I figured I need a new time-sink, and what better than to make something useful?
For starters I'm going to use the UNO R3(got the starter kit) as a remote, and I was thinking of using either a Micro or Nano as a controller for the curtains, but I need some advice on what modules I could/should use.
As I have never played around with either Wifi or BT I do not know what the best option is, but hopefully someone here could shed some light on that issue.
Furthermore, if this project goes well I am thinking of expanding to light control, but lets take one thing at a time.
So basically, these are my questions:
Should I use Bluetooth or Wifi, what is simplest to use and require the least components?
What card should I use for the curtain controller, keep in mind that the module has to be compatible.
I actually built motorized curtains using a Raspberry Pi.
Using an Arduino would be quite similar.
Basically the Raspberry Pi acts as a webhost (it's HTML/PHP/Python powered) so the curtains can be controlled from PC/tablet/phone. Whenever a button on the webpage is pressed, PHP loads a Python script that controls a stepper driver through GPIO.
Making the curtains control themselves automatically based on ambient light levels is IMO more useful as well as being easier to implement. If you want a manual remote control then the biggest design decision will be what you want to use for the remote control device. If it's a smartphone / tablet then a web based UI would be the most obvious approach to take. If you add an Ethernet or WiFi network interface to the Arduino you can have it host a simple web site to control the curtains and show the status.
If you want to make this service accessible from outside your home network then you should consider security requirements too.
I'm going to add ambient light control as well, but I will need a manual override for move nights etc.
Although the web based UI is a very good idea, I had not considered that.
I suppose I could host the site on my server, and the various devices connects to the server.
I still need some advice and or recommendations for what card and modules I should use as the curtain controller. The smaller the better.
I did at one point consider the Pi, but it's quite a bit better equipped than what I need, not to mention far to big.
My curtain controller uses a Baby Orangutan (a clone with a integral dual h-bridge driver), a micro motor with an integral 180:0 epicyclic gearbox, a 12V smps wall wart power supply, and an RF24L01+ transceiver for remote control and logging from a PC. It's triggered by an LDR. All the components are tiny - the biggest part is the motor / gearbox which is about two inches long and half an inch in diameter.
@PeterH That is exactly what I'm looking for! I've just taken a brief look at the components, do the transceiver come with documentation on how to set up?
@dave-in-nj Those are good suggestions, but I think I'll focus on getting the curtain control up and running first.
Christoffer:
do the transceiver come with documentation on how to set up?
Look at ManiacBug's RF24 library - it includes plenty of examples to show how to use it.
The main caveat with these RF24L01+ transceivers is that the normal unamplified ones have a very short range - they will struggle to go through a wall, for example.
