Rooflight smart control integration works by adding a gateway that bridges the rooflight’s own radio protocol, usually 868MHz, onto your home network. The gateway is what gives you app control, schedules, humidity and temperature triggers, and links to platforms like Apple Home, Google Home or Alexa. It sits on top of the handset and wall switch, it does not replace them, and the decisions that matter, gateway position, power, blind pairing and how many units you are grouping, have to be made before the install rather than after.
That last point is the whole reason this page exists. Nearly every awkward smart rooflight job we survey is awkward because someone specified the rooflight first and thought about control later. Retrofitting a hard-wired wall switch to a handset-only system means chasing a wall. Adding a gateway to a system already commissioned means finding a socket and a network signal in a spot nobody planned for.
What the gateway actually is, and why it exists
An electric rooflight does not speak Wi-Fi. The handset and the receiver inside the unit talk over a low power radio link, typically 868MHz in the UK, chosen because it penetrates domestic construction well and draws almost nothing. Range is normally 20 to 30 metres through walls and floors. Our page on how electric rooflights open covers the actuator side of that in one place; here we are only concerned with the control layer above it.
The gateway is a translator. On one side it pairs to the rooflight exactly as a handset does. On the other side it sits on your home network over Wi-Fi or ethernet, and exposes the rooflight to an app and to whatever home automation platform you use. It has to be within radio range of every unit it controls and within network range of your router, and those two constraints do not always point at the same cupboard.
Gateway, hub, or both
The words get used loosely, so it is worth separating them.
| Layer | What it is | Works without internet? | Decide before install? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Receiver in the unit | The radio board inside the rooflight that drives the actuator | Yes | Comes with the unit |
| Handset | 868MHz remote paired direct to the receiver | Yes | Quantity and grouping, yes |
| Wall switch | Hard-wired plate or battery wireless plate | Yes | Yes, hard-wired must be planned before plastering |
| Manufacturer gateway | Bridges the rooflight radio onto your network, gives an app | Local control usually yes, remote access no | Yes, position, power and network |
| Third-party hub | Home Assistant, Homey, a smart home controller that talks to the gateway | Depends on the integration | Useful to flag at survey |
| Voice assistant | Alexa, Google, Siri, sitting above the hub or gateway | Usually no | No, add any time |
Most homes need one gateway and nothing else. A gateway will typically handle a group of rooflights in the same building, so a kitchen extension with three opening units and a landing rooflight is one gateway, not four. If you already run a home automation hub, the normal pattern is gateway first, hub talks to gateway. Very few rooflight systems integrate direct into a third-party hub without the manufacturer’s gateway in the chain, and anyone telling you otherwise is usually describing an unofficial integration that breaks when the firmware updates.
Refuse anything sold as app-only. If the only way to open a rooflight is a phone with a working internet connection, you have a rooflight that stops opening when your broadband goes down, when the manufacturer retires a server, or when a visitor needs to vent a hot kitchen and does not have the app. Every system we fit keeps the handset and the wall switch working independently of the gateway. App control is a layer on top, and it is the layer we are happiest to lose.
Scheduling, humidity and the triggers that earn their keep
Once a gateway is in, the rooflight becomes a device that can act on a rule rather than on a button press. Most of the marketing around this is nonsense. A few of the rules are genuinely useful, and they are worth setting up properly at handover rather than leaving to a rainy Sunday six months later.
Timed purge ventilation
The most useful schedule in a kitchen extension is a short purge in the morning. Open the rooflight to a small stroke, say 100 to 150mm, for twenty minutes after the heating comes off, then close it. That shifts overnight moisture from cooking, drying and breathing out of the top of the room, where it collects, without cooling the house down. Part F puts purge ventilation for a habitable room at an openable area of at least 5 per cent of the floor area, and a rooflight at ceiling level is the most effective openable area you can have, because warm damp air stratifies up there. Our page on ventilation shortfalls in sealed extensions goes into where that shortfall actually comes from.
Humidity triggers
Better systems accept a humidity sensor and will vent above a set relative humidity. This is the trigger that does the most real work in Suffolk housing stock, and it is the one people set up last.
- Set a threshold, not a target. Something in the region of 65 to 70 per cent relative humidity is a sensible trigger point for a kitchen or a bathroom-adjacent landing. Below 60 per cent you will get a rooflight that opens constantly in normal winter conditions.
- Sensor position matters more than the threshold. A sensor directly above a hob reads steam, not room humidity, and will cycle the unit every time somebody boils a kettle. Off to one side, at ceiling level, away from the extractor path.
- Pair it with a minimum outside temperature. A humidity rule that opens a rooflight at two degrees in January is a heating bill. Most systems will let you gate the rule on outdoor temperature or on time of day.
- It does not replace background ventilation. Trickle vents and mechanical extract still do the continuous duty. The rooflight does purge duty. Our comparison of electric rooflights against trickle ventilation sets out where each one belongs.
Temperature and away rules
A rule that opens the rooflight above a set internal temperature and closes it when the room drops back is worth having, because the stack effect sheds heat from a glazed extension with no fan and no power. Part O overheating assessment credits openable area, and area at ceiling level is worth more in practice than the same area at 1200mm.
One tap to close everything as you leave, and a notification if a unit is still open, are the two features people actually use. Geofencing works well enough, but never rely on it as the only rain protection. The rain sensor is the rain protection: wired into the control unit, working with the broadband down, independent of any phone. If false triggering is the worry, our page on rain sensors that trigger falsely covers the failure modes.
Blinds, and why they are the reason to plan early
Rooflight blinds are the part of this that goes wrong most often, because a blind is a second motorised device in the same frame and the two have to be specified together.
Electric blackout and pleated blinds are available for most opening rooflights, in mains, battery and solar versions. They pair to the same radio system and the same handset, and once a gateway is in they appear in the app alongside the rooflight. That is the good news. The constraints:
- Power for the blind is a separate question from power for the rooflight. A mains rooflight does not automatically feed its blind. Some frames provide a blind connection point, some do not, and a battery or solar blind may be the sensible answer even on a mains unit.
- Retrofitting a blind to a unit not specified for one is usually possible but rarely tidy. The mounting brackets, the side channels and the connection point are designed in. Adding them later means visible fixings.
- Order the blind with the rooflight. Standard electric units run three to five weeks. A blind ordered afterwards is another lead time and another visit.
- Interlock the rules. An external awning blind and an open sash are a bad combination in wind. If you are fitting external shading, the automation needs a rule that retracts the awning before the rooflight opens, and most systems will do this if it is set up at commissioning.
On a south-facing rooflight, an internal blind is a comfort item and an external one is a heat control item. Neither is a substitute for the right glass. Solar control glazing with a g-value around 0.3 stops heat arriving rather than dealing with it afterwards, and that is a specification decision made when the unit is ordered.
What has to be decided before the install
This is the list we go through at survey. Every item on it is cheap to decide beforehand and expensive to change afterwards.
| Decision | If decided at survey | If deferred |
|---|---|---|
| Hard-wired wall switch position | Cable run at first fix, no making good | Chase a finished wall, or accept a wireless plate |
| Gateway position, power and network | Socket and network point planned in | Extension lead, or a gateway out of radio range |
| Number of units grouped | One gateway, one group, correct handset count | Re-pairing on a second visit |
| Blind type and power source | Ordered with the unit, brackets integral | Second lead time, visible fixings |
| Humidity sensor and its position | Sited away from the hob and extract path | A rule that cycles the unit every time the kettle boils |
| Heated rain sensor | Specified with the unit | Not retrofittable on most models |
| Battery backup for fail-safe closing | Wired in at second fix | Return visit and additional control gear |
| Third-party hub integration | Gateway chosen to suit it | Gateway that does not talk to your hub |
Two of those deserve a note. The gateway needs mains power and a usable network connection, which on a large house or a converted barn can mean a mesh node as well. And on coastal properties at Felixstowe, Harwich, Frinton or Aldeburgh, the control unit and any gateway go inside the warm envelope, never in a cold roof void, because condensation and salt-laden air do to a circuit board what they do to a 304 stainless bracket. Sealed cable entries and marine-grade glands are standard on our coastal work. Estuarine locations like Woodbridge, Wivenhoe and Shotley get upgraded fixings and sealed entries without the full marine specification, because moderate salt loading is not open-sea exposure and we are not going to price one as the other.
When the smart layer fails, and what happens next
Gateways get discontinued. Apps get rebuilt. Cloud services get retired. A rooflight fitted today should still open in fifteen years, and it will, provided the handset and the wall switch were kept in the design.
Where this bites is on older units. A rooflight from the mid 2000s may be on a discontinued radio protocol with no gateway path at all and no handset available to replace a lost one. That is not a fault to be fixed, it is an obsolete control system, and the honest answer is diagnosis then replacement of the control gear or the unit. We have a full page on obsolete control systems on older electric rooflights covering what can and cannot be brought forward. If a handset has simply stopped talking to a current unit, start with the first checks for a rooflight not responding to the remote before assuming anything worse.
For a mains unit, a power cut leaves the rooflight in whatever position it was in and no app will move it. That behaviour, and the three ways round it, is set out on what happens to an electric rooflight in a power cut. A solar unit is unaffected, because it carries its own battery.
Common questions about rooflight smart control integration
Do I need internet for my rooflight to work?
No, and you should not accept a system where you do. The handset and the wall switch talk direct to the receiver in the rooflight over 868MHz radio, which has nothing to do with your broadband. The gateway and the app are an extra layer. With the internet down, local control usually still works through the app on the same network, and the handset always works. Anything sold as app-only should be refused.
Will my rooflight work with Apple Home, Google Home or Alexa?
Usually, through the manufacturer’s gateway rather than directly. The gateway exposes the rooflight to the platform, and from there you get voice control and can include it in scenes with your lighting and heating. Which platforms are supported depends on the manufacturer and changes with firmware, so we confirm the current position for your specific unit at survey rather than promising it in advance.
Can I add a smart gateway to a rooflight I already have?
If the unit is on a current radio protocol, generally yes, and it is one of the few genuinely easy upgrades on an existing installation. The gateway pairs like an extra handset. If the unit is older and on a discontinued protocol, there may be no gateway that will talk to it, and the answer becomes replacing the control gear or the unit rather than adding to it.
Should the blind be on the same system as the rooflight?
Yes, and it should be ordered at the same time. A blind on the same radio system pairs to the same handset and appears in the same app, so you can run a single rule that closes the blind and vents the rooflight together. Ordering it later means a second lead time, a second visit, and mounting brackets that were not designed into the frame.
Get the control layer specified before the unit is ordered
Tell us the room, the roof type, how many opening units you are planning, and whether blinds or a home automation hub are in the picture. At survey we walk the cable route, check radio range and network coverage where the gateway will actually live, and put the control specification in writing alongside the rooflight itself.
The full picture on opening units, actuators and wiring is on our electric skylight installation page, and if you are still weighing cost against a manual unit, our electric or manual opening rooflight comparison is the place to start.
Request a fixed quote for an electric rooflight with smart control in Ipswich, Suffolk or north Essex. Every installation carries a 10-year workmanship guarantee, and the installers have 25 years fitting rooflights behind them.
Thinking about this job? We survey across Ipswich, Suffolk and north Essex and give you a fixed price before any work starts, with a 10-year workmanship guarantee.