Install Your Own Automated Roller Blinds on the Cheap
Window shade automated with ESPHome and Home Assistant using an ESP8266 and 3D-printed parts.
While artificial light is easy enough to automate, window blinds and roller shades are a bit more mechanically complicated. Naturally, these take a bit more work to automate, but the build shown here is able to do the task with an ESP8266 board and some 3D-printed parts.
The automation setup uses a gearmotor to pull its ball chain one way or the other in order to raise and lower the window shade. Although these might seem fairly standard, after printing a few designs off the Internet that didn’t work correctly, the project's creator had to design his own gear assembly in Fusion 360. This is positioned to pull down on the bottom of the chain's loop for sufficient pulling capabilities, and everything is anchored by a 3D-printed enclosure.
When a stepper motor wasn't able to lift the heavy blinds, a 40 RPM geared DC motor was instead implemented to accomplish the task in around 20-30 seconds. An encoder to track rotations, along with an end stop switch for homing duties.
The motor is controlled with an L298N driver board, which runs on 12VDC and supplies 5V for the Wemos D1 mini ESP8266 module. ESPHome firmware is installed on the ESP8266, allowing automation via Home Assistant.