Bali Window Shade Control

[JeffL]

I have installed 3 Bali brand shades that connect to a generic ZWave hub. The shades operate properly with the Bail Android phone app and the Bali Remote control. The app has the function to add the shades to Google Home. When I add them they appear as named devices in Google Home but the status shows as offline. I have gone through the installation process twice but can't get the shades online in the Google Home app.  I have 2 Google Nest routers wired together as a mesh. I will appreciate any suggestions. Thanks.

[kpowell]

Jeff, did you find a solution? I am having the same issue.

[JeffL]

No. I was receiving some support from Bali, but didn't make any progress. I got frustrated and accepted defeat. The shades work well with the remote. The app works well, but the hub drops from the network occasionally and needs to be rebooted by unplugging. The Google Home connection would be nice, but not necessary for me.

[Juni]

Hi folks,

Thanks for posting here in the Google Nest Community and sorry for the late response.
 

This is not the experience that we wanted you to have, let me help you out. A few things: was this working before or this is the first time that you linked your shades in the Google Home app? Is the Google Home app updated? When you control your shades via Google assistant, what message are you getting? For your Nest Hub that drops connection, what is its distance from your Wi-Fi router? When did this issue begin?

Looking forward to your response. 
 

Thanks,

Juni

[JeffL]

Thanks for the reply. The Bali shades have never worked through the Nest Hub. They show up in the Google Home app as offline. I'm running 27 other devices that all work well. My Google Home app is version 2.62.80.2. I believe it's up to date. I think this is a Bali issue. They have a 3rd party developer who delivered them a poor product.

[Juni]

Hi there,

Thanks for the details you provided. Let’s wait for the update from them and let us know if there is any progress by updating this thread. We are here to help. 

Regards,

Juni

[kpowell]

Jeff, I ended up buying their Bali hub and they seems to be the problem. I purchased the Aeotech hub this week and connected it to the SmartsThing app. Everything works but cost me $130 extra to find a solution unfortunately.

[Juni]

Hi kpowell,

Thanks for keeping us in the loop and happy to hear that this has been sorted out.  I’ll keep this thread open for 1 more day. If you need further help, let me know.

Cheers,

Juni

[kpowell]

Juni, it is still not sorted out via Bali’s hub. There is still major issues. You have to buy a 3rd party hub to fix the issue.

[Juni]

Hi there,

Thanks for the response. It appears that the issue is on Bali’s end since you were able to link and control using Aeotech hub. You can reach out to them again then let them know how we isolated the issue. Partners are expected to support the integration of their products with Google Nest and Home devices.

Regards,

Juni

[kpowell]

Last week, the Bali technical support told me the following, “I’ve reported the issue to the development team and they are looking into getting it corrected. As soon as I have an update I will follow up with you and let you know. I apologize for any inconvenience the delay is causing.”

[JeffL]

Thank you for the follow-up. I got the same response from them in Spring 2022. They are fully aware of the issue. I hope they actually do something.

[Juni]

Hi folks,

Thanks for the feedback, feel free to reply to this thread for updates and we are here to help. 

Thanks,

Juni

[Juni]

Hi there,

I just wanted to follow up to see if you still need our help. Please let us know as we would be happy to answer any questions you may have.
 

Best,

Juni

[Juni]

Hello there,

We haven’t heard back from you, so I'll be locking this thread in 24 hours. Feel free to create a new one if you have more questions or have other concerns in the future.
 

Regards,

Juni

[kpowell]

Still no development update from Bali. Bali acknowledges the issue and told me I can return the Hub to Lowe’s for a full refund.

[Juni]

Hi kpowell,

Thanks for the response. Glad to know that you still have that option. We can consider this one complete, so let us know if you have other questions or concerns as I will be locking this after 24 hours. Feel free to start a new thread and we'll be happy to help.

Thanks,

Juni

[DavidinLB]

Bali software looks like it was written by hardware folks.

Too many issues to list, but I am currently at a point in the google Home app where I am trying to auth the connection between Google and Bali's APIs. I have selected the "Motorized Shade Control" link (why not include "Bali" anywhere in the search phrase??) It now asks for a user name and password. Unlike every other app on the planet, the url is unknown to me and I do not have any reference to the user name and password for that site. nor can I "reset password" like every other app on the planet offers.

I doubt anyone here can help, but if anyone happens to see this while doing research for a purchase, do not buy Bali if you want to control it with voice assistants of any kind

[kpowell]

David, I returned the Bali Hub. Their development team acknowledged the hub and their app was down. However, good news, I purchased an Aeotec Hub and connected it to the “SmartThings” mobile app. The SmartThings app has the ability to connect to Bali Blinds. I connected the SmartThings connection to Google Home, and now everything works perfect.

[joulesntesla]

After spending close to 5 hours in total setting up the stupid bali app, linking shades and gatways and encountering numerous prolems during the setup, just when i thought everything related to the hardware was set up successfully and all i was left to do was link the devices to Google home, i went down the rabbit hole again because just like everyone else, i kept seeing the devices were offline. My far and wide search led me to this forum and i was disheartened to see others having the same issue. I almost gave up as well until I stumbled upon the solution by just brute force.

So without further adieu, here is how to solve it -

1. Add whatever devices (aka shades) you need to add to the gateway

2. Create routines in the bali app

3. now set up google home, choose motorized shade control and link your bali account to google, if not already done so. If you have done it already, reset it / unlink first and then link again.

4. It should show you the devices and the routines to import..

5. Finally, import just the routines (skip the devices) into google home.  

6. Create automations/scenes in google app like you would normally do..

7. Enjoy

8. (Optional) - Curse at Bali first and then at Google for making it so so complicated that you start pulling your hair and question the meaning of life

[Juni]

Hi joulesntesla,

Thanks for posting and for the details you shared. Feel free to reach out again should you have more questions/suggestions - we are here for you.

Regards,

Juni