SwitchBot's Curtain Track 4 Lets You Charge the Battery Without Taking the Robot Off the Rail

The $109.99 retrofit motor for U-rail curtains has a detachable battery module rated for up to 12 months, installs in about 30 seconds and moves curtains weighing up to 12 kilograms.

TOKYO - SwitchBot on Wednesday released the Curtain Track 4, a small motor that fits onto existing U-rail curtain tracks and opens and closes the curtains on a schedule or on command. The biggest change is power. The Battery+ version pairs a built-in battery with a detachable module, so owners can take the module away to charge it while the motor stays on the track, the company said in its announcement.

With earlier battery curtain motors, charging usually meant taking the whole unit down from the track or running a long USB cable to it, as 9to5Mac noted. SwitchBot says the two batteries together hold 6,400 mAh and last up to 12 months on a charge, depending on curtain weight, travel distance and how often the curtains move. A Solar version comes with a solar panel to cut down on manual recharging in rooms with enough sunlight.

The Curtain Track 4 motor.

Image: SwitchBot

The Curtain Track 4 is sold from $109.99, 99.99 pounds, 99.99 euros or 139.99 Canadian dollars, through SwitchBot and Amazon. On its U.S. store, SwitchBot lists two-pack and four-pack bundles as well as Solar and Matter combinations.

Installation takes as little as 30 seconds on a compatible U-rail, without replacing the curtains or modifying the home, according to SwitchBot. It requires no positioning magnets. The new design is slimmer, needing 20 mm of clearance from the wall and 40 mm between two tracks, so it sits further out of sight behind the fabric. The motor can move curtains weighing up to 12 kilograms.

Two Curtain Track 4 motors can open each side of a window to a different position from the SwitchBot app.

Image: SwitchBot

Control comes in several forms. Owners can set curtains to open in the morning and close at night, start the motor with a light pull on the fabric using a feature SwitchBot calls Touch&Go, or use the SwitchBot app and an optional remote. A mode called QuietDrift moves the curtains at 0.5 cm per second, and self-lubricating rollers cut friction and vibration. With a compatible SwitchBot hub, the motor works with Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri Shortcuts, SmartThings and Matter, and curtains in several rooms can be grouped into one scene. The hub, remote and other accessories are sold separately unless included in a bundle.

A schedule in the SwitchBot app can close the curtains at the same time every evening.

Image: SwitchBot

SwitchBot introduced the product on X on Wednesday, comparing it with the previous Curtain 3.

SwitchBot’s post on X introducing Curtain Track 4.

Screenshot: @SwitchBot on X