Do Motorized Shades Work When the Power Goes Out? Battery, Wired, Manual Override, and What to Do Before a Hurricane
The question every South Florida client asks in June. Here is what each system we install does when the power drops, what still controls it, what it remembers, and the six things to do with the shades the day before a storm.
Do motorized shades work when the power goes out?
Battery shades keep working through a power outage; wired shades wait for the power to come back, and keep their limits and their pairing while they wait. Lutron's Triathlon, Serena and Sivoia QS Wireless run on D cells in the headrail, Somfy's WireFree motors on a lithium-ion pack inside the tube, Vertilux's RE-LION and our Essential tier on a rechargeable battery: none of them knows the house is dark, as long as the remote in your hand talks to the shade directly. A Lutron Pico is paired to the shade with no hub; a Somfy Telis, Situo or Ysia remote is paired to the motor. What stops is the layer above: the Lutron hub or processor, Somfy's TaHoma, the app on your phone, Alexa and Google, and any wall keypad that draws its power from the system.
Wired shades stop, and they do not lose anything. Lutron's wired Sivoia QS and Palladiom, Somfy's Sonesse 30 and ULTRA 50 on a 24 V supply, Somfy's 120 V Sonesse 50 and Crestron's QMT motors all sit still until their supply is live, then answer the next command from where they were. There is no chain on a motorized roller shade and no manual override, so a wired roller is where it was when the lights went out. Motorized drapery tracks are different: Somfy's Glydea and Irismo and Crestron's track can be moved by hand, and Crestron's runs fully closed on its first command afterwards to find its place again.
- Wi-Fi down, power on: every remote still works. Only the app, voice and schedules depend on the internet.
- Generator or UPS: a shade power supply or a Lutron panel on a generator-backed circuit, or a small UPS on the supply and the hub, keeps wired shades and the app alive; we size it with your electrician.
- Before a hurricane: raise roller shades fully, open draperies, top up the battery motors, keep the remotes where you can find them, and leave the shades to the glass. The checklist is below.
Written by Exotic Shades & Draperies in Fort Lauderdale from the makers' documents and from what we have seen in our own installs through South Florida storm seasons, from battery Triathlon rollers in Boca Raton to 120 V Sonesse 50 motors on a building's conduit at Salato in Pompano Beach. The Atlantic hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30 (National Hurricane Center).
What each motorized shade does in an outage #
Every system we install, what keeps working, what still controls it, and what happens when the power returns.
Swipe sideways to see every column.
| System | In the outage | What still controls it | When power returns | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lutron Triathlon, Serena, Caseta Smart Roller (D cells in the headrail) | Keeps working | Pico remote, paired to the shade with no hub; the app, Alexa and keypads need the hub or processor powered and online | Nothing: the shade is where you left it, with its limits and its favorite | Lutron 085312k |
| Lutron Sivoia QS Wireless (battery drive) | Keeps working | Pico and the system keypads that run on batteries; wired keypads on a RadioRA 3 or HomeWorks processor stop with the processor | Nothing | Lutron 085705d |
| Lutron Sivoia QS wired, Palladiom wired (powered from the QS panel) | Stops | Nothing until the panel has power; limits and pairing are kept | Nothing: it resumes on the next command | Lutron Sivoia QS |
| Somfy WireFree (Sonesse 28, 30, 40 and ULTRA 30, Li-ion) | Keeps working | Telis or Situo RTS remote, or a Ysia Zigbee remote, both paired to the motor directly; TaHoma, the app and voice need power and internet | Nothing | Somfy Sonesse 30 WireFree |
| Somfy Sonesse 30 and ULTRA 50 DC (24 V power supply) | Stops | Nothing until the power supply is live | Nothing: limits and pairing are kept | Somfy ULTRA 50 DC |
| Somfy Sonesse 50 RTS at 120 V (the Salato tower install) | Stops | Nothing until the circuit is live | Nothing | Salato case study |
| Crestron QMT motors (24 V Cresnet) | Stops | Nothing until the Cresnet supply is live | A Crestron drapery runs fully closed on its first command (Find Location), then goes where you sent it | Crestron programming page |
| Vertilux VTi RE-LION and Dooya Essential (rechargeable battery) | Keeps working | The paired RF remote | Nothing | Vertilux RE-LION technical sheet |
| Motorized drapery tracks (Somfy Glydea and Irismo, Crestron) | Battery tracks keep working; wired tracks stop | The fabric can be moved by hand on tracks with a manual override; Somfy's and Crestron's have one | Crestron recalibrates on the first move; Lutron's pull-to-start draperies recalibrate too | Drapery tracks compared |
| Any motorized roller shade | There is no chain | It moves only under power: no roller shade has a manual override | Nothing | Motorized shades FAQ |
The hub is the weak link, not the shade. In a Lutron house the Caseta Smart Bridge, the RadioRA 3 processor or the HomeWorks processor is what the app, Alexa, Google and the schedules talk to; it needs power and, for the app and voice, internet. The Pico remotes talk straight to the shades on Lutron's Clear Connect radio and do not care. In a Somfy house TaHoma is that layer; the RTS and Zigbee remotes are paired to the motors themselves. In a Crestron house the processor is the layer, and the shades are wired, so both stop together. Smart glass has an outage behaviour of its own, SageGlass clears over an hour or two, PDLC frosts and SPD goes dark; the comparison is on smart glass vs window treatments.
Nothing is forgotten. Limits, favorite positions, remote pairings and groups live in the motor, not in the hub, on every system here. We have never reprogrammed a shade after an outage; the one visible effect is a Crestron drapery closing fully on its first command and Lutron's pull-to-start draperies recalibrating on the first move, both by design.
Keeping wired shades alive: generator, UPS, or batteries #
Houses
Put the shade supply on the generator circuit
Many South Florida houses run a whole-house or partial generator. A Somfy 24 V power supply, a Lutron Sivoia QS panel or a Crestron Cresnet supply draws little; put it and the hub on a generator-backed circuit at the plan stage and every shade in the house keeps working. We mark the supply location on the pre-wiring schedule so the electrician can do exactly that.
Condos
Assume unit outlets are not on emergency power
Building emergency power usually feeds life safety and the elevators, not the outlets in a unit. At Salato the Sonesse 50 motors run at 120 V through the building's conduit, so they stop with the unit. If working shades through an outage matters in a condo, the honest route is battery motors on the windows that matter, or a small UPS on the hub and a 24 V supply.
Any home
A small UPS on the hub and the supply
An uninterruptible power supply, the kind sold for a home office, keeps a Lutron hub or TaHoma and a 24 V shade supply running for a while and rides through the short flickers that reboot a hub. It will not run a wall of 120 V motors for a day; it will keep the app and the bedroom shade going through an evening. Sized to the load with your electrician, never guessed.
What to do with motorized shades before a storm #
Our practice The shades are not storm protection; the glass and the shutters are. These are the six things we tell clients to do the day before, in order.
- Raise every roller shade fully and open every drapery. If a window fails or leaks, fabric at the glass and on the sill is what gets soaked and torn. Up in its pocket or cassette, a shade is out of the water's way and you can see the window.
- Charge the battery motors. Somfy WireFree, Vertilux RE-LION and Essential motors take a plug-in charge; Lutron Triathlon and Serena run on D cells that last years, so check the app's battery indicator and keep a set of cells in the drawer.
- Put the remotes where you can find them in the dark. The Pico, Telis, Situo or Ysia remote is the only control that works with the hub down. One per room on the nightstand.
- Turn off schedules you do not want running on a generator. A "sunset: close" scene is fine; a whole-house cycle on a UPS is not. Both are a tap in the Lutron or TaHoma app.
- Leave wired shades where they are. Raised, as in step one, and nothing else: they keep their limits and pairings and answer the next command when the supply is back.
- Afterwards, let the system settle. Hubs reboot and reconnect on their own; a Crestron drapery closes fully once to find its place; a shade that does not answer is almost always a dead remote battery or a hub still booting, and our programming and troubleshooting guide covers the rest.
Impact glass changes nothing here. Laminated impact windows carry the storm; the shade's only job is to be out of the way. What impact glass does and does not do for heat, glare and privacy the other 364 days is on impact windows and window treatments.
Battery, wired and both, in South Florida homes #
Boca Raton
Fourteen Triathlon battery rollers
The Boca Raton luxury home runs fourteen Lutron Triathlon rollers on D cells in the headrail, two to four years between changes in our experience there, on a Caseta Smart Bridge Pro. Every shade keeps working with the power down; only the app waits for the bridge.
Pompano Beach
120 V motors on the building's conduit
At Salato the Sonesse 50 RTS motors run at 120 V through the empty conduit a new tower comes with, mapped to Google Home. They stop with the unit's power and answer the Telis remote the moment it is back.
Turks and Caicos
Hard-wired across six villas
At the Turks and Caicos resort every run is hard-wired on Lutron, and the island's power is the reason the supplies sit where the generator can feed them. Wired for reliability, powered for the outage.
Motorized shades, outages and storms: questions
Do motorized shades work when the power goes out? #
Battery shades do: Lutron Triathlon, Serena and Sivoia QS Wireless on D cells, Somfy WireFree on lithium-ion, Vertilux RE-LION and the Essential tier on a rechargeable pack all keep working from a remote paired directly to the shade. Wired shades (Lutron Sivoia QS and Palladiom wired, Somfy Sonesse 30 and ULTRA 50 on 24 V, Sonesse 50 at 120 V, Crestron QMT) stop until their supply is live, and keep their limits and pairing while they wait.
Can I raise a motorized shade by hand during a power outage? #
Not a roller shade: there is no chain and no manual override, so a wired roller stays where it was. Motorized drapery tracks are different: Somfy's Glydea and Irismo and Crestron's track can be moved by hand, and Crestron's runs fully closed on its first command afterwards to find its position again.
Do motorized shades work without Wi-Fi? #
Yes. The Lutron Pico is paired to the shade with no hub, and Somfy's Telis, Situo and Ysia remotes are paired to the motor. Wi-Fi and the hub are needed only for the phone app, Alexa and Google, and schedules.
Will my shades forget their settings or their remotes after an outage? #
No. On every system we install the limits, the favorite position and the remote pairings live in the motor. The only visible effects are a Crestron drapery closing fully on its first command (Find Location mode) and Lutron's pull-to-start draperies recalibrating on the first move; both are by design and need nothing from you.
Can a generator or a UPS keep wired shades working? #
Yes. A Somfy 24 V power supply, a Lutron Sivoia QS panel or a Crestron supply on a generator-backed circuit keeps every wired shade on it working; a small office UPS on the hub and a 24 V supply keeps the app and a few shades alive through an evening and rides through the flickers that reboot a hub. It is sized with your electrician, and we mark the supply location on the pre-wiring schedule.
Should I leave motorized shades up or down during a hurricane? #
Up, fully, with draperies open. The shade is not storm protection; the glass and the shutters are. Raised into its pocket or cassette, the fabric is out of the way of any water that comes through a window or a sill, and you can see the glass. Charge the battery motors and keep the remotes on the nightstand.
Do condo emergency generators power motorized shades? #
Usually not: building emergency power typically feeds life safety and elevators, not the outlets in a unit. At Salato in Pompano Beach the 120 V Sonesse 50 motors stop with the unit's power. If working shades through an outage matters in a condo, use battery motors on the windows that matter, or a small UPS on the hub and a 24 V supply.
How long do the batteries in a motorized shade last? #
Lutron's Triathlon and Serena run on D cells; at the Boca Raton luxury home the fourteen Triathlon rollers go two to four years between changes. Somfy's WireFree lithium-ion motors recharge with a plug-in wand after months to years of normal use, depending on the shade's size and how often it moves. Battery vs wired is its own page.
Do motorized shades help during the storm itself? #
No, and they should not be asked to. Impact glass or shutters carry the storm; the shade's job is to be raised and out of the way. What impact glass does and does not do for heat, glare and privacy on an ordinary day is on our impact windows page.
What should I check after the power comes back? #
Nothing on the shades. The hub or TaHoma reboots and reconnects on its own; a Crestron drapery closes fully once; schedules resume. A shade that does not answer is almost always a dead remote battery, a hub still booting, or a battery shade that needs a charge, in that order; the motor programming and troubleshooting guide covers each one.
Where the numbers come from #
Maker documents accessed 17 October 2026; the installation behavior comes from our own project pages, linked. Makers revise their documents, and we will update the page when a fact changes.
- Lutron, Smart Shades (Serena and Triathlon) specification submittal 085312k (09.09.25): battery-powered drives, 6 to 16 D cells by width, Pico control. assets.lutron.com
- Lutron, Triathlon selection guide: battery-powered roller, honeycomb and wood-blind lines. assets.lutron.com
- Lutron, Sivoia QS and QS Wireless Roller 64 submittal 085705d: the wired drive on the QS link and the wireless, battery-powered drive. assets.lutron.com
- Somfy, Sonesse 30 WireFree RTS Li-ion product page: rechargeable lithium-ion battery motor, RTS control. www.somfysystems.com
- Somfy, Sonesse ULTRA 50 DC product page: 24 V DC motor on a power supply. www.somfysystems.com
- Somfy, Ysia 5 Zigbee remote product page: controls Somfy Zigbee motors directly or within a TaHoma switch system. www.somfysystems.com
- Vertilux, VTi RE-LION 6-800-MB-25U01 technical sheet: rechargeable 2600 mAh battery motor. s3.amazonaws.com
- National Hurricane Center, Tropical cyclone climatology: the Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30. www.nhc.noaa.gov
- Exotic Shades & Draperies, Motorized shades: "Battery shades keep working through a power outage. Wired shades wait for the power to come back and keep their limits and pairing."
- Exotic Shades & Draperies, How to program Crestron shade motors: Find Location mode after a power outage.
- Exotic Shades & Draperies, Motorized drapery tracks compared: Touch Motion and manual override on Somfy and Crestron tracks; Lutron pull-to-start.
- Exotic Shades & Draperies, How to program Lutron shades: pairing a Pico remote with no hub.
- Exotic Shades & Draperies, case studies: Boca Raton luxury home (Triathlon on D cells), Salato (Sonesse 50 RTS at 120 V on the building conduit), Turks and Caicos (hard-wired Lutron).
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Exotic Shades & Draperies, Fort Lauderdale and Miami Beach
Exotic Shades & Draperies is a South Florida window-treatment company that designs, sews and installs its own work: Lutron and Somfy motorized shades, custom draperies sewn in our Fort Lauderdale workroom by five in-house seamstresses, plantation shutters and blinds. Established in South Florida in 2024, backed by more than 20 years of window-treatment manufacturing and installation experience. Lutron certified dealer, Somfy Expert, Crestron and Control4 integration. The same in-house team measures, installs and programs every project; when shading has to integrate with another control system, we bring in our smart-home partner Adom Smart Home.
Fort Lauderdale workroom and showroom
4539 Powerline Rd, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309 · 954-881-9331
Miami Beach showroom
500 South Pointe Dr #150, Miami Beach, FL 33139 · 954-872-9007
Where we install
Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties: Miami Beach, Sunny Isles and Aventura through Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale and Pompano Beach to Boca Raton, Delray Beach and West Palm Beach, with projects in the Caribbean and New York.
How a project runs
Free in-home measurement, a written quote from the same engine as our published prices, fabrication in our own workroom, installation and programming by our own team, and service on the systems we install.
Motorized shades built for South Florida weather, from Miami to Palm Beach
Battery where the house is finished, wired where the walls are open, the supply on the generator circuit when there is one, and a remote in every room that does not need the hub. The same in-house team measures, installs, programs and services from Miami Beach to West Palm Beach.
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