homeassistant

I’ve got an extra tall living room, and without a 15’ ladder there’s no way I can actuate the pull down shades

Not what you’re looking for but maybe you should have as a backup plan….. I’ve got a pole that works in my similar situation. It telescopes to 12’, has a handle to simplify turning to adjust the blinds, and a hook at the end to grab hold for raising and lowering.

And it’s automated too. I can use a voice assistant to send a command to raise or lower …. As long as one of my kids is in the room. /s

Oh, damn. I misunderstood the question. I thought you meant stationary window blinds that acted as solar panels.

Which, come on. How is that NOT a thing yet???

In Germany, yes. I think they are selling them worldwide.

https://www.velux.de/produkte/sonnenschutz-und-rolllaeden

They are pretty reliable, with a builtin oversized battery and small solar panel, remote control, and 5 years warranty iirc.

They offer an integration into smartness - I can look up for you later which one.

I am planning currently to get some, but without their solar, just normal power and my own smart relays to control them.

https://us.switch-bot.com/products/switchbot-blind-tilt

Maybe this depending on the type of blind you have

Not used them myself, but I'd bookmarked these for my next home... maybe what you're looking for? Somfy Sunea

And there's an integration in home assistant Overkiz

But whether that integration works with that solar motor is unclear.

Switchbot has something to open and close blinds that runs on solar.

Smartwings sells an optional solar panel to charge their motorized smart blinds:

https://www.smartwingshome.com/products/solar-panel

I recently purchased their Z-Wave roller blinds and I'm quite pleased with them, though I didn't get the solar charger so I can't comment on how well that works.

Battery powered is the way to go, then add in your solar option.

If its a rechargeable, use the charging port as a means to feed it.

If it isn't, solder direct and add your own battery - you dont want them to only work when the sun is out!

Both are hacks and not premade, but would do the job.

I'm not up to date on the current market, but I have Ikea blinds that are battery operated which I control from HA. The batteries are rechargeable, and the batteries themselves have micro-USB ports for charging.

One option would be to buy these, see what kind of charging port they come with these days, and try to make some physical modifications to jam a USB connector in there. From there, you just have to figure out the solar part. A lot of solar charge controllers have USB ports which should work to charge the battery, but they are clunky and you'd have to mount it on the wall probably.

For what it's worth, the batteries in these shades last quite a long time... Looking at one of them, I last charged it in September 2024, and it's still at 72%. It goes up/down at least once a day I'd say.

Fund it man. Seems like you got a product in your hands.

Solar glass yes. Solar blinds I don't know of anything that would be thin and flexible enough to roll and unroll everyday.

There are some think flexable solar panels, but nothing that I seen that you could use as a replacement blind in a roller blind.

Take a look into solar glass, you can retrofit some of these products right onto existing windows on the inside.

The one advantage to sollar glass is you don't have to keep your blinds down all the time especially if you want to enjoy a sunny day.

• https://www.solarwindow.com/
• https://onyxsolar.com/
• https://www.weforum.org/stories/2022/09/transparent-solar-panel-windows/

Edit: Seems I misunderstood the assignment.

Motorized Solar powered blinds where you don't have access to power.

https://www.amazon.ca/Motorized-Insulation-Complementary-Cordless-Automatic/dp/B0CWL7TFYP?mcid=cd45a4fde0803f77966b0a9d1947818a&tag=googlemobshop-20&hvadid=730828764438&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=16448465338767325826&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9000966&hvtargid=pla-2338116708393&psc=1&gad_source=1

Why not expand the battery leads down the wall so you don't have to climb?

You could do regular manual blinds with solar powered Sunsa motorized wands.

https://sunsawands.com/

I’ve had mine for 5 years now they work great with HA (once you get past the setup)

Found this with a quick search, but you could probably make it pretty readily. Solar battery packs exist and you wouldn't need much power. Wire up a cheap solar power brick and mount it in the corner of the window behind the blinds?