New Build, lot's of questions about Serena and Homekit!

I'm from the US, but I live in Japan and I'm considering getting some Serena shades for my new home which is scheduled to be build by August 2020. I have a lot of questions, so here it goes! First, I don't see any mention of Homekit or Siri on the Serena Shades homepage anymore. It still works and is supported, right? Second, how do you order these? There used to be an online configuration, but I haven't looked in a a few years. It seems to be gone now. Do you go to a local DIY store like Home Depot or Lowes? Can they actually configure and order them there? (I'll be home for Christmas, so I could possibly do that!) Third, I need a bridge to use Homekit, right? Is it just one bridge for the whole house? I'll probably have a few shades spread around the first and second floors. Fourth, how does everyone like their shades? They are pretty good? Any good recommendations on configurations? Thank you!!!

www.serenashades.com has the design page. Lowes and HomeDepot are going to use the same page to design/order Serena products.

Even if you only have a couple of shades, I recommend you add them to a Caseta system. The control and programming options are worth the price of a bridge. Caseta is, of course, HomeKit compatible.

A bridge is required for HomeKit, remote access, and scheduling. Manual programming is somewhat complicated. I would not do a system without a bridge, unless it was 1 or 2 devices.

A bridge now can control 75 devices. If you go beyond that, you could add a 2nd Caseta bridge but they will not talk to each other. You would need a 3rd party system to communicate between them.

Make sure you check the power requirements. I believe Caseta is currently only available in 120v versions. Japan uses different voltage and possibly 50hz. The shades are battery but can be hard-wired. Caseta is line voltage only.

My question for you is, "Do they have HomeDepot and Lowes in Japan?"

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Originally Posted by randyc

www.serenashades.com has the design page. Lowes and HomeDepot are going to use the same page to design/order Serena products. Even if you only have a couple of shades, I recommend you add them to a Caseta system. The control and programming options are worth the price of a bridge. Caseta is, of course, HomeKit compatible. A bridge is required for HomeKit, remote access, and scheduling. Manual programming is somewhat complicated. I would not do a system without a bridge, unless it was 1 or 2 devices. A bridge now can control 75 devices. If you go beyond that, you could add a 2nd Caseta bridge but they will not talk to each other. You would need a 3rd party system to communicate between them. Make sure you check the power requirements. I believe Caseta is currently only available in 120v versions. Japan uses different voltage and possibly 50hz. The shades are battery but can be hard-wired. Caseta is line voltage only. My question for you is, "Do they have HomeDepot and Lowes in Japan?"

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Thanks for the great info! That really helps and I appreciate it! No, we don't have Home Depot or Lowes here... We have tons of similar stores (Kharma, Cainz, Ayaha Dio, Komeri) but nothing compares to the kinds of stores you find in the US. Komeri Pro comes close though... Anyways, I'm headed back to Michigan for Christmas and I plan to visit all of the big home stores while I'm there. Voltage is 100v and since I live in Kansai, 60hz. I don't think running the shades will be an issue. The Caseta hub just plugs into the wall? It doesn't need to be hard wired in? Thanks again!

The Caseta bridge plugs into the wall and also requires a ethernet cable connection from the bridge to the router. Caséta Wireless is currently available in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ecuador, Panama, and the Dominican Republic. Meaning the app is only available in those countries as well and the app is required to setup the system. There would be no guarantee for the system to work in Japan. I also think Japan uses a different RF frequency 312.3-314.8 MHz and the Caseta System uses 431.0 MHz to 437 MHz. This would be a discrepancy in the frequency allowed for that country. The Caseta System has also not been tested on the power system of 100v in Japan as well.