Frequently Asked Questions

Not at all. If you’re standing 3 feet away from a moving Serena shade, you won’t hear much of anything. The sound levels are less than 44 dBA (decibels) for honeycomb shades and 38 dBA for roller shades: about the same level of sound you’d expect in a library and quieter than most refrigerators.

Yes. Our digital control circuitry makes sure that your shades move at the same speed. In fact, this circuitry can even compensate for battery voltage. If you have one shade (with brand new batteries) right next to another shade (with old batteries), they will still move at the same speed.

Shades save energy by:

• Reducing heating and cooling costs. Lowering shades in the summer prevents the sun’s harsh rays from heating up a room (and causing an air conditioner to work overtime), while raising them in the winter captures heat from those rays.
• Providing insulation. Serena insulating honeycomb shades have air pockets built into their fabric that provide insulation. These air pockets help keep your house cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.

A back cover is a piece of material that installs behind the brackets of an insulating honeycomb shade.

A back cover is a great option for a honeycomb shade mounted on the inside of a window frame. This piece enhances the look of the shade from the outside of the home by covering the brackets. The back cover also blocks light that may come in between the top of the headrail and the window frame.

Yes, you can damage powered shades by manually closing them. If your shade is not closing, please contact us at 855-573-7362 and we will assist you.

No. The Lutron app will control existing Serena shades.

Yes. The Lutron app can be downloaded in the App Store, or the Google Play store free of charge.

It’s easy! Simply install your shades and smart dimmers in the room. Connect the Smart Bridge to your wireless router. Then download the Lutron app and launch it on your smart device. Follow the instructions in the app to add devices to your system, set up favorite levels and scenes or schedules for automatic control.

Up to 50. A device could be a Serena shade, a plug-in dimmer or an in-wall dimmer, or your Pico remotes or 4-group remotes (the Smart Bridge itself counts as 1 device). However, the Smart Bridge is also limited by range – it covers all devices within an area of 2,500 ft². There is no RF extender to increase that range.

They are designed to work with dimmable LEDs and CFLs, halogen and incandescent bulbs. We have tested many commonly-used bulbs with these dimmers, and have put together a compatible bulb list. Bulbs on this list will have superior dimming capability with our dimmers.

Yes. If two smart devices are tied to the same Smart Bridge, the last button pressed will control the shades and lights in the space.

Dual-sided fabrics have a white backing. All Serena honeycomb shade fabrics and certain roller shade fabric collections are “dual-sided”. When dual-sided fabrics are selected, every room in the home can have a signature look on the inside and still maintain a uniform appearance on the outside. The white backing also helps reflect the sun’s rays, reducing HVAC costs and saving energy.

All Serena honeycomb and roller shades are made of 100% polyester or polyester/vinyl material and have proved durable under various testing conditions such as high heat and humidity levels.

Both roller and insulating honeycomb shade styles offer fire rated fabric options. For honeycomb shades, all single-cell fabrics are available with fire rating at an additional cost of $6 per square foot. For roller shades, all fabrics found in the Bistre and SheerLite families are fire rated. Please call a Serena Shades Specialist for more information.

“R value” is a measurement of thermal resistance – basically, how well something provides insulation. Larger R values mean better insulation, which translates to lower heating and cooling costs. Serena honeycomb shades have a fantastic R value – as high as 4.3. A typical double-pane window has an R value of 2.0, so adding a Serena shade can significantly increase the insulation of a window.

Our room-darkening and blackout fabrics prevent light from passing through the shade material. Depending upon the style and installation of the shade, gaps (light that can enter a room through the space between the edge of the shade and the window frame) may allow some light in around the edges of the window. Please refer to the chart below for further details:

Regular Cleaning

• Dust with a feather duster
• Lightly vacuum fabric with a brush type vacuum attachment

Soil Removal

• Sponge with a mild detergent and warm water solution and blot dry
• Blot with a solution of 1 part mild detergent and 3 parts warm water, then blot dry

Important Notes

• Use extra care when cleaning honeycomb room-darkening fabrics, as the fabric could become permanently creased
• Do not use strong detergents or spot removers
• We don’t recommend dry cleaning or ultrasonic cleaning

No – it's less expensive for you to buy batteries locally than to pay for Lutron to ship them to you due to their weight and shipping costs.

All Serena roller shades use D batteries. Serena honeycomb shades use either D or AA. Note: For maximum battery life we recommend Alkaline D and Lithium AA batteries.

Yes, the batteries will last 3-5 years on a 3' x 5' light-filtering shade, assuming the shade moves up and down twice a day, 365 days a year. That means the shade has the potential to move thousands of times on a single set of batteries. Note: For maximum battery life we recommend Alkaline D and Lithium AA batteries.

• Serena shades utilize standard (Alkaline) D-cell batteries, which are known for having a very long shelf-life (up to 7 years)
• Our shades have an efficient hybrid-drive design. We augment our motor with an energy storage system, like a hybrid car, that allows us to more efficiently raise and lower the shade
• The design uses ultra-low standby power that is like the electricity drawn from electronics even when they are turned off. Old electronics, like TVs, may draw 10 watts of electricity or more when in standby. Modern “green” devices draw up to 1 watt of power when in standby. Our shades draw 1/1,000th of a watt in standby!

When your shade's batteries are getting low they will begin moving at half speed. This provides you with a visual indication that you need to change the batteries.

Depending on the type of shade, the shade size and the fabric selected, Serena Shades will use either AA Lithium or D Alkaline batteries. The number of batteries required is published during the design process, at the shopping cart and in your order confirmation email.

We haven’t seen any 1.5 volt Lithium D cells. If you find some, please let us know.

We do not recommend them. Rechargeable batteries tend to have a very high “self-discharge current” and don’t hold a charge for very long. In other words, most rechargeable batteries will be drained when used in a Serena shade after only a few months.

Changing batteries in honeycomb and roller shades is simple and does not require taking down the shade. The batteries for Serena honeycomb shades are conveniently housed within the headrail or behind the headrail in a slim external battery pack. The batteries for our roller shades are housed inside the cassette. Both provide a clean look and a simple process for changing batteries.

Insulating honeycomb shades between 14.5” (368mm) and 22” (559mm) wide have an external battery pack behind the shade that can be accessed for battery changes without taking the shade down.