SwitchBot 2 Cornice Overview

Price under consideration

$99.00

Best Prices Today: SwitchBot 2 Cornice

Want to control your shades from your smartphone or remote control, but don’t want to install a brand new motorized curtain rod that requires a mains connection or an outlet connection?

Well, now you can upgrade your existing curtains with the Switchbot Curtain Rod 2, a smart contraption that connects to your phone via Bluetooth and closes or opens your curtains with the touch of a button, or with a voice command if you want to connect. him into the wider Switchbot universe. This is an update to the eaves with a streamlined design and fixes some issues with the original.

Design and appearance

• Motor block 11cm/4″ x 4-5cm/2″ x 4-5cm/2″
• Weighs 135 g (0.3 lb)
• maximum runway 3 m (9.8 ft)

In the box you will find a white plastic block with a motor and two clips that attach to the curtain rod. Hang the device between the first and second ring, eyelet or tab on the curtain, and the device will move along the rod, pulling the rest of the curtain behind it.

Alex Greenwood / Foundry

It’s ingenious: a stunning piece of ingenious engineering.

The motor unit itself is somewhat diamond-shaped, 11 cm long and approximately 4-5 cm wide and deep. The clips that attach to your curtain rod come out of the top of the unit and it hangs down with the logo facing the room. It’s not a pretty device, but it’s unobtrusive.

At 135 g (0.3 lb) it is quite light but can pull up to 8 kg (17 lb) of curtain on a runway with a maximum length of 3 m (9.8 ft). He does this by turning three rollers, two at the top of the clamps and one at the top of the device, so that the device moves along the eaves. Think of logs of trees rolling down a hillside in Canada and you realize that that hill alone is your cornice.

Tune

• Only for curtain rods from 15 to 40 mm / 0.59-1.57 inches
• Bluetooth connection with app
• UBC charging

The box contains a motor block, a pair of clips (one of which is mounted on the motor block), a type-C cable, a bead retainer, several curtain clips, and a metal accessory to attach to the joint between the outer and inner curtain rods if you used a telescopic curtain rod. for curtains to match your windows.

The first thing to do is read the manual, basically to find out if you have curtains with a ring, eyelet, tongue or back, and double check that your curtain rod is between 15mm and 40mm in diameter.

Then charge the motorized unit with a type-C cable. We found this a little tricky because the lights didn’t light up when the device was plugged in, and later we found that you can only see the battery status in the app. The device is already charged out of the box, so it does not light up. But at first we thought something was wrong with our power adapter.

Then download the Switchbot app (there is a QR code in the manual to find the right one), register an account, and add the Switchbot curtain to the app. Keep in mind that the Switchbot app is huge and will take up a lot of space on your phone.

It’s time to install the device on the ledge. The hook clamps are stretchable, but it can be a little uncomfortable. The app guides you through the calibration process: the motor unit moves left and right and you tell the app where it needs to stop to close or open the shade, then adjust the settings.

It’s pretty simple.

Performance

• Two rods are needed for a pair of curtains
• Eyelet curtains need a lot of extra fabric to close completely.
• Accessory for telescopic curtain rod

If you want to retrofit a pair of curtains that converge in the middle of a window, you will need two curtain rods, one for the left curtain and one for the right.

We first tested it on a pair of eyelet curtains.

Because of the way curtain track 2 works, you need to install a grommeted curtain rail retainer. This is a piece of beads that runs from eyelet to eyelet at the top of your curtain and is attached to said eyelets with clear clips so that when rod 2 moves along the cornice it does not pull the curtain behind it to the edge. the point where subsequent grommets start looking towards the room instead of towards the middle of the rack.

If the grommets are extended so that they face the room, the tension between them and the rod stops the movement of the curtain along the rod – it’s like trying to move a Polo mint sideways along a pipe brush.

We tried the Rod 2 on curtains without grommets and found that it could only pull the curtain two-thirds across the window before the tension between the side grommets and the rod towards the back of the curtain became too much.

So, we installed the beads. This is an ingenious solution to the problem. The only problem is that you need your curtain to be wide enough to accommodate the 8cm bead length between the eyelet clips because these beads narrow the width of the curtain which can span the pole from one eyelet to the other and also have enough spare width for the curtain. actually close the window.

In short, we have calculated that you will need approximately twice the width of your window curtain: that is, 40 cm of the actual curtain for every 20 cm of the length of the cornice.

We just didn’t have that much fabric for our curtains, so although the Rod 2 worked with the webbing installed, the result was that our fairly deep pleated curtain only covered about 2/3 of the actual size. window. The solution, of course, was that we needed wider curtains.

You also can’t change the bead length between each eyelet clip, so you really need that amount of fabric.

We then tried Rod 2 on a pair of ring curtains. You place Rod 2 between the first and second curtain ring and then calibrate through the app. It worked great.

Alex Greenwood / Foundry

Unfortunately, we didn’t have either a top or rear overhang curtain to test the Rod 2, so we can’t speak to the performance of these types of curtain hardware.

If you have a telescoping rod, rod 2 can have a hard time crossing the junction between the outer and inner retractable rail. If this is a problem, Switchbot includes an accessory to solve the problem. This is a kind of metal comb, a bit like a metal comb with large teeth. This works well, although it can look a little messy if you don’t glue it carefully.

Charging and battery life

• charging time 6.5 hours
• 8 months battery life
• Compatible solar panel available

A full charge of the Rod 2’s battery takes six and a half hours, and Switchbot says it should last eight months on a single charge. You simply remove the Rod 2, charge it with the included USB cable, and set it in place. As we said earlier, you can only check the battery status in the app; there is no indicator on the block itself.

However, Switchbot makes a solar panel for the Rod 2 that fits into the back of the device; this panel is not included with the Rod 2 and you need to buy it as an optional accessory (US $19; UK £25).

The panel has a plug that plugs into the motor unit’s USB slot and two small protrusions that attach to the back of the unit at the top. We were able to install it with the Rod 2 already mounted on the ledge, although it was a little inconvenient. If your Rod 2 is not in the sun, you can use the included velcro mount that allows you to mount the solar panel below the shade.

Application management

• Connects via Bluetooth
• Hub Mini is required for Wi-Fi connectivity and voice commands
• Remote control available separately

This is where the Rod 2 really shines. The app allows you not only to open and close the curtains in any position on the pole you want, you can also set them to open or close at a specific time or according to a specific light level.

The latter is made possible by the light sensor in the Rod 2, but keep in mind that we close our shades when the light falls below a certain level, only to find that the ensuing downpour, and the accompanying thick black clouds, meant that our curtains suddenly closed at 2pm.

You can also set the curtains to a timer to open or close after that many minutes or hours.

Alex Greenwood / Foundry

There is also a Touch-and-Go mode. You simply pull or push the shade along the rod and Rod 2 works to close or open the shade completely.

If you need a remote for your Rod 2, you can use the Switchbot Remote (US, $19; UK, £19.99). All it takes is just adding the remote to the Switchbot app and setting the remote’s buttons to close or close windows.

If you want to use voice control or set up more sophisticated Wi-Fi-enabled smart home systems, you’ll need to buy the Switchbot Hub Mini (US, $39; UK, £35), which lets you control the Rod 2 with Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri, SmartThings or Clova.

It’s also how to connect all kinds of Switchbot gizmos together: Meter Plus (a temperature and humidity meter), a contact sensor, Switchbot Bot (a thing that presses buttons), a smart humidifier, smart bulbs, and more. You can view all devices on the US or UK Switchbot website.

You can, for example, create a scene in which the Hub will automatically close the curtains, turn on the coffee machine, switch the light to warm white, and start the humidifier, all as you walk through a door equipped with a Switchbot contact. sensor.

Price and availability

Curtain Rod 2 is the latest Switchbot for smart curtain rod retrofits. Its MSRP is $99 in the US and £85 in the UK. Don’t forget that you will need two for a set of curtains. It can be purchased directly from Switchbot, but you can get a better price if you shop around.

Verdict

The Switchbot Curtain Rod 2 is an inventive and creative way to make your everyday curtains smart. Okay, it’s a bit pricey and costs can go up if you want to use all of its features.

If you have double curtains, you will need two units. If you want to use solar charging, you will need to buy solar panels separately. To connect to Alexa or Google Assistant, you’ll need the Hub Mini. However, it is one of the few products on the market that allows you to mechanize your existing curtains without having to install a new and more expensive rod.

And it works if your curtains are wide enough if you need to use a bead retainer. But if you have a lot of curtains, this is a great and fun product.