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We set up a motorized curtain in our bedroom. It's been really nice to black everything out at night while sleeping (some of our neighbors leave outdoor lights

by jonfw 4y ago

We set up a motorized curtain in our bedroom. It's been really nice to black everything out at night while sleeping (some of our neighbors leave outdoor lights on) but in the morning, wake up with natural light

kradroy 4y ago
I've been looking for something like this. Is it DIY or something off-the-shelf? My spouse requires absolute darkness when sleeping, but I have SAD and require the blinds to be always open in order to... not want to die.
- mr337 4y ago
  Not the OP but I am really happy with the IKEA Tradfri blinds [1].Every night at dark they close all the rooms so I don't feel like living in fish bowl. 30 minutes past sunrise they all open. Best investment ever. For the more technical they are Zigbee and heard all of IKEA zigbee stuff works without the hub. I personally have had issues with HomeAssistant and Tradfri integration so just use the IKEA app and the hub with no issues for over 6mo now. [1] - https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/fyrtur-black-out-roller-blind-smart-wireless-battery-operated-gray-50417464/ https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/fyrtur-black-out-roller-blind-s...
  - tibbon 4y ago
    Thank you! I had been looking for something Zigbee that I can run with HA that does this and doesn't cost a fortune.
  - nyx 4y ago
    Directly connecting these blinds to my Home Assistant instance via the ZHA integration and a HUSBZB-1 Zigbee/ZWave stick[0] works pretty well. I've got 8 of them around my house, and some automations to open/close with the sun, etc. Only small issues I've identified are that 1) Zigbee meshing doesn't seem to behave with these, so you'll have to pair the blinds directly to your hub. This is fine, as long as your place is small enough for there to be no signal quality issues. And 2) if Home Assistant instructs the blinds to open to a specific position (i.e. "80% closed") rather than fully open or fully closed, it can take a really long time for the blinds to update the hub with their state. This means they show as "opening" in the HA UI even though they're finished moving. [0] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GJ826F8 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GJ826F8
- jonfw 4y ago
  I use zemi smart curtains, they were a huge pain to assemble but work great now. We’re just using the remote so I can’t comment on the smart home features
vanilla_nut 4y ago
For folks who don't have good windows or lighting for this: I invested in a "Lighten Up" timer that slowly trickles power to a light via a dimmer setup on a schedule. It has made it IMMENSELY easier to wake up at a consistent time. And it's very gradual. Caveat: spend some time finding a good dimmer bulb! So many CFLs and LEDs do weird things on a dimmer. One of them flickered like crazy. Another strobed. If you have any old incandescents around, they work great.
- pedantsamaritan 4y ago
  Somewhat similar, I've used a smart light (Philips Hue), Home Assistant (with a ConBee II zigbee dongle), and a lighting rhythm plugin (https://github.com/claytonjn/hass-circadian_lighting https://github.com/claytonjn/hass-circadian_lighting) to adjust brightness and color temperature. Much more expensive, but I get other benefits, like dimming lights nicely in the evening
jerkstate 4y ago
I bought Ikea Fyrtur motorized shades on my south facing windows. Individually less than $200. These can also be trimmed down (if you're brave) to fit smaller windows, and are available in a variety of sizes. Being able to connect them to home automation to manage heat in south-facing rooms is fantastic.
fishtoaster 4y ago
This was a game-changer for us as well. We are blessed with for pretty-tall windows in our bedroom and we realized that we just never opened them - too much hassle. Now they're all motorized and we can toggle them with a button-press on a remote.
trapexit 4y ago
Significantly more than $200, but we had motorized external screens & shutters put on the bedroom windows. I flashed Tasmota onto some cheap Sonoff modules to control the motors and integrated via MQTT into Homebridge so we can easily set schedules or ask Siri to put the shades up or down. We're sleeping so much better with the room mostly blacked out (we also have rear neighbors with bright lights, and cats that roam the neighborhood and set off everyone's motion sensors all night). Having an exterior covering on the southwest-facing windows has also massively reduced the need for cooling in the summer — our original reason for having the install done. Our bedroom has ~99% light reduction with the external screens, and our toddler's room upstairs has completely opaque roller shutters and gets DARK, which has made for very easy nap times and great overnight sleep. When we ask Siri to wake the kid up, a scene is executed that rolls up the shutters, turns on the overhead light, and plays a happy song on the HomePod. Always puts him a great mood.
- kareemm 4y ago
  Which shades did you get? Looking hard at these - love sleeping in a blacked out room.
theshrike79 4y ago
Blackout curtains in general make a world of difference in sleep quality, especially up north where the sun doesn't like to go down in the summer. The same thing makes all kinds of sunrise/sunset home automations completely useless :D
l33tbro 4y ago
I bought the Manta sleep mask this year instead of going the curtains motorised route. Far cheaper and it has been just as effective in getting a great night sleep. It is really well designed. Very-breathable material with soft foam near the eyes and doesn't ever feel too tight. A little pricey for what it is, but it is really a no-brainer when you think of how crucial restful sleep is.

by jonfw 4y ago

kradroy 4y ago

I've been looking for something like this. Is it DIY or something off-the-shelf? My spouse requires absolute darkness when sleeping, but I have SAD and require the blinds to be always open in order to... not want to die.

mr337 4y ago
Not the OP but I am really happy with the IKEA Tradfri blinds [1].Every night at dark they close all the rooms so I don't feel like living in fish bowl. 30 minutes past sunrise they all open. Best investment ever. For the more technical they are Zigbee and heard all of IKEA zigbee stuff works without the hub. I personally have had issues with HomeAssistant and Tradfri integration so just use the IKEA app and the hub with no issues for over 6mo now. [1] - https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/fyrtur-black-out-roller-blind-smart-wireless-battery-operated-gray-50417464/ https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/fyrtur-black-out-roller-blind-s...
- tibbon 4y ago
  Thank you! I had been looking for something Zigbee that I can run with HA that does this and doesn't cost a fortune.
- nyx 4y ago
  Directly connecting these blinds to my Home Assistant instance via the ZHA integration and a HUSBZB-1 Zigbee/ZWave stick[0] works pretty well. I've got 8 of them around my house, and some automations to open/close with the sun, etc. Only small issues I've identified are that 1) Zigbee meshing doesn't seem to behave with these, so you'll have to pair the blinds directly to your hub. This is fine, as long as your place is small enough for there to be no signal quality issues. And 2) if Home Assistant instructs the blinds to open to a specific position (i.e. "80% closed") rather than fully open or fully closed, it can take a really long time for the blinds to update the hub with their state. This means they show as "opening" in the HA UI even though they're finished moving. [0] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GJ826F8 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GJ826F8
jonfw 4y ago
I use zemi smart curtains, they were a huge pain to assemble but work great now. We’re just using the remote so I can’t comment on the smart home features

vanilla_nut 4y ago

For folks who don't have good windows or lighting for this: I invested in a "Lighten Up" timer that slowly trickles power to a light via a dimmer setup on a schedule. It has made it IMMENSELY easier to wake up at a consistent time. And it's very gradual. Caveat: spend some time finding a good dimmer bulb! So many CFLs and LEDs do weird things on a dimmer. One of them flickered like crazy. Another strobed. If you have any old incandescents around, they work great.

pedantsamaritan 4y ago
Somewhat similar, I've used a smart light (Philips Hue), Home Assistant (with a ConBee II zigbee dongle), and a lighting rhythm plugin (https://github.com/claytonjn/hass-circadian_lighting https://github.com/claytonjn/hass-circadian_lighting) to adjust brightness and color temperature. Much more expensive, but I get other benefits, like dimming lights nicely in the evening

jerkstate 4y ago

I bought Ikea Fyrtur motorized shades on my south facing windows. Individually less than $200. These can also be trimmed down (if you're brave) to fit smaller windows, and are available in a variety of sizes. Being able to connect them to home automation to manage heat in south-facing rooms is fantastic.

fishtoaster 4y ago

This was a game-changer for us as well. We are blessed with for pretty-tall windows in our bedroom and we realized that we just never opened them - too much hassle. Now they're all motorized and we can toggle them with a button-press on a remote.

trapexit 4y ago

Significantly more than $200, but we had motorized external screens & shutters put on the bedroom windows. I flashed Tasmota onto some cheap Sonoff modules to control the motors and integrated via MQTT into Homebridge so we can easily set schedules or ask Siri to put the shades up or down. We're sleeping so much better with the room mostly blacked out (we also have rear neighbors with bright lights, and cats that roam the neighborhood and set off everyone's motion sensors all night). Having an exterior covering on the southwest-facing windows has also massively reduced the need for cooling in the summer — our original reason for having the install done. Our bedroom has ~99% light reduction with the external screens, and our toddler's room upstairs has completely opaque roller shutters and gets DARK, which has made for very easy nap times and great overnight sleep. When we ask Siri to wake the kid up, a scene is executed that rolls up the shutters, turns on the overhead light, and plays a happy song on the HomePod. Always puts him a great mood.

kareemm 4y ago
Which shades did you get? Looking hard at these - love sleeping in a blacked out room.

theshrike79 4y ago

Blackout curtains in general make a world of difference in sleep quality, especially up north where the sun doesn't like to go down in the summer. The same thing makes all kinds of sunrise/sunset home automations completely useless :D

l33tbro 4y ago

I bought the Manta sleep mask this year instead of going the curtains motorised route. Far cheaper and it has been just as effective in getting a great night sleep. It is really well designed. Very-breathable material with soft foam near the eyes and doesn't ever feel too tight. A little pricey for what it is, but it is really a no-brainer when you think of how crucial restful sleep is.