pack it away once it’s full.
Thirdly, it uses Zigbee which means all the communication remains local in my house, I
don’t need any cloud accounts, I can connect it directly to Home Assistant and it responds
instantly when I ask it to open or close.
The device has some bad points too.
Firstly, the instruction manual is absolute garbage.
It took me a long time to figure out how to calibrate the motor so it knew where the top
and bottom positions were.
Secondly, it’s quite a bulky and looks ugly on the window frame.
I get that it needs to house a motor and a long lasting battery, but I would prefer it
to be nicer looking.
You might be able to hide it behind the blind, but that only works when it is closed.
Thirdly, it only really works when you can mount it parallel to the chain like this.
If you try and mount it sideways, which I would have for these windows here, it doesn’t
work at all and keeps slipping and getting caught up in itself - which is quite a shame.
Overall, it’s a pretty decent device and I would recommend it if you want to motorise
existing blinds that you already have in your home.
This is perfect for me as I’m renting this house, but if I owned my own house I’d probably
spend a little extra and buy new blinds that had the motor physically within the roller
itself so it looked nicer.
Adding it to Home Assistant is as simple as adding any other Zigbee device, you just have
to pair them together.
I use Zigbee2MQTT and it was immediately detected as a cover device.
In Home Assistant curtains, blinds and garage doors are considered covers because they cover
the window… or car hole.
I’ve also tested it with ZHA and it worked with that integration as well.
Cover devices can be controlled in Home Assistant with the two up and down buttons, which raise
and lower the blind, and then you can set a specific position between 0 and 100.
100 is fully opened, 0 is fully closed and 50 is half way.
I’ll show you how to use the blinds in Home Assistant automation in a couple of minutes,
but first let’s take a look at the SwitchBot curtain controller.
SwitchBot were kind enough to send me this curtain opener free of charge to test out
on my channel - thank you SwitchBot.
This model is designed for a curtain mounted on a curtain rod, but they also have versions
for U-Rai and I-Rail curtains as well.
At the time of recording they cost £65 - which is about 90 US dollars.
In the box you get the curtain motor itself, a wide range of clips, stickers and tape that
help you adjust the curtain so that it opens and closes smoothly, and a USB charging cable.
I’ve only been using this for a couple of weeks right now, but it has some great features.
Firstly, it’s really easy to install.
The instruction manual is really clear and the app has a setup wizard that made calibration
a breeze.
Once you pair it with the app it asks you some questions about the type of curtain that
you have, and guides you through the setup and calibration process.
Once it’s finished you can start using it immediately.
It is also hidden out of sight behind the curtain itself, so it’s not an eyesore like
the blind motor.
Secondly, it’s battery-powered and rechargeable, so there are no cables that need to be run.
If you need to charge it up, you can just unclip it from the curtain rod and plug it
in for a few hours.
For an extra £20, or 30 US Dollars, you can buy this solar panel attachment that can be
attached to the back of the device and charges the battery from the sun.
That’s super cool.
Thirdly, it has a great feature where if you pull on the curtain to close it manually,
it will detect this and finish the job for you.
The problem with the smart blind motor earlier is that you have to use the motor to control
it which makes it annoying for visitors or guests who are used to doing these things
the old fashioned way.
This feature on the curtain motor is a really nice touch.
There are a few things that could be improved on it though.
Firstly, it’s slow to respond when you ask the app or your favourite voice assistant
to close the curtains.
I counted a 10 second delay between asking it to close and it actually moving the curtain.
It’s not really a problem if you’re using it for automations that are triggered by time
or specific events, but it’s really obvious when you click the app to open the curtain
and just sit there staring at it doing nothing for 10 seconds.
Secondly, you need to create a SwitchBot account to add a device to the app.
I prefer to own devices that do not need a cloud account or internet connection to work.
But once it’s added to the app and calibrated, the curtain can be controlled using Bluetooth
Low Energy so there is local control available.
It can also be controlled remotely if you buy an extra SwitchBot Mini Hub.
Thirdly, it’s not that powerful.
It can be a bit squeaky and whiney if it’s struggling to move a big heavy curtain.
I was really disappointed with it when I first installed it as it could barely open the curtain.
Then I actually read the instruction booklet and realised that all those clips and tape
that were in the box were designed to reduce the friction from the curtain and once I properly
installed them it opens a lot smoother and struggles less.
Overall, it’s a really good device and I would recommend it if you want to motorise
curtains in your house.
It’s really discrete as it hides behind the curtain itself and doesn’t require you
to make any modifications to the curtain rod or anything else.
Which again is perfect for me as I’m renting this house
Adding it to Home Assistant was really easy as there is a native SwitchBot integration.
The integration requires you to have a working Bluetooth radio connected to Home Assistant,
but if you’re running Home Assistant on a Rasberry Pi, Home Assistant Blue or Amber,
then you’ve likely already got one of those.
If not, you can purchase a USB Bluetooth adaptor for about £10.
Also be aware that whilst Bluetooth has a theoretical range of 100m, this will be reduced
by walls or other things in your house so your curtains can’t be too far away from
your Home Assistant.
On the plus side, the reliance on Bluetooth means that you can open and close your curtains
without relying on the cloud or internet.
To add the curtain controller to Home Assistant, add the SwitchBot integration and it will
scan for any devices nearby.
This will then show you the BlueTooth mac addresses of any devices that it finds.
Give the device a name and leave the password field blank, unless you’ve set a password
on the bot itself.
This will add the device to your Home Assistant and create the right entities.
You can see here that it has also been added as a cover entity and works exactly the same
was as the blind motors I showed you before.
So now we have automated curtains and automated blinds.
What can we do with them?
You can always use the app, or voice assistant to open and close the blinds.
This is really useful if you have reduced mobility or if you’re just lazy like me
and want to open the blinds without getting out of bed.
I’ve also paired this Hue Dimmer Switch with Home Assistant and stuck it to the wall
next to the bed.
When I press the up button, it opens the blind.
When I press down, it closes the blind.
And when I press off, it stops opening or closing the blind.
This is done with a home assistant automation that has multiple triggers, one for each of
the buttons I am using, each one with their own triggerID.
The action then uses a Chooser that looks at which button was pressed based on the TriggerID
and calls the cover.open, cover.close or cover.stop service accordingly.
If you want more information about this automation, or any of the other automations that I talk
about in this video, then check out the blog post that I’ve linked in the description
below.
I create a blog post for every automation video that I produce with detailed information
so you can recreate the automations in your own smart home without having to constantly
pause and restart the video.
I’ve now added the curtains and blinds to my various sunset and morning automations
as well.
Each evening, 10 minutes before the sun is due to set, I have an automation that closes
the bedroom blinds and, if we’re home, turns on a light behind the bed.
The automation is triggered by the Sun trigger, with a minus 10 minute offset.
I use a device action to set the blind position to 0, which is fully closed.
A condition action then checks to see if we’re home or not, and if we are, calls the light.turn
on service to fade the lights on over 10 seconds to 80 percent brightness.
There’s a similar automation that does this in the office as well, whilst turning the
desk lights on.
I also want some of the curtains and blinds to open in the morning, so that when I come
out into the living room or into the office they are already open.
This is a pretty simple automation that is triggered by a time trigger each morning at
7am.
I don’t have any conditions set for this, as I want the curtains to open and close regardless
of whether I am home or not.
This might improve home security as it helps it look like someone is home, even if we’re
on holidays.
The action then sets the position of both sides of the curtain to 100, which is fully
opened.
You could set a similar automation like this to get triggered for the bedroom blind to
slowly open up in the morning.
A lot of people don’t know this, but if you use your mobile phone as an alarm clock,
and have the Home Assistant mobile application installed, you can actually use the time of
your next alarm in Home Assistant.
Here’s an automation that is triggered by this complicated template sensor.
If you want more information about how this template sensor works, check out the blog
post I’ve linked in the description below.
The template sensor compares the current time with the time of the alarm.
If it’s 10 minutes past the time the alarm went off then this automation will trigger.
A condition makes sure that the automation only continues if I’m actually at home.
I don’t want the blinds randomly opening up if my partner is asleep at home and I’m
away on a business trip or holiday.
That would not go down well.
The action of the automation opens the blind a quarter of the way and waits for 10 more
minutes before opening the blind to half way.
This way natural light starts flowing into the house, making it easier to wake up in
the morning.
You could use this automation to also start playing your favourite music on the bedroom
speaker or anything that you want to happen as part of your morning routine - but that
is the topic of another video.
My final automation closes the curtains in the living room when the TV is turned on.
This is because the glare from the sun makes it really hard to see the TV during the day.
If I turn the TV on at night then the curtains should already be closed, so it won’t do
anything.
This one is another simple automation that is triggered when the living room TV goes
from the off state to the on state.
I’m able to detect this as I have an LG TV that is connected directly to Home Assistant,
so I can easily detect this.
If you want more information about this, I did a whole video about my TV integration
and automations, which I’ve linked in the description below.
The automation then simply fully closes both the curtains.
I’ve been using these devices and automations for a few weeks now and I have to say, I no
longer think they are a gimmick.
There’s just something magical about it getting dark outside and having the house
automatically respond to that by closing the blinds and turning on the lights without any
intervention from you.
Home automation, when done well, feels really natural.
If you want to live in a magical house like me, then you should check out these other
videos I made about the home automations I use.
If you found this video useful, then please give it a thumbs up to let me know.
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