Short answer: If your Somfy remote is not working, press a button and watch its indicator light. No light means a dead battery. A light with no movement points to range, the wrong channel, lost power at the motor, a tripped thermal cutout, or a flat WireFree battery. Work through those checks first, and keep Somfy's published motor reset as the last step.
A Somfy RTS system has two halves: the transmitter in your hand and the receiver built into the motor. Start with the half in your hand. The checklist below runs cheapest fix first.
Step one: the remote battery and its indicator light
Press any button. The indicator light on a Somfy handheld confirms the transmitter is sending. Somfy's own troubleshooting table for the Telis 1 RTS lists a weak battery as the cause of both an unresponsive shade and an indicator light that stays dark, and the fix in both rows is a fresh cell of the same type.
| Somfy Situo 1 RTS Pure II (1870571) | One 3V CR2032 coin cell, 1 channel |
| Somfy Situo 5 RTS Pure II (1870575) | One 3V CR2032 coin cell, 5 channels |
| Somfy Telis 1 RTS | One 3V CR2430 coin cell, 1 channel |
| Somfy Telis 1 Chronis RTS (1805237) | Two AAA (LR3) cells, 1 channel with timer |
Somfy's Telis 1 RTS guide gives the swap in six moves. Unscrew the rear casing, push the old cell out with a plastic tool, and seat the new one with the plus face up and the text legible. Push it home, refit the casing, then press a front button. A lit indicator confirms a good install. The same guide flags one more quirk: a Telis held upside down reverses up and down, so hold it with the light below the buttons.
A remote that stays dark on a fresh battery has failed. The Somfy Situo 1 RTS Pure II (1870571) replaces a single-shade handheld, and the Somfy Situo 5 RTS Pure II (1870575) covers up to five shades or groups. For shades that should move on a schedule, the Somfy Telis 1 Chronis RTS (1805237) adds a daily open and close timer. A replacement needs pairing to each motor, and each listing in our Somfy RTS remotes collection names the radio protocol it speaks.
Range, channel selection and metal
A lit remote and a still shade point to a signal that did not arrive. Stand under the shade and try again. If the shade responds up close, range is your problem.
RTS radio is omni-directional and passes through walls, and Somfy's RTS Pocket Programming Guide plans a standard install around 65 ft. Open-field ratings run higher: Somfy publishes 492.15 ft for the Situo 1 RTS Pure II and 656.2 ft for the Telis 1 Chronis RTS. Masonry and foil-backed insulation eat into those figures. Somfy's Telis guide also warns against mounting the remote on a metal surface, since metal interferes with the radio signal.
Check the channel on multi-channel remotes. A five-channel Situo or Telis sends to whichever channel its lights show, and channel 5 lights all four indicators at once. A remote parked on channel 3 will not move the shade paired to channel 1.
Power at the motor
An RTS motor listens only while it has power. Confirm the supply before blaming the radio.
- Plug-in 120V AC motors: test the outlet with a lamp, and check any wall switch or breaker feeding it.
- Hardwired 120V AC motors: check the breaker and any junction box on the circuit.
- 24V DC motors: confirm the plug-in transformer or power panel has output, and check the connector at the motor head.
- Second control test: try another paired remote or wall switch. If it moves the shade, the fault sits in the first remote.
Somfy's Telis table has one row for the worst case: a motor that neither moves nor beeps. Somfy sends that one to its assistance line, since the fault sits past anything a remote can fix.
Thermal protection after long runs
Somfy tubular motors carry thermal protection. Run a shade up and down too many times in a row, as installers do while setting limits, and the motor stops answering until it cools. Somfy publishes a thermal protection time for each motor on its product pages, for example 4 minutes for the Sonesse 40 Zigbee 409R2 (1245922) and 5 minutes for the Altus RTS 535A2 (1038168).
WireFree Li-ion motors show the cutout on the head. Somfy's instructions for the Sonesse 28 WireFree RTS and Sonesse ULTRA 30 WireFree RTS describe a red LED that blinks without stopping while the thermal protection is active. Wait for the drive to cool. The LED switches off when it is ready to run again.
WireFree charge level and the right charger
A battery motor with a flat cell looks like a dead remote from the couch. On the Sonesse 28 WireFree RTS and Sonesse ULTRA 30 WireFree RTS, Somfy uses a clear signal: the red LED blinks 5 times when you press any button on a paired control. That signal means the battery is near empty and needs charging before the next run.
Somfy rates a full charge at up to 6 hours. The head LED reads solid red while charging, blinks green twice every 10 seconds near the end, and turns solid green when full. The Somfy Lithium-ion Charger V2 Head (9025166) is the unit Somfy lists for the Roll Up 28 WireFree RTS V2 (Li-ion), Sonesse 28 WireFree RTS (Li-ion) and Sonesse ULTRA 30 WireFree RTS (Li-ion). Newer WireFree motors with a USB-C port take a different charger, so confirm against the charge port on the motor you own.
External-battery WireFree motors carry no cell inside the tube. They run from the Somfy Rechargeable Lithium-ion Battery Pack (9021217), and Somfy lists the same 9025166 charger for that pack. A pack left flat for months will stop the motor cold, so charge it before you touch the programming. The trade-offs between battery and wired power sit in our WireFree vs wired motor comparison.
One more cause in Somfy's WireFree table: a control point that is incompatible or unpaired. An RTS remote cannot drive a Zigbee motor. Our RTS vs Zigbee guide covers how to tell them apart from the part number.
Somfy's published motor reset procedures
A reset erases the paired remotes, and on most motors the limits too. Treat it as the last step, and have a remote and the motor's install guide ready before you start. The procedure differs by motor family. Match yours to the list below, or pull the install guide for your part number from our Somfy spec sheet library.
Altus RTS 120V AC motors, dual power cut (Somfy RTS Pocket Programming Guide):
- Remove power from the motor for 2 seconds.
- Restore power for 10 seconds.
- Remove power again for 2 seconds.
- Restore power.
- Once the shade stops moving, press and hold the PROG button on any transmitter until the shade jogs twice.
One breaker can feed more than one motor, and each motor on that circuit sees the same cut. Somfy's LT RTS CMO guide adds that a dual power cut will not register while the motor sits in factory or installer mode.
Sonesse 28 WireFree RTS and Sonesse ULTRA 30 WireFree RTS (Somfy product instructions):
- Press and hold the programming button on the motor head.
- Keep holding until the shade moves up and down 3 times.
- Release. The green LED blinks 5 times, then the orange LED stays solid, and the motor has returned to factory settings.
Sonesse 30 (ST30) and the CL32, CT32 and LT30 motors (Somfy RTS Pocket Programming Guide):
- Use a paperclip to press and hold the program button on the motor head.
- Hold until the shade jogs 3 times, then release. The motor erases its transmitters and limits and returns to factory mode.
After any reset, set the limits again and pair a remote following the install guide for your motor. Somfy motors hold up to 12 transmitters, so plan to pair each remote and wall switch in the house again.
Sources: Somfy RTS Pocket Programming Guide; Somfy Telis 1 RTS operating and installation guide (Ref. 5054463A); Somfy Sonesse 28 WireFree RTS and Sonesse ULTRA 30 WireFree RTS instructions; Somfy LT RTS CMO programming guide (Ref. 940123A); somfypro.com product pages for 1870571 and 1870575; somfysystems.com product pages for 1805237 and 9025166. Steps differ by motor generation, so check the install guide for your exact part number.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my Somfy remote light up but the shade does not move?
The remote is sending, so the problem sits between the remote and the motor. Stand under the shade to rule out range, check that a multi-channel remote shows the right channel, and confirm the motor has power. A motor that ran many cycles in a row may have tripped its thermal protection. A WireFree motor may need charging.
How do I reset a Somfy motor?
The method depends on the motor. Somfy's RTS Pocket Guide resets Altus RTS 120V AC motors with a dual power cut: off 2 seconds, on 10, off 2, on, then hold PROG on a transmitter until the shade jogs twice. Sonesse 30 and WireFree motors reset from the program button on the motor head. A reset erases paired remotes.
What battery does a Somfy remote take?
Somfy lists one 3V CR2032 coin cell for the Situo 1 RTS Pure II (1870571) and Situo 5 RTS Pure II (1870575). The Telis 1 RTS takes one 3V CR2430, and the Telis 1 Chronis RTS timer (1805237) runs on two AAA cells. Press a button after the swap. A lit indicator confirms a good install.
Why is the LED on my WireFree motor blinking red?
On the Sonesse 28 WireFree RTS and Sonesse ULTRA 30 WireFree RTS, five red blinks after a button press mean the battery is near empty. Plug in the charger, which takes up to 6 hours for a full charge. A red LED that blinks without stopping means thermal protection is active. Let the motor cool until the LED switches off.
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