Thank you so much for this! The gateways are all sold out! (chip shortage) Anyway, I really wasn't interested in using a remote. If I couldn't control with my voice and Alexa routines I would just as soon close my drapes by hand. You saved the day! (And it was a fun video to watch ;-)💫
Listen. You’re a genius. Very good guide. I just got 4 of them and was bummed to find out I’ll need a hub for extra money and another device, to be able to voice control the blinds. I have Alexa show which have built in hub. Your guide worked like magic !! So easy and comfortable!! I looked online everywhere, cause I know my show has hub in it, couldn’t find anything until I find this video! You should send it to ikea or Amazon! Lol. Now I need to find out two things: 1. How I make all 4 blinds to work as one. That way control them together in one comment. 2. To make routines. Meaning set up that at 8am blinds open completely and at 4pm ( sun is crazy at home ) to go to 3/4 close. Please help Thanks !!
Hey, I'm glad it was helpful my friend! That's exactly why I wanted to make this video, because I haven't found much info on this online. I just bough a second blind for the small window last week. The answer to both your questions is "routines". I tried to create a "group" for the 2 blinds, named it "bedroom blinds". And then I tried saying "Alexa, bedroom blinds to 100%". That did not work unfortunately. But with routines it worked perfectly. Since you can setup any number of sequence in a routine, I modified the same "embrace darkness" routine that I set up in the video at 8:40 by adding a second action. The second action is to set the second blind opening to: 100. So now when I say "Alexa, embrace darkness", both blinds rolls down at the same time. Then I modified the "let the sunshine in" action to roll up both blinds. I will probably add another routine to set the both half way when I say a phrase. To have a routine triggered by time, tap on "create a new routine", then tap "when this happens" and then tap "schedule". Then you can set a specific time or sunrise/sunset to trigger an action, which would be to set each of the blinds openings to a certain length. Good luck 😉
I am playing with it as we speak. Yes, when I created a group Alexa only knew how to either fully open them all or close them complete together. So basically ‘open’ or ‘close’ comments. I tried to be a smart ass and names all 4 blinds same name but it didn’t work. Just messed it up. I will try to work thru routines to get it more specific %. I’ve great video to show you
@@KorosiFam hey man, you helped me in the past with this blinds. Worked perfect for a year now. Lately the batteries of all 4 blinds died. I charged them, but when put them back, Alexa didn’t recognized them anymore. I tried everything. I tried to follow your guide again but Alexa keep not finding them when searching for new devices. I deleted the old devices from the Alexa app but still didn’t help. So annoying. Can you think of anything to help??
@@doronmizrahi4816 Hmm, I had the battery die in my blind before as well and it was fine after I charged it. I did lose connection to a blind once and I had to restart the process, delete the blind from Alexa, reset the blind and start over. One thing I had to do for that to work is to bring the Echo physically very close to the blind. I'm not sure how far your Echo and blind is from each other but maybe try to bring them like inches from each other when pairing. Good luck.
Thanks! great video. The blind seems a bit small for the window though. This was just the info I needed. Guess it's time to upgrade from a 3rd gen Echo Dot to a 4th gen Echo instead of buying a TRÅDFRI. Can't wait to combine a smart blind with Philips Hue.
Yes, unfortunately the next size up would've been too wide to install it in the frame so I ended up putting 2 blackout curtains up as well to cover the end strips, I just didn't show that in the video. It looks pretty good with the curtains. I don't have experience with the Philips Hue system but If you already have a Philips Hue Bridge, I believe the blind should be compatible with that natively as well. The Hue Bridge itself is a Zigbee Hub (just like the Gen 4 Echo) so you could try resetting the blind (by holding the up and down buttons for 5 seconds) and then search for a new device in you Philips Hue app. Good luck 🤞
@@KorosiFam Oh cool, didn't check that far regarding the Bridge yet. I do own a Bridge so will give that a try first before considering a new Echo. Adding curtains sound like a good solution. I bet it looks good too.
Great video. Just installed mine and waiting for my 4th gen Alexa to arrive! Question: will the remote still work if I pair it with Alexa? I would like to be able to use both options (voice activated and remote). Thanks!
Thanks so much for this video! I recently purchased a 4th Gen Echo and Fyrtur blinds, but I'm still not able to pair the two. I tried taking out the battery, doing a reset, unplugging the IKEA outlet thingy, but Alexa still doesn't discover it. Any ideas what I need to do? Could it be a firmware issue? If so, how can I revert the firmware to a previous (or newer) version? I'd really appreciate any advice anyone can give, thank you so much!
Hello, thank you for your huge help. I have the blind in my devices and a I can command the blind but the blind is not shown in the routine. Do you know how to resolve the problem? Thanks so much
How many inches is the bracket (the longer part)?..Just got new thicker windows installed and I only have 2.25" to work with-- with inset mounting. Thx.
Can you check the remaining battery percentage anyhow in the Alexa app if you use the built-in Zigbee hub of the Echo 4th gen? Or how do you know how much battery left? Only once it dies and won't move up or down will you find out that the battery is empty? Thanks!
Yep, no way of telling battery percentage as far as I’m aware. When it stops responding you know the battery died. I just had to charge it up last week, but before then I must’ve had the battery in there for at least a year. So it lasts quite a while.
Thanks Chris! We have an IKEA smart lightbulb as well, it's the color changing one and it works perfectly with the Echo Gen 4. Same story, no tradfri gateway and the Alexa app picked it up no problem with all the color options. I believe Philips Hue and IKEA are the two big players who went all in on the Zigbee protocol so all of their products should work. I will pick up an IKEA smart plug soon just to keep testing my theory 😉
great video and guide. I had to upgrade my Alexa hub as I had the generation one but after that all good. The Ikea hub is outof stock, I think they are upgrading it or something like that. Just wanted to give all / you my 50 cents. I find that resetting the blind and parring at the same time to work. First I tried reset only and then pair and did not have much luck. Maybe user error. Since I have 4 blinds working together I was able to set several commands like blinds at 80%, blinds at 50%, etc with Alexa Routines. Also found that Alexa understands a bit better Blind A, Blind, B... instead of Blind one, blind two.... Maybe my accent. Last I a curious if anyone know if Alexa can work multiple blinds with open at specific % without having to make several commands. Probably not ... as I read your answer to Doron Mizrahi.
I wasn’t able to make my group of blinds work on percentage commands either unfortunately. I basically have 3 routines set up for the group, fully closed, fully open and one for halfway. That works for me for now and then if I need to, I voice command the individual blinds with the percentage.
I have the same problem with IKEA TREDANSEN (another smart blind). I can see the blind in the Alexa app. When I command "Alexa, #blind-name to 50%", it says "#blind-name doesn't support that".
@@tommylai91 Thanks for your advice! It seems that it also has something to do the firmware version of the blind. I tried the 'routine trick' with firmware 2.3.079 and it didn't work. Then I updated the firmware to 2.3.088 and the 'routine trick' worked!
Thank you so much for this! The gateways are all sold out! (chip shortage) Anyway, I really wasn't interested in using a remote. If I couldn't control with my voice and Alexa routines I would just as soon close my drapes by hand. You saved the day! (And it was a fun video to watch ;-)💫
Awesome video man, you are a very funny guy! I had a blast watching this, and it was pretty informative as an extra!
Super helpful!!!!! thanks for letting me know about Zigbee compatible.
This is great, thank you so much!
do you know if i can do this with the lightbulb?
You have no idea how much time this saved me. #ChefsKiss to the video. Checking out your other stuff
Listen. You’re a genius. Very good guide. I just got 4 of them and was bummed to find out I’ll need a hub for extra money and another device, to be able to voice control the blinds. I have Alexa show which have built in hub. Your guide worked like magic !! So easy and comfortable!! I looked online everywhere, cause I know my show has hub in it, couldn’t find anything until I find this video! You should send it to ikea or Amazon! Lol. Now I need to find out two things:
1. How I make all 4 blinds to work as one. That way control them together in one comment.
2. To make routines. Meaning set up that at 8am blinds open completely and at 4pm ( sun is crazy at home ) to go to 3/4 close.
Please help
Thanks !!
Hey, I'm glad it was helpful my friend! That's exactly why I wanted to make this video, because I haven't found much info on this online. I just bough a second blind for the small window last week. The answer to both your questions is "routines". I tried to create a "group" for the 2 blinds, named it "bedroom blinds". And then I tried saying "Alexa, bedroom blinds to 100%". That did not work unfortunately. But with routines it worked perfectly.
Since you can setup any number of sequence in a routine, I modified the same "embrace darkness" routine that I set up in the video at 8:40 by adding a second action. The second action is to set the second blind opening to: 100. So now when I say "Alexa, embrace darkness", both blinds rolls down at the same time. Then I modified the "let the sunshine in" action to roll up both blinds. I will probably add another routine to set the both half way when I say a phrase.
To have a routine triggered by time, tap on "create a new routine", then tap "when this happens" and then tap "schedule". Then you can set a specific time or sunrise/sunset to trigger an action, which would be to set each of the blinds openings to a certain length. Good luck 😉
I am playing with it as we speak. Yes, when I created a group Alexa only knew how to either fully open them all or close them complete together. So basically ‘open’ or ‘close’ comments.
I tried to be a smart ass and names all 4 blinds same name but it didn’t work. Just messed it up.
I will try to work thru routines to get it more specific %.
I’ve great video to show you
@@doronmizrahi4816 yes, hope you found your way around routines. It works great with my 4 blinds.
@@KorosiFam hey man, you helped me in the past with this blinds. Worked perfect for a year now. Lately the batteries of all 4 blinds died. I charged them, but when put them back, Alexa didn’t recognized them anymore. I tried everything. I tried to follow your guide again but Alexa keep not finding them when searching for new devices. I deleted the old devices from the Alexa app but still didn’t help. So annoying. Can you think of anything to help??
@@doronmizrahi4816 Hmm, I had the battery die in my blind before as well and it was fine after I charged it. I did lose connection to a blind once and I had to restart the process, delete the blind from Alexa, reset the blind and start over. One thing I had to do for that to work is to bring the Echo physically very close to the blind. I'm not sure how far your Echo and blind is from each other but maybe try to bring them like inches from each other when pairing. Good luck.
You’re awesome! Thank you, brother!
Thanks! great video. The blind seems a bit small for the window though.
This was just the info I needed. Guess it's time to upgrade from a 3rd gen Echo Dot to a 4th gen Echo instead of buying a TRÅDFRI. Can't wait to combine a smart blind with Philips Hue.
Yes, unfortunately the next size up would've been too wide to install it in the frame so I ended up putting 2 blackout curtains up as well to cover the end strips, I just didn't show that in the video. It looks pretty good with the curtains.
I don't have experience with the Philips Hue system but If you already have a Philips Hue Bridge, I believe the blind should be compatible with that natively as well. The Hue Bridge itself is a Zigbee Hub (just like the Gen 4 Echo) so you could try resetting the blind (by holding the up and down buttons for 5 seconds) and then search for a new device in you Philips Hue app. Good luck 🤞
@@KorosiFam Oh cool, didn't check that far regarding the Bridge yet. I do own a Bridge so will give that a try first before considering a new Echo.
Adding curtains sound like a good solution. I bet it looks good too.
@@KorosiFam thanks for the video! I did a very simple size customization by taking the shade apart, cutting everything to size and reassembling.
Great video. Just installed mine and waiting for my 4th gen Alexa to arrive! Question: will the remote still work if I pair it with Alexa? I would like to be able to use both options (voice activated and remote). Thanks!
Thank you for this video!!
Thanks so much for this video! I recently purchased a 4th Gen Echo and Fyrtur blinds, but I'm still not able to pair the two. I tried taking out the battery, doing a reset, unplugging the IKEA outlet thingy, but Alexa still doesn't discover it. Any ideas what I need to do? Could it be a firmware issue? If so, how can I revert the firmware to a previous (or newer) version? I'd really appreciate any advice anyone can give, thank you so much!
Hello, thank you for your huge help. I have the blind in my devices and a I can command the blind but the blind is not shown in the routine. Do you know how to resolve the problem? Thanks so much
How many inches is the bracket (the longer part)?..Just got new thicker windows installed and I only have 2.25" to work with-- with inset mounting. Thx.
Can you check the remaining battery percentage anyhow in the Alexa app if you use the built-in Zigbee hub of the Echo 4th gen? Or how do you know how much battery left? Only once it dies and won't move up or down will you find out that the battery is empty? Thanks!
Yep, no way of telling battery percentage as far as I’m aware. When it stops responding you know the battery died. I just had to charge it up last week, but before then I must’ve had the battery in there for at least a year. So it lasts quite a while.
Does this hack still works today?
Great video, It would be interesting to see what else can work with the Echo 4, as no one else seems to have done this.
Thanks Chris! We have an IKEA smart lightbulb as well, it's the color changing one and it works perfectly with the Echo Gen 4. Same story, no tradfri gateway and the Alexa app picked it up no problem with all the color options. I believe Philips Hue and IKEA are the two big players who went all in on the Zigbee protocol so all of their products should work. I will pick up an IKEA smart plug soon just to keep testing my theory 😉
Has anyone tried this with the new IKEA PRAKTYLSING blinds? We tried but no luck.
great video and guide. I had to upgrade my Alexa hub as I had the generation one but after that all good. The Ikea hub is outof stock, I think they are upgrading it or something like that. Just wanted to give all / you my 50 cents. I find that resetting the blind and parring at the same time to work. First I tried reset only and then pair and did not have much luck. Maybe user error. Since I have 4 blinds working together I was able to set several commands like blinds at 80%, blinds at 50%, etc with Alexa Routines. Also found that Alexa understands a bit better Blind A, Blind, B... instead of Blind one, blind two.... Maybe my accent. Last I a curious if anyone know if Alexa can work multiple blinds with open at specific % without having to make several commands. Probably not ... as I read your answer to Doron Mizrahi.
I wasn’t able to make my group of blinds work on percentage commands either unfortunately. I basically have 3 routines set up for the group, fully closed, fully open and one for halfway. That works for me for now and then if I need to, I voice command the individual blinds with the percentage.
blind showed up in alexa app, but not able to control it. Any idea?
I have the same problem with IKEA TREDANSEN (another smart blind). I can see the blind in the Alexa app. When I command "Alexa, #blind-name to 50%", it says "#blind-name doesn't support that".
@@minyucai1440 try creat a routine first
@@tommylai91 Thanks for your advice! It seems that it also has something to do the firmware version of the blind. I tried the 'routine trick' with firmware 2.3.079 and it didn't work. Then I updated the firmware to 2.3.088 and the 'routine trick' worked!
@@minyucai1440come posso aggiornare il firmware della tenda??
Fkin echo show 2nd gen should also have a hub, but for some quite nonsense reasons it doesnt have. Just makin sure you dont wanna buy that sht.