Zebra roller blinds with DC 12V Motor and Qubino Z-Wave / Vera controller hub - Part 1

I've been looking for some blinds for my living room window. I already have motorised Z-Wave black out curtains fitted, however I wanted some light coloured blinds sat behind the curtains so I could let light in but still have some privacy.

Ideally I probably would have gone for wooden Venetian blinds, however there are limited cheaper options in the EU to control the tilt opening and closing on those kinds of blinds, Somfy do them but not so cheap.

The best DIY solution I have seen is the Z-Wave iBlinds Kit which is a Z-Wave enabled motor that sits directly hidden away in the header rail of the Venetian blinds, however these are only currently available for the US market, although I have been told by iBlinds that they are planning to release an EU model at some point.

The other option is them crappy looking chain cord pulley motors that look unreliable. Although I have a friend who rates the Brunt Blind Engine ones.

I then saw blinds called Zebra blinds, which is basically a roller blind, however they have a sheer part to the dual layer fabric, so you can either have them in full privacy or adjust them to allow in some light. Watch this random Youtube video better than me trying to explain what they are.

Roller blinds are much easier to integrate in to a Z-Wave network as there are plenty of roller shutter modules out there you can use. I previously used a 240V mains voltage roller tube motor and a Fibaro Roller Shutter module for the blinds in my kitchen. 

Looking on Aliexpress however, most motorised Zebra blinds for sale were either battery operated motors which I didn't want, or mains voltage motors, I wanted to avoid having to chase mains electric cables in to the walls again as I have just painted all of my lounge room, so I was looking for a low voltage 12V DC motor that could be used with a thin surface mounted cable. 

Most of the motors being sold as a complete Zebra blind kit also came with an RF 433Mhz remote control. I believe you cannot use an RF motor and then attached a Z-Wave roller shutter to it, as the motor is still expecting the signal to come from the RF remote control. My same friend also tried a Qubino Flush Shutter DC module with SmartThings and an RF 433Mhz tube motor he bought from Amazon, however he said it did not work for this reason, 

So I needed a 12V DC standard motor with no remote and no RF 433Mhz as I planned on using a Z-Wave Qubino Flush Shutter DC module. 

So I contacted my usual supplier on Aliexpress Scott from Friend Group their store has been renamed to Runxin Blinds Store however its the same people. 

I gave Scott my requirements and measurements and he said he could supply me a standard 12V DC motor in a 38mm diameter tube. 

To pick a fabric colour I was given this link here. I've picked colour B121 which looks to be a light cream colour I hope ! 

Other colours available:

These were the measurements of my Windows internal recess, which I sent to Scott. For my window size the cost was $135 USD. 

The construction of the Zebra blinds, they also call them Rainbow blinds on the Aliexpress store, they have a metal cassette style header concealing the roller blind itself and a metal bottom bar. 

Here is the proposed wiring diagram for the Qubino Flush Shutter DC module and the blinds 12v DC motor. 

I don't plan to install and connect a physical switch with the Qubino module. I do have an existing switch near to this window connected to a Fibaro Roller Shutter module for my Z-Wave curtain track.

I figured I could just program the Fibaro Roller Shutter module for double clicks up and double clicks down on its wall switch to then control the Zebra blinds / Qubino module. This will save me the hassle of wiring in another switch and cabling in to that wall again.

I've only just ordered my motorised Zebra blind kit, so it will take some time to arrive from China, I have already got the Qubino Flush Shutter DC module here. In part two it will be the unboxing. 

Part 2 here.

Ezviz DB1 Video Doorbell with Z-Wave Vera Controller and Imperihome app

I recently purchased an Ezviz DB1 video doorbell. Ezviz is made by Hikvision a leading global CCTV manufacturer.

Main reason I purchased the DB1 was the price at £120 and the fact that is has a local SD Memory card slot for cards up to 128GB, so I wont be paying a monthly subscription. You can also connect the DB1 to CCTV NVR's like Hikvision's own NVRs or to a software system like Blue Iris as the doorbell has a RTSP video stream.
Also you can subscribe to the Ezviz cloud storage package if you wish as well, so plenty of options there.

I bought a Kingston 128GB SD card for about £14 from Mymemory.co.uk as I don't currently have an NVR. I don't recommend you ever by SD cards from Ebay or Amazon as in my personal experience they are all fake cards that gave me problems.

I purchased the DB1 doorbell and a mechanical chime and doorbell transformer kit from a company called Connectec.uk as they even sold the bell cable and clips, everything I need to install the doorbell.

My existing doorbell chime was just battery operated, so I had to do a little bit of wiring in the house to replace it with the new chime and get the 12V DC cable in to my porch and the area where the chime is located.

Nothing too difficult, I just connected a plug on to the doorbell transformer for the 240V AC in and a 12V DC bell wire going out to the chime / video doorbell.

This is the standard wiring diagram without any Z-Wave stuff added yet.

I also watched this Youtube video here which was helpful with the wiring and setup.

The chime and transformer kit I bought from the Connectec website, obviously they don't advertise the make and models numbers as they don't want you to source it from else where.

I had read on the Ezviz website on this page here that only certain chimes were compatible, so I was a little cautious and decided to buy the whole kit from Connectec as they had tested their particular chime and doorbell transformer with the Ezviz DB1 and if I had any problems then I would have one supplier to deal with etc.

For the record the doorbell chime is a Eterna Model number DC1WH and the doorbell transformer is also an Eterna model number BT4812.

Here are the instructions / wiring diagram that came with the Eterna chime, I ignored them! and just followed the wiring diagram for the DB1 video doorbell as it is different.

Also the chime does say max 8V DC which was a little concerning as I am running the DB1 video doorbell on 12V DC, however its all working fine and this is what Connectec and also Dynamic-cctv.com recommend as they also sell the same DB1 kit.

First I tested everything on my living room floor wiring everything up as per the DB1 video doorbell wiring diagram. 

In the Ezviz mobile app you have to specify in the settings that you are using the DB1 with a mechanical chime, if you don't set that the chime won't work and make a sound. 

Once I was happy I had it wired up correctly as per the standard DB1 wiring diagram I then investigated how to add Z-Wave and integrate the DB1 video doorbell in to my Z-Wave network and my Vera Plus controller hub. 

The solenoid on the chime works across terminals numbered 2 and 3.

I used a battery operated Everspring SM103 Z-Wave door / window contact sensor as it also has a handy dry contact input on it. 

I also need to add a 12V DC mini coil relay, I used this one here. 

G5V-1 12DC -  Signal Relay, 12 VDC, SPDT, 1 A, G5V-1 Series, Through Hole, Non Latching.

Here is the pin out diagram. Pins 2 & 9 on the coil relay (no polarity) connect to terminals 2 & 3 on the chime. 

Then pins 1 & 5 on the coil relay (no polarity) connect to the dry contact inputs on the Everspring SM103 door contact sensor. 

My wiring diagram for the Z-Wave integration:

When the Everspring SM103 door contact sensor is included on your Z-Wave controller in my case my Vera Plus, when the DB1 doorbell is not pressed the sensor should be not tripped. 

And when the DB1 doorbell is pressed then the Everspring SM103 door contact sensor should change to a tripped state and then shortly after return back to a none tripped state. 

You can then use that as a trigger on your Z-Wave controller hub to carry out whatever automations you wish. 

I have the DB1 doorbell camera automatically come up on my wall mounted Imperhome Android tablets, make TTS announcements to Alexa and flash some lights etc. 

Note for Vera and TTS announcements to Alexa I am using this new plug-in here.

Now the DB1 doorbell camera is decent for the money, however it has one major drawback there are no accessible mjpg and jpg snapshot streams only RTSP video stream. 

Vera doesn't support RTSP cameras and the Imperihome control app only supports RTSP streams with no authentication. However I was unable to even get any IP camera into Imperihome without RTSP authentication. It just doesn't seem to work. 

So I had a problem how to get a mjpg and jpg snapshot URL from the DB1 camera ? 

I tried two options.

1. TinyCam Pro Android app running on one of my wall mounted tablets, TinyCam Pro has an inbuilt Web Server function. But I found it a little temperamental and wasn't that happy with it. 

2. Blue Iris software. I installed a copy on to my WHS Windows file server and added the DB1 camera using its native RTSP stream. I found the resulting Blue Iris mjpg and jpg snapshot streams to be a bit more stable so currently I am sticking with it. 

In either software you first add the DB1 doorbell camera in to it using its RTSP stream URL

Native RTSP video streams on the DB1 doorbell camera, some examples. 

Where IP 192.168.1.101 is the IP address of the Ezviz DB1 doorbell camera.

Main

rtsp://192.168.1.101:554/user=admin_password=****_channel=0_stream=0.sdp

rtsp://192.168.1.101:554/Streaming/Channels/101

rtsp://admin:****@192.168.1.101:554/ch1/main/av_stream

Sub

rtsp://admin:****@192.168.1.101:554/Streaming/Channels/102

rtsp://admin:****@192.168.1.101:554/ch1/sub/av_stream

rtsp://192.168.1.101:554/h264_stream

Then you should be able to access the mjpg and jpg snapshot URLs. 

Some TinyCam Pro Web Server example URL's for mjpg and jpg snapshot.

Where IP address 192.168.1.102 is the IP address of the Android tablet / device running the TinyCam Pro app. The port number you can change and specify what you want it to be. 

The camera ID is specific to each IP camera in the TinyCam Pro app, sorry I can't recall now where I found the camera IDs. 

http://192.168.1.102:8080/axis-cgi/mjpg/video.cgi?cameraId=1256066005

http://192.168.1.102:8080/axis-cgi/mjpg/video.cgi?cameraId=1256066005&resolution=640x480

http://192.168.1.102:8080/axis-cgi/jpg/image.cgi?cameraId=1256066005

http://192.168.1.102:8080/axis-cgi/jpg/image.cgi?cameraId=1256066005&resolution=640x480

TinyCam User and password in URL

http://192.168.1.102:8080/axis-cgi/mjpg/video.cgi?cameraId=1256066005&user=admin&pwd=****

http://192.168.1.102:8080/axis-cgi/jpg/image.cgi?cameraId=1256066005&user=admin&pwd=****

Blue Iris Web Server example URL's for mjpg and jpg snapshot.

Where IP address 192.168.0.103 is the PC where you have Blue Iris installed and the port number 8081 is the port number you specified in the Blue Iris web server settings. Cam1 is the first camera added to Blue Iris, Cam2 is camera 2 etc.

http://192.168.1.103:8081/image/Cam1?user=admin&pw=****

http://192.168.1.103:8081/mjpg/Cam1/video.mjpg?user=admin&pw=****

http://192.168.1.103:8081/image/Cam1?h=480&w=640&user=admin&pw=****

http://192.168.1.103:8081/mjpg/Cam1/video.mjpg?h=480&w=640&user=admin&pw=****

Another advantage of using the Blue Iris software on my Windows file server, is that I can now record motion detection events on to the file server itself, so I now have video clips on there as well as on the local SD memory card in the DB1.

Also Blue Iris can send out HTTP commands when motion detection is triggered and when motion detection trigger is reset.

I created a Virtual Motion Sensor device in Vera, instructions here.

And then using these two HTTP JSON commands in Blue Iris to set if the virtual motion sensor device in Vera should be tripped or not?

IP 192.168.1.100 is the IP address of Vera and DeviceNum 403 should be the device number of your virtual motion sensor device in Vera.

Tripped Command:

192.168.1.100/port_3480/data_request?id=lu_variableset&DeviceNum=403&serviceId=urn:micasaverde-com:serviceId:SecuritySensor1&Variable=Tripped&Value=1

NOT Tripped Command:

192.168.1.100/port_3480/data_request?id=lu_variableset&DeviceNum=403&serviceId=urn:micasaverde-com:serviceId:SecuritySensor1&Variable=Tripped&Value=0

Here are some screen shots of the Imperihome Android app.

Ezviz DB1 Doorbell added in to Imperihome app using their IP camera object and the mjpg / jpg streams from Blue Iris.

And here is the Vera virtual motion sensor device added in to the Imperihome control app. 

I've also integrated the DB1 camera using a mixture of the native DB1 RTSP video stream and also using the Blue Iris mjpg and jpg snapshot URLs in to Kodi media center using the Security Cam Overlay add-on and in to my Fire TV stick using a free IP camera app I found in their app store. 

One other current issue I have is that I cannot stream the DB1 camera image to my ChromeCast video devices connected to my TV sets. I believe this should work and I have added my Ezviz account in to the Google Home app and the Doorbell device is showing up OK in the Home app, but when I ask the Google Home Mini to "Show doorbell" it says OK and looks like its about to start playing on the TV / ChromeCast but I just get a black screen and a progress bar at the bottom and a spinning circle, the camera image never loads. 

I had initially connected the DB1 to my 5GHZ WIFI network and then I reset it and switched it on to the 2.4GHZ WIFI network instead, but its the same problem on both. I have a good solid WIFI signal on my mobile phone outside where the doorbell is located, so I am not sure what this problem is. I have emailed Ezviz UK support for comment.  

Summary

Overall I am so far pleased with my purchase of the Ezviz DB1 doorbell the image quality at day and night time is good and the motion detection works well as does the phone calls to the Ezviz app on my mobile phone when someone presses the doorbell, I can talk to them if I am in the house or out and about. I have also shared the DB1 device in the Ezviz app, so my daughter also has the Ezviz app on her mobile phone and access to the video doorbell functions. 

Only downside I can see to the DB1 is no native mjpg or jpg snapshot support and no Onvif support. 

But the big upside is a local SD memory card slot and no monthly subscriptions for cloud storage if you don't want. 

Also the DB1 comes with three different coloured face places, black, white and brown. I used the black one to make it stand out a bit more against the white door frame, there is also a blue circle that lights up around the doorbell button.

UPDATE

EZVIZ support suggested the following and I can now stream the DB1 camera image on my TV / Chromecast.

"For the streaming issue, please go to the Live view page on EZVIZ APP to reduce the resolution to Hi-Def then try it again. During this setup, it would be better if you could use the same wifi frequency."

My DB1 is still configured for the 2.4ghz WiFi and my Chromecast is on 5ghz WiFi but it seems to stream now anyway with the lower video resolution.

Z-Wave roller blinds with Dooya motor, Vera controller and Fibaro shutter module - Part 4

Welcome to part four of my roller blind installation, you can see part one here part two here and part three here.

We've now added a pelmet made out of MDF wood to cover the roller blind tube and brackets. Makes everything look much neater, painted it the same colour as the walls. 

Video of the roller blind in operation with Google Home voice commands.

Vera Z-Wave controller UI7 web GUI and the new blind controls.

Imperihome mobile app for Android and the new blind controls.

I've set the blinds in Vera to automatically close when entering in to either Night or Away modes. As yet I've not created a schedule to automatically open the blind in the morning but you could easily do that also. 

Well that's it for this project, I am currently trying to source curtain track motors with inbuilt Z-Wave radio so perhaps next time I can cover those, if I manage to get some. Or the other thing I'd like to do is a low voltage easy plug in DC 12V / 24V tube motor in another smaller roller blind, for sun screen behind my curtains in the lounge, using a Qubino DC Flush Shutter module. 

Z-Wave roller blinds with Dooya motor, Vera controller and Fibaro shutter module - Part 3

Welcome to part three of my roller blind installation, you can see part one here and part two here.

Today we mounted the roller blind, I still have some touching up to do on the wall and we plan to install a pelmet made of wood, across the top to hide the whole tube / roll. I'll probably paint this pelmet the same colour as the walls.

Here you can see some photos of the ends of the roller blind.

There is no channel in the tube, inside the tube is all smooth to the touch, so the fabric must be stuck on to the tube, rather than the fabric being inserted in to a channel or groove to secure it. 

I recommend you glue the white cap with the pin in to the tube, because when the blind was in operation the white cap wobbled its way out of the tube, as it wasn't a really tight fit. 

As we'd already fitted the blind up and didn't want to take it down again and disturb the fixing screws in the wall, we just used a plastic spacer we made and inserted it against the bracket and the white cap to stop the cap wobbling out of the tube, seems to work well now with no issues. 

Here you can see the motor end of the blind, the two screws are for the mechanical limits. You get a supplied green plastic tool to adjust these. I connected the motor to the mains power and to the wall switch without connecting the Fibaro shutter module first, so I could set the mechanical limits of the motor for upper top position and for lowest down position. 

Test fitting the bracket.

We didn't want to drill up in to the concrete lintel, so instead we mounted the brackets to the sides of the walls inside the window reveal. This meant we had to use plastic blocks behind the bracket to space it out a bit from the wall. 

We also moved the box for the module and cable connectors up, so it will be hidden behind the blind / pelmet. 

Temporary wiring without the Fibaro shutter module to test the motor and setup the mechanical limits on the motor. 

Now wired with the Fibaro shutter module. Hole in the wall where the box was previously located filled in.

Now with the module and cables / connectors pushed back in to the box and the cover screwed on. I used a 47mm deep box and it was only just big enough to fit everything inside of it. The wall still needs fixing with filler and paint. 

Roller blind fitted into the window reveal.

The blind can be operated with the wall switch. Before I fitted the Fibaro module you had to press and then hold the switch up or down whilst the blind went up or down. If you let go the motor stopped. 

After fitting the Fibaro module and running the calibration routine on the module, now you can just press down and release and the blind comes all the way down. Or you can press up and release and the blind goes all the way back to the top. Whilst the blind is moving if you press up or down again the blind will stop in that position. 

We went for a sun screen fabric in grey colour, you can also get full black out fabric from the supplier.

When dark outside the sun screen fabric looks like this. If you want full block you'll need to order the black out fabric. 

In the next part I will do a video of the blind in operation and go over some of the software Vera and Imperihome app.

Part 4 here.