Window Treatments

A lithium battery lives inside the tube, or in a slim wand hidden behind the fascia. You charge it with a USB cable two or three times a year, depending on how often the shade moves and how heavy the fabric is. It is the cleanest way to motorize a finished home: no electrician, no wall opening, no patching or repainting. We can also add a small solar panel on the glass so the battery tops itself up and you never think about charging again.

The motor is wired directly to the home's standard electrical current, through an outlet or a junction box the electrician leaves above the window before drywall. Once it is in, it simply never stops working — no batteries, no charging, no maintenance. This is the strongest option, with the most torque, so it is what we use on very wide, very tall or very heavy shades, and on any shade in a hard-to-reach place.

Low voltage motors run on a safe DC current — usually 12V, 24V or a DC line pulled in low voltage cable — fed either by an individual transformer or by a central power supply that serves many shades at once. It is the standard for larger homes with an integrator on board: fewer transformers, cleaner head-of-window details, and a single point to service. It also plays best with Control4, Crestron and Savant systems, and with wired keypads.