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Simon, I am a big fan of your reviews. Specifically, your use of a standardized format makes it easy to compare items across reviews. I also value the use of specialized tools, such as your decibel meter for items that have some noise to them. Keep up the great work!
Hi Simon great video. Have you looked at SmartWings blinds. I have 7 currently and need to get 6 more! they are awesome and work direct with homekit and will have thread soon. But really you don't need thread for blinds.. I think you should have a look. and they are priced very reasonable and each one is custom made to your sized and the have a good fabric choice.
Hi, glad you enjoyed the video. Yes, I’m aware of SmartWings. They contacted me towards the end of last year, but I don’t have anywhere to test more blinds at present, so I had to decline their offer of a review unit. Hopefully I can figure something out when they release their Thread versions, which is what I enquired about when they first contacted me.
It should be fairly straightforward, so just take your time following the instructions and setting the open & closed limits and you should be fine. There’s probably an extra step if you want the two motors to work in sync with each other, but as I only have one, I didn’t use such an option.
Damnit. I've been wating forever for these. Bought two, and paired them with Home Assistant through Conbee 1 Zigbee stick. Does not work at all :( Pairing goes through but the buttons/services wont do anything. Decided to try with the Aqara E1 Hub that came with the bundle. The drivers wont even pair with that. Not too happy with the product at the moment.
These should work with the E1 hub, although I’ve heard some people have had issues connecting them. The best thing I’ve found is usually resetting, then resetting again, and just leaving them for a while, before attempting to add them to an Aqara hub. I haven’t had to do that with these devices, but very occasionally I’ve found this to be the thing to do in cases like this.
Also had issues pairing with the Conbee II over deCONZ, Phoscon, and Home Assistant. In the end, I decided to purchase the Aqara E1 hub. Paired very easily. However, now the challenge is that I'm having very large curtains and it seems the motor cannot pull their weight. Hoping that a full charge will fix that.. :-)
It should do if you connect it to a Matter enabled Aqara hub, although last time I checked, Amazon is one Matter platform that doesn’t support window coverings. HomeKit does.
is it necessarry to ad an other Bridge? i have the HomePod etc in work. Can i install the Curtain Driver without any additional components? Thanks for a feedback
@ you have to bear in mind that whilst TRVs are going to be much the same when the amount of power is needed to turn them (not a lot, basically), a curtain motor has to deal with different weights and lengths of curtain, so I highly doubt you’d be able to make a motor totally silent whilst also coping with the demands required of it.
They are more expensive than switchbot, but I’ll happily pay the extra to keep a device on zigbee. Also I’d much rather have to have an aqara hub which has a larger product range than have to have the switchbot hub. The more use I get out of them the less annoying they feel.
Hi, most Zigbee 3.0 devices will now only work with Zigbee 3.0 Aqara hubs, with one or two exceptions. I’ve just double checked and even though I still have the original hub, it doesn’t show up as a hub option when going through the process of adding the curtain driver E1. The original hub is Zigbee 1.2.
hey ... I've got vertical blinds at home and office. do you think this would work. How about producing video. the only option I have at the moment is very expensive and have to order the motor and tracks with the blinds.
As long as the tracks for the vertical blinds are the same type used for curtains (I-Rail or U-Rail), then it should work, although it would only be able to push and pull them, not adjust the angle.
Nice review! Do the curtain driver bring any events/triggers in HomeKit automation when using native Home app? And how about shortcuts in automation, which curtain state info can you get in shortcuts by using “get state of home” action, can you e.g. check if the curtains are open/closed?
Hi, the curtain driver gives you the same options as other window coverings, so basic open/close including percentage, which is also the case for triggers in automations. As for Shortcuts (within Home) you get the following options regarding the state of the device; current position, custom, name, obstruction detected, position state, and target position.
Hi, that’s a good question. I think for the purposes of HomeKit, each motor shows a pair of curtains for the icon, so if you had two of these motors, you’d get two tiles. However, in HomeKit you can group items of the same type, so in this case you’d group the two motors, and they’d simply appear as one tile. They should also open and close at the same time, but in the Aqara app there’s also an option to sync a pair of motors, which would probably help too.
@@homekitnews if you set them as a pair in aqara would that not just expose a single device? Not that it matters much because as you say you could just create a group. I’ve just ordered one, do you know if it works with the E1 USB hub?
Hi, I only have the one motor for this review, but in the Aqara app it doesn’t exactly say it groups them, it’s more of a sync option within the app, so I still think that in HomeKit you would see two separate devices until you grouped them in HomeKit.
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![[#37] Шторные роботы Yeelight – установка и тест](/img/tr.png)
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Great review Simon, as always. That transparent curtain effect at 3:12 was epic! Nice job! 👏🏼👏🏼 🙌🏻 🙌🏻
Cheers Shane, always a pleasure to get a nod from you 😊!
Completely agree with the transparent effect being a great hit!
Simon, I am a big fan of your reviews. Specifically, your use of a standardized format makes it easy to compare items across reviews. I also value the use of specialized tools, such as your decibel meter for items that have some noise to them. Keep up the great work!
Thanks! It's funny but I hadn't thought too much about how the videos are sort of standardised, but yes I guess it must help.
As always, fantastic video review. 🤩🙏
Thanks very much! 😊
Hi Simon great video. Have you looked at SmartWings blinds. I have 7 currently and need to get 6 more! they are awesome and work direct with homekit and will have thread soon. But really you don't need thread for blinds.. I think you should have a look. and they are priced very reasonable and each one is custom made to your sized and the have a good fabric choice.
Hi, glad you enjoyed the video. Yes, I’m aware of SmartWings. They contacted me towards the end of last year, but I don’t have anywhere to test more blinds at present, so I had to decline their offer of a review unit. Hopefully I can figure something out when they release their Thread versions, which is what I enquired about when they first contacted me.
Is it louder than the Zemismart or Switchbot? Is sounds really loud on film?
It slightly louder than the ZemiSmart version, but then it’s a lot faster. I don’t have the Switchbot to compare it to.
So is it possible to have two motors on one rod that can open two curtains in different directions..?
@@via1992 yes, that’s totally possible, and normal to do so.
@@homekitnews wow thank you for the reply I bought two of them yesterday :) hopefully k can figure it out 😬 great video thank you so much
It should be fairly straightforward, so just take your time following the instructions and setting the open & closed limits and you should be fine. There’s probably an extra step if you want the two motors to work in sync with each other, but as I only have one, I didn’t use such an option.
This one look like the mijia model. Sadly the aqara doesnt sell on aliexpress, the main importer of smart thing to my country
Damnit. I've been wating forever for these. Bought two, and paired them with Home Assistant through Conbee 1 Zigbee stick. Does not work at all :( Pairing goes through but the buttons/services wont do anything.
Decided to try with the Aqara E1 Hub that came with the bundle. The drivers wont even pair with that.
Not too happy with the product at the moment.
These should work with the E1 hub, although I’ve heard some people have had issues connecting them. The best thing I’ve found is usually resetting, then resetting again, and just leaving them for a while, before attempting to add them to an Aqara hub. I haven’t had to do that with these devices, but very occasionally I’ve found this to be the thing to do in cases like this.
Also had issues pairing with the Conbee II over deCONZ, Phoscon, and Home Assistant. In the end, I decided to purchase the Aqara E1 hub. Paired very easily. However, now the challenge is that I'm having very large curtains and it seems the motor cannot pull their weight. Hoping that a full charge will fix that.. :-)
Does this have matter support now?
It should do if you connect it to a Matter enabled Aqara hub, although last time I checked, Amazon is one Matter platform that doesn’t support window coverings. HomeKit does.
Very similar to the Mijia model ! Whats the difference ?
The Mijia version uses Bluetooth, and is also not compatible with HomeKit, whereas the Aqara model is HomeKit compatible and uses Zigbee 3.0.
Hi, can I set the time for the curtains to be drawn open or close?
@@vicky829 yes, it’s very easy to do. You can create two automations in the Aqara or Apple Home apps to do just that.
is it necessarry to ad an other Bridge? i have the HomePod etc in work. Can i install the Curtain Driver without any additional components? Thanks for a feedback
@@Calore1984 the curtain motor uses Zigbee, whereas the HomePod does not, so an Aqara Zigbee hub is required.
is there one of these that is silent?
@@m0shtik none of these types of devices are totally silent as they have a motor that will always generate some noise.
@@homekitnews I'd think it shouldn't be an issue to create something that's silent, just like with TRVs. Probably not enough demand for it.
@ you have to bear in mind that whilst TRVs are going to be much the same when the amount of power is needed to turn them (not a lot, basically), a curtain motor has to deal with different weights and lengths of curtain, so I highly doubt you’d be able to make a motor totally silent whilst also coping with the demands required of it.
Do you need 2 of theses if you have a curtain either side that close in the middle ? Many thanks
Yes, that’s right. One per curtain.
Hi, this may be stupid question 😀… for split curtains… I need 2 of these units right?
Yes, that’s correct. Each motor only controls 1 curtain.
@@homekitnews Thanks a lot…
Looks good but a bit expensive I’d say
They are more expensive than switchbot, but I’ll happily pay the extra to keep a device on zigbee. Also I’d much rather have to have an aqara hub which has a larger product range than have to have the switchbot hub. The more use I get out of them the less annoying they feel.
@@sulylunat yeah good point, I would definitely get my money’s worth!
Hello, is it compatible with Ezviz A3-R200 ?
Aqara child devices are only compatible with Aqara hubs in most cases.
Hi. I think i have the first version hub of aqara, looks like it wont find the driver. Is the first hub not compitable ?
Hi, most Zigbee 3.0 devices will now only work with Zigbee 3.0 Aqara hubs, with one or two exceptions. I’ve just double checked and even though I still have the original hub, it doesn’t show up as a hub option when going through the process of adding the curtain driver E1. The original hub is Zigbee 1.2.
That 20% discount applies to which stores?
Hi, this would be for Amazon stores only, but that offer was only at the initial product launch, so I should remove that text, sorry.
hey ... I've got vertical blinds at home and office. do you think this would work. How about producing video. the only option I have at the moment is very expensive and have to order the motor and tracks with the blinds.
As long as the tracks for the vertical blinds are the same type used for curtains (I-Rail or U-Rail), then it should work, although it would only be able to push and pull them, not adjust the angle.
About time
Nice review! Do the curtain driver bring any events/triggers in HomeKit automation when using native Home app? And how about shortcuts in automation, which curtain state info can you get in shortcuts by using “get state of home” action, can you e.g. check if the curtains are open/closed?
Hi, the curtain driver gives you the same options as other window coverings, so basic open/close including percentage, which is also the case for triggers in automations. As for Shortcuts (within Home) you
get the following options regarding the state of the device; current position, custom, name, obstruction detected, position state, and target position.
Hi. Do you know if I can use my samsung smartthings bridge instead of an aqara bridge?
No, it’s not possible.
Hey, nice review! I wonder how the E1 would show on HomeKit for double curtains. Not sure if there’s a way to merge both E1 into one single tile
Hi, that’s a good question. I think for the purposes of HomeKit, each motor shows a pair of curtains for the icon, so if you had two of these motors, you’d get two tiles. However, in HomeKit you can group items of the same type, so in this case you’d group the two motors, and they’d simply appear as one tile. They should also open and close at the same time, but in the Aqara app there’s also an option to sync a pair of motors, which would probably help too.
@@homekitnews if you set them as a pair in aqara would that not just expose a single device? Not that it matters much because as you say you could just create a group. I’ve just ordered one, do you know if it works with the E1 USB hub?
Hi, I only have the one motor for this review, but in the Aqara app it doesn’t exactly say it groups them, it’s more of a sync option within the app, so I still think that in HomeKit you would see two separate devices until you grouped them in HomeKit.
hate zigbee hub, extra cost!