Fully Wired vs Battery Shades

Things you must know about fully wired vs battery

I have worked as a window covering installer for over ten years and cannot even count the amount of times I have shown up to a beautiful, newly built home to meet a customer who is really excited to purchase new motorized blinds.

When this happens, it usually results in a customer trying to do moves from Circ du Soleil while on tall ladders to change hard-to-reach batteries. Or they opt to pay me to go out every year to change an average of 250 AA batteries which becomes costly over time. While doing this, I usually hear the following remarks, "I think my blinds are possessed - they are moving by themselves! I should note that I have only really had one legitimate possession, all others were battery related issues.

This can be caused from many things such as in-floor heating, porcelain tile, granite fireplaces, countertops and not to mention all the other interfering radio signals bouncing around your home already. Ever have a cell phone drop a call? Now, how many times has your land line dropped a call? Interference from signals out there can cause all sorts of ghostly havoc!

Most RF blinds were designed to be a stand-alone solution and integration into your automation system was an afterthought. This has caused many integration specialists to spend countless hours trying to figure out how to make it operate with IR, dry contact and a bit of voodoo.

The reason my partner and I created Smart Shades Systems, was to address these issues and to make your system right the first time. Whenever possible, pre-wiring your window coverings only makes sense. Could you imagine a builder or electrician telling a home owner, "No, no, we don't need to wire those lights. We can use batteries and a remote". Sure that will work, but we all know the best solution in a new building or renovation is hard-wiring . A fully wired system is superior in reliability, consistent operation, requires no costly battery changes, provides proper serial communication and gives us the ability to integrate to anything from tablets or smart phones along with anything else the future throws at us.

No problem. Buy a manual shade but, have you considered running a wire anyways? This pre-planning will allow you or any other home owner to upgrade in the future. I know what your thinking, "Why would I buy a manual shade just to rip it out to buy a new one down the road?" Truth is, we can upgrade and motorize just about any manual shade, even years after the initial purchase.