somfyUniversal RTS Interface II, 16-Channel (1810872)

Neat. This works for us. We have hardwired shades and drapes operated via Somfy motors and controlled via their remote controller. We decided to integrate with our Control4 system which then integrated with Alexa. The Control4 and Alexa integration is still very new and therefore quite rought, but it works well for the most part (Alexa will say it can't get the drapes or shades to respond, but then it will immediately start working right after Alexa says this). Anyway, I might buy the $10 replacement antenna someone else mentioned in the reviews and see if tha thelps (we have very high ceilings and this thing sits in an electronic closet) and see if that improves performance. But otherwise it was straightforward. Also, Somfy customer service were very helpful to our home automation installers -- who were not the same as our drapes/shades installers -- so they did not even know what model Somfy motors were used.

We cannot get it to work, even with help from the manufacturer, with our shades.

First of all, I seem to suffer from poor reception on all of my Somfy RTS motors, so take this review with a grain of salt, from a user who seems to have problems with the reliability of the entire product line. Maybe my office just has a lot of RF interference. I've fiddled with the antennas on the shades themselves to no avail.My basic setup is a 400sqft room with two Somfy RTS shades. I can control the shades with the Telis 4 remotes that came with them. I can control them with a somfy dry contact interface (which is basically a remote in a box with some wires soldered to the the buttons).I bought this very expensive interface for three reasons: 1) to control both shades from the same interface, 2) to control it via Ethernet with a GlobalCache iTach, and 3) in the hopes that this device with its external antenna would perform as good as, or even better than the dry contact interface with its dinky little PCB antenna.The device seems to utterly fail on requirement #3. I can set it right on top of the dry contact interface, and its signal cannot reach the RTS motors. It's ability to transmit appears to be significantly worse than the much cheaper and much smaller dry contact interface. I found this very surprising given the relative sizes of the antenna on this device compared to the dry contact interface. My only guess would be that the external antenna is there more for appearance than function, and degrades performance compared to the dry contact interface's PCB antenna. Maybe the engineers just got the design of the transmitter wrong.I've tried moving the device around the room and comparing it to the handheld remotes and observed the same behavior. Places where the handheld remotes work fine, this device experiences either intermittent reception or no reception at all.I'm going to try finding a somfy forum or emailing the manufacturer for some support. Maybe they can explain why I'm experiencing such poor overall reliability from the system as a whole and especially from this particular device.

Out of the box, the range is limited. I replaced the antenna with a larger one and the problem went away. Note that this is not recommended by the manufacturer.

This is a great unit and you have to take time to install everything properly as the timing is very important. Trust me! We are very happy with this purchase and will be buying for other rooms as well in the future.

Does the job, but I would love to see the range extended. 30' is not that good range

Worked great for integrating motorized awnings wih ELAN home automation system.

Integrater says this does not work. Have tried multiple accounts and occasions.