What Velux roof window for controlling with Google Home?

[Scam]

As part of our renovations we'll be knocking down a wall in the kitchen and completely re-fitting it. As part of this we'll be getting a velux roof window (I believe that is the actual term, I basically mean a velux that opens and has a blind on). The kitchen/garden is south facing, and gets the sun all day hence I believe it would be well worth getting one that opens and has blinds.

We have Google Homes everywhere and it seems you can get Velux's that you can control by smart assistants. Does anyone have one? The girlfriend (obviously) is dead set against anything "smart" and just wants a pole to open/close it rolleyes: ) but I really like the idea of being able to open/close the blind and window via Google Home. Especially when you have your hands full in the kitchen.

Anyone done this? Do any of the implementations of this work well? If it's a software/app nightmare and they cost way more then I'd probably ditch the idea... Just curious.

 

[rG-tom]

following, as it'd be particularly helpful to integrate with either moisture sensors or just the weather, closing the windows if it starts raining, and similarly opening them if it's getting too hot.

my house has about 6 old-school manual velux windows, that'd i'd like to upgrade...

 

[Semple]

As part of our renovations we'll be knocking down a wall in the kitchen and completely re-fitting it. As part of this we'll be getting a velux roof window (I believe that is the actual term, I basically mean a velux that opens and has a blind on). The kitchen/garden is south facing, and gets the sun all day hence I believe it would be well worth getting one that opens and has blinds.

We have Google Homes everywhere and it seems you can get Velux's that you can control by smart assistants. Does anyone have one? The girlfriend (obviously) is dead set against anything "smart" and just wants a pole to open/close it rolleyes: ) but I really like the idea of being able to open/close the blind and window via Google Home. Especially when you have your hands full in the kitchen.

Anyone done this? Do any of the implementations of this work well? If it's a software/app nightmare and they cost way more then I'd probably ditch the idea... Just curious.

I recall someone posting about these in this sub-forum in the last few weeks. (James Peach springs to mind). I had a look as they sounded cool (despite not needing one) and was quite surprised by the cost. I vaguely remember it being about twice the price of a normal velux window. - due to the integrated motor that does the opening/closing. I think the panels also had an embedded rain sensor so that it would auto-close if it started raining.

Either way, very cool if you don't mind paying the premium for it.

Found the thread: https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/t...g-ancient-velux-into-electric-velux.18930353/

Actually doesn't seem like it was quite twice the price, but still a good deal more expensive. I'd say well worth it though.

 

[Martynt74]

I don't think it's controllable with Google though.

We have an electric blind on ours and it just uses a remote to control it. We only have it in the en-suite as we open/close it each night and it was ~£200 vs the £30 for manual blinds, but it's a lot better and in time the plan was to convert the other windows too.

I suppose to make it smart you could combine it with a Logitech Harmony hub with an IR blaster.

 

[GinG]

If you are going to have blinds fitted is this not missing the whole point of having the windows fitted in the first place to let in more light?

With it been South facing you will get the sun all day...would it be best to just have a solid roof which is well insulated and just have nice big windows/bi-folds fitted?

 

[a1ex2001]

Anything electric in the velux range is eye wateringly expensive compared to the big standard stuff. We have a massive velux in our loft that is south facing and have found the biggest difference in stopping it cooking the place in the summer is an external awning blind which massively reduces the heat gain and softens the light nicely!

 

[LuckyBenski]

If you are going to have blinds fitted is this not missing the whole point of having the windows fitted in the first place to let in more light?

With it been South facing you will get the sun all day...would it be best to just have a solid roof which is well insulated and just have nice big windows/bi-folds fitted?

This is really confusing... Are you saying that curtains and blinds shouldn't exist?

Most people like to close blinds when the sunlight is dazzling or it's causing the room to heat up. Then at other times they want daylight as it's cheaper and nicer than light bulbs...

 

[Nutty_Death]

I don't think it's controllable with Google though.

We have an electric blind on ours and it just uses a remote to control it. We only have it in the en-suite as we open/close it each night and it was ~£200 vs the £30 for manual blinds, but it's a lot better and in time the plan was to convert the other windows too.

I suppose to make it smart you could combine it with a Logitech Harmony hub with an IR blaster.

No they aren't compatible with Google home.
I have several which to be honest I don't need to control that much as you set what temperature they should air at and they open if the air needs freshening anyway.

 

[Richie]

You should install the Google smoke alarm as well then setup a routine that opens the velux if the alarm sounds so smoke is vented if there is a fire

 

[LuckyBenski]

You should install the Google smoke alarm as well then setup a routine that opens the velux if the alarm sounds so smoke is vented if there is a fire

Maybe for smoke. If there's a real fire you shouldn't open windows though.

 

[Scam]

Found the thread: https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/t...g-ancient-velux-into-electric-velux.18930353/

Actually doesn't seem like it was quite twice the price, but still a good deal more expensive. I'd say well worth it though.

Thanks for that. I honestly haven't had time to research but it seems the electric velux's can be controlled via Velux Active?

I suppose to make it smart you could combine it with a Logitech Harmony hub with an IR blaster.

I have a Harmony in the lounge, which works nicely with my Google Homes ("hey Google turn on the TV"). Good for fun, but not really necessary!

If you are going to have blinds fitted is this not missing the whole point of having the windows fitted in the first place to let in more light?

With it been South facing you will get the sun all day...would it be best to just have a solid roof which is well insulated and just have nice big windows/bi-folds fitted?

I'd rather have the option of shutting the blinds on the 3-4 days per year when the UK gets over 26deg I can't imagine you'd need to shut the blinds much at all, I'm just thinking it might be nice to have on those rare heatwave days. Dunno

Do those people with velux windows in their kitchen extension ever open them or feel the need for blinds? Open question..

 

[the-evaluator]

Do those people with velux windows in their kitchen extension ever open them or feel the need for blinds? Open question..

We've got 3 Velux windows in our east facing kitchen extension and we open them quite often. When the weather is nice or if we're cooking certain things then they'll be opened. We don't have electric opening ones, I kinda wish we had gone for them.

No blinds on ours, they're not necessary for us.

 

[chroniclard]

South facing extension with 3 velux windows, barely ever open them and dont have/need blinds. Though this may be because we have biggish sliding doors we open all the time and

 

[Scam]

No they aren't compatible with Google home.

Bit of a thread bump here. Are you sure? Velux Active apparently works with Google Home..

We've had our Velux delivered and it's massive It's the UK04, our kitchen side-return area is about 2.9m wide so it'll take up a fair proportion of the sloped roof. As mentioned above it's south facing, very warm in this weather although cools down with the door open etc. I'm very tempted for an electric blind but not sure we can stomach the outlay right now in comparison to a manual blind.

Do those with south facing Velux's close the blind much? Do the rooms really get hot?

 

[Derek W]

A South facing window will always have the largest solar gains but if you stick a window in the roof they'll get additional gains earlier in the morning and later on into the evening so I would suspect if it's warm now prepare for it to get hotter later on and when that's combined with the heat from your cooking it could get quite unpleasant