With the way smart home products have expanded, there are very few things that cannot be automated now. Just about every light, appliance, switch, door, and window can be added to your smart home. Even with all of these gadgets, there’s one aspect of your home that has been neglected until now. Automating your window treatments is usually a very expensive project. Unless you’re buying motorized drapery hardware, there hasn’t been a good solution to do this. SwitchBot is changing that with their fantastic curtain bots that can convert your existing window treatments into smart curtains.
SwitchBot Curtain and Solar Panel
SwitchBot Curtain
This discrete motor can easily be installed on multiple types of drapery hardware. It clamps to the rod while sitting behind the drape. A small rubber wheel grips the rod and slides your curtains to open or close them. But with this being a smart product, you can take advantage of a bunch of different automated features. Schedule your curtains to open or close at a certain time, hook them up to your Google Home or Alexa, use the light sensor to close them when the sun is too bright, and more.
Compatible Curtain Hardware
The SwitchBot is officially compatible with three common types of curtain hardware: I Rail, U Rail, and Rods. Your package will come with all of the necessary components for each type of curtain. When you’re checking out, just make sure you select the appropriate type of hardware for your curtains. In the box, you’ll find a USB C cable, rod connectors, plastic strips, and clips. However, most people will find that they just need to clamp the SwitchBot Curtain directly to their rod, and they’re done. You can use the included clips and plastic strip to use the SwitchBot on grommet curtains. This setup takes a little more time than others, but it’s not difficult at all.
One of the concerns you might have with a motor like this is how you will power it. The SwitchBot curtain is battery-powered and can be charged with a USB port on the back of the device. A single charge will get you about eight months of usage, depending on how often you open and close your curtains. If you want to avoid the issue of charging altogether, modular solar panels can be purchased to let the sun do all of the work.
Consider this solution if your window draperies are in a hard-to-reach area, or require a ladder to access. Many windows are placed over stairs or in awkward areas that could be difficult to recharge your device. So make sure that you take this into consideration when ordering your SwitchBot Curtains.
SwitchBot Solar Panel
These little solar panels can be attached to the back of the SwtichBot Curtain, while they face the outside. Using the sunlight to charge your SwitchBot, you’ll never have to worry about plugging your charger in to keep things running. The solar panel is easy to install by plugging it into the available USB-C port on the back of the device. After attaching it, you’re ready to go.
A consistent theme of the SwitchBot products is simplicity. The Curtain bot is extremely simple to set up using the SwitchBot app. The discovery and setup process only takes a few seconds before you’re ready to start automating your curtains. The app is filled with great features and graphics that let you control everything from your phone.
There are times when using an app or voice control won’t be needed. If you have guests over that aren’t familiar with your smart home setup, they might manually draw your curtains by instinct. When this happens, SwitchBot will activate the touch-and-go feature, which begins opening the drapes when it recognizes someone is trying to manually open them. This can be activated by a tug on one of the drapery panels, which jump-starts the automated opening or closing of your curtains.
After using the SwitchBot Curtain, you’ll understand why it won the GOOD DESIGN and IDEA award (International Design Excellence Awards). This is one of the most prestigious awards in the United States and highly regarded internationally.
SwitchBot Curtain – $99
SwitchBot Solar Panel – $25
SwitchBot Hub Mini and Meter
If you want to expand on your SwitchBot home integration, they have several other smart home products. Some that are particularly relevant to the smart curtains- are the SwitchBot Thermometer, Hub Mini, and Remote. Each of these products can communicate with your other SwitchBot devices and help trigger actions based on their data. For example, the thermometer can measure the temperature of the room and tell your curtains to close when it gets too hot.
The Hygrometer is particularly useful for pet care, for environments that need specific amounts of humidity. Track and export your temperature and humidity data from the SwitchBot app.
SwitchBot Thermometer and Hygrometer
The SwitchBot Hub Mini is the device that will connect all of your electronics to your Google Home or Alexa. This is what you need to integrate your curtains into your routines. The Hub Mini also acts as an IR remote control, which can control your TV, AC, AV Reciever, or anything else that uses a standard IR remote. It also works with the following services:
- Amazon Alexa
- Google Assistant
- Siri Shortcuts
- IFTTT
- Samsung SmartThings
- Clova
Smart Scenes and Automation
Using the Hub Mini, it is easy to control your curtains when you’re away from home, or even set schedules and scenes. Within the SwitchBot account, you can create a new scene with conditions and actions. Set the condition that needs to be met, whether it’s a time, temperature reading, manual control, or another condition. Then you can set the action that you want to take place. For example: set your condition to be your meter reading 75 degrees, then have your action be the closing of the curtains in that room.
Making scenes with Google Home or Alexa is just as easy. Once your accounts have been linked, you can set a scene that will trigger a list of custom commands. This is how you can group all of your different curtains to open or close using one trigger phrase.
SwitchBot Hub Mini
Use the “Smart Learning” mode which lets the Hub Mini learn and mimic signals from your existing remote control in five seconds. Then feel free to throw out all of your other remotes.
SwitchBot Meter $19
SwitchBot Hub Mini $39
The ideal setup for someone converting their curtains into their smart home would be SmartSwitch Curtains + Hub Mini + Meter. This will let you get the most out of the app, the automated controls, and allow you to connect to your smart assistant for voice control.
If you want to take advantage of a great deal on SwitchBot products, look for their Amazon Prime Day sales. You’ll be able to take an extra 30% off select SwitchBot products. This is a great opportunity for anyone getting started with their SwitchBot setup. The sale begins on June 21st and extends through the 30th.
We thank SwitchBot for sponsoring this post. Our sponsors help us pay for the many costs associated with running XDA, including server costs, full time developers, news writers, and much more. While you might see sponsored content (which will always be labeled as such) alongside Portal content, the Portal team is in no way responsible for these posts. Sponsored content, advertising and XDA Depot are managed by a separate team entirely. XDA will never compromise its journalistic integrity by accepting money to write favorably about a company, or alter our opinions or views in any way. Our opinion cannot be bought.
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