dbuono Posted August 12, 2019 Share Posted August 12, 2019 I have a number of questions about this driver and hope everyone here can help. First, does this work with 3.0? Second, I have three Somfy MyLinks in the home right now. With this driver work directly with those or do I need to add additional parts (ie RTS Interface)? Third, will this driver allow for percentages open and closed? I would like to create some programming in this regard, but the basic Somfy drivers for MyLink do not allow for that. Finally, what are some other benefits of this driver? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbir Posted August 12, 2019 Share Posted August 12, 2019 Hi 1. This driver works very well with OS 3.0 2. No other parts needed. The driver will connect with one of the 3 myLinks which will, in turn communicate with the other 2. 3. Yes. Other benefits: the main benefit is the % model. I hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggzlot Posted August 12, 2019 Share Posted August 12, 2019 I’ll add great support and the driver works as advertised Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Africa C4 user Posted August 13, 2019 Share Posted August 13, 2019 +1 for this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILoveC4 Posted August 14, 2019 Share Posted August 14, 2019 I'm looking at doing battery powered, Somfy shades in my new home. Do they move up and down in unison? Are the battery powered shades noisy? My only experience with these in some really wide (20 feet) high voltage powered shades on my back porch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggzlot Posted August 14, 2019 Share Posted August 14, 2019 2 hours ago, ILoveC4 said: I'm looking at doing battery powered, Somfy shades in my new home. Do they move up and down in unison? Are the battery powered shades noisy? My only experience with these in some really wide (20 feet) high voltage powered shades on my back porch. I can try to video mine tonight but they are wired not wireless so cannot comment on the sound. also they do not move in unison - I believe only Lutron do that. I believe I've read they have proprietary IP on that technology Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILoveC4 Posted August 14, 2019 Share Posted August 14, 2019 11 minutes ago, eggzlot said: I can try to video mine tonight but they are wired not wireless so cannot comment on the sound. also they do not move in unison - I believe only Lutron do that. I believe I've read they have proprietary IP on that technology Yeah, that isn't a huge deal to me - but was just curious. They must at least be close, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggzlot Posted August 14, 2019 Share Posted August 14, 2019 1 hour ago, ILoveC4 said: Yeah, that isn't a huge deal to me - but was just curious. They must at least be close, right? close enough I've never really bothered to see if the same one constantly goes first and if it is the same lag time. if so maybe you could get super crazy with programming to try and balance it out but its really a snap second. Without me even filming mine: https://youtu.be/k95mYcVEdQ0 https://youtu.be/n20rqr5waqw somfy is also good about disclosing their decibles: https://service.somfy.com/downloads/nam_v5/sonesse30_wirefree_li-ion_brochure_dec_2017.pdf - it says 44dba. That is the same as their wired Sonesse 30 that I own and its fine. https://service.somfy.com/downloads/nam_v5/sonesse30_rts_-_d-0103.pdf I did a ton of research back in the day when I picked my blinds. The Somfy/Bali line sold in big box stores were 52-53dba. Lutron Serena is 38dBA. Qmotion would not disclose to me their dBA ratings. So 44 is between lutron and bali, both of which you may be able to demo at a home depot/lowes, etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggzlot Posted August 14, 2019 Share Posted August 14, 2019 1 more good one - right as the video starts you can see the window on the right comes down just slightly before that door on the left comes down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neo1738 Posted August 15, 2019 Share Posted August 15, 2019 While not perfect it sure is close enough. At least for me and I'm fairly picky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILoveC4 Posted August 15, 2019 Share Posted August 15, 2019 40 minutes ago, Neo1738 said: While not perfect it sure is close enough. At least for me and I'm fairly picky. I agree 100%. I just need to get some that are light...block visibility in but don’t block ambient light. They’ll only be closed a couple of hours a day when the sun is in a certain spot. They won’t be going up and down a bunch or anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Africa C4 user Posted August 15, 2019 Share Posted August 15, 2019 I’ve got a mix of battery powered and hard wired at my new Beach house. The battery powered ones are quite a bit noisier. I’m also picky and have been impressed that they (the hard wired ones at least) (seem to) move in perfect unison (I only have hard wired shades next to each other though while the battery powered ones are off on their own). Given the noise difference, I am irritated that I did not push the builder harder to get power to the problem areas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuono Posted August 15, 2019 Author Share Posted August 15, 2019 We have a somfy hard wired and battery in our home. The battery option was added after the fact so no electricity available at the location. I can also confirm that the batter powered motor is quite a bit louder. Also, there are limits on the battery powered somfy motors. Most of our windows are 11' tall and over 40" wide. At that width, the battery was not even an option. On timing, our shades move at slightly different rates. In our setup, for example, we have an exercise room with a window that is 11' high and 13' wide (with 2 mulls in the unit). So we did not have a horizontal seam in the fabric, we went with 3 units split at the mulls. When we put these up and down they differ ever so slightly as they go down because of speed variance. I do believe there is a way to adjust somfy motor speeds to make them similar. Also, because this is really one bid window with 3 shades, I put all three on the same somfy channel. That way they all work in unison without having to set up a group. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggzlot Posted August 15, 2019 Share Posted August 15, 2019 11 minutes ago, dbuono said: We have a somfy hard wired and battery in our home. The battery option was added after the fact so no electricity available at the location. I can also confirm that the batter powered motor is quite a bit louder. Also, there are limits on the battery powered somfy motors. Most of our windows are 11' tall and over 40" wide. At that width, the battery was not even an option. On timing, our shades move at slightly different rates. In our setup, for example, we have an exercise room with a window that is 11' high and 13' wide (with 2 mulls in the unit). So we did not have a horizontal seam in the fabric, we went with 3 units split at the mulls. When we put these up and down they differ ever so slightly as they go down because of speed variance. I do believe there is a way to adjust somfy motor speeds to make them similar. Also, because this is really one bid window with 3 shades, I put all three on the same somfy channel. That way they all work in unison without having to set up a group. its possible your wired ones are more quiet than your wireless ones - i wonder which wired model you have? the 30 range (Wired or Wireless) should have the same dBA level whereas the 40 series hardwire and the 50 series hardware have dBA down to 42 and 38 respectively which could be a big difference over 44 dBA on the 30 series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maskas Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 The Domosapiens driver states that it can control dry contact blinds, is that only for Somfy dry contact motors only? Or any brand? Where I'm based I'm having a hard time getting Somfy motors, am being offered generic dry contact tubular motors only. Would like to be able to open the blinds to a set percentage etc. If anybody knows about this please do let me know. Also if anyone can source me Somfy motors I would be interested. I have 22 windows, they are fairly large around 15' width by 11' height each. There is one which is 25' by 11' as well. These are all for external use with sunscreen fabric.Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbir Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 The driver handles dry contact motors in a relatively standard way: an 'UP' contact, a "DOWN' contact and a 'STOP' contact. In addition, Somfy allows closing both 'UP' and 'DOWN' at the same time to signify 'STOP' instead of using the separate 'STOP' contact. This is also supported as an option. The timing model in the driver should allow for % open/closed. If your generic motors can work with a 400ms pulse for 'UP', 'DOWN' and 'STOP', you should be OK. I hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maskas Posted September 6, 2019 Share Posted September 6, 2019 14 hours ago, pbir said: The driver handles dry contact motors in a relatively standard way: an 'UP' contact, a "DOWN' contact and a 'STOP' contact. In addition, Somfy allows closing both 'UP' and 'DOWN' at the same time to signify 'STOP' instead of using the separate 'STOP' contact. This is also supported as an option. The timing model in the driver should allow for % open/closed. If your generic motors can work with a 400ms pulse for 'UP', 'DOWN' and 'STOP', you should be OK. I hope this helps. Thanks that is quite helpful. If I may ask is there any somfy motor that provides true two way feedback? If not is there any functionality that I'm not losing out by not getting a somfy motor as opposed to these generic motors? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbir Posted September 6, 2019 Share Posted September 6, 2019 Somfy has a full line of motors and control devices which provide 2-way control. For this, you should contact Somfy directly. As for dry contact generic motors, it becomes a matter of reliability and support from the manufacturer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maskas Posted September 6, 2019 Share Posted September 6, 2019 Thanks for the help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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