Blinds motors

[antony]

I am planning to install external 15 blinds. I wired 4x1,5mm2 to all windows. Now, I am wondering what kind of motors is the best for Loxone. My blinds provider sells Elero JA Soft motor ( https://www.elero.com/en/products/electrical-drives/ja-ja-soft/ ). There is mechanical limit (is it good? Because I know that other manufacturers have electronic limit?).

I am wondering about precision of this solution. In Loxone I have to set time taken for slats to move from the vertical to horizontal position. Motor doesn’t communicate with loxone. Loxone estitmate slats position based on time. Is it enough accurate solution? (especially in automatic mode with sun angle correction).

I know that there are motors models with SMI standard ( Standard Motor Interface). Is it better solution? Or maby something else?

[mosseltje]

Anthony,

Don't worry. Most of the motors in blinds pull a max of 3A.
I wired my blindmotors like you did but with 5g2.5mm. Turns out almost all the motors on the Belgium market come with only 3 wires (up, down, common) they all come with digital limit switches so they detect the full down of full up position by them selves.

I have my loxone blinds go down for 2 minuts. In real time the blind take 90 seconds to go down. So there are 30 seconds of power on the blinds but because they detect their own limit, there is no harm.

Hope this helps you a bit.
Mosseltje

[Duncan]

mechanical limits are fine, they can just be difficult to get to / adjust once in place

[Clegger]

I've personally found no use for sun tracking with my external Venetian-type blinds. In my experience, a precise angle isn't necessary for the blinds to be completely effective.

I think I'd also be distracted by the blinds periodically changing angle during the day.

[antony]

Hi,

Thanks you for advices.

Duncan, What do you mean “difficult to get to / adjust once in place”?

What is the accuracy of the Elero JA Soft motor with mechanical limits? Is that enough to set slat's angle?

[Duncan]

depending on the physical location of the limit adjust, and the mounting of the motor/blind, the limit adjuster can be difficult to tweak - where as an electronic one is adjusted using a remote usually rather than physical device

since you tend to adjust them only once, its not really a big deal

[antony]

Ok now it is clear:)
What do You tkink about Standard motor interface? Is it better than 'traditional wiring'? Is that worth extra paying?

[Duncan]

there is always a balance between time/cost of wiring vs cost of devices such as the motor interface

since you have already wired anyway you have lots of choices

in the end its the value that it represents to you - if you have time and interest to wire and/or configure yourself, and also the possiblility of not being tied to the loxone hardware infrastructure then i would suggest using a strategy that could be replaced by other systems should that be necessary in the future. i.e. hardwire everything either back to a central point or a distributed model so you can use loxone or industry-standard components such as knx/dmx/network relays

[antony]

Duncan thanks for sharing your expertice. This is my first loxone's instalation so Im litte confused. Do you know if the accuracy of elero motors is enough to set slat's angle?

[Duncan]

I'm sorry I can't answer that, I'm not familiar with the motors and I guess it depends on the blinds as well. My installs have involved semitransparent sun blocking roller blinds rather than slatted ones

[Daniel Feist]

Antony,

What motors did you use in the end?

I think using SMI is adding unnecessary complexity, especially given how complete the "Automatic Blinds" function box in Config is.  That said, there still are two options:

- Mechanical limit

- Electronnic limit.

According to the Elero details (JA Soft vs JA Comfort), the advantage of the electronic version is:

• Slow travel while slats being moved and when approaching end positions

• Mushroom-shaped safety cut-out

• Freely programmable tilt and cover

  panel position 

I'm wondering which would be best with Loxone, or is either going to work just as well?

Thanks,