Motorised blinds and curtains in Home Assistant

Let daylight do the wake-up call. Home Assistant can open your curtains at sunrise, tilt the blinds when a room gets hot, and dim the lights while the curtains close for a film. The first decision is wonderfully unglamorous: what is holding your curtains up, and what moves your blind slats?

Choose SwitchBot Blind Tilt for compatible horizontal blinds with a turning wand, SwitchBot Curtain 3 Rod for curtains on a matching rod, or Aqara Curtain Driver E1 Track for a Zigbee-controlled U-rail or I-rail. Curtain 3 U Rail is the no-tools Bluetooth alternative for a compatible U-rail. These are different fittings, not interchangeable versions of the same clip.

Research guide: specifications from the makers; setup from Home Assistant and ESPHome documentation.

Pick the motor that fits the window

Best for existing blinds: SwitchBot Blind Tilt. It turns the wand that changes the angle of horizontal slats. It doesn’t lift the whole blind. The selected single-unit offer includes a solar panel; the maker specifies a built-in rechargeable battery. SwitchBot’s Blind Tilt page describes the hardware.

Best curtains on a rod: SwitchBot Curtain 3 Rod. Choose the rod version when the curtain hangs from a compatible pole. Home Assistant controls it locally over Bluetooth, and the maker’s installation uses a clipped-on motor, positioning magnets and app setup. You keep the curtains and the rod.

Best track pick for a Zigbee setup: Aqara Curtain Driver E1 Track. This version supports compatible U-rails and I-rails. It uses Zigbee and has USB-C charging, making it the natural choice when your Home Assistant Zigbee network already reaches the window. Aqara shows the rail profiles and charging options.

Best no-tools U-rail retrofit over Bluetooth: SwitchBot Curtain 3 U Rail. Pick this fitting when you have a matching U-rail and prefer the same local Bluetooth route as Blind Tilt. The rod version is also a no-tools retrofit; the U-rail pick earns its place because the rail attachment is different. SwitchBot explains Curtain 3 installation and variants.

Product	What it moves	Local Home Assistant route	Power and solar
SwitchBot Blind Tilt	Slat angle on compatible horizontal wand-controlled blinds	SwitchBot Bluetooth	Rechargeable battery; solar panel included in selected offer
SwitchBot Curtain 3 Rod	Curtains on a compatible rod	SwitchBot Bluetooth	Battery-powered; optional Solar Panel 3 sold separately
SwitchBot Curtain 3 U Rail	Curtains on a compatible U-rail	SwitchBot Bluetooth	Battery-powered; optional Solar Panel 3 sold separately
Aqara Curtain Driver E1 Track	Curtains on compatible U-rails or I-rails	ZHA with a Zigbee coordinator	Rechargeable battery; USB-C charging

The parts lists show alternatives. You need the fitting for your window, not a collection of all four motors.

Measure your window: the tape-measure round

Blinds: measure the wand, not the slats

Blind Tilt is for horizontal blinds with a control pole. SwitchBot lists compatible wand diameters of 6.2–10.2mm, or 12mm. Measure the turning wand itself; slat width is a different measurement. The maker’s compatibility FAQ gives those sizes.

Turn the wand by hand before adding a motor. The slats should move freely. Blind Tilt automates that rotation, so choose a different mechanism if your job is raising a roller shade or pulling curtains sideways.

Curtains on a rod: measure diameter and the travel path

Measure the pole diameter and compare it with the rod-version diagram, then look at the curtain headings, rings and any joins along the pole. A diameter measurement alone doesn’t describe every obstacle the motor will meet. SwitchBot’s compatibility page separates rod, U-rail and I-rail fittings with diagrams.

Slide the curtain through its full travel by hand. Fix a snagging ring or awkward join first. You’re adding a motor to move fabric along the existing hardware, not replacing the rail with a stronger motor-shaped solution.

Tracks: look underneath

A U-rail has an opening underneath; an I-rail has a lower running surface. Match the actual profile and gliders, not just the name on an old receipt.

Aqara lists a U-rail bottom slot no wider than 8mm and excludes U-rail gliders without wheels. Its track manual calls for a flat, smooth I-rail underside wider than 10mm. Follow the rest of its installation diagrams for gliders and end stops too. The Aqara track manual shows where to measure.

Finally, count moving panels. A single-sided curtain needs one driver; a pair opening from the centre needs a driver for each side. Aqara illustrates both arrangements in the manual. Plan the pair before you automate only half the view.

Bluetooth or Zigbee: choose the route that reaches the window

SwitchBot’s Home Assistant Bluetooth integration is Local Push and does not require a SwitchBot Hub. You do need working Bluetooth coverage. Start with the host’s supported adapter, then test commands from the motor’s final position. Home Assistant’s SwitchBot integration covers discovery, calibration prerequisites and the supported motors.

If the adapter can’t reach, an ESPHome Bluetooth proxy can extend Home Assistant’s Bluetooth coverage. Motor commands need a proxy that supports active Bluetooth connections, rather than advertisement-only reception. ESPHome explains active proxy connections. Put the proxy where it can communicate with the motor, then test opening, stopping and closing from Home Assistant.

For Aqara E1 Track, use ZHA and a compatible Zigbee coordinator. Our Zigbee/Thread coordinator guide helps you choose the radio; ZHA’s setup guide covers adding devices. This is the direct Zigbee route, separate from Aqara’s own app-and-hub ecosystem.

Name each cover clearly after pairing. “Curtain left” and “Curtain right” are much easier to target than two identical default device names.

Mount, calibrate and make the controls behave

1. Charge the driver, mount the correct fitting and clear the curtain’s full travel path. For SwitchBot Curtain 3, follow the positioning-magnet installation too.
2. Complete SwitchBot’s app setup and travel calibration before using Home Assistant controls. For Aqara, the track manual includes button-based travel-limit setup without the Aqara Home app; use that procedure to set the closed and open endpoints.
3. Add SwitchBot through Settings → Devices & services with Bluetooth working. For Aqara, open ZHA, choose Add device, and follow the motor’s pairing instructions.
4. Test the individual cover’s opening, stop and closing controls while watching it. For a centre-opening pair, test each side separately before targeting both together.

Keep charging accessible after mounting. Blind Tilt includes its solar panel, while Curtain 3’s compatible panel is a separate accessory. Solar is an option for maintaining the battery, not a reason to hide the charging connection behind permanently fixed fabric.

Blind Tilt’s percentages deserve their own sticky note: Home Assistant documents 50% as fully open slats, 0% as closed down, and 100% as closed up. Use Set cover tilt position for this device. Ordinary curtain opening percentages describe a different movement. The SwitchBot cover documentation explains this mapping.

Three recipes to build tonight

1. Open at sunrise

In Settings → Automations & scenes, choose Create automation → Create new automation. Under When, choose Add trigger and select Sunrise from the Sun group. Leave the offset unset to use sunrise itself.

Under Then do, add Cover → Open cover and target your curtain motor or both motors in a pair. For Blind Tilt, use Cover → Set cover tilt position with Tilt position: 50 instead. Press Save, name the automation and save it.

Home Assistant’s Sunrise trigger guide shows the current UI. The schedule runs in Home Assistant; you don’t need a SwitchBot Hub just to use this sunrise automation.

2. Close when the room gets hot

Use a room sensor from the temperature-sensor guide. Place it where it represents the room, rather than directly in a sunbeam.

Create an automation with Numeric state crossed threshold as the trigger, selecting that temperature entity. As an example, use Above: 27 for a sensor reporting °C; choose a threshold in your own sensor’s displayed unit.

Add Cover → Close cover for curtains, or Set cover tilt position → 0 for Blind Tilt’s closed-down position. Save it. This rule reacts when temperature crosses into the hot range; if the room is already above the threshold when you set it up, run its actions once to close it now. The numeric-state trigger documentation explains threshold entry.

Leave reopening to your manual control or sunrise rule to start with. That keeps a small temperature wobble from turning into a curtain dance.

3. Movie mode: lights down, curtains across

Open Settings → Automations & scenes → Scenes and create a Movie scene. Add your curtain entities and choose their closed state; for Blind Tilt, set the closed-down tilt position. Add the existing lights you want dimmed and choose their brightness. Save the scene.

Activate it from the dashboard, or create a button automation whose action is Scene → Activate scene, targeting Movie. Make a separate Evening scene with the curtain positions and lighting you want afterward; activating Movie doesn’t automatically remember the previous room state. Home Assistant’s scene guide explains stored states and activation.

Our local lighting guide covers bulbs, wall controls and scene buttons if that side of movie mode needs a little work.

Give it the window test

Try each action from Home Assistant, then watch a full open-and-close cycle with the fabric in place. Check the centre gap on paired curtains, verify Blind Tilt’s open slat angle, and make sure stop does what you expect.

Run the three recipes deliberately: test the sunrise actions manually, check the temperature rule’s threshold logic, and activate Movie followed by Evening. Check battery reporting and try commands with the phone’s Bluetooth out of the picture, so you’re testing Home Assistant’s adapter or proxy route.

Bring the project back to the Home Assistant hub when you’re ready for the next useful automation.

The buy: Blind Tilt for wand-controlled slats; Curtain 3 Rod for compatible rod curtains; Aqara E1 Track for a Zigbee U/I-rail setup; Curtain 3 U Rail for a Bluetooth U-rail retrofit. Measure first, calibrate once, then let the window do its party trick.

For the buttons that still need a finger, the local SwitchBot Bot guide uses the same Bluetooth planning with an original Bot and an optional ESPHome proxy.