Upgrade roller shutter control later and central vs decentralized

Hello everyone,

we are currently planning regarding our roller shutter control in a semi-detached house.
For each roller shutter, we have including an electric motor as well as a simple control from Gira, a blind control button with which you can manually tap to move the roller shutter up and down.

Not quite practical for everyday use, so we at least wanted a programmable time control for each roller shutter so that they automatically move up and down.

The electrician additionally recommended a central control for all roller shutters with a timer so that with one action all roller shutters in the house can be operated/adjusted, which of course offers even greater comfort and according to him would not be much more expensive than our original idea without a concrete offer.

We do not have an exact price yet, but from what we have seen, the electrician passes on the Gira catalog price 1:1 to the customer. That would be the "Gira Elektronische Jalousiesteuerung 2" at a full 238 EUR minus the standard 100 EUR, so about 138 EUR per roller shutter and additionally an amount for the central control option. I suspect that will be quite expensive overall.

For the variants we are considering, I have seen that at a larger online retailer you can already get the attachment of the "Gira Elektronische Jalousiesteuerung 2" for 85 EUR, additionally the other simple control could then still be sold on, provided the new attachment fits on the base of the simple control.

Does anyone have experience with whether you can later "simply" exchange this at Gira so you are not dependent on such expensive offers or is much more needed than just replacing the control element?
As far as I understand, the roller shutter motor is quite simply connected to the control so you can later replace and change everything on the switch, except the central control?!
Or would you generally have a central control installed for all roller shutters and take the complete package from the start?

Thanks in advance for all feedback!

From my point of view, a central unit is not necessary. The switches should always be placed by the room door, then it works fine, and you can wonderfully raise and lower selectively. In the living room with dining area, we have installed a semi-central solution. There is a Gira switch with astro function that controls all four blinds, and in addition, there is a "Nebenstelle" at each window. Ultimately, we do not use either the astro function or the central control because it simply doesn't fit our needs. Usually, only one or two blinds should go down, and not at specific times, and how far the blind goes down I usually want to determine individually. Or are you more the type who would lower all the blinds in the whole house in the evening? Then the central control of course makes sense.

For the central control, each switch is connected to the central unit. For that, afaik, cables would have to be pulled later and you cannot use the standard base for individual control. I would have that done right away. But why handle each one individually with the large control solution? Wouldn't it be better to do it centrally and then equip the central unit with a timer, etc.?

For the central control, every switch is connected to the central unit. For that, afaik, you would have to pull cables later, and you cannot use the standard base for individual control. I would have that done right away. But why control each one individually with the big control solution? Wouldn’t it be better to do it centrally and then equip the central unit with a timer, etc.?

As far as I understood the electrician, the control option would remain fully intact at the roller shutter, and there would also be a full central control option to override either the central or the decentralized control as desired.

Overall, I find it a bit difficult because the fun will surely cost something to pull cables from every roller shutter to a central point, and I think that in a few years this might be significantly cheaper to expand via radio. But I simply lack the experience...

From the current standpoint, we have normal roller shutter straps; even just the automatic function with a fixed time would already be a huge improvement.

From my point of view, no central unit is needed. The switches should always be placed by the room door, then it works well, and you can wonderfully raise and lower selectively. In the living room with dining area, we installed a semi-central solution. There is a Gira switch with astro function that controls all four shutters, and additionally there is a "secondary station" at each window. Ultimately, we use neither the astro function nor the central control because it simply doesn’t suit us...

It feels like, and when I think about the costs, a central control with the functions you described is probably nice to read about in the description but is used less frequently in everyday life. So generally, we would lower all the shutters in the evening, but that can also be done with a fixed time setting. I don’t yet see a huge added value in the central control, I just hope I’m not making a conceptual error or overlooking something, because later it would be quite complicated to lay the cables. As you described, having switches, for example on the ground floor in one central location, might be a good intermediate solution!

Which motors are actually installed? They are not necessarily as "dumb" as they look...

Maybe it is also cheaper to go for radio motors and then have all switches over radio... then you can also buy the control unit yourself later, install it, and select the desired functions yourself, without having to lay cables.