Hunter Douglas PowerView control with Vera and Amazon Echo

Yes I am interested. How is it done?

If you SSH into your Vera, you can check the amount of memory with the “free” command.

@XA44Owq26HxCq88 Does commenting out the code fix the “unable to save configuration” issue? If so, it sounds like the parser error I mentioned. There’s something in the LUUA code that UI7 is not happy with. I ran into this when I tried to upgrade.

[quote=“mike Q, post:22, topic:190379”]If you SSH into your Vera, you can check the amount of memory with the “free” command.

@XA44Owq26HxCq88 Does commenting out the code fix the “unable to save configuration” issue? If so, it sounds like the parser error I mentioned. There’s something in the LUUA code that UI7 is not happy with. I ran into this when I tried to upgrade.[/quote]

Look at post #4 in this thread. It explains how to get the scene info from the PowerView hub and how to write Luua code to execute those scenes from Vera.

MikeQ, not sure what your reference to message 4 means. I’ve got the code to access the HD hub scenes working properly

Anyway, with the outside temp finally going above my set point, the scene apparently worked and it DID NOT close the East shades as it is supposed to do.

Not sure if it’s related, but later in the day, when the East shades were supposed to close (2 hours before sunset), they did NOT close. Strange. The rest of the scene LUUP code worked properly with all the other shades closing at their proper time, hence the code actually ran through the various delays (luup.call_delay("CloseBlindWithDelay) over a 2 hour period.

Is there any chance that one LUUP code in one scene could be affecting another LUUP code in another scene? I’ve seen hints of that possibility when my errant shade (not the E Shades) gets closed when I modify and save any of my scenes that have LUUP code in them.

We’ll see what happens this afternoon.

I’ve got Vera Support involved and they will be doing a check on my unit at some point.

thanks again.

[quote=“XA44Owq26HxCq88, post:24, topic:190379”]MikeQ, not sure what your reference to message 4 means. I’ve got the code to access the HD hub scenes working properly

Anyway, with the outside temp finally going above my set point, the scene apparently worked and it DID NOT close the East shades as it is supposed to do.

Not sure if it’s related, but later in the day, when the East shades were supposed to close (2 hours before sunset), they did NOT close. Strange. The rest of the scene LUUP code worked properly with all the other shades closing at their proper time, hence the code actually ran through the various delays (luup.call_delay("CloseBlindWithDelay) over a 2 hour period.

Is there any chance that one LUUP code in one scene could be affecting another LUUP code in another scene? I’ve seen hints of that possibility when my errant shade (not the E Shades) gets closed when I modify and save any of my scenes that have LUUP code in them.

We’ll see what happens this afternoon.

I’ve got Vera Support involved and they will be doing a check on my unit at some point.

thanks again.[/quote]

The #4 reference was to mikeah007. He was asking how to automate his shades.

Strange. I can’t imagine it’s the code. Perhaps the vera is in the middle of doing something when the timer expires and it misses the event? Looking at the logs when the delays fire might help.

Just an update -

My E Shades operated properly yesterday. They DID NOT close at noon when the temp was above the set point (30 deg). They DID close later in the day as part of their normal closing sequence.

I attribute this to what appears to me as a typical Vera response to scene modifications - Wait 24 hours so everything settles down and then look at the performance. This makes troubleshooting a long process!

I’ll investigate how to see the logs. That would help.

Mike Q,

Finally got my conditional temp code working. I’ve had some other difficulties with my HD Hub I believe. It won’t run a HD scene based on sunset or sunrise. Other issues, like shades needing power cycling, etc. have continued. I’ve been in touch with the HD tech people who have helped, but are stymied by my various issues.

To make a long story short, I’ve replaced the HD Hub with a new one, reprogrammed the whole setup, rewrote all my vera code to reflect the new scene numbers. All seems to be working, but I haven’t gone through a whole 24 hour cycle yet.

I did experience one hickup, two shades in one HD scene stopped responding and needed re-calibration via the HD App before they worked again.

My question to you is - have you found any clever way of having vera, via LUUA code, send a re-calibration command to a specific HD Shade? I could build that into a scene that runs once a day, just to insure that the shades don’t go off line while I’m away.

thanks

PS - When I speak to the HD tech, I’ll see if he can shed any light on the issue and the potential command that would do the re-calibration and share what I find out here.

Don’t know of any way to do a re-calibrate from Vera but I’m sure it’s possible. Since it can be triggered from the app, there must be an HTTP interface for it.

It will be interesting to know if HD will share the URL api with you.

BTW, I stumbled upon a way to backup the HD hub in the event you lose your configuration or it gets corrupted. It’s in the menu options of the app but not very obvious.

When you bring up the app, click on the 3 horizontal bars in the upper left corner.

From there select “Hunter Douglas Blinds” then click on the first (and probably only) selection. Next you will see a menu with “Hub Name”, “Network Info” and “Hub Backup”.

On the backup thing, more importantly, you are able to email a copy of the json file to yourself for safe storage in case the phone goes kapluey.

I’ve examined the contents of that file, but other than a few identifiable words, roomVectors, shadeVectors, etc. it’s all gibberish to me.

BTW, no problems overnight with the shades. I’ll see how they perform thru the day.

[quote=“mike Q”]- YouTube

I can share the details if anyone is interested.

Not really hard. I use the Amazon Echo / Vera bridge to trigger scenes on Vera. Those scenes just use the URL interface of the Hunter Douglas PowerView hub.[/quote]
I am a Hunter Douglas dealer. There are changes coming to Powerview later this year. We will be getting a new hub that will work directly with Amazon Echo and Alexa devices and integrate easier with HA systems.

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blindman75

Glad to hear that they are doing something with the hub. I had major problems that cleared up once I convinced HD to replace my hub. I’ve since gotten an email from my dealer that said her rep indicated that the current hub has been “problematic”

Will the new hub be able to be controlled from my vera without having to write code?
Will the new hub have any kind of log reporting capability?
Will the new hub be backwards compatible with my current shades?
Will HD replace my current hub with a new “upgraded” one?

If you have any further insight into the new hub, I’d love to hear about it!

[quote=“XA44Owq26HxCq88”]blindman75

Glad to hear that they are doing something with the hub. I had major problems that cleared up once I convinced HD to replace my hub. I’ve since gotten an email from my dealer that said her rep indicated that the current hub has been “problematic”

Will the new hub be able to be controlled from my vera without having to write code?
Will the new hub have any kind of log reporting capability?
Will the new hub be backwards compatible with my current shades?
Will HD replace my current hub with a new “upgraded” one?

If you have any further insight into the new hub, I’d love to hear about it![/quote]
The new hub will be compatible with your current shades using Powerview. I doubt they will offer to swap out your old unit. I don’t have any specifics yet about working directly with vera, but should have more info sometime in April.

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If it meant getting a more capable hub, I’d be happy to do some MORE trouble shooting!

Any idea if they are going to be coming out with a powerview II (?) shade?

My understanding is the hub is the only thing changing for now.

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As much as HD charges for their blinds, it’s unfortunate that they wouldn’t upgrade the people that bought into the original and somewhat flakey system.

Well, it started again on Friday. After about a month of flawless operation with a replacement hub (and the consequent rebuilding of the setup) one shade (Kit E) needed power cycling before it would respond to commands. This morning a different shade (DR S) needed power cycling before it would respond to commands. Sometime this morning that same shade (DR S) decided to close on it’s own. It was not scheduled to close until this evening.

I contacted my dealer (with a CC to the HD tech who helped last time) and the dealer responded with “Thanks for the update”. I’ve searched for other forums on the Hunter Douglas blinds where owners can discuss issues, but couldn’t find any. Does anyone know of any?

Blindman75 - I know you’re not involved directly, but as a dealer, have you run into this kind of flakiness? PM me if you would be willing to share some tips and/or discuss this in a non-public way, but I’d really like to get your take on this, if you don’t mind.

thanks

@blindman75

So I am in the market for cellular shades/blinds and also considering cellular vertical blinds/shades. Actually just got a quote from a Hunter Douglas dealer today. I didn’t ask for motorized quote as I wanted to see how well it integrates with HA / Vera. And also concerned about the cost for motorizaation…

Question:

  1. If I do go with motorized/hub, should I hold off until more info is available on the new Hub you mentioned?
  2. Off topic blind/shade question - Since you’re an uninterested 3rd party - I have kids, 3 and 1yr old. Will they destroy a vertical cellular shade on a slider door? Or would you go with the verticle panels?

THANKS!!!

@blindman75

So I am in the market for cellular shades/blinds and also considering cellular vertical blinds/shades. Actually just got a quote from a Hunter Douglas dealer today. I didn’t ask for motorized quote as I wanted to see how well it integrates with HA / Vera. And also concerned about the cost for motorizaation…

Question:

  1. If I do go with motorized/hub, should I hold off until more info is available on the new Hub you mentioned?
  2. Off topic blind/shade question - Since you’re an uninterested 3rd party - I have kids, 3 and 1yr old. Will they destroy a vertical cellular shade on a slider door? Or would you go with the verticle panels?

THANKS!!![/quote]
PM sent

Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk

@blindman75

So I am in the market for cellular shades/blinds and also considering cellular vertical blinds/shades. Actually just got a quote from a Hunter Douglas dealer today. I didn’t ask for motorized quote as I wanted to see how well it integrates with HA / Vera. And also concerned about the cost for motorizaation…

Question:

  1. If I do go with motorized/hub, should I hold off until more info is available on the new Hub you mentioned?
  2. Off topic blind/shade question - Since you’re an uninterested 3rd party - I have kids, 3 and 1yr old. Will they destroy a vertical cellular shade on a slider door? Or would you go with the verticle panels?

THANKS!!![/quote]
PM sent

Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk[/quote]

It helps the group if this were shared with everyone.

@blindman75

So I am in the market for cellular shades/blinds and also considering cellular vertical blinds/shades. Actually just got a quote from a Hunter Douglas dealer today. I didn’t ask for motorized quote as I wanted to see how well it integrates with HA / Vera. And also concerned about the cost for motorizaation…

Question:

  1. If I do go with motorized/hub, should I hold off until more info is available on the new Hub you mentioned?
  2. Off topic blind/shade question - Since you’re an uninterested 3rd party - I have kids, 3 and 1yr old. Will they destroy a vertical cellular shade on a slider door? Or would you go with the verticle panels?

THANKS!!![/quote]
PM sent

Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk[/quote]

It helps the group if this were shared with everyone.[/quote]
Spoke with my HD rep today. They get their hubs around May 1. Should be ready for consumers by late June early July. Rep is not as knowledgeable about the home automation side but said there would be an improvement.

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