What's new in version 3 firmware

Bond Bridge units with serial numbers starting with Z using the Bond Home application version 2.40.0 and above have some exciting new features starting in firmware version 3.

Major new features in v3

• Groups.
• The ability to have all the shades move synchronously for Rollease shades.
• Multiple Bridge signal collision avoidance.

Update firmware from version 2

Updating firmware

Making a backup

Before updating, we recommend that you perform a backup on your Bridge. Here's how:

1. On the My Devices screen, tap on the Bridge to open Bridge Settings.
2. Tap on "Advanced Settings", then select Backup & Restore.
3. Follow on-screen instructions to perform the backup.
4. The backup is stored locally on your mobile device.

Firmware update

1. Go back to the My Devices screen.
2. Go to the Bridge Settings screen, tap on Firmware Update.
3. You should see an update available for your Bridge to a "v3" firmware.
4. Accept the warning message which appears.
5. When the update is complete, you should now see a new Groups tab in the app.
   
   Note the following limitation: Currently it is not possible to create groups that span multiple Bridges. This will become available in an app update in the future.

New features

Groups

This V3 version introduces a major new feature Groups. You can now group together your ceiling fans or shades and operate them with a single tap in the Bond Home app.  The link below will open an article with how to set up and use Groups.

Setting up and using Groups.

Rollease Shades move Synchronously

For most shades, they will not move at exactly the same time. You will see some staggering or “popcorn effect”. However, for Rollease Acmeda shades created in the app after this firmware update, up to 15 shades in the same location will move together when commanded as part of a Group. If you already have shades created, you can still group them, but they will not move at exactly the same time. If you want to take advantage of the new feature where Rollease shades can move together, you could create all new shade devices in the app and then carefully unpair and delete the old devices.

We achieve this feature by aggregating what would be many individual Rollease signals into a single group signal.

Multiple Bridges avoid RF collisions

Previously, users with more than one Bridge would need to be careful to avoid setting Schedules to run at the same time for Devices on different Bridges, because the Bridges would transmit at the same time and their signals would collide on the air, causing shades to sometimes miss the scheduled command.

We have solved this problem via a new mechanism we call BBCAP (Bond Bridge Collision Avoidance Protocol). Now, Bridges talk to each other to negotiate spectrum access, so that only one Bridge will transmit at once. Other Bridges will wait until the first Bridge is finished before using the RF spectrum.

This feature requires that:
• all Bridges be updated to a firmware supporting BBCAP (v3.1.0 or higher).
• all Bridges be connected to the same subnet. Connecting to the same Wi-Fi network is usually sufficient.