Motorized drapery treatments are easy!
Choosing the right hardware for motorized drapery treatments can seem difficult and confusing. It is really pretty simple if you can answer three questions up front.
How big is the treatment?
If your treatment is extra tall, motorization is a good choice because wands are not usually long enough to allow you to draw the drapery easily. Extra long wands can also bow and be awkward to use.
Treatments made with heavy fabrics are also operated best with motorized hardware. Our Eco-Shuttle motor will handle 100 pounds of fabric. For really heavy treatments, our Shuttle HD (heavy duty) and our Z-Wave motors will both handle up to 160 pounds of fabric. That’s a lot of drapery!
Bending and Bowing Motorized Drapery Treatments
Keep in mind that these weight limits are slightly reduced if you want the hardware to be curved or bent. For example, bowing the FMS track with an Eco-Shuttle motor will reduce the acceptable fabric weight from 100 to 90 pounds.
Confusing Terminology
The term “hard wiring” can be very confusing when discussing motorized drapery treatments. People use the term “hard wiring” to refer to attaching the motor to electrical power, and also to refer to attaching the motor to the home automation operating system.
The correct terminology is “integration” when referring to attaching the motor to the home automation operating system. If you keep these terms straight, you’ll never get confused.
How will the motor be powered?
Motors that are plugged into an existing electrical outlet are sometimes called “Plug & Play.” No electrician is required. Of course, if desired, an electrical outlet can be installed next to the motor to eliminate excess cord. As long as it’s plugged into an outlet, the motor is not hard wired. All of our motors can be ordered with a plug for an outlet.
If the home is pre-wired so that the motor can be attached directly to the wires in the wall, the motor is considered hard wired. An electrician is needed for this type of installation. All of our motors can also be hard wired. There is no difference in price.
How will the motor communicate?
All window treatment motors are “dumb” motors. They cannot operate the drapery without being told what to do. Remote Controls communicate with the motor via RF or Radio Frequency. Helser offers either hand held as well as wall mounted options. It makes sense to have both, so if the remote control gets lost, the wall switch is always available. Both our Eco-Shuttle and Shuttle HD motors can be operated with a remote control.
Home automation systems are becoming very common. Some systems are for window treatments only, like Lutron. Others are designed to operate multiple types of products like security, lighting and appliances. Control 4 is an example of a popular home automation system. Our Eco-Shuttle and Shuttle HD motors will integrate with all of the popular home automation systems on the market, including Lutron.
App powered home automation systems are becoming very popular. These systems are operated with Z-wave (or Zigbee) technology. Alexa or Apple Home would be examples of this type of product. Our Z-wave motor is perfect to use with app driven motorized drapery treatments.
Call us!
As you can see, buying hardware for your motorized drapery treatments is easier that you might think. Let our trained professional Customer Service Reps walk you through the process! We love to help solve problems!