Planet Arduino

Hacker “replayreb” recently obtained some IKEA FYRTUR motorized blackout shades, but wasn’t satisfied with the stock remote control that comes with them. Instead he wanted to be able to open and close the blinds with the same remote that he uses for AV equipment.

Rather than attempting to go through a home automation gateway setup, he simply opened up the remote and wired an Arduino Leonardo to use its GPIO pins as a low-voltage relay. An IR receiver was added to the Arduino, allowing it to take these signals and translate them into simulated button presses as needed. 

More info is available in replayreb’s tutorial and you can see it in action in the video below!

Blinds let you see out and let the light into your dwelling, then flip them down when you need privacy or darkness. They do, however, have their disadvantages in that the cords constantly get mixed up and tangled, and—most importantly—they’re not automated!

While we’ve seen several mods to the holder assembly for automation, cmp3mt’s device puts a different spin on things, holding the control rod with a sleeve made out of polymer clay, allowing it to turn with a continuous rotation servo.

The setup is powered by an Arduino Uno and features an LCD display for user feedback. A button is used for manual control, or it can operate via a timer or even based on a light-dependent resistor that enables it to open and close with the sun.