This was posted 4 years 22 days ago, and might be an out-dated deal.

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[Kogan First] Kogan SmarterHome Smart Blinds Driver $65.99 Delivered @ Kogan

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Required Kogan First to get this price (can sign up for Free Trial, remember to cancel)

I bought 2 previously for $99.99 each from Kogan and am very happy with them. It's similar/same as many other OEM Smart Blinds driver on the market, and I believe $65.99 is the lowest price so far. You even cannot find this price on Aliexpress. Previously bought around $85 on Aliexpress.

Let the morning light in from the comfort of your bed and easily close your blinds when you come home from work thanks to the Kogan SmarterHome™ Smart Blinds Driver, providing you with easy blind control via smartphone no matter where you are.

  • Open and close your blinds using your smartphone!
  • Set schedules and control via the SmarterHome™ app
  • Compatible with Google Home and Amazon Alexa
  • Powerful 1.35Nm torque motor with 55rpm speed
  • 433.2 MHz Remote control
  • Easy to install

NOTE:
Compatiable with SmartLife/Tuya
It does not come with coin battery CR2450 for the remote
It comes with 3M adhesive if you don't want to drill

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  • Anyone who has these and is using alexa.

    What do u tell alexa?

    Open blind sor turn blinds on?

    • +3

      With Google assistant you can use routines and program it so you can say anything you like to perform a chain of commands. Eg. Hrygoogle, clean my backside. And then it will open the blinds for you.

    • Just tested on mine. You have to say Turn on/off blinds. You can also say "Set/Open blinds at xx%".
      You can use Alexa Routines to customise your command to Open/Close.

      For Google Assistant, it understands both Turn on/off and Open/Close.

  • Does this work with curtains?

    • Comes with a 14 day chance of mind return policy in the event they don’t work

      • watch out, Kogan returns give you store credit - not refunds.

  • Got two of these, I got them for $80 when I preordered at Kogan. Setup in Tuya app, can connect to google home. I have it in home assistant to open/close with sunrise/sunset. Highly recommend. Just normal blinds with metal beads is what I have.

  • +1

    Would this work with the larger sliding door blinds which are heavy?

    • +1

      Feel free to give it a shot anyway as kogan have a 14 day change of mind return policy

      • +2

        You'll be stuck to pay delivery charges for returning item

        • What about PayPal free returns?

          • @jaymzrsa: Yes possible but even with PayPal returns its only 5 max per year and you still need to pay for shipping to be able to claim return shipping costs

        • and only get store credit

  • Does anyone know if these are compatible with homebridge to bring them into Apple home?

    I’ve had my eye on a TuyaSmart version on AliExpress for a while and this is a good price!

    • All Kogan SmarterHome devices are SmartLife/Tuya compatible. Not sure about Apple Home thing.

    • These are compatible with homebridge with a particular fork of the homebridge-Tuya plugin

      • Thank you for confirming!

    • I can only get the blinds to show up as scenes on Apple Home (i.e. creating scenes to open/close the blinds within the Tuya App)

      • Do you use homebridge?

  • +1

    Have one of these from a previous deal.

    I love it, have it booked up to my bedroom blinds (daily open and close).

    My only issue is I have to give the opposite command, i.e. "hey google, close the blinds" when I want to open them.

    I know the beads can be switched over, but then the buttons operate backwards (i.e. up button makes it go down).

    It'd be great if I can solve that.

    • +2

      Use routines in Home, fixes it. I have it set to recognise a number of phrases as I don't seem to say the exact same one each time

      Hey Google:

      Open blinds
      Open the blinds
      Open up the blinds

      Shut blinds
      Shut the blinds
      Close blinds
      Close the blinds

      Etc

      And when you say the open commands you set it to 'close' the blinds and visa versa

      • +1

        Thanks this helped me out.

        • Yep now it works. Only thing is adding a % won't work. Eg 50% 60%

    • Same here. Use Routines in Home app.

    • I think within the Tuya app you can change it to the other way?

  • How are the units powered?

    • +1

      Mains power, looks to be a power adapter included

      • +7

        Voltage adapter 110-240V says mains powered.

        I would love to see a CR2450 run the motor… (it’s for the remote)

        • +1

          The problem I have (and which I argued with Kogan about) is that your standard consumer has no idea what any of that means - they see the word Battery type = and assume the unit runs on a battery. Nowhere does it say (except in the user manual) that it doesn't run on a battery
          I'd argue the "110V-240V 1A" adaptor could be used to charge a battery, and the average consumer may think that.
          The other problem I have is the way they actually market the product - even the images have either the cable neatly hidden away, and the product "operating" (i.e. the lights are on, while nothing is plugged in in the image")

  • Great thanks OP!

  • +2

    It's tempting but would have been better if it was battery powered. It's cheap relatively speaking but still overall expensive for what it is. IMO they should be bulk selling these out at no more than $50. Still quite a hefty profit to be made as well.

    • -8

      The specification lists a battery type, so this is battery powered. I have looked at smart blinds a few times and the reviews of all battery powered ones always seem to be that they struggle with anything other than quite light blinds, or the batteries need changed far too frequently

  • "It comes with 3M adhesive if you don't want to drill"

    Can anyone confirm this solution actually works? I am renting and don't want to drill. Wouldn't the torque from the motor rip the unit off the wall?

    • +6

      I don't use the included 3M. Since I found this nano tape last year, I basically use it for everything https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Multi-Function-Nano-Tape-Transpa…

      This type of Nano tape provides very strong adhesiveness and can be removed without damaging the surface (no sticky residual).

      If the paint of your wall is too old, it will very likely rip the paint/unit off the wall.

  • I pulled the trigger. Been wanting one of these for quite some time and will use in the bedroom for one blind. The other blind doesn't matter so much and is further from the power point anyway. Should go well with the rest of my smart home setup

  • Does setup let you choose the default height you want blinds open to? Can these be told to open blinds half way?

    • +1

      Yes. You can say something like "Set/Open blinds at xx%".

  • Does anyone know the length of the power cord?

  • Anyone got experience with size of the blind it can handle? Looking to use it on a ~2m long blind

    • Can work for upto 2.5m long blind

    • I have them on 2.4m blinds without issue.

  • +1

    I have one and it's total junk. Good price though.
    Very noisy, annoying bright light on the power adaptor, for some reason is opposite on Google Assistant, constantly skips links on a metal chain.
    Kogan are useless and ended up ignoring my request for a 14 day refund

    • Don't let them get away with it. ACL or PayPal will sort this.

  • +1

    Powerful 1.35Nm torque motor with 55rpm speed

    Dumb specs to give for something that pulls a cord. We need to know the linear force and speed, or at least the radius of the pulley.

    More info, e.g. here:
    https://www.aliexpress.com/i/4001091120549.html

    Says 10kg max weight, (i.e. 100N pull)

    a very good price, even with the $12 for First.

  • Does the motor run on an 18650 or similar that needs to be charged, or does the motor need to be constantly plugged in to 240?

  • +2

    Anyone tried loading ESPhome for integration into home assistant?

  • Dont the cord running along ruin the vibe? The whole idea of home automation is to modernize home along with the actual utility, but a wire running along kinda ruins it, especially if the power point isn’t directly around the blinds.

    I understand that alternatives aren’t great either, batteries are probably not powerful enough, and requires frequent charge up.

    Hopefully battery models get better!

  • +1

    Is this the cheapest way to get smart blinds? I'm not fussed on apps connectivity or anything, a normal remote would do. Looking to purchase for home and office so I'd get maybe 15 or 20

  • Somewhat unrelated but where would I buy a replacement blind mechanism from? I mean the rails. Mine has issues, doesnt turn properly or close open when I pull the strings. Tempted to buy this but need to replace/fix the rails first.

  • Anybody having issue controlling it via App? i tried SmartLife and Kogan's SmarterHome app. Im able to pair it but not responding to opening/closing buttons :(
    It works fine using the physical remote and the buttons on the unit itself. Cheers!

    • +1

      I had trouble connecting it but realised it was too far away from the router (only 2 rooms across and 1 up, not great range)

      Have had trouble before connecting some things after I split the router into the 2 bands. Maybe it's connected on one band and you're on another band? Or I think there's a setting on dual/tri band routers that stops them talking to each other, see if that's turned off.

      • Thanks for the reply! :)
        I'm right next to my router and pretty sure im connected to the same band/ssid. I've completed the pairing process and it's already showing in the app. But nothing happens when i clicked on opening/closing buttons

        • You need to set up end points (I guess you have figured that out already tho)

          • @jellical: no, i havent actually. Where can i set that up? i only see buttons for Opening, Pause, Closing.
            Then i have Motor Direction, Sleep, Schedule when i go to More.
            Cheers!

            • +1

              @clartan2015: Not in the app. You need to press "up" on the device itself. When curtains are completely open you need to press stop for a few seconds, before the light blinks. Then the curtain will either go down itself or you need to click "down" button. When blinds are completely closed - click stop. This way you will set up end points and device will know when to stop and mobile app is likely to start working.

              They have this procedure in the manual (somewhere in the begining, just in case I missed something.

      • How did you get yours to connect?
        I am having trouble connecting mine. I generally add all smart devices via AP mode rather than EZ mode as EZ never works for me but I can't get this one to enter AP mode, and EZ isn't working. I had it right next to my router and still wouldn't connect.

        • Fast blinking mode and adding it under curtain

        • i used tuyasmart to connect and it works fine

          • @EnergicAU: I first tried using smart life when that didn't work I set it up using the Kogan app. Then when I figured it was too far from the router I set it up and got it working on smart life.

  • Anyone found a way to bypass tuya/Kogan app and use smart things?

    Remote/Tuya for open and close works fine in the correct direction

    However on Google home open/close is opposite…

    The bottom Tab for left and right I've swapped around as this makes the remote direction and physical remote work correctly.

    • Google is stuffed. Set up routines to fix it manually. Alexa works fine.

      • I can't seem to figure out how to do it in routines. I put in when:
        Open blinds
        Assistant to: close blinds
        But then nothing happens…

        • So try:

          When

          I say "Close the blinds" or "Closde blinds" or… etc.
          Assistant will
          Open the blinds

          and then do the vice versa of this.

          • @0 0 0: So under the "assistant will" do you use "enter command" and type it manually or "browse popular options". I went under browse popular options and can't seem to find the blinds

            If you type under the "assistant will" "close the blinds" will there be an infinite loop where it will go close then open then close because you have the commands to do the opposite?

            • @EnergicAU: You type the command
              I was sceptical and thought it would cause the infinite loop but it doesnt

              • @0 0 0: Thanks I'll have to try again. Didn't work last night

  • +2

    I bought these a few weeks ago and very pleased with them so far - I've bought several extra at this sale price.

    Some context for my question:
    - I'm a long time Home Assistant user (https://www.home-assistant.io/)
    - I've flashed dozens of devices with Tasmota & ESPHome
    - I've got several Sonoff RF Bridges flashed with Tasmota (& tried Portisch) to pick up 433mHZ motion detectors
    - I can have these blinds in Home Assistant via the Tuya Integration which shows Open/Closed status but not the percentage open.
    - Current dilemma: if I flash tasmota to gain the percentage open I might lose the ability to pair with the remote that shipped with them. The remote is really nice, I'd like to keep using it.

    A techy question here… looks like they can be flashed with tasmota via TuyaConvert (according to this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4BcvlIQTuI&list=PL-51DG-VUL…, it is the same as the $61 version in the video). My question is: *would you still be able to use the 433mHZ remote with the unit if flashed with tasmota (or ESP Home)?* The remote is actually really nice and I'd hate to lose it's functionality. I tried to sniff out the 433 codes using a Sonoff RF Bridge (with Tasmota + Portisch flashed) and it didn't pick it up.

    • Thanks for the info. Please let me know how you go.

  • Mine came with a coin battery.

  • If you have more than one, can you sync one remote to all?

  • +2

    Ok just commenting here in case anyone reads this in the future and trying to figure it out.

    1) you can add these blinds to Tuya app
    2) I would name the blinds or curtains something else. Eg I called my Shade 1 Shade 2 (I'll explain why later)
    3) the included Kogan remote can be paired with more than 1 blind/curtain so pressing up and down can control two different units. Only have 2 so don't know what many the limit is on the number of units it can be paired with
    4) in Google Home, open is actually close and close is actually open. So to avoid confusing Google or when you say things wrongly, set up a routine to do this:
    WHEN
    "close the blinds"
    "close blinds"
    "close curtains"
    "close the curtains"
    ASSISTANT WILL (CUSTOM COMMAND):
    "Open Shade 1"
    "Open Shade 2"

    You can also add: Google will say "Closing the blinds"

  • +2

    Wow big difference in price at the moment.
    Can anyone confirm it’s still the same price for Kogan First? Or is it the $139 as listed

    Will be waiting for the next sale!
    - my blinds have two separate strings to “tilt up and down”. Anyone tried tying these two together and putting it on the mechanism? Would it work the same way?

    • Wouldn't work unless the distance to pull each is the same.you could probably use two machines, one for tilt and one for pulling it up

      • If you tied a loop and set it in the middle it would work?

        • Yeah this is what I’m thinking.

          It doesn’t have to move very far up or down.
          I only tilt it in the morning so my indoor plants get light. Then tilt it back at sunset so neighbours can’t see in.

          Will give it a go at $65.
          How’s their return policy?

          Can anyone confirm that it’s $65 for kogan first still?
          Don’t want to waste my trial

    • +1 can anyone confirm still $65 with Kogan first?

      $139 will wait for sale.

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