Somfy

Somfy motors turn shades, blinds, curtains and awnings into cordless coverings you open and close by remote, phone app or voice. That’s the fix for the tall view-wall windows in a Montana great room or log home, the ones that frame the mountains and that nobody can reach without a ladder, and for homes with kids or pets, where no cord means nothing for a kid or a cat to get tangled in. Somfy makes both the motor and the controls, so one system runs every covering in the house.

Somfy built the first tubular motor, the one that retired the crank handle, and it has put out more than 170 million motors since it started in France in 1969. Its North American arm, Somfy Systems, is based in Dayton, New Jersey. Somfy makes the motor and the controls; the shade fabric comes from the shade maker whose blind the motor goes into.

RTS radio motors run off one remote

Radio Technology Somfy, RTS for short, is Somfy’s own control platform for motorized interior window coverings and for exterior products like awnings, rolling shutters, pergolas and screens. An RTS motor runs from a handheld remote, a wall switch or a digital keypad, with no hub and no Wi-Fi. The best thing about it is that a single remote runs several products, so the stair shades, the bedroom blackout and the patio awning can all sit on one remote. For a house that just wants the tall windows to move, RTS with a remote is the whole job. Start on RTS, and anything added later, Zigbee included, still runs from the same TaHoma app.

TaHoma puts the shades on your phone and your voice assistant

The TaHoma Switch and TaHoma Gateway bring RTS motors into the TaHoma by Somfy app, which runs shades, awnings, screens and rolling shutters from a smartphone. The app builds scenes and schedules them around your routine, so the west windows can close themselves at three on a July afternoon, when the sun at Montana elevation is still two hours from dropping behind the ridge and the living room is starting to bake, and the cellular shades on the north side can close at dusk on a January evening to hold the heat in through a twenty-below night. The bedroom shades open with the sunrise, which in June is early. Start with a remote and add TaHoma later if you like; TaHoma is a single platform for RTS, so no motor gets swapped to get there.

The worry that stops most people is ending up with one more remote in the drawer. TaHoma is compatible with Alexa, Google Assistant, Philips Hue, IFTTT and Samsung SmartThings, so the shades answer to voice and sit in one place with your smart lighting, heating and cooling, and audio. Setup is short: open the Alexa or Google Home app, find Somfy and link your account. Homes with a pro control system are covered too, since TaHoma integrates with Control4, Crestron, Crestron Home, Brilliant, Savant, Elan, URC and RTI.

The Zigbee 3.0 line reports back

Somfy’s newer motor line for shades, blinds and curtains, its Smart Shading line, connects with Zigbee 3.0, Somfy RTS and the smart-home systems that come next. The difference you’ll notice is two-way talk: an RTS remote sends a command and never hears back, while the Zigbee motors report battery level, shade position and status to the app from anywhere. Zigbee 3.0 is also a self-healing mesh, so each motor relays the signal and one dead device doesn’t cut off the rest.

Battery, solar, wired or PoE power

Battery motors need charging, and the Li-ion Solar Panel uses sunlight to keep motorized window treatments charged. On a window you can’t reach without a ladder, the solar panel is what makes a battery shade worth having, because nobody ever has to climb up with a charger. Where there’s power at the window, Somfy’s Wired Technology (WT) runs motors hard-wired.

For new construction, the Sonesse 30 PoE and Sonesse 40 PoE motors take DC power and data over one Cat-5e or Cat-6 cable. There’s no AC outlet at the window and no battery to charge or replace. Somfy’s PoE Motor Configuration Software sets up multiple motors over IP from one interface, and its Synergy API connects straight to Control4, Crestron, Crestron Home, URC, ELAN and RTI with no extra hardware. Match motor torque to the shade: the Sonesse 40 PoE comes in 2, 4 and 6 Nm, and a wide, heavy blackout on a ten-foot great-room window needs the 6, while a light screen on a narrow window runs on the 2.

Curtains, awnings and the rest of the range

The same system runs motorized curtains and draperies (the Glydea ULTRA range is built for curtains), plus awnings, exterior screens, pergolas, rolling shutters and projection screens. On the shade side that means horizontal blinds, woven and Roman, sheer horizontal, layered and zebra, and pleated and cellular shades, all on the same RTS remote and TaHoma app. For a Montana house the cellular shade is the one to motorize first, because it is the covering that holds heat at the glass, and a motor that closes it every evening on a schedule does more for the heating bill than one anybody has to remember.

Why Somfy

Somfy has been motorizing shades longer than anyone, and it’s the motor shade and awning makers build into their own products. That’s the reason to choose it: one remote runs the stair shades, the bedroom blackout and the patio awning, TaHoma puts all of it on your phone and your voice assistant without swapping a motor, and the same system grows from one tall window to the whole house.

Somfy lines at a glance

Line	What it’s for	Key detail
RTS motors	Shades, blinds, awnings, screens and rolling shutters run by radio	Handheld remote, wall switch or digital keypad control
TaHoma Switch and TaHoma Gateway	App control, scenes and schedules	Single platform for Somfy RTS
Zigbee 3.0 motor line	Shades, blinds and curtains	Connects with Zigbee 3.0, RTS and future smart-home technologies
Sonesse 30 PoE	Wired shades in new construction	DC power and data over one Cat-5e or Cat-6 cable
Sonesse 40 PoE	Wired shades in new construction	2, 4 and 6 Nm motors
Glydea ULTRA	Motorized curtains	Somfy’s curtain motor range
Li-ion Solar Panel Kit	Keeping battery window treatments charged	Charges from sunlight

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Somfy work with Alexa and Google Home?

Yes, once a TaHoma hub links your motors to your account, because an RTS motor on a handheld remote alone has no path to Alexa or Google. Group each room’s shades into a scene in TaHoma first, and one voice command moves the whole room instead of one shade at a time.

What does the Somfy TaHoma Switch do?

The TaHoma Switch is the hub that puts shades you already run by RTS remote onto your phone, so going from remote to app doesn’t mean a new motor.

Are Somfy motors worth it?

For tall windows nobody can reach, a house with kids or pets, or anyone who wants the shades on a schedule, yes. One RTS remote runs several shades and awnings, and TaHoma adds app and voice control to the same motors later without replacing them.

How well does the Somfy solar panel keep a shade charged?

The Li-ion Solar Panel charges a battery motor from sunlight, so the shade keeps running without anyone climbing up with a charger. Mount it where it sees the most direct sun through the glass; a north-facing window or one under a deep porch charges slower, and on short Montana winter days a south or west window is the place for it.