[Home Awesomation] has been working on automating his slat-style window blinds. His focus has been on adjusting the angle of the slats, not on completely retracting the shades. since the slat angle adjustment needs bit torque a servo motor turns out to be just perfect for the job. The good news is that the existing blinds in his house have room in the top enclosure to completely hide his add-on hardware.
The image above is a screenshot from the demo which you can view after the break. The top enclosure for the blinds is just shown at the top of the frame. here [HA] is demonstrating a few different manage designs which he has been trying out. You can see what appears like a Molex connector with some type of component connected to it. That’s an IR motion sensor and he’s really happy with its performance. He feels the same way about the black short-lived push switch sticking down next to the power cable. but his diy solution that works quite well is the pull string connected to a flexible piece of metal. When that metal bends enough to touch a stationary conductor it completes the circuit, telling the Arduino to start driving the servo.
The main idea behind the project is to poll a temperature sensor, closing the blind immediately to help keep the place amazing during the day. We figure if he’s already using a microcontroller to drive the project he might also throw a low-cost Bluetooth in module there and make it controllable with a smart phone.
[via Ariccio]