- A wired motor is quieter and never needs charging. It needs a 13A point inside the pelmet, decided at electrical stage.
- A battery motor is the honest answer for a resale flat where you are not hacking walls. Expect to recharge every 6 to 12 months.
- A retrofit motor drives your existing track. Cheapest, noisiest, and limited to a straight track in good condition.
- Measure the track length before you choose. Above about 4 m, a single motor on a heavy blackout curtain slows noticeably.
- Matter over Thread means the curtain works from Apple Home, Google Home and Alexa without a brand app.
Prices, measurements and counts in this guide are ELEVATED's own, recorded across our Singapore projects in 2026. They are not industry averages, and prices are ranges we review quarterly.
For most Singapore flats the answer is a wired motor in the living room and bedrooms, and a battery motor anywhere the power point was missed. The reason is not performance. It is that a wired motor draws from a 13A point hidden inside the pelmet, and that point has to be planned before the ceiling closes. Everything else about the decision is reversible; that one is not.
1. What do wired, battery and retrofit motors cost?
The prices below are the installed ranges we quoted across projects in 2026. They cover the motor, the track and fitting, and exclude the fabric.
- Wired motor — S$480 to S$850 per window. Runs from a concealed 13A point. Quietest, fastest, no maintenance.
- Battery motor — S$420 to S$700 per window. Rechargeable pack, usually via USB-C. Recharge every 6 to 12 months depending on how many times a day it runs.
- Retrofit motor — S$260 to S$450 per window. Clamps onto an existing track. Only sensible where the track is straight, in good condition, and you are not opening the ceiling.
A four-room flat with living, master and two bedrooms typically lands between S$2,400 and S$3,600 for curtains done properly.
2. How noisy is a motorised curtain, really?
Every brochure says "whisper quiet". Measured at one metre with a phone meter in a furnished room, our own Glide motors run at roughly 32 to 38 dBA wired, and 38 to 44 dBA on battery. For reference, a quiet bedroom at night sits around 30 dBA and a fridge hum is about 40 dBA.
The practical consequence: a wired motor opening the master curtain at 7am will not wake a light sleeper. A retrofit motor on an old aluminium track often will, because the noise comes from the track and the carrier, not the motor.
3. Which motor suits which window?
This is the table we work through on the floor plan.
- HDB living room sliding door, 2.4 to 3.6 m — wired, centre-opening. Single motor is fine to about 4 m of track.
- HDB bedroom window, 1.5 to 2.1 m — wired if the reno is happening anyway; battery in a resale you are not rewiring.
- Condo floor-to-ceiling, over 4 m — wired, and split into two tracks with a motor each. One motor dragging 4 m of blackout fabric is slow and audible.
- Bay window — a bendable track and a single wired motor. Retrofit motors will not follow the curve.
- Kitchen or service yard — a roller blind on a battery motor. Grease and heat make fabric curtains a poor idea here.
- Bathroom — roller blind, battery, and check the motor's humidity rating rather than assuming.
4. Why does the pelmet power point decide everything?
A wired motor needs a 13A socket inside the curtain box or pelmet, within about 1.5 m of the motor head. It is invisible once the pelmet is up. It costs very little while the electrician is already on site, and it is disproportionately expensive afterwards because the ceiling has to be reopened.
Our rule: put one in every room that has a window, including rooms where the client only wants blinds today. The most common regret we hear is a bedroom that was left out because the owner did not plan to motorise it, and changed their mind eighteen months later.
5. Why does blackout fabric still leak light?
Owners buy blackout fabric and then complain about a bright halo at the edges. The light comes past the sides and over the top, not through the cloth. Two fixes, both decided at carpentry stage:
- A recessed curtain box lets the track sit above the ceiling line, which removes the top gap.
- Return brackets bend the track back to the wall at each end, which removes the side gap.
Ask for both by name when the joinery drawings are being approved.
6. Which standard should the motor speak?
A curtain motor speaking Matter over Thread appears in Apple Home, Google Home, Alexa and Home Assistant without a bridge or a brand account. A motor speaking only a proprietary Wi-Fi protocol works until the manufacturer changes their cloud. We install our own Matter-over-Thread range for this reason, and we will tell you when a third-party motor is the better fit for an unusual window.
The Connectivity Standards Alliance publishes the device types Matter supports, window coverings among them; it is worth checking that any motor you are offered is actually certified rather than "compatible".
7. Which curtain scenes actually get used?
From what clients actually run after six months:
- Used daily: curtains open at sunrise plus thirty minutes; close at sunset; a bedside button that closes everything and turns off the lights.
- Used weekly: partial open to about 30 percent for daytime privacy in a facing block.
- Almost never used: voice control of individual curtains. People use a button or the schedule. Plan the button positions; do not rely on speaking to the room.
8. What should you avoid?
- Do not order fabric before the track type is settled. Blackout fabric on a retrofit motor is the pairing that generates the most complaints.
- Do not motorise a track that is already sticking. The motor makes a bad track worse and louder.
- Do not put the only control on a phone. Every motorised curtain we install gets a physical button within reach of where you would have pulled the cord.
See this in a finished home
Holland Village, a 4-bedroom condominium — photographs, the device list and what was decided on site. All projects.
Sources
Checkable references for the rules and standards cited above.
- Connectivity Standards Alliance — the Matter standard
- Energy Market Authority — electrical installation and safety
Questions people ask
Can I install smart curtains in a resale flat without hacking?
Yes. A battery motor on a new track, or a retrofit motor on the existing track, needs no wiring at all. You lose the concealed power point, which means recharging once or twice a year.
How long does a curtain motor battery last?
Six to twelve months in our projects, depending on how many open-close cycles a day it runs. A living room curtain on a sunrise and sunset schedule sits at the shorter end.
Are motorised curtains noisy enough to wake someone?
A wired motor measured at 32 to 38 dBA at one metre generally does not. Retrofit motors on older tracks are louder, and the noise usually comes from the track rather than the motor.
Do smart curtains work if the internet goes down?
Curtains on Matter over Thread keep working locally through the hub, including schedules and buttons. Only remote control from outside the home stops.
Can one motor handle a full-height condo curtain?
Up to about 4 m of track, yes. Beyond that we split the run into two tracks with a motor each, because a single motor pulling heavy blackout fabric across a long run is slow and audible.
Should the power point go in before or after the false ceiling?
Before. The point sits inside the pelmet or curtain box and has to be run while the ceiling is open. Adding it afterwards means reopening the ceiling.
Tell us about your space.
Send your floor plan on WhatsApp. We reply with questions first, then drawings and a line-by-line quote.
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