Allesin Motorized Blinds Review

We bought our house about 4 years ago.  While the blinds inside were once very expensive and very nice, over time they became warped and dirty.  Some could be barely raised or lowered.  So imagine my surprise when I was contacted by Allesin to review their motorized blinds.

Alongside the Living/Dining/Kitchen area in our home are four windows with a double door in the middle.  The old Levelor blinds we had were looking kind of rough.  Also the size of the slats were large and stuck out in the room a bit giving the illusion that the space was much smaller.

Allesin allowed us (and by us, I mean my wife) to choose whatever style and color that we wanted.  We (my wife) chose the K130 Light Filtering Cellular shades.  Shortly after the exchange we were contact by Allesin and told they had an updated version of those shades and would I be willing to wait a bit for them.  I agreed and we were sent their new K230 shades.   As I write this I don’t see the K230 on their website yet.  So, I’m on the leading edge here with this blog.

Controls

There are several ways to control these blinds.

• Single Channel Remote
• 15 Channel Remote
• Voice Command via smart device with WiFi Bridge
• App Controlled

Local Control

While I tested and will discuss the WiFi Bridge later in this blog I’ll just say this up front. I am a huge proponent of Local Control.  What does that mean?  It means that your smart devices do not interact outside of your local network.   No connection to the internet and no app.  Every smart device in my home is locally controlled.

Having said that I realize that not everyone is me.  The bridge and app allow you to do all manner of powerful things such as set up schedules. Or you can create groups to raise and lower the shades in unison.

Ultimately, we will use the 15 channel remote inside the home after my testing is complete.

Where There Is A Will, There Is A Way

During my research I discovered that the Allesin remote is a 433 MHz device. Although I haven’t done this yet I am certain that I can take a Raspberry Pi with a 433 MHz transmitter and receiver (which I have) and record the open and close signals and then play them back in software to maintain local control. I went through a 433 MHz phase a few years back and dabbled with all manner of devices.

If I work through this I’ll update the blog with directions on what I did.

Added Benefit to Allesin Motorized Blinds

Off of our kitchen and garage is a hallway that leads to our washer and dryer.  One wall shares with our very cold garage and the other wall has windows on it and a dryer vent and that space just stays COLD.

After hanging the Allesin blinds in that area I took a temperature gun and found that the temps in that area raised about 5 degrees when the blinds were down at night.

Granted the temp is a bit different every evening and my test wasn’t scientific but that space is now a lot warmer.

This was a very unexpected result.

Thanks Allesin!

Here is the first video I shot of the first blind that I installed in that cold area.

 

The blinds are super smooth and quiet and very attractive.  And the sleek design makes that tiny space look and feel larger.

Styles

There are a ton of different styles and configurations and colors on the Allesin website.  In fact there are so many that it took my wife a few days to make a decision.  She even consulted her sister for a back and forth discussion on what would look the best.  All I can say is to take a look around the website and choose what best suits your style.

Installation

These are by far the easiest blinds I have ever installed.  They are super lightweight and the battery and motor control can be placed on the blinds after installation.  You literally just install the mounting brackets and just clip the blinds into place.  You only have to make sure the clips don’t fall in the area where the battery is mounted on the right hand side.  Also, the fact that you can pull the battery down and charge it on the ground level is AWESOME.

One recommendation I have with the brackets comes from a comment my wife made.  She said, “I wish the clips were the same color as the blinds”.  I never even noticed it but I can’t say she is wrong.  It would be nice if the clips matched the color of the blinds.

Allesin Motorized Blinds Operation

One of the key things I like about these smart blinds is that they can be stopped at the upper and lower limits wherever you want.  That keeps everything uniform and it keeps the motor from continuing to roll out when the blinds hit the ledge of my window frames.  I wouldn’t say it is tricky to program but you do need to read the manual as the remotes have an Admin and User mode switch.

Using the app with the bridge you can program the blinds to raise and lower however you want, whenever you want.  Does the sun get in your eyes at 2PM?  Set the offending blind to lower just before then.  Do you wake up at 7 AM every day and wish to look outside?  Program the blinds to raise just before then.

WiFi Bridge

I’ve read some reviews and low star grades on the WiFi bridge.  I simply don’t understand why because I had absolutely zero issues setting up my bridge.  Even after setting up the Tuya app on my phone I saw that I could use the Tuya integration in my home automation console and it located the hub and my 4 blinds.  But…………..read on later to see what happened.

Using the hub also allows for voice commands via Alexa or Google Home as per the video below.

I did find one major issue though.  I should clarify that the major issue was me doing stuff and pushing limits because that’s what I do here.  Nowhere in their documentation does it say anything about Tuya integration in Home Assistant.   After adding the integration in my Home Assistant instance the blinds just acted absolutely crazy.  They wouldn’t respond for a long time, they’d go up instead of down, or wouldn’t work at all.

During my troubleshooting thought process I deleted the integration in Home Assistant and everything began working PERFECTLY as advertised.  Somehow or another the WiFi Bridge and Tuya integration in my home automation were colliding.   Please use these blinds as Allesin intended and not how John’s Tech Blog tried to do.  Hey, I push limits here.

Final Thoughts On Allesin Motorized Blinds

I didn’t want to get too deep in the woods with the iPhone or Android app.  Everything is well documented in the Allesin manuals and again, I am a huge proponent of LOCAL CONTROL.

There are a lot of smart blinds out there but I find the Allesin blinds to be very economical.

I do have one major recommendation and that is that they offer a Z-Wave controller with no hub.  Z-Wave would provide the user with 100% local control.

I like these blinds so much and appreciate that they provided them for me to review that I’m going to buy one more.  In my tiny hallway, the garage door has an old Levelor blind on it that is not pretty.  Might as well match things up.

JOHN’S TECH BLOG HAS A MUCH SNAPPIER LOOKING LIVING ROOM AFTER INSTALLATION OF THE ALLESIN K230 BLINDS.  HIGHLY RECOMMENDED