Reliability of Wired vs Wireless Motors
When we talk about wired and wireless motors, this can mean two things – the way they’re powered or the way they’re controlled.
Wired power means that the motor needs to be constantly plugged into a power source to operate, whereas wireless power usually means a battery motor that only needs to be plugged in occasionally to charge.
Wired control means that the motor is physically connected to a switch or BMS (building management system) that controls the blind, directly or through a motor relay. Wireless control refers to a wireless wall switch or handheld remote that can operate the blind without being physically connected to it, usually using a radio signal.
There are advantages and disadvantages of both these motor types which we’ve talked about before. Check out these previous articles discussing the pros and cons:
230v v 24v Motors: Which One Is Right for You?
When Not to Use a Battery-Powered Motor
The Expert Guide to Battery vs Mains Powered Roller Blinds
Today we’re specifically going to discuss the reliability of wired control versus wirelessly controlled motors.
The best comparison for these two motor types would be WiFi and Ethernet internet connections.
Comparison: WiFi vs Wired Internet
A wired connection using an ethernet cable will always be more reliable than a WiFi connection because it isn’t reliant on having a signal. WiFi signals can drop all the time and need to be reacquired. Whilst this might not be a huge deal if you’re just browsing the web, if you were relying on that signal to open your blinds in the morning or close them at night, and it wasn’t working, that could be massively inconvenient.
Also, WiFi signals are subject to a lot more interference than a wired connection. Walls between the WIFI router and the device, interference from other electrical devices, objects blocking the device etc can all cause interference with your WiFi signal and cause it to drop out. The same can be said about wireless radio signals used to control motors.
Radio-control blind motors use a wireless radio signal to send messages from the controller to the motor to tell it when to operate. Typically, this works well. However, radio signals lose some amount of reliability when you increase the distance and the number of objects between the controller and the motors.
For example, if you were to have radio-control blinds in your living room that you wanted to open, and you were standing in the kitchen with the remote, the distance, electrical devices between you and the blinds, plus the walls that might be in the way, can all cause that message from the controller to not reach the blind. The type of wall can have different impacts. Solid walls are more of a barrier than hollow, and if there’s metal in the way (e.g. foil-backed insulation) that will act as a radio block.
Sometimes a WiFi connection can become unstable when there are multiple devices using it at once. The more devices there are connected at one time, the higher chance there is that someone’s going to lose their connection, as the router can only transfer and manage a fixed amount of data per second. If that data is having to be shared between every user and device, it can slow down internet speeds significantly and sometimes stop working.
Connecting every one of these devices to an ethernet cable would reduce this, as they’re not having to go through the WiFi router to get their connection. Each device can connect directly to the source without needing a separate signal to transfer it.
In a similar way, radio signals become more unreliable when there are more devices sharing them. Most suppliers of radio-control motors recommend no more than around 8 motors connected to the same channel on a wireless controller. If you connect more motors than this, there’s a high chance that one or more of them won’t respond to the message from the controller as it will struggle to receive it.
However, there’s no definite limit on the number of wired motors that can be daisy-chained together and wired into the same switch or BMS. This is because, just like with an ethernet connection, there’s no wireless signal being transferred from the source to the device.
Why go wireless?
That’s not to say that there aren’t positives to a wireless connection of course. The big plus point of wireless is the ability to control your electric blinds without running wires, which saves on cost and makes it a good for retrofit, where running wires might not be an option.
Being able to operate your blinds from anywhere in the room is really convenient, and using a wireless smart home system such as Somfy’s TaHoma is probably going to be more cost-effective than a wired BMS system.
So what’s the conclusion? Radio control is generally very reliable (just like your WiFi is). However, it’s just that by its nature it can never be guaranteed in the same way a physical wired connection can be, even in ‘perfect conditions’.
There isn’t one option that’s necessarily better than the other. The best option is the one that best meets your needs, whether your concerns are reliability, easy of control or budget.
If you’re not sure what option is best for you, why not chat to us? We’re experts on automation and work with most major motor manufacturers so we can give you advice on the best motor for your needs.