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For a long time I’ve been wishing for automatic window blinds for my living room. Those three window blinds are always closed and opened at the same time so it’s “too much work” (yes, laziness is the most common motivation for smart home systems).

However, there’s no affordable ready made solutions in market so why not to do it myself? Basically everything needed is an ESP8266, power supply and a servo. Rest of the components can tinkered and boughr from a local hardware stores.

So, here’s a solution/guide how I made my blinds smart. This specific guide might not work for your blinds since there’s a ton of different blinds with different mechanical parts, so please think and experiment first how to connect your blinds into a servo before buying the materials!

Materials needed
- Wemos D1 Mini
- DS3218MG 270 Servo (one per window)
- Be sure to order 270 degree servo. There are also 180 available, but that’s not enough at least for my blinds.
- 5v power supply (about 1A per blind)
- 5.5/2.1mm Female power connector (should fit in your power supply)
- Some wire with three cores (thick enough to handle 5V/1A power + signal. (e.g. 0.75mm))
- 3mm / 0.5 nuts
- Connection rod (one per window)
- Wire connectors/splitters

Optional (for easier installation):
- 1-pin dupont connectors (one per window)
- Female servo connectors (one per window)

Software & flashing:
- Arduino IDE
- blinds2mqtt software
- controller + servo case 3D model

Tools:
- 3mm/0.5 threading tool (depending of your connection rod)
- A soldering iron
- 3D printer”

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