FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

  • A. No, you don't need to break the bank to do so. In fact, they are not only affordable, but they are also much better quality and more advanced than before. You could spend as little as $127.20 for the roller blind tubular motor (iSW25DB 24VDC tubular motor) and around $270.00 for a 1.5m length motorised curtain Track with iSW82TN curtain motor. We have a very wide range of products to meet your different requirements.

    As you can see, the cost of motorised curtains and roller blinds depends on a number of interrelated factors including the type of motor you select, your window treatments, and how many windows you plan to be motorised. Whether your budget is small or big, we’ll be able to find a solution that works for you. And when you do, you will begin to enjoy your home in a whole new smart and connected way!
  • A. It's quite easy to do so.

    You can continue to use your existing curtains however you'll need to replace the curtain rail with a motorised curtain track. You can install the motorised curtain track to the ceiling or the wall through the brackets, attach the curtain motor and plug to a powerpoint or connect the cable to a permanent connection unit. Even easier, you can simply order one iSW82LE or iSW72LE/S Li-ion rechargeable battery powered curtain motor track. It needs no wires or electricians, just set up the handheld remote control according to the manual, that's it.

    For the roller blinds, firstly you'll need to check if your existing roller blind is suitable for retrofitting. To do this you have to take down your existing roller blind and pull out the idle end to measure the outside and inside diameter of the aluminium tube and check the shape and layout of the interior of the tube. To make it easier, you can email us photos of the tube and both side brackets and we can inform you if your existing roller blind can be retrofitted or not. If yes, you need to remove the chain control from the existing blind's aluminium tube, sometimes for larger size blinds you'll need to remove the spring-assisted mechanism as well. Choose the right size and the right shape of the drive wheel adapter and crown, attach them to the motor, slide them into the tube, insert the limit switch head to the chain control end bracket, that's it.
  • A. Yes, we provide a 3 year warranty for our curtain motors and roller blind tubular motors.

    The manufacturer of these motors is the global leading window automation manufacturer. Their products have obtained CE, VDE, TUV, UL, FDC.ROHS, CCC etc. international certificates to meet strict requirements of different countries. Each motor has obtained a strict quality test before leaving the factory.
  • A. The majority of the motors we sell are DC, DC Motors have several advantages:
    - Lower cost overall and low power consumption
    - DC Motor is allowed to work for a longer time without thermal protection limit
    - Quieter noise level of below 35 dB
    - Many power source choices: regular 12VDC and 24VDC, Li -ion Rechargeable battery, solar panel etc.
    - Integration with your low voltage home automation system.
  • A. Built-in lithium battery tubular motors (25LE and 28LEQ) don't need wiring or an electrician, they are most popular tubular motors for motorised roller blind by far. They just need to be plugged into the charger when necessary. If the position of the roller blind is high and hard to reach, the solar recharging panel would be a suitable option. The built in Lithium battery has the ability to be charged up to 500 times, the fully charged battery can run up and down 150~600 times depending on the size and weight of the roller blinds. For the average usage, it can last 3~6 months per charge.

    The DM25TE Model DC tubular motor has a built-in transformer. It needs to be connected to a regular main AC. If there is no power cable nearby, you might need a registered electrician.

    The price of the AC powered tubular motor is cheaper than battery powered one, but if you consider to the cost you hire a electrician to wire the power cable and do connection work, then the total cost would be quite similar between these two options.
  • A. All of the DC tubular motors come with free of one drive wheel adapter and one crown which works with 38mm or 45mm aluminium blind tubes. However, if your aluminium tube roller blind tube is a different size we have several types of drive wheel adaptors and crowns for 44-46mm tubes. Just send an inquiry form along with photos which show the interior shape of the tube and let me know all necessary measurements (inside diameter and outside diameter), we will find out if we have the appropriate drive wheel adaptor and crown to match your tube and send to you if you order the iSW range of tubular motors through us.
  • A. We provide two payment options: Online internet Banking or Direct Bank Deposit to our bank account and Cash Payment on Pickup. We don't accept Credit Card.
  • A. We have three main kinds of fabric: Sunscreen, Light filtering and Blackout fabrics. We use a very high quality Australian brand SHAW Blind fabric.

    See the full range of the fabric here: https://shawblindfabrics.co.nz/ranges/
  • A. Yes, you can! Simply follow the step-by-step manual instructions to set up the remote control.

    For the curtain motor, you just need to pair the remote control with the motor and then it will set up the travel limits automatically. For the tubular motor, you need to set the upper and lower limit positions. Afterwards you can use the same channel to pair with other motors which would operate together. For the multi channel remote control, you can change to new channel to set up with another motor.
    You can even group your blinds together, so they all go up or down at the same time, it will be much easier to do so if you have two remotes.
  • Yes, you can. You can use the Connector App to control our motorised curtains and blinds through our DD7002B wifi bridge, DD1554 Mini bridge or our latest DD7006 P Box or by using our wifi curtain motor and wifi blind motor directly without the hub, The Connector Hub can control all our curtain motors and Blind motors which have the built-in RF receiver, the connector App is compatible with Amazon Alexa, Google Home and Samsung SmartThings etc. so you can voice control all your motorised curtains and blinds through the 'Connector' App.
  • A. Yes, you can choose the iSW 25LE-1.1/40 or 28LEQ-2.0/28 with solar recharging panel. As they are a DC tubular motor, they can work for longer time and won't need to worry about the thermal protection limit like with AC motors. iSW DC tubular motor has no limit of turns and therefore the motors can be applied to super tall environments such as hotels, office lobbies, gymnasiums etc.
  • A. For the custom built Motorised Curtain track, the manufacturing time will be within 5 working days. For roller blind orders, manufacturing time is approximately 10 working days. For the other orders, we will despatch them within 2 working days after your payment clears. Delivery time to New Zealand nationwide is 1-3 working days depending on your location.
  • A. Yes, we do in Auckland. We charge $80 for the first set of motorised curtains or $50 for roller blinds, after that we charge $60 every set of motorised curtain track or $30 for every motorised roller blinds including the setting up of the remote control.

    Please bear in mind, these prices are based on standard sizes of motorised curtain tracks and roller blinds. For those purchasing U shape or L shape and extra lengths of motorised curtain tracks or roller blinds, there will be additional charges. These offers are valid for the properties within the Auckland region only. We add a small surcharge to cover the travel allowance for Auckland rural areas.
  • A. We recommend the motorised curtains cover the whole wall. If you choose to do so, then the width of the motorised curtain track would be the width of the wall, deduct 3~4 cm. If you choose to cover just the window, the width of the motorised curtain track would be the width of the window plus 60~80 cm for standard lengths (3m~4m) of curtain tracks. If your window or door is very wide and there are more runners used, you may need to consider to adding some extra length. A good rule of thumb - for a 2000mm window or recess you should have at least 200 mm each side of the window, for a 3000 mm window or recess you should have at least 300 mm each side of the window. Add extra for heavier fabrics.

    Motorised curtains are typically better with traditional pleated curtains, so the fabric width should be 1.5~2 times the width of the curtain track depending on the thickness and the weight of the curtain fabric.
  • A. There are two mounting positions for roller blinds:
    1. Recess (inside mounting): This is when you want your blind to fit inside the window recess. This is the most popular option and provides a polished finish.
    2. Face (outside mounting): This is when you want your blind to hang outside the window recess.

    3 simple steps to a RECESS measurement:
    1. Ensure there are no obstructions to the installation or operation of your blinds.
    2. Measure the width of the recess from window frame in 3 places - from the top, the middle and the bottom. Note down the shortest measurement.
    3. Measure the drop by taking the measurement from the top of the recess to the window sill in 3 places - from the left, the middle and the right. Note down the shortest measurement - this is the one we'll use.

    3 simple steps to a FACE measurement:
    For all types of blinds follow these instructions if you want your blind to hang outside the window recess:
    - Measure the exact width (left to right) of the wooden or metal window frame or how wide you would like the blind to be. Make sure to measure wide enough as to cover the entire window and provide maximum light gap coverage. There is no rule on the width of blinds other than to make sure that it is wide enough to cover the opening. Ideally, for aesthetic reasons, the width of roller blind should not be greater than the width of the window sill outside the recess. Note down the measurement. If your architrave is very narrow, you may want the blind to extend past the architrave. We suggest the blind should extend at least 50mm past the window edge both sides if you would like the blind back rolled, & 100mm past the edge both sides if it is front rolled, to reduce light entry.
    -Measure the exact drop from the top of where you want your blind to be to the bottom. Usually a 50mm overlap is sufficient. Note down the measurement.
  • A. To order a motorised roller blind, we need to know the size of roller blind, please follow the FAQ: How do I measure the size of my motorised roller blind? Then you need to choose your preferred fabric and colour, we use SHAW Brand (Australian Brand), they have a very wide selection of fabrics to choose: EcoLibrium Sunscreen range, Vibe Blackout range, Icon thermal Blackout range, Skye range blackout and Light filtering, Le Reve range blackout and Light filtering, Mantra range blackout and Light filtering, Balmoral range blackout and Light filtering, you can go to SHAW website to choose your prefer colour at https://shawblindfabrics.co.nz/ranges/

    Additionally, you need to select between a standard roll or reverse roll: With a standard roll, the fabric rolls back, very close to the window glass. The reverse roll means the fabric comes on out from the front of the roller. We also need to know the side for your tubular motor mount - Right hand side or Left hand side and lastly your preferred colour of bracket and bottom rails: White, black, ivory and grey or silver.

    That's all the information we need before you make the order.
  • A. You can choose either left hand or right hand according to which side is easy to pre wire the power cable, you need one switch to control the power on or off (isolation) as well, this switch doesn't control the blind up or down, it's pure just for the isolation purpose . If you want to drill a hole on the window jamb, then the hole is better to close ( like 15mm ) to the window glass to avoid the position where the blind bracket will be installed, it can be 55mm~60mm down from the top ( molding ) , if the bracket is larger like for the dual roller blind one, then you need to be careful, it's better to drill a hole from the top ( Molding ), then it can be 30mm from the left or right hand side jamb,but sometimes it's difficult or impossible to drill a hole from the top since there may be a steel beam something like that. The size of the hole and the space behind of the hole should be big enough to push the power cable back to inside of the hole after electrician finish the wires connection, because the rated power and rating A of the AC powered tubular motor are quite small, so you can choose 1 mm2 or 0.75 mm2 power cable to easily push the connected cable back to hole.
  • A. Yes, you can use either Broadlink RM Pro IR+RF Universal Hub or our new product - WIFI Bridge. Broadlink RM Pro is good, but WIFI bridge is much better. It's easy to connect and has more functions, it can control all of our RF motorised curtain and roller blind devices and it integrates with Amazon Echo and IFTTT, and Google assistant. You can not only voice control them, but also set up timers and scenes to control them anywhere in the world.
  • A. There are just two models of curtain motors that can be connected with the Z-wave module, they are iSW82TS 4 wires motor and iSW72TV 5 wires motor. The wire connection for both motors are similar and easy, both motors have their own advantages and disadvantages.

    The advantage of 82TS motor is it can do auto calibration when you configure your Z-Wave controller, so you can do percentage controlling and know the curtain position, the disadvantages of iSW82TS motor is it's a basic standard model of curtain motor, so it has less functions and it can not be controlled by remote etc.

    The advantage of 72TV model is it has more function than 82TS, you can control the curtain by remote and you can pull the curtain to start over the motor, but the disadvantage is it can not do auto calibration through Z-Wave controller, so you don't know the curtain position and you only can fully open or close and stop the curtain. Meanwhile, the 72TV motor looks better and is a newer model, the components of the motor and the track are better, so inevitably the iSW72TV motor and track are more expensive.

    Their parameter settings of Z-Wave controller are slightly different for these two motors, please refer to our Fibaro Z-Wave roller shutter 2 module to compare the difference between them.
  • A. You probably just need one. You can choose according to your requirements between a single channel or multi channel remote control. The remote control's emission frequency is 433.90 MHz and the emission distance is 200m for outdoors and 35m for indoors, so we advise if your house is quite large (2 storied house) and have many rooms, it's better to use two remote controls (emitter) which you can use for each level.

    You can have as many as you like for your own convenience.
  • A. Lithium ion battery technology has improved a lot, it's used in many of products we interact with every day now, such as smartphones, laptops, powered tools, battery-powered vehicles etc, The capacity of our iSW Li-ion rechargeable batteries - iSW25LE, ISW28LE and iSW82LE are 2.2Ah, 2,6Ah and 4.4 Ah respectively, they are estimated to operate 500 up/down or 500 open/close cycles once fully charged for a normal size of roller blind or curtain. Although they might last more than 6 months per charge, we strongly suggest for you to recharge the Li-ion battery every 6 months to maintain the Li-ion battery in good performance.

    The lifetime of our iSW Li-ion battery is around 500 recharges. Although the batteries will degrade slowly over time, we will give you 3 year warranty for our tubular motors and curtain motors that includes the Li-ion rechargeable battery since our iSW Lithium Ion battery technology is proven, reliable and can be trusted.

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