Overview

This is a shield for the LowPowerLab Moteino which gives you the following:

• LiPo power
• LiPo solar charging
• LiPo solar charging status (Charging/Not Charging/Full Charge/Error)
• Battery level input
• Servo control (any 6v 3 pin servo)
• 2 position switch input
• Extremely low power operation, ~20uA while sleeping (using low-powered listening mode for Moteino)

Please see Source Code link for detailed code examples, the schematic, and technical details.

Please note: You will need to create a bridge device which communicates with the Moteino in order to send commands. I personally used a WeMos D1 Mini shield and modified the "Low Power Listening" fork of the LowPowerLab RFM69 library to work with it (modified file in the GitHub link).

Requires a Moteino or Moteino compatable microcontroller in order to function.

Automated Blinds BOM

Please note with your purchase you will only get the 'Blind Automation Moteino Shield'. Everything else must be purchased separately.

One set per blind

• Blind Automation Moteino Shield (This product)
• Moteino with RFM Transceiver
• 3.7V LiPo Battery with 2.0mm JST connector (The bigger the better, obviously needs to fit in your blinds)
• 5V Solar Panel with 2.0mm JST connector (500mA max)
• Any high torque 6V servo with 3-pin connector (MG995, MG996R or MG946R recommended)
• Momentary Rocker Switch
• Set of 3D printed parts (Gear Box, 14 Tooth Gear, 19 Tooth Gear, Solar Panel Case, Moteino Case)

One set per system:

• WeMos D1 Mini
• D1 Mini Shield with RFM Transceiver (must be same family/frequency as chip in Moteino!)
• SMA to uFL Adapter
• SMA Antenna matching RFM frequency
• Set of 3D Printed Parts (Base Station Case, Base Station Case Lid)
• Micro USB Power Supply (Any Android phone charger should work)

See my Main Store Page for more items, I may stock some of the required parts depending on demand.

Background

After getting into home automation I decided that I wanted to automate my blinds both so that they will open up in the morning to wake me up, but also so they're closed while I'm away to save on heating and cooling costs. Unfortunately for me, I had already replaced most of the blinds in my house fairly recently with Premium Faux Wood Blinds from Home Depot. With this in mind, I set out to find an off the shelf solution to allow me to tilt my blinds up or down. Much to my dismay, I did not find anything I could purchase for a reasonable price that would allow me to add this functionality. This is where my idea to just do it myself came in.

After getting inspiration from other makers online, I set out to create my own automated blinds with the following requirements:

• Must fit completely within the upper housing of the blind itself
• Must be battery powered
• Must have decent battery life
• Must be solar recharged
• Must allow manual operation
• Must FULLY close the blinds (Has to be as dark as when using the default drawstring)
• Must be able to communicate with Samsung SmartThings hub

After many iterations of my design, I came up with a worthy solution. I would base it around a Moteino from LowPowerLab. This little board is an optimized Arduino with built-in RF capability. The biggest draw towards using the Moteino was their amazing "Low Power Listening Mode". This allows the Moteino to be mostly asleep while still listening for bursts of incoming traffic. This Moteino would communicate via RF with a WiFi base station utilizing the ESP8266 chipset. From there I would write some custom SmartThings code to allow communication between the bridge and my smart home. Please check out this link for more specifics on my final product: Battery Powered Solar Recharged Automated Blinds.

Compatibility

All of my designs are specifically for Premium Faux Wood 2.5" Blinds from Home Depot which you have to purchase separately. Installing this in other blinds may require modifications to the gearbox design.

3D Printed Parts

STL files for all required 3D printed parts are available on Thingiverse through the 'Design Files' link on this page. These are not included in your order. I currently do not own a 3D printer and am unable to sell printed parts. I will look into doing this in the future if there is sufficient demand.

Source code

Code examples are available on my GitHub through the 'Source Code' Link on this page.