somfy rts vs zigbee getting started

[compact tusk]

hey all, looking at starting to replace blinds and I want local control. Somfy looks good as far as what is available here in Australia. Doing my research, if I go RTS, I need a bridge (I already have another brand 433MHz bridge but I find these things very proprietary and can't use for other things)... this also gives cloud access which I do not want, wasted functionality. The zigbee models are harder to find, but as I already have zigbee functionality in HA with the skyconnect chip
So my thoughts
Go RTS, there are tinkering projects that I can build that can bridge directly to HA but more effort and im' a bit time poor... but if I must.
Wait and find zigbee models, I don't need a bridge, simpler and more 'turnkey" integration by just adopting them as a native zigbee device.

Any advice? Thoughts? Corrections?

[solid agate]

no experience with blinds yet, but i have been looking at ikea's as they are zigbee

[compact tusk]

Thanks, i found this out and looked there earlier too. Unfortunately I have 8ft ceilings and floor to ceiling windows. 1.95M drop blinds from Ikea doesn't reach the floor 😦 thanks for the alternative though, always like alternatives

[solid agate]

that's not nordic enough for ikea i guess 😄

[compact tusk]

hahah No I guess not!

[compact tusk]

Hmmm is the somfy zigbee models brand new or something? Surprising.

Or is it just brand new for us aussies.

[drifting hull]

I have Somfy RTS blinds and use this with Home Assistant: https://github.com/rstrouse/ESPSomfy-RTS

Build is pretty simple and it’s a fraction of the cost of a hub.

[compact tusk]

Thanks, I ended up telling the blinds company that I dind't want RTS and that i'll keep waiting for zigbee models to come out. In the meantime, this project may be nice if I decide to replace my motionblinds hub... see if I can remove cloud access for those things.

[mint forge]

Curious how your Somfy control is going 4 months later? I'm trying to decide between Bond Bridge and ESPSomfy-RTS-HA:
https://community.home-assistant.io/t/integrating-somfy-rts-shades/506434/50?u=mabee_steve

I can't really determine which is the better option. Bond Bridge is $$$ but also has POE so I can put it somewhere neat and convenient. On the other hand, I've come across multiple enthusiastic posts about ESPSomfy-RTS-HA. Is ESPSomfy-RTS-HA working great.

[drifting hull]

I’ve been using it for almost two years now. Works great.

There are some PoE ESP32 devices you could use as your base.

[mint forge]

Thanks for the reply. Good to know it's working well. I'm not really seeing a reason to prefer the Bond Bridge at this point. I'm going to read up on what it takes to get ESPSomfy-RTS-HA up and running.

This looks like a great project and the WIKI is awesome:
https://github.com/rstrouse/ESPSomfy-RTS/wiki/Simple-ESPSomfy-RTS-device#wired-etherned

[mint forge]

Can you share which CC1101 transceiver you're using?

[drifting hull]

Yep! I originally bought some other one but ran into issues. Ended up buying this and it has worked great:

CC1101 433MHz rf Module... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09CTRYV4L?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Coupled it with this antenna: 1PC 433Mhz 3dbi Omni Antenna SMA... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072Q7319V?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

[mint forge]

Thank you! I'm going to do it. It's a little more DIY than I have time for, but I'll just need to make the time because it sounds fun.

One last question (famous last words): Are you able to set percentages for shade openings in your automations? For example, let's say you wanted to slowly lower shades over a 3 hour period with an adjustment every 15 minutes. Twelve total adjustments - can you craft an automation that will lower the shades ~8% every 15 minutes? I believe the shades are stateless and don't have an encoder and thus don't know where they are, but thought maybe a time based approach would be effective (calculate position based on shade RPM, etc.)

[drifting hull]

Yep! It has a configuration where you time the open and close so it can control percentage based on timings.

Another nice thing is that it listens to the remotes in your house as well, so that it can detect openings and closings that are done with the remote and not with the ESP.

They occasionally get out of sync, but it’s pretty good. To make sure they stay in sync. I have an automation that closes all the blinds at 1 AM.