Automate the start and end to your day
The Aqara Smart Curtain Driver E1 has just gone live; offering a kind of smart home automation you may not have considered before. It is a little box that opens and closes most styles of curtains.
A motorized wheel at its top pushes its way across your curtain rail, or rod, taking the curtains with it.
There are no major requirements for the curtain setup itself, and Aqara makes separate models of Curtain Driver E1 for track and pole designs.
The main unit houses a rechargeable 6000mAh battery. Aqara claims it will last up to a year, based on opening and closing your curtains once a day.
It can be controlled using IFTTT, Siri, Alexa or Google Assistant, or using the Aqara app; but you will need a Zigbee 3.0 hub to operate it. This is not bundled with the Curtain Driver E1.
More specifically, you’ll need an Aqara hub such as the $30 Aqara Hub E1 or the flagship Aqara G3, which is both a smart home hub and a smart security camera in one package.
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As you’d hope, two Curtain Driver E1 units can be paired to simultaneously open a pair of curtains, and there are three speed levels. Aqara suggests you might want to use the slower one to reduce noise.
Rivals and potential problems
Its closest rival is the recent SwitchBot Curtain, which attracted some criticism for its noisy operation. However, it does not need a Zigbee hub as it runs over Bluetooth.
There are some caveats to consider before you order an Aqara Smart Curtain Driver E1, though.
The rail model requires a flat surface on the bottom of the rail itself, as this is where the wheel sits. The other version supports curtain rods with a maximum 32mm diameter. And the maximum load is 12kg.
You may also want to consider how a Aqara Curtain Driver E1 will look if you have sheer curtains, rather than ones with an opaque backing. The body of the unit extends a way below the rail or rod itself. Still, we find this is the sort of thing you notice for a week, and then forget entirely.
The pole version of the Aqara Curtain Motor E1 costs $99.99 / £99.99, the track version $89.99 / £89.99. That gets you a single unit, so double those costs for a curtain pair.
A couple of years back we published our comprehensive Aqara smart home review; so make sure you take a read of that for more information and details of exactly what’s on offer from the Chinese smart home ecosystem.