Get to grips with your TaHoma switch and unlock these game-changing features.
The Somfy TaHoma has long been an established choice for smart home integration control; since the launch of the first-generation device years back, Somfy has shown how easily you can control various automated home systems from one central hub.
Since its launch in 2022, the second-generation Somfy TaHoma has quickly established itself as an even more user-friendly choice for wireless smart home integration control, with major improvements on the original device.
The second-gen unit offers a wider array of compatibility with third-party control systems, it has an updated, compact design and works brilliantly with the much-improved Somfy TaHoma apps. We’ve listed 6 must-know features of the new TaHoma below:
1: TaHoma is your mate for automation.
The Somfy TaHoma is designed to be a powerful, user-friendly solution for home automation. The device itself acts as a hub for automated heating & cooling, lighting, security and, of course, shading.
In conjunction with the TaHoma and TaHoma Pro apps, you can schedule home automation processes to occur with an almost unlimited number of parameters.
Put simply, if you want your blinds to open 15 minutes past dawn in your specific location, TaHoma can make it happen. Do you want to turn the heating off 1 hour before bedtime? TaHoma can do that. Would you like to close the blinds, lock the front door and set the lounge lights to 25% brightness whilst also playing your favourite chillout music on your Sonos speakers, all with a simple voice command? You guessed it: TaHoma.
Whilst it is usually possible to manage these functions in their respective apps, TaHoma acts as a central automation management hub, simplifying all these processes in one easy-to-use app.
2: App-solutely Brilliant.
Somfy launched the original TaHoma in 2017, and the original TaHoma app was released alongside. Reviews of the app were mixed, with some users finding it frustrating and counterintuitive to use. The new TaHoma app however is worlds away from the original.
A new design layout features a smart colour scheme and a massive range of customisation options and fresh icons.
But it’s not all about looks with the new app; the new TaHoma system allows for precise shade positioning on a sliding scale (from 0-100%), smart scheduling options for opening and closing blinds and curtains and easy integration with smart sensors, allowing you to control your shades with real-world prompts such as daylight levels or weather conditions. In fact, you can control up to 120 IO-enabled devices, and up to 40 RTS devices with TaHoma and create up to 40 scenes within the app.
What’s more, the app offers lots of control options for heating, cooling, audio and visual equipment, security and practically every aspect of smart-home technology. Zigbee, RTS and IO protocols are covered with the new TaHoma, allowing connection to giant brands such as Philips Hue and Sonos.
3: Keep it simple… or go pro.
Whether you’re a DIY smart home enthusiast or a home automation wizard building a futureproof palace from scratch, TaHoma is the perfect solution for those looking to wirelessly control their home.
TaHoma comes in two shapes and sizes: the compact, user-friendly TaHoma switch, and the more integrated TaHoma DIN-rail version. In terms of functionality, the two are identical. However, as the name suggests, the DIN-rail version is designed to be installed on a DIN-rail; something more commonly seen in building control cupboards among other building control devices. TaHoma integrates seamlessly with control systems such as Lutron RA2, Creston Home and Control4.
Whether you’re looking to control your Evolve® roller blinds and a few Philips Hue light bulbs, or you’re designing a fully automated house of your dreams, TaHoma has you covered.
4: “Hey Google, activate night mode”.
We don’t need to tell you about smart speakers: they’re in over 50% of UK homes and have become the main gateway for home automation.
The Somfy TaHoma is no exception when it comes to voice activation. Voice control allows you to launch scenarios and control a specific device or group of devices using trigger words you’ve set up in the app. This is a great feature for assisted living situations, or simply because it’s cool to feel like you’re in Star Trek by being able to open and close the blinds with voice commands.
You can even use voice activation to set the blinds to an exact position as a percentage. For example, by saying “OK Google, close the blinds to 60%”, you can close the blinds to the exact level to block out the sun’s glare whilst allowing some light in. Launch scenarios with your smart speaker to make automation even more simple. You could, for example, say “Okay Google, I’m leaving the house” to close the blinds. turn on the lamps and activate the alarm system, all through TaHoma.
5: Ethernet free = freedom!
The first gen TaHoma switch required an ethernet connection in order to work. This is quite restrictive as it usually meant that you had to place it near the home wireless router, which can often be already cluttered with various other devices.
The new TaHoma, however, works via Wi-Fi, meaning you can more easily place it in any part of your home covered by a Wi-Fi signal. This means you can more easily position it at the entrance of your home allowing you to change ‘scenes’ as soon as you walk in. This brings us to point 6…
6: A Quick Change of Scenery
As much as we’re fans of tablets and cool touchscreen tech here at Umbra, we’re romantics for physical controls and real-life buttons and switches. App controls are brilliant, especially in TaHoma’s case, but we can’t help but admire the user-friendliness of being able to change pre-set scenarios at the touch of a button without having to load up an app or fiddle with a rain-splattered phone screen with wet hands. With the robust rubber buttons on the top of the unit, you can quickly activate a pre-set scenario and change specific settings for lighting, heating and, of course, shading with just one touch.
This is perfect for those days when you find yourself bumbling through the front door, hands full of shopping, rushing to get in from the weather outside.
Bonus point: The Price
Okay, we admit, the price of the unit is hardly a ‘feature’ in the strictest terms of what the TaHoma can do, but it’s something that’s just too good not to mention. In 2017 the first-gen TaHoma would set you back £299. You can pick up the new improved TaHoma for just £179. Most of the time, you can expect the second-gen version of a smart home device to be even more expensive than the first, often with minimal improvements. The new TaHoma bucks this trend by being more compact, more versatile, more capable and cheaper than its predecessor: an improvement in every sense of the word.
We could go on for a long time about the features of TaHoma that we haven’t touched on here. Click the link here to see more about TaHoma and its features.