Zigbee Blind Driver

This is the Zigbee blind driver, the third member of the family. It clips to the wall beside a roller, Roman or zebra blind, the beaded chain runs over the wheel on top, and from then on the motor pulls the chain instead of your hand. Nothing is cut and nothing is drilled into the blind itself.

• Which blinds a Zigbee blind driver will fit
• Three gears, because chains are not standardised
• Limits, speed and how loud it really is
• Zigbee, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth: pick by what you already own

Buy this one only if you already run Zigbee, or intend to. A Zigbee gateway is not optional here and it is not in the box. Without one this is a push-button motor: the buttons on the unit work, and nothing else does. No app, no schedule, no Alexa. With a gateway it joins the mesh alongside your sensors and switches, does not take up a slot on your router, and holds up better than Wi-Fi in a house with a lot of devices. It works with Zemismart's own hub, with SmartThings, and with Home Assistant through ZHA or Zigbee2MQTT.

If this is the first smart thing in the house, take the Wi-Fi driver instead. It comes with its own bridge and there is nothing else to buy.

About the photograph. The picture on this listing shows the motor with a solar panel attached. The panel is an optional extra and is not in the box. Zemismart sell it as a separate item. It is worth having if the blind is somewhere awkward to reach with a charging cable, and we can quote you one, but we would rather show you what is included than let you find out later.

Which blinds a Zigbee blind driver will fit

The test is simple: does a beaded chain or a cord loop hang down the side of your blind, and does pulling it raise and lower the blind? If yes, this fits. Roller, Roman, zebra and day-night blinds are all normally chain operated, and all of them work.

What it cannot drive is a blind with no chain. Cordless spring-loaded roller blinds, wand-operated verticals and anything you push up by hand have nothing for the wheel to grip.

Three gears, because chains are not standardised

Bead sizes vary between blind makers, and metal chain sits differently on a wheel than plastic does. Three interchangeable gears come in the box to cover the common sizes, and swapping one is a thirty second job before the driver goes on the wall.

It mounts with screws or with the adhesive pad supplied, beside the blind rather than on it. Nothing is cut, nothing is drilled through the blind, and it comes off cleanly when you move house.

Limits, speed and how loud it really is

You set the top and lower stop points once, by hand, and the driver remembers them through a power cut. After that the blind lands in the same place every morning.

It travels about three centimetres a second, and independent testing puts it around 45 decibels, which is a soft whirr rather than silence. On a bedroom blind opening at 6am, that is enough to notice if you are a light sleeper.

Zigbee, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth: pick by what you already own

This one is for a house with a Zigbee gateway in it already, or a house heading that way on purpose. Without the gateway it is a push-button motor on the wall and nothing more.

No gateway and no plans for one? The Wi-Fi driver ships with its own bridge and needs nothing else. Only ever operating it from the sofa in the same room? The Bluetooth driver is the cheaper honest answer. All three are made by Zemismart and clip on the same way.