Automated Tilt Venetian Blinds - Internal Stepper Motor and Servo motor Mounts

Mounts and code for attaching stepper/servo motors to venetian blinds in order to automate the tilt of the blinds.
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updated October 5, 2024

Description

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Mounts for attaching stepper/servo motors to venetian blinds in order to automate the tilt (open/close) of the blinds.

Motors are connected to an ESP8266 running ESPHome. 
Code files are also available for both. The code is not perfect, but it works!

Stepper motor setup and code inspired by/stolen from EverythingSmartHome's guide as well as TheHookUp's guide. 

Got the servo motor code base from SiyTek.

 

Requirements

  • Blinds with a hexagonal metal tilt shaft that runs the entire length which controls the tilt of the blinds when rotated. A 180° rotation of the tilt rod should adjust the blinds from fully closed in the up position, to fully closed in the down position. 
  • Cutting a small portion of the tilt shaft to accommodate the motor. I used bolt cutters to remove juuust enough. A handsaw should also work just fine. 
  • Worm gear wand for manual adjustment must be removed. 

Servo Motor

Been using these for at least 6 months on 3 windows (4ft10in x 4ft8in) and they're doing excellent!

Works much better than the Stepper motor. Only needs to be calibrated once, as the servo motor always knows it's current position.

There's some weirdness where if it's manually adjusted by hand it'll first VERY QUICKLY move to it's last assigned position, then adjust itself from there at a normal speed. But otherwise it's extremely reliable, has more torque, and can be set to a much higher speed if needed. Plus it requires less hardware and is a cheaper overall setup :)

Parts
Note

The Servo-to-rod mount is a very tight fit. I hit it with a heat gun for a second or two then press fit it onto the servo. 

“Cover: Open”, and “Cover: Close” work perfectly in Home Assistant.
Setting a tilt % via the “Cover: Set position” action doesn't work with the current code. But you can always set the “Blinds Position" number entity to set any position from fully closed down to fully closed up. 

 

Stepper Motor

I've had this one setup on a couple windows for the last 3-4 years. If the blinds are manually adjusted, it's “position” must be re-calibrated in Home Assistant. They've all since been replaced with the Servo version. 
Calibration is super easy, all you need to do is make sure they're set to “Closed”, and then manually close them. Once you've dialed it in, the distance for “Open” basically never has to be re-calibrated. 

I have also included “Zero Stepper Position” and “Max Stepper Position” buttons so calibration can be done purely through Home Assistant without the need for physical manual intervention. 

These are pretty quiet if set to a slow speed. But they lack torque. I was unable to set these up on some of my blinds due to them binding up at certain positions and being unable to overcome the small resistance. This can cause them to lose their position very easily as the stepper slips and does not fully open/close. 
The servos have absolutely no issues with the resistance and power through it like champs. 

Parts

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Model origin

The author remixed this model.

Differences of the remix compared to the original

Just took the footprint for mounting the servo/stepper motors as I didn't feel like modeling them from scratch. 

License