Aqara Roller Shade Driver E1

Compiled by SmartHomeWorkflow Research · Aqara · Blinds, Shades & Curtains

Exactly which product this is^[1][2][3]

Model number: RSD-M01
Generation: E1
Region this page covers: Not established
Also sold or listed as: Not established

“Not established” means we have not sourced that detail yet — not that the product has no model number, generation or regional variant. We publish the gap rather than filling it.

Compatibility

Ecosystem	Support	The catch
Apple Home	WorksWorks with this ecosystem^[1][3]	Named on both Aqara enumerations - 'Apple HomeKit' on the global product page, 'Apple Home' on the US specification sheet. Reached through the mandatory Aqara hub, which is the device that actually appears in the Home app; no hub, no Apple Home. Aqara names no mechanism beyond the hub dependency, so the transport is not guessed.
Amazon Alexa	WorksWorks with this ecosystem^[1][3]	Named on both enumerations, as 'Amazon Alexa' and 'Alexa'. Runs through the Aqara hub and an account link, which means a routine that raises the shade depends on the internet being up as well as the hub being online. Read the ecosystem footnote below alongside this cell: Aqara states that its ecosystem support applies only on the global servers of the Aqara Home app.
Google Home	WorksWorks with this ecosystem^[1][3]	Named on both enumerations, though Aqara uses two different names for two different things - 'Google Assistant' on the global page (the voice service) and 'Google Home' on the US sheet (the app). The substance is the same cloud link through the Aqara hub. The global-servers footnote applies here too.
SmartThings	InconclusiveWe researched this and the evidence doesn't settle it — the catch explains why^[4]	Aqara does not name SmartThings for this product anywhere, and the omission is the evidence. Both surfaces that enumerate compatibility are lists whose entire job is to enumerate compatibility - the US specification sheet's 'Compatible Platforms' field and the global page's 'All-Round Compatibility' section - and neither includes it. That is a silence rather than a denial, so this is recorded unknown rather than none, with the absence marked so a future appearance overturns it cleanly. Worth knowing if you are cross-shopping: the Curtain Driver E1 record in this catalogue carries a partial SmartThings cell, because Aqara names SmartThings on one of that product's pages. Aqara has not made the equivalent claim here, and this record does not inherit it from a sibling.
Home Assistant	InconclusiveWe researched this and the evidence doesn't settle it — the catch explains why^[4]	Same evidence and same reasoning as SmartThings: absent from both Aqara enumerations, and no Home Assistant documentation naming this model was found, so neither party has published anything specific to it. What a Home Assistant user would probably do in practice - bridge through a Matter-capable Aqara hub, or pair the device to their own Zigbee coordinator - is a community path rather than a documented one, and this record does not promote it to a level. Recorded unknown with the absence marked.

? Inconclusive means we researched that ecosystem and the evidence doesn’t settle it — the catch says why, and the sources are listed below. It is a statement about the available evidence, never a verdict on the product. A Setup Check researches your exact setup where the official sources don’t answer.

Protocols: ZIGBEE^[1][2][3][5]

Needs before it works: Yes, and an Aqara one specifically. Aqara states the requirement on both surfaces that describe the product: the global page footnotes the smart-automation section with 'A compatible Aqara hub is required', and the US specification sheet answers its own 'Hub Required' field with 'Yes (Aqara Zigbee 3.0 HUB)'. The device is Zigbee 3.0 with no Wi-Fi, no Bluetooth and no Matter radio of its own, so there is no route to it that bypasses a hub. Aqara publishes no hub-by-hub compatibility list for this model - the word it uses is 'compatible', which leaves the buyer to establish that their specific hub qualifies. This record does not import the hub list from the Curtain Driver E1's store listing, because that list is published for a different product.^[1][3]

What it can do^[1]

You can tell it to

Open/close

It reports

None documented by the vendor

Listed capabilities are what we could establish from vendor documentation. An ability missing here is unestablished — not necessarily absent.

Subscription reality^[6]

✓ Works without a subscription: Yes.

Vendor account required: Yes — you must create a vendor account to use it.^[10]

No subscription is referenced on any of the four Aqara surfaces read for this product. Recorded on absence rather than on an affirmative pledge, the same basis the Curtain Driver E1 and the Aqara water leak sensor records use: no Aqara statement creating a subscription for shade hardware was found, but neither is there a commitment that it stays free. Aqara's paid tiers cover camera and doorbell video storage, which has no bearing on a shade driver.

Maintenance reality^[2][3]

Batteries: built-in lithium, not user-replaceable, charged over USB-C; can also run continuously on USB-C power — expect roughly 2 months per set
Works without the internet: Not established — we have not sourced this yet. It does not mean the product fails without the internet.
Two months between charges, and Aqara publishes the duty cycle behind that number rather than leaving it bare: the specification tab reads 'Two months (supposed to control a roller shade of 1.8m*1.8m up and down once a day)', and the product page's footnote says the same - 'Based on controlling a roller shade of 1.8m x 1.8m up and down, once a day'. That is a materially different proposition from the Curtain Driver E1's rated year, on a comparable once-a-day basis, and a buyer choosing between the two Aqara retrofit motors should read it as roughly six charges a year against one. The battery is a 'Lithium battery (not replaceable)'. Aqara offers a way out of the charging cycle: the product page describes 'two installation modes: wired and wireless', so the included USB-C cable can power the driver permanently. Rated input is '5V 1A' with '5W' total power consumption. Dimensions 42 x 37 x 165 mm (1.69 x 1.52 x 6.89 in.), weight 234 g (0.52 lb), colour white. Operating range -10 C to 55 C (14 F to 131 F) and 0-95% RH without condensation. The box holds 'Aqara Roller Shade Driver E1 x 1, Screw x 2, Expansion Tube x 2, Double-Faced Adhesive Tape x 1, Spare Rotating Plate x 3, USB-C to USB-A Cable x 1'. Compliance is cited as GB/T 12350-2009. Aqara publishes no torque, no rotor speed, no travel speed and no maximum shade weight or drop for this model, so this record states none - the 1.8 m x 1.8 m shade in the battery footnote is the size Aqara measured a battery against, not a rated maximum, and it is not repurposed as one here.
Security updates: Aqara declares security updates for this model until December 31, 2026 (UK-declared — the maker's legal commitment is filed for the United Kingdom). After that date the product keeps working; the manufacturer simply has no stated obligation to keep issuing security fixes.^[9]

The catch

Start with availability, because it decides whether the rest matters. Aqara runs a US store, sells this product's sibling through it, and does not list the Roller Shade Driver E1 there at all - no store listing, no US product page, and a US help-centre page that is empty under every heading and points you to 'Retailers'. Aqara plainly still makes and documents the product, including a US-region specification sheet, but it is not selling it to you directly. Second, the battery figure deserves a second look, especially against the other Aqara motor. Two months, on Aqara's own stated basis of raising and lowering a 1.8 m shade once a day. The Curtain Driver E1 is rated at a year on a comparable duty cycle. If six recharges a year is unwelcome, Aqara's answer is to leave the USB-C cable plugged in permanently, which it supports and calls wired mode - so the real question is whether you have a socket near the window. Third, the hub is mandatory and it must be an Aqara one: this is Zigbee 3.0 with no Wi-Fi, no Bluetooth and no Matter radio, so budget for a hub before budgeting for the driver. Fourth, and this is the part a single page will not tell you: Aqara's two compatibility lists for this product do not agree with each other, and neither names SmartThings, Home Assistant or Matter. The global page adds Alice and Marusya - voice assistants that matter in Russia and nowhere in a US household - while the US sheet drops them and adds nothing. Aqara also footnotes the whole thing with a condition worth reading twice: 'The ecosystem support is only provided on the global servers of Aqara Home app.' Finally, the mechanism is narrower than 'roller shades' suggests. This drives a beaded chain, and Aqara says only beaded-chain roller blinds with plastic or metal beads are supported, with the four included adapters covering beads 3-6 mm thick. A spring-loaded or cordless roller shade has nothing for it to grip.

Who it's for

Someone who already owns an Aqara hub, has roller blinds operated by a beaded chain, and wants them on a schedule or a voice command without replacing the blinds. The install is genuinely modest - screw the bracket to the wall, fit the adapter, feed the chain through - and at 42 mm deep it is a small thing to have beside a window. It suits an Apple Home, Alexa or Google household, which are the three ecosystems Aqara consistently names for it. It is a poor first Aqara purchase, because the mandatory hub means the true cost is the driver plus a hub. It is the wrong pick if your shades are cordless or spring-loaded, if the chain has fabric or oversized beads, if two-monthly recharging is unacceptable and there is no socket for permanent USB-C power, or if the household runs on SmartThings or Home Assistant - Aqara names neither for this product, and this catalogue records that silence rather than borrowing a claim from the sibling curtain motor. US buyers should also expect to source it from a retailer rather than from Aqara.

Sources & method

Numbered sources below back the facts marked with the matching number above. This is a research profile: compiled from manufacturer documentation, certification registries, and published testing — we state facts, not verdicts, and we have not physically tested this unit. How we work →

[1] Aqara product page, Roller Shade Driver E1 — vendor-page research, verified 2026-08-01
Backs: Product identity, Protocols, Required hub or bridge, Capabilities, Installation, Power source, Apple Home compatibility, Amazon Alexa compatibility, Google Home compatibility, Market availability
[2] Aqara product page, Roller Shade Driver E1 - specification tab — vendor-page research, verified 2026-08-01
Backs: Product identity, Maintenance, Protocols, Power source
[3] Aqara US store, Roller Shade Driver E1 specification page — vendor-page research, verified 2026-08-01
Backs: Product identity, Required hub or bridge, Maintenance, Protocols, Apple Home compatibility, Amazon Alexa compatibility, Google Home compatibility, Research status
[4] Aqara US specification sheet and Aqara global product page - both compatibility enumerations — vendor-page research, verified 2026-08-01
Backs: SmartThings compatibility, Home Assistant compatibility
[5] Aqara global product page and specification tab - the protocol and compatibility statements — vendor-page research, verified 2026-08-01
Backs: Protocols
[6] Aqara US store (no listing), Aqara US help centre page for the Roller Shade Driver E1, and the redirected FAQ page — vendor-page research, verified 2026-08-01
Backs: Price, Market availability, Subscription
[7] Aqara's Roller Shade Driver E1 specification tab, re-read 2026-08-18 — battery duty cycle, dimensions and the Aqara-hub requirement; nothing about local automation or outage behaviour. — vendor-page research, verified 2026-08-18
[8] aqara.com, Roller Shade Driver E1 product page and us.aqara.com product-specs page, both re-read 2026-08-18. The only 'operates without an internet connection' sentence on either page belongs to a third-party project case study, not to this product; the specification page addresses connectivity only as far as 'a Zigbee 3.0 hub is required'. — vendor-page research, verified 2026-08-18
[9] Aqara (Lumi United Technology Co., Ltd), Statement of Compliance for UK — Roller Shade Driver E1, read 2026-08-19. Model name on the document: RSD-M01. Verbatim: 'we state that the defined support period for the product above is till 12/31/2026'. Located via Aqara's own compliance library at https://www.aqara.com/en/security-certifications/, which lists this product with these model numbers. — first-party regulatory declaration read (BQ-192 security-support sweep, method note 69 precedence), verified 2026-08-19
Backs: Security-update support period
[10] Aqara Roller Shade Driver E1 user manual, 'Preparation before Use' — "2. An Aqara Zigbee 3.0 hub is required (The distance between this product and your hub should be within 30 m). 3. Download and install the Aqara Home app."; 'Device Binding & Initialization' adds "1. Before activating the accessory, please make sure you have the Aqara Home app and the Aqara Zigbee 3.0 hub installed." — vendor-page research, verified 2026-08-21
Backs: Vendor account required
[11] SmartHomeWorkflow record maintenance (BQ-250 securitySupport.region backfill) — internal-review of the document this record already cites, verified 2026-08-27

Compatibility and lifecycle information reflects the last-verified date above and can change without notice (firmware updates, cloud-service changes, discontinuations). It is provided as-is, for information — verify with the manufacturer before purchasing. Spot an error? Tell us and we'll fix it. Full terms: Terms of Service.

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