Trying to figure out the cheapest way to raise up and down horizontal mini blinds. I am not interested in controlling the tilt.

Here's how I see it...

MiniBlind -> Motor -> Controller -> PC

I'm trying to pick out the smallest and cheapest motor that will have enough power to raise and lower the blinds. Does anyone have any ideas what kind of motor will be the best/cheapest for this?

Thanks,
Chris

 

Hi, How about finding an old window opener from a car? They can be found in junk yards or ebay very cheap.Some units have gear ruduction built in . Good luck

 

A car window electric motor

 

Thanks.

What kind of motors are these? Are they just DC 12V stepper motors? Can I control them with relays?

Thanks,
Chris

 

Believe it or not, there are X10 blind activators. Combine this with a cheap Firecracker interface and some free X10 software and you're home free. Search for home automation. If you still want to roll your own, any of the relay based X10 modules will drive a gear motor just fine. The easy and inexpensive serial to X10 convertor enables all sorts of gadgets using OTS components at commodity prices. Hard to build for what you can buy this stuff for. And that's coming from a pretty strong DIY fan.

Regards

cww