Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Anyone retrofitted automation to plantation shutters?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Anyone retrofitted automation to plantation shutters?

    Hi All

    I have wooden shutters with tilting slats (like plantation shutters) in my house. I'd like to automate them (open/close slats - about 180 degree rotation) without butchering the originals if possible. I'm happy to attach stuff but would prefer not to cut them up in any way.

    Replacing them is out of the question, so this rules out most of the commercial products such as Somfy/HD/etc.

    I thought about a stepper motor, but not sure how it would work if the shaft wasn't centered on the rotational axis.

    Don't see how anything that would push or pull the edge of the slat would work as it would be on the back in one position and the front in another.

    Any suggestions?

    Regards

    mark
    ________________________

    Dell Zino HD - HSPRo 2.x
    HSTouch - iPhone 3GS, 4S, iPad2 and iPad 3, 3xKindle Fire (Wall mounted)
    2 x Brultech ECM1240 with UltraECM
    USB UIRT
    Cooper Aspire Z-Wave Switches
    WGL800 w ACRF2 and 3xDS10a (Sump Level/Activity sensing)
    HM ST812-2 Flood Sensor
    HSM100 - Motion Detector with Light and Temperature
    2GIG Thermostat
    BLDSC - Alarm Plug-in
    BLUPS
    UltraLog (SQL2008)
    Jon00 Plugins
    Host XR3 BT and Jon00 BT Proximity
    Global Cache IP2IR
    Foscam FI8918W

    #2
    Can you post a picture of one of the shutters so it will help us visualize a Rube Goldberg solution.
    💁‍♂️ Support & Customer Service 🙋‍♂️ Sales Questions 🛒 Shop HomeSeer Products

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by Rupp View Post
      Can you post a picture of one of the shutters so it will help us visualize a Rube Goldberg solution.
      Attached. I was thinking "Heath Robinson"
      Attached Files
      ________________________

      Dell Zino HD - HSPRo 2.x
      HSTouch - iPhone 3GS, 4S, iPad2 and iPad 3, 3xKindle Fire (Wall mounted)
      2 x Brultech ECM1240 with UltraECM
      USB UIRT
      Cooper Aspire Z-Wave Switches
      WGL800 w ACRF2 and 3xDS10a (Sump Level/Activity sensing)
      HM ST812-2 Flood Sensor
      HSM100 - Motion Detector with Light and Temperature
      2GIG Thermostat
      BLDSC - Alarm Plug-in
      BLUPS
      UltraLog (SQL2008)
      Jon00 Plugins
      Host XR3 BT and Jon00 BT Proximity
      Global Cache IP2IR
      Foscam FI8918W

      Comment


        #4
        my try would be the stepper motor with a approx 3" disk on shaft
        this would give approx 6 " travel to move center support

        could also use arm instead of disk
        Ubuntu on the Intel NUC ( 8i5BEK ), 32 G, 250G SSD, V4 Pro 😎

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by gearyt View Post
          my try would be the stepper motor with a approx 3" disk on shaft
          this would give approx 6 " travel to move center support

          could also use arm instead of disk
          Hi gearyt

          Thanks for reply. I'm having problems visualizing how it would be assembled/work

          any chance of a sketch?
          ________________________

          Dell Zino HD - HSPRo 2.x
          HSTouch - iPhone 3GS, 4S, iPad2 and iPad 3, 3xKindle Fire (Wall mounted)
          2 x Brultech ECM1240 with UltraECM
          USB UIRT
          Cooper Aspire Z-Wave Switches
          WGL800 w ACRF2 and 3xDS10a (Sump Level/Activity sensing)
          HM ST812-2 Flood Sensor
          HSM100 - Motion Detector with Light and Temperature
          2GIG Thermostat
          BLDSC - Alarm Plug-in
          BLUPS
          UltraLog (SQL2008)
          Jon00 Plugins
          Host XR3 BT and Jon00 BT Proximity
          Global Cache IP2IR
          Foscam FI8918W

          Comment


            #6
            I just happened to come across this a few days ago.
            http://www.mysmarthomeblog.com/page--23.html
            You may not need to hack up your shutters and attach the servo on the inside surface instead.

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by mfreese View Post
              I just happened to come across this a few days ago.
              http://www.mysmarthomeblog.com/page--23.html
              You may not need to hack up your shutters and attach the servo on the inside surface instead.
              I saw that too at weekend. Looks fantastic and would like something similar, but can't picture how it would work with something connected off center. The key to his success seemed to be that he cut one of the shafts.
              ________________________

              Dell Zino HD - HSPRo 2.x
              HSTouch - iPhone 3GS, 4S, iPad2 and iPad 3, 3xKindle Fire (Wall mounted)
              2 x Brultech ECM1240 with UltraECM
              USB UIRT
              Cooper Aspire Z-Wave Switches
              WGL800 w ACRF2 and 3xDS10a (Sump Level/Activity sensing)
              HM ST812-2 Flood Sensor
              HSM100 - Motion Detector with Light and Temperature
              2GIG Thermostat
              BLDSC - Alarm Plug-in
              BLUPS
              UltraLog (SQL2008)
              Jon00 Plugins
              Host XR3 BT and Jon00 BT Proximity
              Global Cache IP2IR
              Foscam FI8918W

              Comment


                #8
                the pic shows what both of us are talking about
                imagine the center connected to a stepper motor that will step 1 - 180 degrees
                connect the arm and depending on the length it will rotate 1/2" near the center, 4" near the edge
                Ubuntu on the Intel NUC ( 8i5BEK ), 32 G, 250G SSD, V4 Pro 😎

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by gearyt View Post
                  the pic shows what both of us are talking about
                  imagine the center connected to a stepper motor that will step 1 - 180 degrees
                  connect the arm and depending on the length it will rotate 1/2" near the center, 4" near the edge
                  Sorry still not getting it. Should there by a pic attached to your post?

                  When you say the "center connected", are you talking about the vertical rod on the shutters? If so. not sure that's going to have adequate WAF as it will be on the interior of the shutter, so visible to all.

                  If not, do you mean the pivot point of the horizontal slat? I could see how that would work if it was on the rotational axis. If not I'd need to come up with some kind of eccentric movement wouldn't I? I've attached a very crude sketch (looking from side). The Green dot is the rotational axis of the slat. The blue square is a stepper and the X in the middle is the shaft. Os if I connected to the out edge of the slate to rotate as show by red arrow, (there would be a linkage from the disk to the top tip of the red arrow) would it be tricky to get the correct arc.

                  One other issue that just occurred to me, what would happen if the wife or cleaner moved the slats by hand? Would the stepper move OK? I don;t know do much about steppers--yet: do i tell it to move X degrees or move to point X? (I see the former being an issue if someone moves the slats manually)
                  Attached Files
                  ________________________

                  Dell Zino HD - HSPRo 2.x
                  HSTouch - iPhone 3GS, 4S, iPad2 and iPad 3, 3xKindle Fire (Wall mounted)
                  2 x Brultech ECM1240 with UltraECM
                  USB UIRT
                  Cooper Aspire Z-Wave Switches
                  WGL800 w ACRF2 and 3xDS10a (Sump Level/Activity sensing)
                  HM ST812-2 Flood Sensor
                  HSM100 - Motion Detector with Light and Temperature
                  2GIG Thermostat
                  BLDSC - Alarm Plug-in
                  BLUPS
                  UltraLog (SQL2008)
                  Jon00 Plugins
                  Host XR3 BT and Jon00 BT Proximity
                  Global Cache IP2IR
                  Foscam FI8918W

                  Comment


                    #10
                    a servo is the obvious choice for this.

                    easy to control and fairly cheap.

                    http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/sweep
                    HS3 Pro on Windows 8 64bit
                    53 Z-wave nodes(46 devices, 7 remotes), 15 DS10a's, 10 ms16a's, 9 Oregon Sensors, W800, RFXCOMtrx433, Way2Call, 3 HSTouch Clients, 2xRussound CAS44, Global Cache GC100-12,10 Rollertrol blinds(+ zwave) ,3 Squeezebox Radios and 1 Squeezebox Boom,DMX Arduino via ethernet,Rain8Net,3x Echo Dot's


                    Check out my electronics blog here:
                    https://www.facebook.com/RaptorsIrrationalInventions

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Originally posted by Raptor View Post
                      a servo is the obvious choice for this.

                      easy to control and fairly cheap.

                      http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/sweep

                      Everything I found about using servos was for vanetian blinds that you twist a rod to tilt. This don't have that. you have to physically move a rod or a slat and the challenge is the rod is in the front, so you can't move it without having an ugly device on front (can't be done from back) and AFAIK to swivel the slat you need to use an eccentric movement as the shaft of any motor/server will be off axis from the rotational center
                      ________________________

                      Dell Zino HD - HSPRo 2.x
                      HSTouch - iPhone 3GS, 4S, iPad2 and iPad 3, 3xKindle Fire (Wall mounted)
                      2 x Brultech ECM1240 with UltraECM
                      USB UIRT
                      Cooper Aspire Z-Wave Switches
                      WGL800 w ACRF2 and 3xDS10a (Sump Level/Activity sensing)
                      HM ST812-2 Flood Sensor
                      HSM100 - Motion Detector with Light and Temperature
                      2GIG Thermostat
                      BLDSC - Alarm Plug-in
                      BLUPS
                      UltraLog (SQL2008)
                      Jon00 Plugins
                      Host XR3 BT and Jon00 BT Proximity
                      Global Cache IP2IR
                      Foscam FI8918W

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Why not do as the posted video?
                        💁‍♂️ Support & Customer Service 🙋‍♂️ Sales Questions 🛒 Shop HomeSeer Products

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Originally posted by Rupp View Post
                          Why not do as the posted video?
                          The post by mfreese? because, as I mentioned, I don't want to hack up my shutters in order to experiment/test (or at all really)
                          ________________________

                          Dell Zino HD - HSPRo 2.x
                          HSTouch - iPhone 3GS, 4S, iPad2 and iPad 3, 3xKindle Fire (Wall mounted)
                          2 x Brultech ECM1240 with UltraECM
                          USB UIRT
                          Cooper Aspire Z-Wave Switches
                          WGL800 w ACRF2 and 3xDS10a (Sump Level/Activity sensing)
                          HM ST812-2 Flood Sensor
                          HSM100 - Motion Detector with Light and Temperature
                          2GIG Thermostat
                          BLDSC - Alarm Plug-in
                          BLUPS
                          UltraLog (SQL2008)
                          Jon00 Plugins
                          Host XR3 BT and Jon00 BT Proximity
                          Global Cache IP2IR
                          Foscam FI8918W

                          Comment


                            #14
                            I have no idea if or how well this might work, but what about something like the attached drawing? At the very least it would be easy to remove if it didn't work.
                            Attached Files
                            HS Pro 3.0 | Linux Ubuntu 16.04 x64 virtualized under Proxmox (KVM)
                            Hardware: Z-NET - W800 Serial - Digi PortServer TS/8 and TS/16 serial to Ethernet - Insteon PLM - RFXCOM - X10 Wireless
                            Plugins: HSTouch iOS and Android, RFXCOM, BlueIris, BLLock, BLDSC, BLRF, Insteon PLM (MNSandler), Device History, Ecobee, BLRing, Kodi, UltraWeatherWU3
                            Second home: Zee S2 with Z-Wave, CT101 Z-Wave Thermostat, Aeotec Z-Wave microswitches, HSM200 occupancy sensor, Ecolink Z-Wave door sensors, STI Driveway Monitor interfaced to Zee S2 GPIO pins.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Originally posted by reidfo View Post
                              I have no idea if or how well this might work, but what about something like the attached drawing? At the very least it would be easy to remove if it didn't work.
                              That was kind of what I was thinking. Will have to order up a few parts and try it
                              ________________________

                              Dell Zino HD - HSPRo 2.x
                              HSTouch - iPhone 3GS, 4S, iPad2 and iPad 3, 3xKindle Fire (Wall mounted)
                              2 x Brultech ECM1240 with UltraECM
                              USB UIRT
                              Cooper Aspire Z-Wave Switches
                              WGL800 w ACRF2 and 3xDS10a (Sump Level/Activity sensing)
                              HM ST812-2 Flood Sensor
                              HSM100 - Motion Detector with Light and Temperature
                              2GIG Thermostat
                              BLDSC - Alarm Plug-in
                              BLUPS
                              UltraLog (SQL2008)
                              Jon00 Plugins
                              Host XR3 BT and Jon00 BT Proximity
                              Global Cache IP2IR
                              Foscam FI8918W

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X