Show HN: Building My Own Smart Roller Shades

Show HN: Building My Own Smart Roller Shades(osv.im)

3 points by ohleg 19 days ago | 1 comment

Hi HN - I built this project primarily in 2019–2020 after getting tired of manually opening and closing the roller shades in my apartment, and I finally finished writing it up.

It ended up spanning a custom PCB, ESP8266 firmware, a Hall-effect position sensor, parameterized OpenSCAD parts, AWS IoT, and Google Home integration. The system worked end to end, although I moved out before fixing a mechanical alignment issue that would eventually pull the drive wheel off its shaft.

The source code and design files are linked in the post. Mechanical and electrical design were the least familiar parts of the project for me, so I'd be especially interested in how others would approach the mounting and hardware. I'm also happy to answer questions about any layer of the build.

jumpalongjim 19 days ago |

I like this. I have manually operated blinds and the automated kits were expensive, but not more than about £60 each from memory. Anyway I've occasionally thought of doing something like this. I did something simple for my bedroom curtains 45 years ago.

Yours seems well integrated but does seem quite noisy.