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Poor range Somfy RTS

MarcBerendsenMarcBerendsen Member
in Devices
Today I installed the device Somfy RTS. I have 4 motors who have to respond.
Because the RTS didn't respond I moved the Homey nearly to the RTS (about 2 meters). When the distance between them is bigger than 3 meters, then one ore two respond. Compared with the standard hand-remote it's very poor.

Furthermore it is not possible to make a flow. 
The device or actions for the device are not vissible like the ' Buienradar' device is visible.

I'm aware of the beta status of the software, but I am concerned about the poor range.


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Comments

  • HuipriHuipri Member
    edited February 2016
    Reveived my Homey on Wednesday

    I am having the exact same issue, had to move my Homey as close as possible to my RTS external sunscreen to get it paired with the help of a paired RTS remote, distance had to be 3 meters or less!
    And when I test the buttons of the device the sunscreen not always reacts.
    But not only RTS has poor range, also KAKU range is only about 5 meters!

    I tried to install my KAKU doorbell knob, which has three bells connected with distances upto 15 meters and no receive problems.
    But Homey failed to receive the knob at about 5 meters several times trying to install it.
    After I moved Homey to another place, further away, the doorbell was never detected.
    The same for KAKU remotes.

    Seems the 433 MHz range of my Homey is very poor!

    Is the by design? Or is it just my Homey?

    PS: I also do not see the RTS device in the flow editor, so cannot use it in a flow either
  • SpikeBSpikeB Member
    That's not good news, RTS was one of the main reasons I pre ordered a homey and sold my HC2
  • PhuturistPhuturist Member
    edited February 2016
    Huipri said:

    Seems the 433 MHz range of my Homey is very poor!

    Is the by design? Or is it just my Homey?
    This is the first report that actually worries me. If this is really an issue it could break Athom as most (Dutch) consumers will expect this to work flawless. Can anyone confirm or better yet debunk this?
  • RikPostRikPost Member


    Doesn't seem so bad in this video. 
  • fuzzybearfuzzybear Member
    Must be another issue the tests at Athom as shown in the video was more then satisfactory or something is affecting or interfering with the signal. 
  • honeyhoney Member
    @MarcBerendsen @Huipri ;
    Do you have battery or mains powered RTS?


  • DennisHDennisH Member
    @MarcBerendsen ;
    The frequency that Somfy uses deviates a little from the standard 433.92MHz that Homey uses, which results in loss of range.
    I just tested the range with an Somfy RTS socket which was about 5 meters away from Homey with two walls in between and it responed every time. So there might be some interference in your room.

    Flows will be added in the next somfy update which should be up very soon.


    @Reinier
  • MarcBerendsenMarcBerendsen Member
    honey said:
    @MarcBerendsen @Huipri ;
    Do you have battery or mains powered RTS?


    It is mains powered.
  • aloftaloft Member
    Regarding 433 range, I have KAKU and Action switches, and both work pretty good. The Action switches have a slightly worse range than the KAKU switches. But both still work (95 % of the requests) being about 15 meters from the Homey, two floors down. 
  • jovinkjovink Member
    So far I have no problems at with somfy. Tonight I put homey on a different place (further away) to try. 
  • honeyhoney Member
    MarcBerendsen said:
    honey said:
    @MarcBerendsen @Huipri ;
    Do you have battery or mains powered RTS?


    It is mains powered.
    That`s sucks!!! The battery powered RTS has problems but the mains powered have a good range.
    That is concerning.
  • ReinierReinier Member
    Dennis already mentioned the significant deviation in base frequency from 433.92 which probably causes the loss of range. This doesn't mean that Homey (hardware) is incapable of controlling it. Our goal is to support as many devices as possible which means that we have to deal with allot of different radio frequencies and signals. the challenge is to find the optimal radio configuration which gives all the 433Mhz (and 868Mhz) devices the optimal range. This is a continually repeating process which in the end results in the optimal configuration.

    I will look into the configuration next week. Keep you guys posted.
  • ReinierReinier Member
    edited February 2016
    @Huipri ;
    There could be something wrong with your Homey. Can you send me a email with more detailed information about the problems your experiencing? Please also provide the name of your homey.
  • HuipriHuipri Member
    honey said:
    @MarcBerendsen @Huipri ;
    Do you have battery or mains powered RTS?


    My RTS sunscreen is mains powered

  • JurgenVanDeRijkeJurgenVanDeRijke Member
    I have 14 RTS screens all main powered ... distances vary from a little more than 2-3 meters (without walls) .. to 5 meters with walls. Non of the RTS units are accepted as screens using the standard procedure of adding a device. I am left out of using my RTS units ... hopefully the Athom guys come up with a solution ... if it is a hardware problem could you please provide me with some help how to determine it might be the hardware..

    Yesterday my KAKU devices worked fine... I had to full reset my Homey due to problems with not able to remove z-wave nodes.. after the full reset my KAKU don't work anymore.. so I can;t help you with testing the 433 band and coverage using KAKU

    Firmware 0.8.17 
  • TheoDeKoningTheoDeKoning Member
    Sometime it can help to remove and then upload the KaKu app again.
  • bvdbosbvdbos Member
    I assume you already tried a complete powering down/disconnect from mains for Kaku?
  • TacoTaco Member
    @JurgenVanDeRijke For future reference: you don't have to factory reset Homey for Z-Wave issues. Rebooting, Reset Z-Wave Network, reboot again is a factory reset for Z-Wave itself without having to reset Homey.
  • DennisHDennisH Member
    @JurgenVanDeRijke ;
    Powercycling your homey might fix your 433MHz issues.
  • JurgenVanDeRijkeJurgenVanDeRijke Member
    @Taco : Thanks Taco... will help me in the future. I connected a zwave device of a friend ... but didn't disconnect when he took it with him again.. that left me with the zwave node I could not remove. 
    @DennisH : Thanks DennisH, I just powercycled the device ... and it solved the issue with KAKU. I might make a list of all these tips and tricks :) .. Somfy RTS .. is still the same issue .. no change .. will try to put the Homey as close as one meter tomorrow

    Will continue to test an explore :)
  • JurgenVanDeRijkeJurgenVanDeRijke Member
    PS @TheoDeKoning : I removed and reinstalled KAKU .. earlier today .. but that did solve the issue.. so please just powercycle the Homey.
  • HuipriHuipri Member
    Reinier said:
    @Huipri ;
    There could be something wrong with your Homey. Can you send me a email with more detailed information about the problems your experiencing? Please also provide the name of your homey.
    Thx Reinier, I will do some more testing first.

    But it seems that sending to KAKU works better than receiving from battery powered remotes
    In contrast to KAKU receivers, which do not have any problems with  these remotes and pickup the signals over a greater distance than Homey

    Still remains the issue of the short range for Homey with regard to the Somfy RTS sunscreen
    The Somfy RTS remote works fine on far greater distances
  • bvdbosbvdbos Member
    @Reini
    Reinier said:
    @Huipri ;
    There could be something wrong with your Homey. Can you send me a email with more detailed information about the problems your experiencing? Please also provide the name of your homey.
    This is a bit scary, are you able to troubleshoot a Homey just by having it's "name"? Do you @Athom have root access to every homey through JS somehow?
  • TacoTaco Member
    edited February 2016
    @JurgenVanDeRijke If you select it in the dropdown and press the Refresh Node button Homey will try to reach it. If it fails, the node will be placed in the so called failed node list. Then you can remove it by pressing the Remove Failed Node button.
  • ReinierReinier Member
    @BasVanDenBosch, 
    No we are not. Just need some info about the device
  • JurgenVanDeRijkeJurgenVanDeRijke Member
    @Athom I have tested today again (with version 1.0.5 of Somfy app) but still no result when trying to pair a RTS (main connected). None of the 14 RTS units work. Also powercycled the Homey.. no results. KAKU working (most of them at least :) )
    Any ideas how to solve this RTS issue? Or what I can do ... tried to ssh Homey .. but I have no user or password .. seeing If I could get some results from log-files ..
    Looking forward to a reply as RTS support is essential (as you might expect with the number of screens)
    Keep up the good work and let us know how we can help providing you guys with more detailed info on issues or performing test procedures in the field. 
  • PeterGroenewegPeterGroeneweg Member
    My Somy is also not working, KaKu does. Also when I held my Somfy remote 0,5m from Homey it didn't work. Perhaps the problem is in the amount of channels? My remote got 4 channels. It doesn't seem the app thinks about my remote like 4 channels.
  • JurgenVanDeRijkeJurgenVanDeRijke Member
    @PeterGroeneweg if the number of channels is an issue .. then I am surprised.. my remote has 20 channels and has the ability to group a number of channels... however all the RTS units work fine when I use Homewizard :( ... but I want to replace my Homeward by the Homey (as I like the way the creation of flows is heading :)) ... will have to wait for a response from the (probably very) busy Athom guys and girls(?)
  • ReinierReinier Member
    We found the issue and are currently working on it. I will keep you guys posted! 
  • d3raxd3rax Member
    Oeff hope you guys are able to fix this issue regarding somfy rts. I just ordered 3 somfy shutter blind units, espescialy for use with homey.....
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