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Slide make your existing curtains smart (kickstarter)

JanHJanH Member
edited July 2017 in Ideas & Suggestions
Just became backer of the Kickstarterproject Slide. Sounds great and ....... Mind the price!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/41829059/slide-make-your-existing-curtains-smart
It will function via WiFi, an iOS/android app and should be IFTTT-compatible. So, could Slide become in a nice fellowship with Homey?
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Comments

  • Let's wait until they actually have delivered something that is usefull. From the video I have to admit that I'm not really convinced. They state 'the first.. blabla of the world'. I have seen way to many croudfunding projects that state this.. (and there can only be one the first..). 

    But if its IFTTT enabled I think homey could talk to it. 
  • Hmm... it is BIG in plain sight  :/
    It uses nylon lines running on the outside; in sight  :(
    How about noise? Most of this type of units make quite some noise....

    Just my 2 cents.
  • @RuudvB "And rest assured: we made sure that no matter how you connect Slide, it'll always be hidden behind your curtains!"
  • RuudvB said:
    Hmm... it is BIG in plain sight  :/
    It uses nylon lines running on the outside; in sight  :(
    How about noise? Most of this type of units make quite some noise....

    Just my 2 cents.
    Currently the motor makes a little bit more noise than the ambient sound your curtains make themselves (when opening/closing). We're keen on bringing that back, though, and we've been doing some try-outs with isolation material that look good. We'll continue improving in the coming months!
  • I like the idea, but looks a bit fragile..

    Talking about a thin wire..... ;)

  • I have backed: Flipflic to automate my blinds. They will integrate with Homey 

    https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jalousier/flipflic

    works with Zigbee and BLE

  • Reemster said:
    RuudvB said:
    Hmm... it is BIG in plain sight  :/
    It uses nylon lines running on the outside; in sight  :(
    How about noise? Most of this type of units make quite some noise....

    Just my 2 cents.
    Currently the motor makes a little bit more noise than the ambient sound your curtains make themselves (when opening/closing). We're keen on bringing that back, though, and we've been doing some try-outs with isolation material that look good. We'll continue improving in the coming months!
    Ok, that sounds promising. I overlooked the "it'll always be hidden behind your curtains!" part. Noise and a solid construction of the pulling lines are my major concerns.
    If you can tackle that in a good way then I'm interested!
  • KeepT said:
    I have backed: Flipflic to automate my blinds. They will integrate with Homey 

    https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jalousier/flipflic

    works with Zigbee and BLE

    They are scheduled for January 2017, I'm very interested in your experience with this product. And of course the integration with homey.
  • Backed it for 5 pieces, so let's see what happens!
  • Hey all,

    This is Thijs from Innovation in Motion/Slide! Just saw this forum topic, very nice. 
    Just to answer a few questions:

    - The Slide unit hangs between your curtain and your window/wall so you do not actually see it. The slide wire is actually right behind the rails so you don't see that either. 
    - The wire is thin but strong, it's a polyethylene wire with a straight pull capacity of 22kg. By means of creative experimenting we were able to lift a 15kg weight lift dumbbell up with our motor + wire. That worked, and the wire didn't snap, so we're pretty confident here. :) 

    There's been a lot of questions to showcase more, e.g. a rod-based setup, noise, and so on. So we're collecting all these things and doing a video/film day in a few days to answer all those questions with more video material. :) Let me know if there's more you want to see. 

    It's very hectic so it might take a while before I can check back in here, but I'll keep an eye out on this forum post! Cheers :) 
  • Thijs_IIM said:
    Hey all,

    This is Thijs from Innovation in Motion/Slide! Just saw this forum topic, very nice. 
    Just to answer a few questions:

    - The Slide unit hangs between your curtain and your window/wall so you do not actually see it. The slide wire is actually right behind the rails so you don't see that either. 
    - The wire is thin but strong, it's a polyethylene wire with a straight pull capacity of 22kg. By means of creative experimenting we were able to lift a 15kg weight lift dumbbell up with our motor + wire. That worked, and the wire didn't snap, so we're pretty confident here. :) 

    There's been a lot of questions to showcase more, e.g. a rod-based setup, noise, and so on. So we're collecting all these things and doing a video/film day in a few days to answer all those questions with more video material. :) Let me know if there's more you want to see. 

    It's very hectic so it might take a while before I can check back in here, but I'll keep an eye out on this forum post! Cheers :) 
    Awaiting those video's then..
    A small question: Only communication by wifi? It's a esp module isn't it? No plans for other protocols?
  • Backed it also for 2 pieces :)
  • Me too, 5 units.
  • Thijs_IIM said:
    Hey all,

    This is Thijs from Innovation in Motion/Slide! Just saw this forum topic, very nice. 
    Just to answer a few questions:

    - The Slide unit hangs between your curtain and your window/wall so you do not actually see it. The slide wire is actually right behind the rails so you don't see that either. 
    - The wire is thin but strong, it's a polyethylene wire with a straight pull capacity of 22kg. By means of creative experimenting we were able to lift a 15kg weight lift dumbbell up with our motor + wire. That worked, and the wire didn't snap, so we're pretty confident here. :) 

    There's been a lot of questions to showcase more, e.g. a rod-based setup, noise, and so on. So we're collecting all these things and doing a video/film day in a few days to answer all those questions with more video material. :) Let me know if there's more you want to see. 

    It's very hectic so it might take a while before I can check back in here, but I'll keep an eye out on this forum post! Cheers :) 
    I have another question which is difficult to explain. Our left curtain and right curtain are coming together in an angle around 15 degrees. This is because our house has a rounding. So it is not a straight line. Would this work?
  • Also booked 5 units here hopefully they can add an option for solar and battery to the units this would be great. I have seen several questions about a rounding at the end of the curtains which we also have. Hopefully this won't be an issue if the unit is installed just after the rounding. 
  • fuzzybear said:
    Also booked 5 units here hopefully they can add an option for solar and battery to the units this would be great. I have seen several questions about a rounding at the end of the curtains which we also have. Hopefully this won't be an issue if the unit is installed just after the rounding. 
    I read on tweakers reactions from the makers of the slide, they only support straight curtains. No bends at the moment. This also would not be very easy since the pulling lines run outside, without any support I think.
  • In my case I could imagine if the unit was moved to just past the bend so that it is in a straight line this will not be an issue. Hopefully the maker can clarify this. 
  • Had some contact with Thijs; as soon as the API is ready, they will give me a prototype to start working on a Homey app.  <3
  • @jorden good initiative. I'm looking forward to device and app, a solution where I was waiting for.
  • jorden said:
    Had some contact with Thijs; as soon as the API is ready, they will give me a prototype to start working on a Homey app.  <3
    If you need any help by then.. Just let me know. I hope it will work with homey. Now I have to open my curtains every morning myself :( 
  • Hi all!

    Sorry for taking a while to reply. We're excited to sit down with Jorden and our dev team in a while (as the API is coming together) to make sure there's a Slide app in the Homey app store ASAP. :smiley: 

    @kasteleman ;
    Wifi was our first choice because of the versatility it offers, e.g. IFTTT but also because you can set up Slide as a webserver, etc. We're looking into an optional Z-wave/Zigbee upgrade. It seems Z-wave is more popular in NL/Europe whereas US seems to prefer Zigbee (generalizing). BLE is also still on the table, but for all these things it may the case they're added in later version (we want to make sure not to overpromise on anything ;)). 

    @MarcelTimmermans ;
    Can you send me some pictures through DM? Thanks :) 

    @fuzzybear ;
    The other part of your rails does have a straight end right? I made a little mock-up for a similar question I got from someone else, showing what's possible with curved rails. Check:
    https://www.dropbox.com/s/mjno0vh2qf09xnx/setup nick.jpg?dl=0

    Cheers!

  • Thijs_IIM said:
    Hi all!

    Sorry for taking a while to reply. We're excited to sit down with Jorden and our dev team in a while (as the API is coming together) to make sure there's a Slide app in the Homey app store ASAP. :smiley: 

    @kasteleman ;
    Wifi was our first choice because of the versatility it offers, e.g. IFTTT but also because you can set up Slide as a webserver, etc. We're looking into an optional Z-wave/Zigbee upgrade. It seems Z-wave is more popular in NL/Europe whereas US seems to prefer Zigbee (generalizing). BLE is also still on the table, but for all these things it may the case they're added in later version (we want to make sure not to overpromise on anything ;)). 

    @MarcelTimmermans ;
    Can you send me some pictures through DM? Thanks :) 

    @fuzzybear ;
    The other part of your rails does have a straight end right? I made a little mock-up for a similar question I got from someone else, showing what's possible with curved rails. Check:
    https://www.dropbox.com/s/mjno0vh2qf09xnx/setup nick.jpg?dl=0

    Cheers!

    This sounds promising but I have a question about the server thing. Why would you like to have Slide behave as a server? What should it accomplish? The only thing you want slide to be doing is to open / close curtains and eventually I think have some scene's and stuff? No need to have a server running. 

    Please be causious because you don 't want your slide to become one of those IoT devices that got hacked and are ddossing the internetz once in a while. I guess.
  • I was wondering the same, server? But you'd want a rest-api and for that you need a webserver...
    Also: the only reason you'd want to go for BLE is to save batteries? Zwave I can imagine you'd want to support but OTOH: if it works with wifi, probably zwave is not needed anymore (or am I too used to working with Homey?)
  • Thijs_IIM said:

    @fuzzybear ;
    The other part of your rails does have a straight end right? I made a little mock-up for a similar question I got from someone else, showing what's possible with curved rails. Check:
    https://www.dropbox.com/s/mjno0vh2qf09xnx/setup nick.jpg?dl=0

    Cheers!

    Hi Thijs,

    it is only on the two ends of the curtain that has this sharp bend the rest of the rail is straight. Most of the curtains are made up of two halves so the open from the middle. 


  • @jjtbsomhorst ;
    @BasVanDenBosch ;

    Valid points, and something we've thought about extensively, also when we were initially contemplating an only-local protocol (zigbee,zwave, ble) vs wifi. Basically, Slide needs to function as a (web)server in order for cloud services like IFTTT to interact with it. But also to enable users to access Slide when they're not connected to the Wifi network. One of the comments we get is "why would the user need to control Slide when they're not home?". What's often overlooked, though, is that a lot of people no longer connect their smartphone to their wifi at home. Since Vodafone bumped me to a 12GB plan, I generally prefer the steady 4G over wifi. In cases like mine, there's added value in being able to control Slide when not connected to the local wifi . 

    In terms of personal preference, the choice is yours. If you want to connect to a cloud platform like IFTTT, you can. During setup, the Slide App will ask if you want to allow remote access (e.g. controlling Slide without being on the wifi network). In order to register a new control device with Slide (e.g. a new phone, or a Homey,...) the first time setup requires a connection to the local (wifi) network. 

    I do share your overall security concerns with IoT devices, definitely. The issue with the large DDoS attacks like back in October was that those devices didn't have even rudimentary security, firewall, anything. Partly because the companies didn't care. Partly because there was still a mentality of 'a device will not get hacked, unless [someone external] actively decides to hack it'. The reality, obviously, is the opposite. Bots constantly scan and monitor the internet for devices with open ports and try to brute force with default passwords (check out this great article about a IoT honeypot build that was hacked in an hour). 

    All I can say is that we're very aware about the precautions needed when setting up an IoT device with a server. Security is key, and there's a range of musts (including a secure connection, no use of default credentials, and requiring a local network presence for an initial pairing). It's also good to mention that one of the advantages of the ESP chip is the ability to push OTA firmware updates in the future. 

    @ Fuzzybear:

    Gotcha, yeah that'll be fine, though keep in mind the movement range of the curtains will be limited to the straight part (e.g. in the photolink I shared above). Send me a picture with the full width (both curves) if you need me to visualize.

  • Just saw this topic. I also backed for 5 units. And it's great that Thijs is in here answering questions.
    I have a question too:
    Thijs_IIM said:
    - The wire is thin but strong, it's a polyethylene wire with a straight pull capacity of 22kg. By means of creative experimenting we were able to lift a 15kg weight lift dumbbell up with our motor + wire. That worked, and the wire didn't snap, so we're pretty confident here. :)

    I assume this was one-time? Those curtain systems will have to work day-in day-out, for many years. So have you thought about doing stress tests? In other words: I would be curious to know how many times that 15kg can be lifted and lowered before the wire snaps? (and what kind of warranty will you give on the device and on the wires?)

  • @Thijs_IIM I totally agree. I also want to be able to open and close my curtains when not at home. I can do that using Homey as a 'central hub' but as a standalone, that is also nice.

    What I love about Slide, is how I can also open/close by hand and Slide will register that. 

    What I am wondering about, however, is... My curtains consist of a single part, so one side is fixed (the side I will hide Slide behind), the other side moves. I think I understand how Slide opens the curtain (just pull the wire closer), but how does it close it again?
  • BumblezBumblez Member
    edited December 2016
    jorden said:
    What I am wondering about, however, is... My curtains consist of a single part, so one side is fixed (the side I will hide Slide behind), the other side moves. I think I understand how Slide opens the curtain (just pull the wire closer), but how does it close it again?
    From what I understand from their videos:
    They use a double (circular) wire (like with blinds, where you can pull one side of the cord to open the blinds, and the other side to close them). The wire goes from one end of the curtain rail all the way to the other end. They have a custom 'node' attached at the end of each curtain, that moves along this wire. Depending on which side of the wire is pulled, these nodes either move forward (close the curtain) or backward (open the curtain).
    So it doesn't matter if you have a single curtain, or double curtains (as long as the double curtains are the same length). And that's also why you can still operate them manually.

  • jordenjorden Member
    edited December 2016
    @Bumblez Thanks, that sounds like a good system that will work on every (straight) rail. The videos could be a little more clearer on that perhaps. (Or maybe I didn't look good enough)
  • Come to think of it... from what I understand of the system, if you have a standard double curtain and you manually open 1 curtain, the other one will automatically move along (open) as well. So you will no longer be able to (manually) open or close only 1 of the 2 curtains. @Thijs_IIM did I understand this correctly?
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