Motorised Blinds Not Working? Fixes by Fault

Most motorised blinds that stop working have one of three faults: a flat battery, an end limit that has drifted, or a remote that has dropped its pairing. All three can be sorted at the window in a few minutes. Below are the faults we get called out for most, with the manufacturer steps for Somfy and Louvolite motors.

Fitted locally in Reading, Newbury, Thatcham and Caversham.

Last updated 23 September 2026.

The blind ignores the remote

Start with the handset, not the blind. Change the cells, then check the channel: a 6 or 16 channel Louvolite remote looks dead if the selector has been nudged onto an unpaired channel. If a second remote or the wall switch still drives the blind, the fault is in the first handset.

If nothing drives it, charge the motor or check its mains connection and try again. Somfy lists two causes for a blind that will not run at all in the Sonesse 30 WireFree fault table: a low battery, and a blind that has "exceeded recommended weight limit".

The blind runs, then stops halfway

Two different things cause this, and the two brands blame different ones.

Somfy puts it down to the end limits being "incorrectly programmed", and says to reset them. Louvolite blames heat: its troubleshooting table lists over-load protection first, triggered when the motor "has been operated frequently in a short space of time or is being operated in hot conditions", and the fix is to let it cool before the next operation.

So if it stops at the same point every time, reset the limits. If it stops at a different point after a busy morning, or in a conservatory in August, leave it half an hour and try again.

The battery goes flat every few weeks

Check the claim against your own usage before you write the battery off. Somfy quotes "Only recharge once per year" on its WireFree lithium motors, but that figure is based on one cycle up and down per day. Four cycles a day is roughly a quarter of the interval. Louvolite quotes up to 6 months on a full charge, with a 6 to 8 hour charge.

A Louvolite motor warns you first: an alarm buzzer, then the motor drops into jog mode. If yours charges fully and still dies within weeks on light use, the cell has had it. On Somfy WireFree motors the replacement is not a DIY job, Somfy says it "must be carried out by a professional".

There is more detail in our guide to how often motorised blinds need recharging.

The remote has lost its pairing

One warning before you start. On both brands, the sequence that adds a remote is the same sequence that removes one. Run it on a handset that already works and you will unpair it.

Somfy RTS, Situo and Telis handsets

1. On a remote that still works, press and hold the programming button on the back until the blind jogs up and down.
2. Briefly press the programming button on the new remote. The blind jogs again and the pairing is done.

With no working remote you need the programming button on the motor head itself: hold that until the blind jogs, then briefly press the button on the handset. Somfy publishes no procedure for a blind with neither a working remote nor a reachable motor head, so if the head is above a stairwell that one is a call-out.

Louvolite One Touch

1. Press the PROG button on the motor head for one second, until the motor beeps once.
2. Select the channel you want on the remote.
3. Press UP within 10 seconds. The motor oscillates and the remote is paired.

Older 1100 series motors use a SETTING button rather than PROG: hold it until the blind jogs twice, choose the channel, then press CONFIRM within 10 seconds. If the blind now runs the wrong way, press DOWN inside that 10 second window instead of UP, which reverses the travel direction.

Resetting the end limits

Somfy RTS

1. Press DOWN to send the blind to its current lower limit.
2. Press and hold UP and DOWN together until it jogs.
3. Drive the blind to where you want the bottom to sit.
4. Press and hold MY until it jogs. The new limit is stored.

The upper limit is the same, starting with a brief press of UP. Two things worth knowing. On a first-time limit set, MY plus DOWN records the upper limit and MY plus UP records the lower one, which reads backwards but is how Somfy documents it in both the Sonesse manual and its RTS programming guide. And if you pause for more than two minutes mid-sequence the motor drops out of programming mode.

Louvolite One Touch

Drive the blind to the top position, press STOP, then press SET for a second and SET again to confirm. For the bottom, drive down, press STOP, then hold SET for a second. To delete one limit, run the blind to it and hold SET for seven seconds. To wipe both and start again, press PROG four times, then hold it on the fifth press until the motor oscillates twice.

When to book a repair visit instead

Somfy reserves battery replacement and after-sales work on its drives for a professional, and anything that means taking the motor out of the tube falls the same way. If the blind is fitted above a stairwell, or the motor head needs a ladder, phone us rather than balancing on a chair.

We fit and service Somfy and Louvolite motors across Thatcham, Newbury, Reading and Caversham. The Thatcham showroom is on 01635 866600, or send us the details and we will come back to you.

Replacing rather than repairing? Our motorised blinds page covers the ranges and control options we fit, and how long motorised blinds last is worth reading before you spend on a repair.