Happy Saturday everyone! These now work with Google Home too!!... These guys do zigbee and zwave versions of the cell blinds too if you're interested then as usual the link is below!... BUY THE SMARTWINGS BLINDS HERE www.smartwingshome.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw_O2lBhCFARIsAB0E8B_HtyDW4vv1QfUCU2CYaz0xNYtzknD1AMm5TAeGsc8co5RjSsAfSOwaAk71EALw_wcB
Blinding episode again Paul, you leave all the other RUclipsrs in the dark! It great to see you shine some light on this product! We, the unwashed masses have been kept in the dark for too long. You're a shining example of what RUclipsrs should be like🌞 Happy Saturday to you too! 👍😁😁
Ha I have 38 windows in my house. So yeah not . What I want is a blind that can function on it’s own open at a certain time close , partially open at a certain time . Any suggestions?
Got LARGE custom size Smartwings blind with zibee motor, love it. Put in Home assistant with a DIY esp8266+lux sensor in window to close and open blind at certain sun brightness. One less thing I have to remember to do(open&close).
Out of interest is that to maximise solar gains and minimise heatloss in the winter/the reverse in the summer? I have been configuring HA to do that with Switchbot curtain motors (via a bluetooth proxy) it has the potential to increase energy savings even further that way
One thing to consider for those on a budget, its not to difficult to set up a esp32 with IR blaster to control the older cheaper IR remote controlled style of electric blinds , or if you have the ability directly wire an esp32 to the blind and then add yhe esp32 to your preferred home assistant for voice and phone control. You can even easily turn regular manual blinds into smart ones with an esp32 and a small dc motor connected to the blinds rotation assembly, there are loads of guides how to do this and also use them to control other devices and things like relays to power things on and off instead of buying smart switches for each device plus one esp32 can control several devices as there are quite a few gpio pins that can be used, again there are loads of guides how to do this which break it down in simple to follow steps.
Paul my dude! Move to the states, I am a Texan living in rural Minnesota and it’s not horrible. Winters get a bit chilly, summers are not bad. But I bought a house for $60k 4 bed 2 bath on a small lot. Most houses in my tiny town have fiber to the home with 1G synchronous with 2.5G, 5G, and 10G supposedly coming this year. You can do your job (RUclips) from anywhere. Where ever you are just be happy dude. Life’s to short for anything else.
Greetings from Florida! I moved from Bradford, UK to the US in 1997 when I met my American wife. We had little money - I arrived with just $1500 in my pocket. We basically started over with nothing. 26 years years later, we are in our second house, two grandchildren, living in paradise! (Note - it's expensive to live here - My little house I bought for $90K 20+ years ago is now worth over $400K, which is on the low end in my area)
I’ve used the non motorised versions of these blinds. I’ve had a long history of ordering them through blinds-2go. It’s shocking how expensive these are now £185 unmotorised for 120-120cm blinds. I just looked back at my 2015 invoices and back then they were £30. I think I’ll say “no thanks” to the £300 motorised blinds. The biggest trouble with all these blinds is tech obsolescence. If they simply had a 2 way motor with 2x dry contacts, then I could happily separate out the tech from the furniture and upgrade the tech independently from the need to replace blinds when Bluetooth/zigbee etc… goes out of fashion.
Great tip, though I should add that the amount of residue definitely depends on the brand of sanitiser. I guess it depends on what the moisturising ingredients are.
For aesthetics they need to have a right-angled usb instead of those standard ones, for the price too it makes sense. I'd def get these blinds and have them within the window, placing stips at either edge to stop light bleedthrough further, but since I rent and hope to move, perhaps I will wait.
Ikea do the same one but its £150 instead of over £200 minus a solar panel and they actually work with google and google routines, Which I use successfully every morning. Now I'm away to charge my blind.
You can temporarily "disable" the glue with rubbing alcohol (or rum) long enough to remove the sticker (and hopefully the glue will come with it). Most glues (the petroleum based ones) will dissolve with zippo liquid. Fun fact, that tip works on printed paper without damaging it.
IKEA have very limited sizes though, we have two and wanted a third but none of the available sizes would have worked so these are a god send! Exactly what we need!
As always, great video - thank you! I'm always be wary of claims that use the phrase "up to" because it's a marketing ploy to trick potential customers into assuming that's what they'll get. I'd be much more interested in average or typical savings figures.
Okay I did it, I finally did it. If you saw the tweet I tagged you in, you'll see I bought a WiFi free modem so that didn't work. Returned that for the right one which then I had to register with my Internet company?! This was all new to me, and there was two Mac addresses on it which where such a pain the ass cause I'm stupid. And so is Xfinity apparently because they didn't know I was giving them the wrong one until I found out. After that it was fairly easy replacing the old one. Fun fact, older nest cameras will need to be re paired even if you change the name back. Newer ones will two but they don't need to be scanned they just need to go into the app and update it. Seems to be working except for a few issues after getting it started, but it's so much better now... Thank you for softly suggesting it to me, finally did it. Love your vids so much! 🥰
Paul, you are welcome in Florida anytime! This episode was extremely fun and funny. (And informative). Thank you for the laughs, they are much appreciated!
You will probably find you would need a wifi one as you can only connect 1 bluetooth device at once. Or unless they connect together via usb as the the blinds have 2 usb slots on etch one.
One issue I can see with closed cell blinds is that you can’t have them lowered & tilted to create shade in the room but also see out….how lots of normal blinds are actually used a lot of the time
As Paul said, you will treat these as a roller blind not a venetian blind. The issue you describe is present with virtually all curtains and blinds that are not venetian style or vertical slat. You can get cell blinds that are not 100% block, which may be better for what you want, or you can get double rollers where one is a full block out and the other is a shade blind to give what you are wanting.
@@jmchez Well, me too. But, that's because I have seven windows with tilt blinds and SwitchBot right now. And, three of those also have outside shades to cut down on the southern sun in the spring/summer/fall. And, I have another 9 windows with tilt blinds that we like for which I'm acquiring more Swtichbots? I could use these in the main bedroom to replace the aluminum blinds (this house was a real estate office for the development before we bought it). But I don't think wife is going to go for these unless I agree to tie back curtains or something to dress it up. It would be about $500/window with these wonderful smart wings blinds to replace them, it's a no go. I've got too much into what I already have.
You can also get cell blinds that aren’t black-out you can also get real transparent ones where you can see true, and bottom-up with top-down. Bottom-up top-down versions, so you can create an shade and still see outside are bye far the most I install.
I have 3 windows in the raised ceiling area of my house and getting to standard blinds is impossible. Having motorized ones would be great and since we also use a projector in that room, having blackout ones is even better. I don’t know when I will get them because I’m scared of heights and installing them is like climbing the outside of a building, but just inside of my house.
Paul--another fabulous review that made me laugh, made me smile, and made me a little smarter. FL will be much improved when you & the Misses move and/or vacation here!
accept here in AU if your exporting more than your using then your being charged for the exported power as well as any energy that flows is billed .. unless a solar installer put them on the export circuit , learnt that the hard way over 5kw of extra power being exported via blinds and was getting $$$ bills
Yes come to Florida. We're overdue for a good Hurricane! But, for real, it's humid as fck, it's hot as hell, and we're overdue for a Hurricane. Love your work Bud!
I believe these figures are slightly taken out of context about the savings. In order to stop heat from coming in you need you stop the heat outside. Having shades on the inside will still heat up the room. And the article you show on screen says low emission windows, shutters and blinds, I would believe the blinds are the one that will make the least of difference in this article. Anyone who has south facing windows can easily verify this, even with the shades down you still get a significant higher temperature by the windows. If you instead use shutters placed on the outside then the heat will heat up the shutters on the outide and wind will blow the heat away from the building. I find it very odd that they mix that variety of "heat stoppers" in the same article and just generalize the savings.
As the article is specifically about cell blinds I have to assume the testing was done with same or similar windows and then with and without the cell blinds in order to calculate the saving? I confess I only went as far as reading the source of the data to ensure it was government and not a blind manufacturer and then skim read it to supply the data.
@@paulhibbert well the article says low emission glass, shutters and blinds, and perhaps some more, can't remember. But I just paused the video and read what was on the screen. The article is not just about blinds.
Oooooooooh. Nice! I just bought a house! There are roller blinds in each room which I could just automate with Aqara thingies, but I did notice that I heard a car go by in the room I think will be my bedroom, so the windows must be pretty thin. One of these will be cheaper than changing all the windows to double glazed that's for sure! lol. I'll wait until I'm there to decide what I need, but I'm just going to save this video for future reference, because that is so cool! And works with HomeKit! YAY! Matter is rolling out at just the right time for me!!!
Perfect!! Good use case for them, would be interested to know how well the sound proofing aspect works as that is a big selling point if it works well.
@@paulhibbert if I get one I’ll absolutely let you know. I don’t have a date that I’m moving yet, it depends on when the tenants in there at the moment find their next place, but hopefully no more than a few months. Preferably a few weeks! I might even keep the existing blind and just put a cell blind behind it. There’s not much traffic there, but I did hear the car very clearly so I’m going to want something as there will be a few trucks when I’m sleeping too. If it makes a huge difference to temperature control too I might end up getting a few more, but the bedroom will be the one to start with. It looks like the perfect solution 😊
Just a thought to cover both home assistant and homekit...install the "Homekit Device" integration. I'd be very curious if this works better than matter for now.
Lovely however I hope they eventually make them for skylights. The heat coming through a skylight here in the summer is insane due to global warming and the only solution is window film to reflect back or perhaps a bamboo shade. The snow on top is self insulating so that is nice like living in an igloo.
First of all, I love the British "weather" forecast (or should I say "overcast"?) Coming from a place where the weather is much more exciting at times, I might envy "bland" as the 10-day forecast. Nonetheless, it was a good way to point out that the solar-powered blinds can still function in bland conditions. I'm slowly converting our "vintage" [some sort of metallic? substance blinds into cellular ones that are currently mostly manual (because we really have no reason to want to move them more than extremely occasionally.) However, the blinds in the living room would benefit greatly from being able to let some sunlight in during the day and then enter "greater privacy mode" in the evening. We could also benefit from the [lack of] heat-transfer capabilities as our windows are now our biggest source of lost heat in the winter. I'm pleased to see that they don't mass very much and look to be very easy to install. (I'm a veteran DIYer, but I can do without installs that challenge my patience and exhaust my vocabulary of phrases to be used in such circumstances.) The design looks excellent, especially the duplicated power input and pairing buttons. I wish more manufacturers thought of such things. I wish they'd thought of positioning that "bloody, gluey mess" sticker on the top where it wouldn't bother anyone. Also, I don't usually mind not getting batteries in the kit because the supplied batteries are usually rubbish and will last about 15 minutes. It would be nice of them to tell you that you'll need them because I imagine many users don't have a stock of various batteries in their refrigerator for just such contingencies. Also, good call on the price (both the fact that it's high and the fact that it's comparable to other smart cellular blinds that use last decade's technology.) Thanks again for information and humor combined. Keep up the good work.
Super clean looking design w exception of power. They must've done some engineering on the fly 😆 Google has to step their game up and integrate at least a zigbee radio. It would be a game changer!
quite cool and defo useful for some less able people. I have a mate who has his whole front of house covered is glass and blinds downstairs and has smart blinds but no solar panels so he is constantly changing batteries to recharge them lol, I keep asking why he doesnt put solar panels up to charge them but he doesnt want the panels visible as it would spoil the look. Personally I'm quite capable of getting up and opening the curtains in my house lol.
Another excellent presentation. Am I to understand that the outside facing surface is silver? It may be a non-issue but a friend of mine put mirrored window tint on the inside of a double pane 3rd floor window that faced the sun. That summer the glass broke from the air between the panes getting over heated by the reflective material. As I understand it, your weather isn't that sunny so I hope you will be fine. I can personally relate to that this year. normally it's quite bright & hot on the mountain but so this year it has rained at least 5/7 days every week with a lot of roads and even a train bridge being washed away in New Hampshire and Vermont leaving some towns inaccessible. Best of luck and I look forward to next weekend.
Want! A bit expensive and we have a lot of windows… but they’re on my radar now. P.S. I Love my “Watch Paul Hibbert while drinking coffee on Saturday morning” tradition! You’re stuck with me now. Forever! And ever. And…. ever. 😳
Hi Paul, I watch your channel since I started with smart home stuff in my home or around 3-4 years ago. I like your work very much and your sense of humor, you making me laugh every time :). About the problem with the USB connection, why you don't try with 90 degree usb-c adapter, I think this will solve the problem with the ugly cable in front of the blind. Best regards and keep doing what you are doing in the same way ;)
For true energy savings, you can enclose the sides of the blind by fitting to the wall (or sides of the window preferably if you get a measured blind to fit inside casing )a piece of hardware store purchased "U" channel/flashing made for home exterior water containment for roofing and siding. They come in metal or plastic and are inexpensive. Probably need a cross section of 1" or larger. When air is flowing in and out through the gaps, it loses all insulating value and creates uncomfortable droughts. , Locking in the air against the window will create an insulating air pocket. Another installation error that can negate your efficiency even if its sealed by U channels that dual-pane window manufacturer research has revealed is that the sealed air gap should only be between 3/4" and 4" for effective air stratification. Any larger a gap and potential insulating value will be lost because of convective air currents. ie if gap is larger than 4" between even a hermetically sealed window and blind, air will circulate the room-warmed blind-side air up, around and down the cold window pane, which then will conduct away the heat. This is even if its airtight. So put U channels on the sides of the blind and make the gap less than 4". Less than 3/4" decreases the greatest potential benefit. The better dual pane windows would ideally have a larger then 3/4" gap.
Could you look into blinds which come from the bottom up, rather than top down? It makes a lot of sense when you think about it (stop people seeing me naked, while still allowing some sunlight in) but I have not managed to find any suitable products.
Excellent product mate, just got our first switchbot curtain rod 2's with your discount code in prime day. The other half is now finally woken up on time when they auto open. Keep up the excellent work!
Hello Paul. The algorithm has recently decided that you are someone I should watch. I believe the mic in my phone heard me saying wow on a video of yours deep deep into a clickfest. Anyway, who the hell am I to go against the almighty algorithm it’s self, so I’m just gonna click subscribe now and hopefully enjoy the ride.
The performance "up to" numbers must assume pretty lousy windows. In the house I live in, the original windows would get very cold in the middle of winter, and basically suck the heat out of the room. This appears to be because the frames are made from aluminum and are rather large. Indeed, covering it with something heavy makes a big difference. But, I've replaced them with premium windows, and even bare they have an R factor of 9. The other issue is that the rough opening around the window might not be insulated well, or at all. For this, you want a covering that is a few inches larger than the window, so your "away from the wall" choice was better. If you get one that fits tight against the glass, and only covers the glass, it won't help in this respect.
Paul I'm going to change your life. If you have sticky glue left after a sticker use lighter fluid. Dab a cloth or kitchen roll with lighter fluid and it wipes off sticky residue like it was nothing. I always have a can of light fluid in my house for this very use.
I do not see the use for the solar panel on such thing as a measure to save energy, but as a means to avoid the need to wire the power line to it. Quite a hassle unless you do it upfron during the home construction or unless that home is the wooden "paperbox" type...
MY Google Max Hub and Nest Hub 2 are both Border Routers and I ahve no issues with Matter devices with them. Also not had an issue with Home Assistant, but I have it setup with Multiprotocol support and Home Assistant is running Openthread Border Router, so it may just be a Smartwings thing for now. I believe Smartwings do not yet advertise working with Google. I'd be interested to here if it does start working in the future. I believe if you pair the Smartwings to Homekit, then you can get it into Home Assistant via HomeKit integration. Slackerlabs did a video on this abotu 2 or 3 months ago.
I would Love to see actual Calculation based on Money Saving and how to check if its worth it for different Parts of the World. If it should save Money it first need to repay itself first then after this Time Period you make Profit.
You need to invest in some Isopropyl Alcohol - that'll sort out the sticker-rage you regularly endure, mate... Rub it on the sticker, and it will dissolve the adhesive - then it peels right off. Any residue can be cleaned up with a little more IPA... It's great! :)
Buy a low profile 90° female to male usb c adapter .. you could then plug the adapter into the front ( window side ) of the blind and then you can plug the USB power source into the side then
On the subject of Amazon, Google and Homekit (with or without Matter). Lets just assume you are onboard a spaceship on the way to Mars - and it's completely controlled by one of these Smart Home providers. How far would you get before they killed you (via unintended malfunction) rather than the HAL-9000 kind.
@@paulhibbert I have to admit I abandoned Google over a year ago. Still have to very expensive Google Max speakers in my garage doing nothing. I'm on Apple Homekit now and that's not exactly been a smooth ride. The current Homepod Mini and Apple TV firmware isn't awful but I still have to reboot all of them about once every 2 weeks. Matter is supposed to be more resilient but I have found (at least with Apple) that if one of my hubs has a problem it tends to take down the whole notification and event systems. I did try Hubitat but found that it did not like many of the devices I had aquired for Smartthings.
Aaahhh Paul, you had me buying them all the way to the end. But then considering I need ten at 2 meters wide each, the price might just put me off slightly :(
Happy Saturday everyone! These now work with Google Home too!!... These guys do zigbee and zwave versions of the cell blinds too if you're interested then as usual the link is below!...
BUY THE SMARTWINGS BLINDS HERE
www.smartwingshome.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw_O2lBhCFARIsAB0E8B_HtyDW4vv1QfUCU2CYaz0xNYtzknD1AMm5TAeGsc8co5RjSsAfSOwaAk71EALw_wcB
Do they have a UK shop?
Blinding episode again Paul, you leave all the other RUclipsrs in the dark! It great to see you shine some light on this product! We, the unwashed masses have been kept in the dark for too long. You're a shining example of what RUclipsrs should be like🌞
Happy Saturday to you too! 👍😁😁
Ha I have 38 windows in my house. So yeah not . What I want is a blind that can function on it’s own open at a certain time close , partially open at a certain time . Any suggestions?
3:28 Screwing ? What about Bating ??4 :02 Spin the blind ? Spin the bottle ?
@@Tinman964 That's routine or timer. Create it for a certain time closing or opening in the app such as HomeKit, Alexa, etc.
Just watched the last 10 seconds of the video again and again and again... Good grief, I have never heard so much sense spoken in my life! :)
I am disappointed RUclips didn't auto-translate that part for the captions!
Got LARGE custom size Smartwings blind with zibee motor, love it. Put in Home assistant with a DIY esp8266+lux sensor in window to close and open blind at certain sun brightness. One less thing I have to remember to do(open&close).
Out of interest is that to maximise solar gains and minimise heatloss in the winter/the reverse in the summer? I have been configuring HA to do that with Switchbot curtain motors (via a bluetooth proxy) it has the potential to increase energy savings even further that way
I’ve got an IKEA one. Works better than I’ve expected. No problems with routines and automations.
The IKEA blinds seem very good but their mechanism with the yarns seems a little iffy. I have managed to pop the yarn off the wheels a couple times.
Florida is probably the last place you'd want to move to
I LOVED my visit, but I guess visiting and living are two different things. Perhaps I can live at the hotel 🤔
Well the humidity will definitely frizz your hair, but I don't think that is a particular issue here.
@@MartinPHellwigou’ve been banned from r/bald /s
Haha yeah, don't move here to Florida, but definitely visit in the winter.
Florida is a 3rd turd world state of DeSatan who hates everyone not him.
One thing to consider for those on a budget, its not to difficult to set up a esp32 with IR blaster to control the older cheaper IR remote controlled style of electric blinds , or if you have the ability directly wire an esp32 to the blind and then add yhe esp32 to your preferred home assistant for voice and phone control. You can even easily turn regular manual blinds into smart ones with an esp32 and a small dc motor connected to the blinds rotation assembly, there are loads of guides how to do this and also use them to control other devices and things like relays to power things on and off instead of buying smart switches for each device plus one esp32 can control several devices as there are quite a few gpio pins that can be used, again there are loads of guides how to do this which break it down in simple to follow steps.
Paul my dude! Move to the states, I am a Texan living in rural Minnesota and it’s not horrible. Winters get a bit chilly, summers are not bad. But I bought a house for $60k 4 bed 2 bath on a small lot. Most houses in my tiny town have fiber to the home with 1G synchronous with 2.5G, 5G, and 10G supposedly coming this year. You can do your job (RUclips) from anywhere. Where ever you are just be happy dude. Life’s to short for anything else.
I definitely like their blackout abilities, they would be an improvement over the diy mess I'm currently using.
Greetings from Florida! I moved from Bradford, UK to the US in 1997 when I met my American wife. We had little money - I arrived with just $1500 in my pocket. We basically started over with nothing.
26 years years later, we are in our second house, two grandchildren, living in paradise!
(Note - it's expensive to live here - My little house I bought for $90K 20+ years ago is now worth over $400K, which is on the low end in my area)
Kudos to you for installing the blinds yourself! 😂 your diy skills are improving.
Musicians are multi-talented. They have to be!
@@tharais If you are comparing Paul’s DIY skills with is Music ability… heck… that’s pretty severe… :)
🤣
Been refreshing the page since Wednesday. Not moved.
As an Aussie hearing you say border rooter constantly made me giggle! I used to visit a very nice border rooter in my youth.
I’ve used the non motorised versions of these blinds. I’ve had a long history of ordering them through blinds-2go. It’s shocking how expensive these are now £185 unmotorised for 120-120cm blinds. I just looked back at my 2015 invoices and back then they were £30.
I think I’ll say “no thanks” to the £300 motorised blinds. The biggest trouble with all these blinds is tech obsolescence. If they simply had a 2 way motor with 2x dry contacts, then I could happily separate out the tech from the furniture and upgrade the tech independently from the need to replace blinds when Bluetooth/zigbee etc… goes out of fashion.
For sticker mess, try hand sanitizer with moisturizers ... works better than rubbing alcohol alone and doesnt leave a residue
Great tip, though I should add that the amount of residue definitely depends on the brand of sanitiser. I guess it depends on what the moisturising ingredients are.
For aesthetics they need to have a right-angled usb instead of those standard ones, for the price too it makes sense. I'd def get these blinds and have them within the window, placing stips at either edge to stop light bleedthrough further, but since I rent and hope to move, perhaps I will wait.
Ikea do the same one but its £150 instead of over £200 minus a solar panel and they actually work with google and google routines, Which I use successfully every morning. Now I'm away to charge my blind.
The fly gag was very good.
I live in Florida .. forecast March - December 90°-95° F (32° - 35° C) with a 100% chance of skin cancer and purple sunburn in 15 minutes. Enjoy 🌞
You can temporarily "disable" the glue with rubbing alcohol (or rum) long enough to remove the sticker (and hopefully the glue will come with it). Most glues (the petroleum based ones) will dissolve with zippo liquid. Fun fact, that tip works on printed paper without damaging it.
Or you could use methylated spirits or turpentine for real stubborn ones.😁😁
Fragile stickers on parcels automatically activate the ‘do as much damage as you can to this parcel’ mode in most delivery drivers.
Morning Sir, to remove the sticky stuff left behind, spray it with a bit of WD40 and it will literally just wipe off!
It just wooorks!
Have you tested it directly connected to Home Assistant? They have their own boarder router and I'm pretty sure they aupport covers in Matter.
These look identical to Ikea's zigbee smart blinds. Right down to the mounting system. Ikea's ones are half the price too!
IKEA have very limited sizes though, we have two and wanted a third but none of the available sizes would have worked so these are a god send! Exactly what we need!
As always, great video - thank you! I'm always be wary of claims that use the phrase "up to" because it's a marketing ploy to trick potential customers into assuming that's what they'll get. I'd be much more interested in average or typical savings figures.
Been using Bali Z-Wave blackouts for years and they work great with Home Assistant.
Despite seeing it every week, your on the fly gag made me spill my tea!
Okay I did it, I finally did it. If you saw the tweet I tagged you in, you'll see I bought a WiFi free modem so that didn't work. Returned that for the right one which then I had to register with my Internet company?! This was all new to me, and there was two Mac addresses on it which where such a pain the ass cause I'm stupid. And so is Xfinity apparently because they didn't know I was giving them the wrong one until I found out.
After that it was fairly easy replacing the old one. Fun fact, older nest cameras will need to be re paired even if you change the name back. Newer ones will two but they don't need to be scanned they just need to go into the app and update it. Seems to be working except for a few issues after getting it started, but it's so much better now...
Thank you for softly suggesting it to me, finally did it. Love your vids so much! 🥰
Paul, you are welcome in Florida anytime! This episode was extremely fun and funny. (And informative). Thank you for the laughs, they are much appreciated!
If you have a bay window which would require more than one blind - can they be grouped so they act as a single unit ?
You will probably find you would need a wifi one as you can only connect 1 bluetooth device at once.
Or unless they connect together via usb as the the blinds have 2 usb slots on etch one.
Yep, you can group devices or organize them into rooms in the app.
😂 I’m British too and that weather joke was hilarious. It’s so crappy the weather is awful here 😂
I swear it gets worse every year. I'm sat in a jumper right now in the middle of summer. This climate sucks!!
@@paulhibbertoop north where l live it was so cold l had to go snap our dog off a lamp post.
A Hairdryer will help with the sticker issue :) love your channel BTW.
Not watched your vids for a while… I forgot how great they actually are 😂
Thanks. 😂 👍👍
One issue I can see with closed cell blinds is that you can’t have them lowered & tilted to create shade in the room but also see out….how lots of normal blinds are actually used a lot of the time
Yeah, they're more an alternative to a roller blind rather than a tilt blind I guess.
As Paul said, you will treat these as a roller blind not a venetian blind. The issue you describe is present with virtually all curtains and blinds that are not venetian style or vertical slat. You can get cell blinds that are not 100% block, which may be better for what you want, or you can get double rollers where one is a full block out and the other is a shade blind to give what you are wanting.
I'm sticking with the tilt blinds and Switchbot.
@@jmchez
Well, me too. But, that's because I have seven windows with tilt blinds and SwitchBot right now. And, three of those also have outside shades to cut down on the southern sun in the spring/summer/fall.
And, I have another 9 windows with tilt blinds that we like for which I'm acquiring more Swtichbots?
I could use these in the main bedroom to replace the aluminum blinds (this house was a real estate office for the development before we bought it). But I don't think wife is going to go for these unless I agree to tie back curtains or something to dress it up.
It would be about $500/window with these wonderful smart wings blinds to replace them, it's a no go. I've got too much into what I already have.
You can also get cell blinds that aren’t black-out you can also get real transparent ones where you can see true, and bottom-up with top-down.
Bottom-up top-down versions, so you can create an shade and still see outside are bye far the most I install.
Actually the 'on the fly' joke was my favourite😅
I have 3 windows in the raised ceiling area of my house and getting to standard blinds is impossible. Having motorized ones would be great and since we also use a projector in that room, having blackout ones is even better. I don’t know when I will get them because I’m scared of heights and installing them is like climbing the outside of a building, but just inside of my house.
Paul--another fabulous review that made me laugh, made me smile, and made me a little smarter. FL will be much improved when you & the Misses move and/or vacation here!
LOL...Paul Hibbert in Florida....he would totally melt! He could stand the heat/humidity of the Florida sun!!!
accept here in AU if your exporting more than your using then your being charged for the exported power as well as any energy that flows is billed .. unless a solar installer put them on the export circuit , learnt that the hard way over 5kw of extra power being exported via blinds and was getting $$$ bills
Yes come to Florida! We will make room for ya! We need more hood people here.
On the fly gets me every time.
Yes come to Florida. We're overdue for a good Hurricane! But, for real, it's humid as fck, it's hot as hell, and we're overdue for a Hurricane. Love your work Bud!
I believe these figures are slightly taken out of context about the savings.
In order to stop heat from coming in you need you stop the heat outside.
Having shades on the inside will still heat up the room.
And the article you show on screen says low emission windows, shutters and blinds, I would believe the blinds are the one that will make the least of difference in this article.
Anyone who has south facing windows can easily verify this, even with the shades down you still get a significant higher temperature by the windows.
If you instead use shutters placed on the outside then the heat will heat up the shutters on the outide and wind will blow the heat away from the building.
I find it very odd that they mix that variety of "heat stoppers" in the same article and just generalize the savings.
As the article is specifically about cell blinds I have to assume the testing was done with same or similar windows and then with and without the cell blinds in order to calculate the saving?
I confess I only went as far as reading the source of the data to ensure it was government and not a blind manufacturer and then skim read it to supply the data.
@@paulhibbert well the article says low emission glass, shutters and blinds, and perhaps some more, can't remember.
But I just paused the video and read what was on the screen.
The article is not just about blinds.
Paul Hibbert.... the new Florida man😂
Oooooooooh. Nice! I just bought a house! There are roller blinds in each room which I could just automate with Aqara thingies, but I did notice that I heard a car go by in the room I think will be my bedroom, so the windows must be pretty thin. One of these will be cheaper than changing all the windows to double glazed that's for sure! lol. I'll wait until I'm there to decide what I need, but I'm just going to save this video for future reference, because that is so cool! And works with HomeKit! YAY! Matter is rolling out at just the right time for me!!!
Perfect!! Good use case for them, would be interested to know how well the sound proofing aspect works as that is a big selling point if it works well.
@@paulhibbert if I get one I’ll absolutely let you know. I don’t have a date that I’m moving yet, it depends on when the tenants in there at the moment find their next place, but hopefully no more than a few months. Preferably a few weeks! I might even keep the existing blind and just put a cell blind behind it. There’s not much traffic there, but I did hear the car very clearly so I’m going to want something as there will be a few trucks when I’m sleeping too. If it makes a huge difference to temperature control too I might end up getting a few more, but the bedroom will be the one to start with. It looks like the perfect solution 😊
Just a thought to cover both home assistant and homekit...install the "Homekit Device" integration. I'd be very curious if this works better than matter for now.
Lovely however I hope they eventually make them for skylights. The heat coming through a skylight here in the summer is insane due to global warming and the only solution is window film to reflect back or perhaps a bamboo shade. The snow on top is self insulating so that is nice like living in an igloo.
If it wasn’t for the motor volume I’d definitely be buying these.
Also, can they be manually operated if you chose to?
First of all, I love the British "weather" forecast (or should I say "overcast"?) Coming from a place where the weather is much more exciting at times, I might envy "bland" as the 10-day forecast. Nonetheless, it was a good way to point out that the solar-powered blinds can still function in bland conditions.
I'm slowly converting our "vintage" [some sort of metallic? substance blinds into cellular ones that are currently mostly manual (because we really have no reason to want to move them more than extremely occasionally.) However, the blinds in the living room would benefit greatly from being able to let some sunlight in during the day and then enter "greater privacy mode" in the evening. We could also benefit from the [lack of] heat-transfer capabilities as our windows are now our biggest source of lost heat in the winter.
I'm pleased to see that they don't mass very much and look to be very easy to install. (I'm a veteran DIYer, but I can do without installs that challenge my patience and exhaust my vocabulary of phrases to be used in such circumstances.)
The design looks excellent, especially the duplicated power input and pairing buttons. I wish more manufacturers thought of such things. I wish they'd thought of positioning that "bloody, gluey mess" sticker on the top where it wouldn't bother anyone. Also, I don't usually mind not getting batteries in the kit because the supplied batteries are usually rubbish and will last about 15 minutes. It would be nice of them to tell you that you'll need them because I imagine many users don't have a stock of various batteries in their refrigerator for just such contingencies.
Also, good call on the price (both the fact that it's high and the fact that it's comparable to other smart cellular blinds that use last decade's technology.)
Thanks again for information and humor combined. Keep up the good work.
Super clean looking design w exception of power. They must've done some engineering on the fly 😆 Google has to step their game up and integrate at least a zigbee radio. It would be a game changer!
90 degree USB connectors are fantastic for such fitting issues mentioned.
As a Florider man I can verify....it's very expensive....well South Florider at least.
Morning! Great vid as usual. Now going to go looking for solar panels for aqara blind motors..
Morning dude!
Exactly what I'm looking for also! So this solar panel can't charge the aqara e1?
They ship worldwide but still measure in inches and fractions of inches.
quite cool and defo useful for some less able people.
I have a mate who has his whole front of house covered is glass and blinds downstairs and has smart blinds but no solar panels so he is constantly changing batteries to recharge them lol, I keep asking why he doesnt put solar panels up to charge them but he doesnt want the panels visible as it would spoil the look.
Personally I'm quite capable of getting up and opening the curtains in my house lol.
I understand not wanting the panels, but wow, he must be made of batteries!
@@paulhibbert
RECHARGEABLES man! I must have 100 Enerloop AA and AAAs along with several chargers. And that's just for all the candles around here. 🙂
We would love to have you in Florida. I am willing to bet that you could afford to move here to the Jacksonville area.
Almost 400$ for a 1.5x1.5m ( which btw you should convert to inches) without importing taxes and whatever. That's really expensive.
Paul you are funny keep up the good work!
Happy Saturday Paul. Thanks.
To get stickers off, look at 'plastic razor blades'. They wont scratch most surfaces.
Another excellent presentation. Am I to understand that the outside facing surface is silver? It may be a non-issue but a friend of mine put mirrored window tint on the inside of a double pane 3rd floor window that faced the sun. That summer the glass broke from the air between the panes getting over heated by the reflective material. As I understand it, your weather isn't that sunny so I hope you will be fine. I can personally relate to that this year. normally it's quite bright & hot on the mountain but so this year it has rained at least 5/7 days every week with a lot of roads and even a train bridge being washed away in New Hampshire and Vermont leaving some towns inaccessible. Best of luck and I look forward to next weekend.
I think the silvering he was talking about is _inside_ the cell.
@@stephen-boddy Bingo!
What at are they like with a window open and having a light breeze?
They'll flop about a bit I guess 😂 they're quite similar to a standard aluminium blind for weight once extended.
This would be really cool with the floor rising screen you reviewed, press few buttons and instant cinema room!
Wd40 on any sticker. It comes right off. No fighting
Want! A bit expensive and we have a lot of windows… but they’re on my radar now.
P.S. I Love my “Watch Paul Hibbert while drinking coffee on Saturday morning” tradition! You’re stuck with me now. Forever! And ever. And…. ever. 😳
3:03 yodel delivery does that too. lol
Hi Paul, I watch your channel since I started with smart home stuff in my home or around 3-4 years ago. I like your work very much and your sense of humor, you making me laugh every time :). About the problem with the USB connection, why you don't try with 90 degree usb-c adapter, I think this will solve the problem with the ugly cable in front of the blind. Best regards and keep doing what you are doing in the same way ;)
For true energy savings, you can enclose the sides of the blind by fitting to the wall (or sides of the window preferably if you get a measured blind to fit inside casing )a piece of hardware store purchased "U" channel/flashing made for home exterior water containment for roofing and siding. They come in metal or plastic and are inexpensive. Probably need a cross section of 1" or larger. When air is flowing in and out through the gaps, it loses all insulating value and creates uncomfortable droughts. , Locking in the air against the window will create an insulating air pocket. Another installation error that can negate your efficiency even if its sealed by U channels that dual-pane window manufacturer research has revealed is that the sealed air gap should only be between 3/4" and 4" for effective air stratification. Any larger a gap and potential insulating value will be lost because of convective air currents. ie if gap is larger than 4" between even a hermetically sealed window and blind, air will circulate the room-warmed blind-side air up, around and down the cold window pane, which then will conduct away the heat. This is even if its airtight. So put U channels on the sides of the blind and make the gap less than 4". Less than 3/4" decreases the greatest potential benefit. The better dual pane windows would ideally have a larger then 3/4" gap.
Could you look into blinds which come from the bottom up, rather than top down?
It makes a lot of sense when you think about it (stop people seeing me naked, while still allowing some sunlight in) but I have not managed to find any suitable products.
100% Agree with the Google Home sentiment.
They get worse every week!
Our postman used to tell us that Fragile was Italian for Kick Me...
As someone who lives in Florida just no save yourself and never move here
This kind of blinds are used in plenty full integrated motor homes of European manufacturers.
And yes, especially to save energy!
Paul. Nothing wrong, with people from YORKSHIRE..🙂
Are you now seriously complaining that you wake up by the noise during a WAKEUP routine??? I would say: mission accomplished!
Excellent product mate, just got our first switchbot curtain rod 2's with your discount code in prime day. The other half is now finally woken up on time when they auto open. Keep up the excellent work!
Nice!! That's awesome ❤️
Maybe if you had some overlap than the window width the insulation amd blackout would of been much better,
I love Lord Forkington-Smythe 😀
Phweeerrrr mwerrr nerrrrr!
Hello Paul. The algorithm has recently decided that you are someone I should watch. I believe the mic in my phone heard me saying wow on a video of yours deep deep into a clickfest. Anyway, who the hell am I to go against the almighty algorithm it’s self, so I’m just gonna click subscribe now and hopefully enjoy the ride.
Woohoo! ❤️
The performance "up to" numbers must assume pretty lousy windows. In the house I live in, the original windows would get very cold in the middle of winter, and basically suck the heat out of the room. This appears to be because the frames are made from aluminum and are rather large. Indeed, covering it with something heavy makes a big difference. But, I've replaced them with premium windows, and even bare they have an R factor of 9.
The other issue is that the rough opening around the window might not be insulated well, or at all. For this, you want a covering that is a few inches larger than the window, so your "away from the wall" choice was better. If you get one that fits tight against the glass, and only covers the glass, it won't help in this respect.
Paul I'm going to change your life. If you have sticky glue left after a sticker use lighter fluid. Dab a cloth or kitchen roll with lighter fluid and it wipes off sticky residue like it was nothing. I always have a can of light fluid in my house for this very use.
I do not see the use for the solar panel on such thing as a measure to save energy, but as a means to avoid the need to wire the power line to it. Quite a hassle unless you do it upfron during the home construction or unless that home is the wooden "paperbox" type...
MY Google Max Hub and Nest Hub 2 are both Border Routers and I ahve no issues with Matter devices with them. Also not had an issue with Home Assistant, but I have it setup with Multiprotocol support and Home Assistant is running Openthread Border Router, so it may just be a Smartwings thing for now. I believe Smartwings do not yet advertise working with Google. I'd be interested to here if it does start working in the future. I believe if you pair the Smartwings to Homekit, then you can get it into Home Assistant via HomeKit integration. Slackerlabs did a video on this abotu 2 or 3 months ago.
4:15 is me. Every single f***ing time.
I would Love to see actual Calculation based on Money Saving and how to check if its worth it for different Parts of the World.
If it should save Money it first need to repay itself first then after this Time Period you make Profit.
A right-angled USB adapter might allow you to use the rear power connector?
Oh, the Thread!!!
You could buy a right angle usb cable?
Unfortunately there's literally no space as its pressed up against the wall.
You need to invest in some Isopropyl Alcohol - that'll sort out the sticker-rage you regularly endure, mate... Rub it on the sticker, and it will dissolve the adhesive - then it peels right off. Any residue can be cleaned up with a little more IPA... It's great! :)
I'm in Florida, ill trade houses in a heartbeat.
Spain or Malta would be better.
These look great. I am looking for skylight blind so how they make a track version in future
Spain would be bliss! ❤️
@@paulhibbert Good choice, though if you ever come to Malta, beers are on me!
Buy a low profile 90° female to male usb c adapter .. you could then plug the adapter into the front ( window side ) of the blind and then you can plug the USB power source into the side then
They're pretty neat, but i need a top down, bottom up solution.
On the subject of Amazon, Google and Homekit (with or without Matter). Lets just assume you are onboard a spaceship on the way to Mars - and it's completely controlled by one of these Smart Home providers. How far would you get before they killed you (via unintended malfunction) rather than the HAL-9000 kind.
Well if the smart device wont open the blind you certainly couldn't look out of the view-screen so flying into a planet is a distinct possibility.
Google without a shadow of a doubt would keep you the safest by failing to launch in the first place.
@@paulhibbert I have to admit I abandoned Google over a year ago. Still have to very expensive Google Max speakers in my garage doing nothing. I'm on Apple Homekit now and that's not exactly been a smooth ride. The current Homepod Mini and Apple TV firmware isn't awful but I still have to reboot all of them about once every 2 weeks. Matter is supposed to be more resilient but I have found (at least with Apple) that if one of my hubs has a problem it tends to take down the whole notification and event systems. I did try Hubitat but found that it did not like many of the devices I had aquired for Smartthings.
@@paulhibbert Hey Google, launch the ship
Im sorry I cant do that Mr Bezoz
With the cable 05:00 they could have provided one with a 90 degree bend which would have overcome this.
It would help as long as the blind isn't square up against whatever you mount it to.
Tip for getting sticky labels off squirt with WD40 and it’s a breeze getting them off
can you program them to automatically go up in the morning and down at night time?
Blinding mate.
Badum tish! 🤣
Paul Hibbert. Are you still rocking a Galaxy S10?
You need to switch to the Fold series. Youll never look back.
Aaahhh Paul, you had me buying them all the way to the end. But then considering I need ten at 2 meters wide each, the price might just put me off slightly :(
Give me an alexa command for these blinds and I'm sold !