How Long Does It Take to Charge an Electric Blind Motor?
The daunting cost of installing wiring for electric blinds can lead a lot of people down the route of battery-powered motors. These motors are a great retrofit solution as they are:
- Easy to install – no wiring needed
- Can be controlled via remote or smart home system
- Tend to be cheaper than a mains powered motor
However, battery motors have a drawback – and that is that they need to be charged.
Battery-powered blinds need to be charged every few months, so nearby access to a standard household plug socket or extension lead is beneficial. This also means you’ll need to occasionally access your blinds, so if they’re high up or concealed, this could be inconvenient.
But how long does it take to charge a battery motor? And how long will the charge last?
The time it takes to charge a battery motor will vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, and motor to motor. However, most manufacturers will be able to give you an estimate.
Here’s the charge time for some of Umbra’s most popular battery motors.
Somfy Oximo WF
The Oximo WF motor is one we use regularly with our KuroLok RL system. This motor has a torque of 10Nm making it perfect for use with the large and highly tensioned skylight blinds we offer.
The Oximo WF motors come with a solar panel and a mains-powered charger. The benefit of this is that the solar panel, if placed in direct sunlight or a south-facing elevation, will trickle charge the motor. This means it will be constantly providing a small amount of power to the motor, usually enough to keep it running for a few months with normal use.
However, sometimes there might be long periods with no sun (e.g. winter) where the solar panel hasn’t got enough energy to power the motor. This is where the mains charger comes in.
Just like a standard battery motor, the mains charger is plugged into a mains power source and connected to the external battery pack, and can charge it that way.
According to Somfy, it takes approximately 3.5 hours to fully charge the Oximo motor battery. This full charge will last around 6 months before it needs charging again. So there shouldn’t be any need to charge the motor manually more than twice a year.
For technical details on the Somfy Oximo WF motor, click here.
Somfy Sonesse 28/30 RTS WF
The Somfy Sonesse 28 and 30 WF motors are very popular in domestic properties where wiring to a window isn’t there or isn’t possible to add.
These motors have a torque of 1.5Nm and 2Nm respectively, so they are only suitable for free-hanging roller blinds such as Sirios and Helios, or on standard KuroLok blinds (not skylight blinds!).
The Sonesse WF motors don’t come with a solar panel as standard like the Oximo motor does, so the batteries are normally charged using mains power. An optional solar panel is available for this motor, but it doesn’t come as standard with the motor.
According to Somfy, it takes between 4 and 5 hours to fully charge the battery. This charge should then last around 9 months before it needs recharging, with standard use.
This means you may only need to charge the motor once a year, which is great if it’s a little fiddly to access. At Umbra, we supply a small extension lead that stays plugged into the charging port on the motor head which makes access and charging much easier.
For blinds with a cassette or fascia that might make charging even more difficult, we suggest adding a cable exit for the extension lead. For more information on this check out our Standard Specification guide.
For more information on the Sonesse 28 WF motor, click here.
For more information on the Sonesse 30 WF motor, click here.
Vestamatic IO-AIR
The Vestamatic IO-AIR battery motor has a torque of only 0.9Nm, meaning it’s only suitable for small to medium blinds (approximately 5m squared). It’s a very short motor which means it can be used on very narrow blinds where other motors wouldn’t fit. Our minimum blind size when using this motor is 300mm.
The unique thing about the Vestamatic IO-AIR motor is that the charging port is a Micro-USB port. This means it can be charged with most phone chargers.
The IO-AIR motor, according to Vestamatic, takes up to 6 hours to charge fully. Vestamatic don’t give any indication of how long the charge will last, though in our experience they last around half the time of a Somfy WF motor, so approximately 4.5 months.
For more information on this motor, click here.
Nice ERA INN Edge S LI-ION
The Nice Edge S LI-ION battery-powered motor has some of the most featured of any battery motor on the market.
Not only is this motor quiet, and benefitting from 2Nm of torque, but it’s also the only battery blind motor on the market with perfect hembar alignment. Most motors will travel at slightly different speeds meaning they won’t be aligned, but this motor from Nice can be speed regulated so that every motor travels at the exact same speed. This means all the blinds will be aligned which is much more aesthetically pleasing.
The Nice Edge S LI-ION motor also has app control, touch control go-to positioning and LED’s that display the charge level so you know when it needs recharging.
When Umbra supply this motor, we also add in a handy magnetic charger attachment as standard that makes it super simple to connect the USB-C charger to the charging port.
The Nice battery motor is one of the quickest we offer to charge fully, taking just 1.5 hours at a time. Nice also state that the charge will last approximately 12 months (based on one open/close cycle a day) so you’ll rarely have to charge the battery.
To find out more about this motor, click here.
Still not sure if a battery motor is right for you? Check out these other blog posts:
Why Are Battery Powered Blinds and Curtains so Expensive?
When Not to Use a Battery Powered Motor
What Motors Can You Use on A Curtain Track?
If you want to discuss your requirements with a member of our sales team, get in touch! We have knowledge of motors from many different suppliers and can suggest the best product to meet your needs.