Z-Wave Rollladen Gurtwickler - belt winders for roller shutters

 Hi,

ever wondered if there are any z-wave enabled belt winders for roller shutters on the market? No, there aren't any. Some manufacturers will offer you their on "smart-home" protocol solution, like Velux, Rademacher or Somfy. They use protocols like RTS, io-control or whatnot... If you are looking to use a z-wave based system, it's not possible without some DIY.

I recently was able to convert a Rademacher Rollotron ("RolloTron Standard DuoFern") into a functional z-wave controllabe device without butchering it. There is another solution I have found from the Blog www.siio.de but it involves to destroy and make a lot of modifications to the (different style and model and make) belt winder. My solution here is probably more expensive but won't damage the belt winder and it will stay fully functional as before and still can be controlled locally or through the DuoFern remote and ecosystem. 

So I used a Fibaro Roller Shutter 3 to act as the Z-Wave modul. This was controlling a "DuoFern 9497 module" which is basically a DuoFern barbone remote. it is supposed to be installed as a wall switch behind a switch but I connected it to the Fibaro module. 

It requires a 12V source. I used an old power supply from a broken gadget. As the device contacts are "dry contacts" I couldn't connect the fibaro roller shutter directly to the DF9497. I used two relays which "closed" when the fibaro gave power to the exit (up or down). I used two WAGO xxx as relays. 

The Fibaro roller shutter module S1 and GND was connected to A1 and A2. The DF9497 was connected to 11 and 14. If the Fibaro gives power for "DOWN" for example, the relay would close, finalizing the circuit on the DF9497 module. This would then send a command with the standard DuoFern protocol to the roller shutter belt winder and close it. Same for UP movement.

Something like this but this is with a KLF-050 for the Velux system (RTS). This actually inspired me and I adopted this below to the DuoFern system once I discovered they have the DF 9497 module. 

It would probably would have been easier to use a Qubino module which works in 12V mode to eliminate the need to 230V in the setup. maybe it is also possible to use the Fibaro smart implant in the setup but you would need to get two "potential free" dry contact outputs which act as a remote switch for the DuoFern 9497 to close the connection for "up" and "down". At the time this was my best solution for this to integrate a single DuoFern belt winder in my Vera Lite Z-Wave eco system. I might post more pictures later as well as some z-wave parameters for the Fibaro unit to get positioning % working.

To summarize, the advantages are:

• No modification on the belt winder needed
• belt winder continues to work as normal with any other potential DuoFern equipment
• native z-wave integration in the end with positioning %
• You can add a switch as well to control the blind from somewhere else (the purpose of the DF 9497 originally intended, but we will connect)

Downsides are:

• You need a z-wave module, a DF9497 module, two relays for each belt winder [100€ minimum]
• If you control the DuoFern locally or via DuoFern system, the positioning in z-wave is not synchronized 
• The whole "control package" is quite big with all the cables and clutter, no way you can fit that in the wall, but you can put it anywhere really as it just acts as a "Z-Wave to DuoFern translator box" actually. I put all the stuff in a electrical connector box and chucked it onto a shell on the top out of the way and sight, not bothering me
• You need to know what you do as it involves 230V!

Probably if you ahve more than one or two DuoFern things to control, it is better to take the homepilot hub from Rademacher and somehow integrate the homepilot hub into Vera. I haven't investigated this option. Maybe with home-assittant or openhab or iobroker these home-pilot can be integrated.