I have been in the blind and shade business more than six years. When I started in the industry in 2014 motorized shades were a bit of a novelty. This is no longer the case. Every day I answer questions about how to motorize shades in new construction and existing homes. Over the years I have worked on hundreds of motorized shade projects and I have never heard anyone say they regret adding motors to their shades.
Motorized shades consist of two main elements, power and control. Both segments must be considered and answered to complete your order.
Lets being with power. When thinking about motorized shades there are two power types that everything falls into. Motorized shades can run on low voltage (DC) power or high voltage (AC) power.
Low voltage power can be 12-volt, 18 volt or 24 volts. 12 volt and 18-volt motors can be powered by hard wire using 16-gauge copper wire, or they can be power using batteries, 24 volts can only be powered using low voltage hard wire. In most cases battery powered shades use internal, rechargeable batteries. When the batteries run out of power, they are recharged by plugging in a charging cable; just like plugging in your smart phone. This recharging system means you never need to take the shade down to change batteries.
High voltage is 120 V power. If you are using a 120-volt power this can only be done using hard wire, making a connection in a junction box.
We will be happy to come to your job site and help you select which wiring structure is best for your job. If needed, we can meet with your election or GC and instruct them on what kind of wire should be run and where wires should be dropped.
Once we have our shade type picked out and we know how we will power them we need to determine how the shades will be controlled.
Of course, all motorized shades can be controlled via remote. There are multiple remote-control options ranging from single channel to 16 channels. We can place multiple shades on one remote and one channel. For example, if you had three windows in your dining room and wanted all of those shades to operate at the same time, they can all be placed on one channel of one remote and they will work in unison. Those same shades could also be placed on individual channels and a group channel on one remote.
If you want to control your shades from your smart phone, we can add a WIFI interface to allow you that control option. Using a WIFI interface will allow us to use voice control from Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant.
If you have a home automation system, such as Samsung Smart things or control 4 we have interface systems that will allow your shades to work with these systems. Regardless of which home automation system you are suing, we are happy to work with your home automation provider to get you the automated shades you want.
At Bison Blinds we love motorized shades and we think every home should have at least one. With a qualifying order we will upgrade one of your shades to a motorized control at no charge. Feel free to contact us any time for more information or to schedule your in home consultation.
