DIY electronic window shade? Anyone built one?

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Re: DIY electronic window shade? Anyone built one?

By forlotto
- Fri Jun 10, 2016 2:17 pm #48948 Thanks for your input xtal good to see you still kicking around !

I am not quite settled on a solution but I would think roll up and roll down is more up my alley. I rarely switch or mess with the windows I have blinds on more so looking for roll up and roll down in the room I have my movie theater in so I can make things dark with the push of a button blinds unfortunately still let in light which is great in most situations while still maintaining a level of privacy. However not quite as important to automate for me as they basically remain the same for me not because I am annoyed by making the changes nor want to make the changes I simply prefer it that way in the other rooms of my home little bit of light in blinds open etc...

Interesting though so you don't think this stepper motor would do the job?
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Re: DIY electronic window shade? Anyone built one?

By xtal
- Fri Jun 10, 2016 2:37 pm #48949 Yep this old fart is still around. I got side tracked building a satisfactory DS2450 slave and
working on an EC probe , I thinking of plastic casting it around nickle electrodes ......

Stepper should work if torque is high enough..
It make take a big stepper to pullup 5-6 feet of fabric? Then you have more complex electronics.
You won't really know until you try it..Does sound like fun... :D

Then again you could tell your neighbors, you're getting ready for the PURGE and put on
Black out shutters. :lol:
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Re: DIY electronic window shade? Anyone built one?

By Barnabybear
- Tue Aug 16, 2016 11:44 am #53095 Hi, sat on the patio enjoying a bit of sun and doing a bit of prep for the winter projects. Found this for the blinds project.
http://sunrise-sunset.org/api
Sending:
Code: Select allhttp://api.sunrise-sunset.org/json?lat=53.???????&lng=-1.???????&date=today&formatted=0

??????? = the rest of my location.

Returns:
Code: Select all{"results":{"sunrise":"2016-08-16T04:48:11+00:00","sunset":"2016-08-16T19:28:57+00:00","solar_noon":"2016-08-16T12:08:34+00:00","day_length":52846,"civil_twilight_begin":"2016-08-16T04:09:07+00:00","civil_twilight_end":"2016-08-16T20:08:01+00:00","nautical_twilight_begin":"2016-08-16T03:18:32+00:00","nautical_twilight_end":"2016-08-16T20:58:37+00:00","astronomical_twilight_begin":"2016-08-16T02:15:54+00:00","astronomical_twilight_end":"2016-08-16T22:01:14+00:00"},"status":"OK"}

Prity cool I thought - set and forget, the bedroom blinds can close at sunset if not already closed. It will save energy and is ideal when when we are away to make the house look lived in.
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Re: DIY electronic window shade? Anyone built one?

By forlotto
- Tue Aug 16, 2016 5:39 pm #53108 Hrmmm interesting so the API from what I am seeing grabs sunrise and sunset times so to make this data useful we would have to integrate scheduling into basic grab current time once every hour if hour matches then get minute if minute is < or = time then preform action if not subtract current minutes from timer value and set timer to carry out action. Errr something like that. This is good eventually I want to get into timers and complete automation but trying to get devices working at current this way I have building blocks working towards and end goal.
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