Smart home automation is all about convenience or security. For me, automation with motorized shades is one upgrade that makes a real difference day-to-day. Instead of manually raising and lowering them at the beginning and end of the day, automation ensures the perfect amount of light—without thinking about it. Recently, SmartWings announced a new set of Matter-enabled shades that introduce Power over Ethernet (PoE) support, eliminating the need for charging. While PoE is an option, it’s not required, making these some of the most best smart home motorized shades on the market.
HomeKit Weekly is a series focused on smart home accessories, automation tips and tricks, and everything to do with Apple’s smart home framework.
How I use them
I’ve tried multiple variations of SmartWings shades over the past few years, and to be frankly honest, of all the smart home products we have, they’re the ones my wife loves the most. The designs pass the designer test in terms of not looking like they’re smart shades, and the automation of them is great. We recently upgraded some shades in our bedroom to SmartWings after having them be manual for the last 2 years, and while it is a first-world problem, it’s such a nicer experience. Every morning, we’d manually pull up the shades and we’d have to lower them every night. It only took a few minutes, but it was just another thing to do. Now, we automate them within HomeKit during the week since we get up consistently at the same time. On the weekend, we raise and lower them using a remote control.
PoE and Matter-over-Ethernet support
One of the biggest downsides of battery-powered shades is the battery. They’ll need to be recharged at some point, which usually happens at the least convenient time. If you have a PoE networking environment, this eliminates that issue entirely, delivering both power and data over a single Ethernet cable. There are no wall adapters and no battery recharging—just a wired connection that works day in and day out. You can also use a PoE injector if you don’t have PoE switches. This product would give you the benefits of an always-charged motor. The placement of the ethernet switch makes it fairly easy to hide behind curtains as well.
Like other SmartWings shades, these new models are fully Matter-compatible, meaning they work great with HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, SmartThings, and Home Assistant. In a HomeKit environment, you can add them to scenes and automations, control them with Siri, and check their position from the Home app.
With ethernet support, these shades can communicate directly over a hardwired connection. That means faster response times, more reliable automation, and no dependency on a strong Wi-Fi signal. Reducing reliance on Wi-Fi is a major benefit if you live in a crowded Wi-Fi environment (apartments, etc.). PoE allows these shades to stay connected to our network without competing for RF airtime, ensuring consistent performance, even in environments with congested RF.
Installation
I am not the most handy guy, and installing the shades is doable for me. You’ll use a tape measure to measure the slots on top of the shades so you know where to mark on the top of your windows. You’ll then pre-drill holes and then screw in the brackets. I started with one hole for each bracket to make sure I measured right and went back and put the second one in once verified. Thankfully, the shades give a bit of wiggle room, so it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Once they’re installed and mounted, you can plug up the ethernet cable and scan the Matter code to add to HomeKit. There is one on top of it and one hanging on the motor. It then shows up in the Home as shades. You can lower and raise them based on the slider and add them to scenes. Because the shades can be lowered to various percentage points, you can set them to lower 50% at dusk and then 100% at bedtime.
Wrap up
As I mentioned earlier, I love this brand of shades. They’re also whisper quiet. I love that it supports HomeKit and includes a remote that can be used. One remote controls all the shades in my bedroom. If I could only have one smart home product in my house, it would be the Smartwings shades.
You can buy the new PoE shades directly from Smartwings.
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