WiFi Curtain Track + Motor 4m

A 4m smart curtain track supplied as a complete system: the aluminium track, the motor that drives it, the runners your curtains hang from, and a handheld remote. Curtains glide open in the morning on a schedule, close at dusk, and answer to your phone from wherever you are or to Alexa and Google Home. Wi-Fi is built into the motor, so there is no hub or bridge to buy.

• What a 4m smart curtain track actually covers
• Fitting it without calling anybody in
• Choosing between 4, 6 and 8 metres

The touch worth having is the manual one: give the curtain a gentle pull and the motor picks it up and finishes the movement. Nobody has to find a phone or a remote to open a curtain, which is what makes the difference between a gadget and something the household actually uses.

On the length, because this is what people get wrong. The track is an adjustable aluminium system rather than a fixed bar, and the drive belt is trimmed to length on site during the fit. So you buy the tier at or just above your window width and it is dialled in to suit. What it cannot do is stretch: a window wider than the track you bought will not be covered. Measure the full width you want the curtains to travel across, including the overlap past the window on each side, and buy the next tier up. This is the 4 metre tier, the one most windows in a Dar sitting room or bedroom land on.

It can be set as a single opening, where one curtain pulls to one side, or as a centre opening pair that parts in the middle. That is decided during the fit, not at the time of ordering, so you are not locked in. It mounts to the ceiling or to the wall and brackets for both come with it. Bay windows and curved runs are possible with corner pieces, which are a separate item, so mention it if your window turns a corner.

Two practical points for Dar. It plugs into a normal socket, so there needs to be a power point at or near the end of the track, and if there is not, an electrician has to add one before fitting day. And if the power goes off, the curtains can still be pulled by hand, so you are never shut in behind them.

What a 4m smart curtain track actually covers

Four metres suits most sitting rooms and bedrooms: one wide window, a sliding door onto a balcony, or two windows close enough together to sit under a single run. The number to check is not the width of the glass. It is the whole distance the curtain travels, and the curtain has to stack somewhere when it is open, so allow twenty to thirty centimetres past the frame at each end.

Measure that, and if the figure lands anywhere at or under four metres, this is your tier. If it comes out above, go up rather than trying to make this one reach.

Fitting it without calling anybody in

The track screws to the ceiling or the wall with the brackets in the box, the belt is trimmed to your measurement, and the motor clips on at one end. Basic tools and an afternoon. There is no wiring involved beyond putting a plug in a socket.

The one job that is not yours is the socket itself. If there is no power point within reach of the end of the track, an electrician has to add one before fitting day, and that is worth sorting out a week ahead rather than on the morning.

Choosing between 4, 6 and 8 metres

Buy on the measurement, not on the room. A narrow sitting room with a wide sliding door can need more track than a large bedroom with one window in it.

The same system is stocked as a 6 metre track and an 8 metre track. Send us your figure if you are sitting between two sizes. The app that runs it is Tuya, documented at tuya.com.