My solution only operates the tilt of the blind, raising them up and down would require a stepper motor and a lot more power.
The ESP8266 is a lot more power hungry than you would think. In deep sleep you can expect to see a ~41mA idle power consumption. On a 3000mAh battery that only gets you ~51 hours of battery life. For comparison my solution uses ~20uA (0.02mA) while idle. On the same battery I would get a theoretical battery life of ~12 years.
New batch of 40 board just arrived from China, unfortunately I don’t have the proper reflow oven to use RoHS compliant solder paste so I’ll have to wait until the new year to offer these to the public.
is there any integration of the actual switchmote switches possible with ST as a fork project from this? @jetpuf @blebson
I just looked at the actual switchmote switches having just seen this amazing blinds project, and I can’t believe there is not a full ST integration!
I wish you would/could do a kickstarter type project…probably much more than you want to get into, but there’s not a lot of great solutions out there 
I have multiple windows that all I need is for the twist rod to be turned one way or the other to get the blinds to open up…I could probably use 5-6 of them, at least.
You could probably use the same ESP8266 shield that I’m using with the SwitchMote though I don’t have any experience with it.
there seems to be a lot of regulatory considerations that make it difficult. I am planning on selling the Moteino Shield that allows the battery operation/solar charging/switch input/servo control but beyond that you’d have to fabricate/source everything yourself.
Its looking really good let me know when you get close to a finished project. This is a fantastic project great work
@blebson - OUTSTANDING! It was fun to read jetpuf’s whole thread then this one and watch your whole idea unfold like this. Well don sir. I have 2 questions I’d love a little more detail on please:
in jet’s setup he could use the percentage-slider on demand in the ST app to set any angle he wanted on the blind for partial light… Are you still able to do that too in your setup (if, so can Alexa do percentages by voice too)? Or did switching to the more efficient RF turn it into more of an on/off type command with only 2 preset points on the servo for open/closed?
I think using the base + motetino to save power instead of an ESP in any batt operated build is brilliant. This is the first project (of any kind) I’ve seen do that and it might resurrect 2 old ideas I gave up on because of batt consumption. Could you please point me towards whatever projects or documentation you read that helped you realize this could be done/ how to do it?
Much appreciated. And congrats on 9 months work to slay this dragon
I can use the slider to get 180 different angles, though realistically you’ll get more like 150 or so if you want the blind to close fully. The RF transmission uses a packet structure which allows me to both send and receive multiple types of data. The base station sends a group ID and the angle (1-180) and then after the blind moves to the request position it responds by sending back the battery percentage, the battery voltage, the charger status and a ‘success’ status.
I relied heavily on the lowpowerlab.com community. They are very helpful and helped me figure out the packet structure among other things.
Even cooler.
Thanks for the quick reply
Hey, awesome project! I’m working on using a combination of your gear box with @jetpuf esp8266 code and I’ve got everything working with the smart home but I’m totally lost on how I would make the paddle switch? Could you tell me where I could find a switch like the you are using? Is it an (ON)-OFF-(ON) momentary paddle switch? On a side note, I know you are using a different code with a low energy Bluetooth solution (great idea by the way) but do you know how I would make this work with the included “manual control through GPIO12 or D6 pin” in the @jetpuf code? Do I just send ground or 3.3v to the D6 pin depending on whether I want an open or close command to be sent? Any help would be amazing. I know my wife is going to want a manual method of control before she approves and I’m totally lost on that part. Thanks again for all the hard work and write up.
You just need to use two available digital pins and pull them up to 3.3v through a resistor. One pin will be ‘up’ and one will be ‘down’ in your code.
This is the switch that the gearbox is designed for: https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/nkk-switches/M2018TJG01-GA-1A/M2018TJG01-GA-1A-ND/663414
You’ll have to pull off the plastic face plate to make it fit and then remove and spray-paint the plastic paddle to match your blinds.
Wow you’re a genius. So does his “manual control” pin in @jetpuf code have no role in this switch? I’ll try to google some tutorials for how to write code for Arduino. It’ll be a first for me if I can pull it off. I’ve only ever used/read other people’s code. On the 3.3v resistor, the power pins on my esp8266 already show 3.3v so would I need a resistor? It’s interesting that positive voltage can make it go either direction depending on the pin that’s talking to it. Is your reference to “up” and “down” meaning open and close for my blinds or is that a coding term? Thanks for the quick reply by the way! I ordered the switches already. Eventually I’ll figure this out. Looking forward to learning how to code some.
The idea with putting in a resistor is to drop the amperage of the signal so that you’re not dumping a ton of current into the pin. You can take a look at some of my code for the blinds to see how I use the switch input to move the blinds up/down.
@blebson Thanks for your help. Just wanted to let you know that I got the toggle switch working. That was so cool to learn how to write a little bit of code. My only issue now is a working power source. I saw your numbers on the power draw but being stubborn as I am I had to try it myself. There is no way to run this ESP8266 chip with solar power I’m afraid. I got a cheap 3000 mA solar recharged battery pack off of Amazon and put it in direct sunlight on the window and it’s almost dead after just one day. I saw that you will be selling the pre-flowed board for your Bluetooth hub starting in the new year. Is there any chance I could buy one from you? I’d love to change over to your idea completely. I’m already using the Wemos D1 Mini so that should save me some money. Would I have to flow any thing else on my own? I guess I’m going to order some long micro USB cables for the time being even though it’s a rather unsightly solution in my wife’s eyes. Thanks again for taking your time to help a dummy like me. I couldn’t be happier that accomplished this.
You’ll have to create the D1 Mini shield, the github link is in the parts list in the first post. You’ll want to make sure you make the shield with the same RFM chip as your Moteino is using. I used the RFM69W 915Mhz chip.
Do you have any bare boards for sale? Or even better, a schematic for the exact Board that You Used? The ones In the Github repo look to be diffrent from the blue ones in your pictures.
I’m just reading about Moteino’s for the first time thanks to your post. And am hoping to replicate as much of this project as I can for learning purposes. If at the end im able to have a functioning set of rf controlled blinds then that’s an added bonus to my project. Thanks.
I have a bunch of bare PCBs ready for reflow, I’m getting my reflow oven
shortly and will hopefully have boards for sale very early in the new year.
That’s great! I can’t wait. In the meantime I think I’m going to buy a moteino and a D1 mini to play with.
I’m just about ready to open my Tindie shop for these Moteino shields. They’ll be $25 + shipping. I currently have 5 available with more parts on the way for more.
