A-OK AM43 Blinds Drive

[roblom]

A while ago I found someone that had successfully added a control (Bluetooth) of the A-OK AM43 Blinds Drive and shared a link to a script. So I bought one bought one which has arrived. I installed it and works great. But now I can't find the link to the script anymore so hopefully the person who has it reads this or maybe someone else knows more about it.

[Marcello1970]

Here it is:

https://github.com/TheBazeman/A-OK-AM43-Blinds-Drive

[roblom]

Thanks. Do you also use it?

[Marcello1970]

I planning to use the script, first I have find some time to install the blind drives

[jon205]

And, how did it work out? Have ordered one for testing. Had to have a custom chainwheel 3d printed, but now it's working fine. So I ordered 4 more and only then I found this topic. So I'm very curious about your experiences.

[jon205]

Is anyone using this?

When I do a CheckStatus, this returns:

Code: Select all

{ "Blinds1": [ { "battery": 87, "light": 0.0, "macaddr": "02:xx:80:xx:b1:xx", "position": 255 } ], "status": "OK" } 

To me this looks like there's communication, but I cannot control the blinds. And position is always 255, no matter if it's opened or closed.

Any one any idea?

[jon205]

Not much activity on this subject...

Code: Select all

Dec 27 12:43:20 Bluetoothbridge python3[860]:  * Serving Flask app "AOK-AM43" (lazy loading)
Dec 27 12:43:20 Bluetoothbridge python3[860]:  * Environment: production
Dec 27 12:43:20 Bluetoothbridge python3[860]:    WARNING: This is a development server. Do not use it in a production deployment.
Dec 27 12:43:20 Bluetoothbridge python3[860]:    Use a production WSGI server instead.
Dec 27 12:43:20 Bluetoothbridge python3[860]:  * Debug mode: off
Dec 27 12:43:20 Bluetoothbridge python3[860]:  * Running on http://0.0.0.0:5000/ (Press CTRL+C to quit)
Dec 27 12:43:28 Bluetoothbridge python3[860]: 27-12-2020 12:43:28 Connecting to 02:xx:A1:xx:28:xx, Blinds1...
Dec 27 12:43:28 Bluetoothbridge python3[860]: 27-12-2020 12:43:28 --> Connected to 02:xx:A1:xx:28:xx, Blinds1
Dec 27 12:43:28 Bluetoothbridge python3[860]: 27-12-2020 12:43:28 ----> Writing Open to Blinds1 was succesfull!

This implies a succesfull command, but nothing is happening. Anyone recognizes this behaviour?

[roblom]

It worked for me a while but the device itself is very buggy. It often needs some kind of reset because it doesn't react anymore (also not on the physical buttons). Recently again and even after a reset I cant get a connection trough bluetooth anymore. It sends out a ssid but even the app gives connection timeout.
Before the above it worked and I was able to open and close by using the open and close command.

[jon205]

Thanks Roblon. That doesn’t sound very promising.
I’m planning to install 5 of them, 3 are already in and 2 underway. But indeed the device itself seems to be unreliable. It disappears from the app on the phone too.
I was looking for a way to get full functionality in Domoticz, all sensor values and control.

Oh well, it’ll be better then having to open and close them manually... at least, that was what I hoped.

And I hoped that during the day the solar panel would charge the battery, but that doesn’t seem to happen. Am I right?

[roblom]

Although the solar panel is working because I can measure some voltage on the connector, mine doesn't charge the battery. And also the light sensor doesn't work.
A few days after I received it out stopped working completely. I got in contact with the seller and got a full refund. But when I opened it, disconnected the battery and reconnected it again, it started working. But this needs to be done again after a while.
So it seems it's not the best hardware, I'm looking for another brands and see if that will work.

[jon205]

Too bad I ordered 5 of them and a long range bluetooth adapter...
Even if I have to push the buttons to operate them, at least my wife will be happy.
I''ll give it a go anyway.

Thanks for the info.

Jon.