The MorningRope: Automate Your Curtains

thingiverse

Do you struggle waking up in the morning? Do you have a south-facing window and want to save money on cooling? Do you know someone who is disabled and has difficulty moving around? Do you ever want instant privacy in your home? Do you hate when people look into your home at night? Do you wish people couldn't tell when you were on vacation? **The MorningRope will help with all of that. It is a smart curtain opener that automatically opens and closes your curtains for you.** The device is completely hidden so it looks great in any home, and uses off-the-shelf curtains that can be purchased for $18 on Amazon. It will open all your home curtains every morning, letting light into your home and waking you up. **NOTE: Requires Home Assistant or knowledge of sending HTTP requests** It figures out the exact sunrise and sunset time of each day and keeps your curtains closed when it gets dark, no matter what time it is. **It will change your life.** ![video]() <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Tz5CYtlrzns" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> # How It Works It works by pulling a string that is connected to each curtain panel. There are two buttons on the motor that let you open/close it via pushbutton. ![video]() Up close of how the string is pulled by the motor. ![video]() On the rod, you attach a pulley to both wall mounts using a zip tie (#1 & #4). You then attach a carriage to the back of each curtain panel (#2 & #3). The string is connected to the pulley and carriages (red dashed line) and causes them to open and close as the motor turns.  # Smart Home Integration There are 2 versions of firmware to use. 1) The first is Home Assistant's ESPHome. It is very simple to use, but does require you have knowledge of Home Assitant [Follow these instructions](https://help.valarsystems.com/docs/VAL-1000/ESPHome) to learn how to set up in Home Assistant. 2) You can also set it up in any browser and use HTTP requests to trigger it. While this is very simple, you need a hub or device of some kind to trigger these requests such as Smarthings, or a Raspberry Pi, or really anything that's on the local network. This method is 100% local and does not use the internet. You can [view the code here](https://github.com/daniel-frenkel/Valar-Systems/tree/master/VAL-1000) # How to Build All parts except for the PCB are available from Amazon and McMaster-Carr. The PCB is custom-made and sold by me. There are two ways you can build this. ### 1) Buy a kit that includes the hardware ### 2) Purchase all hardware on your own. I recommend purchasing the PCB and hardware kit from my shop for $79 USD. You will then need to buy a stepper motor. (about $10) and 12V power supply (around $10) as well as 3D print the parts. If you want to buy all of the screws, pulleys, bearing, on your own, it will cost at least $150 USD because many of the parts are from McMaster-Carr, so if you only need 1 screw, you need to purchase a box of 100, which is why it's more expensive to buy on your own. You can [purchase a kit from here](https://valarsystems.com/products/s1-adjustable-curtain-opener) that includes all hardware and PCB. Then you can buy your own motor and power supply from Amazon which keeps the price low. If you want to buy everything yourself, here are the parts: And here's the build video: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/D2XbAFMFN6s" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> String [1](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071G2F3LK) Zip Tie [2](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06X6KGKWQ) PTFE Tube [1](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07F5XQ8JZ) M3 Wing Nut [2](https://www.mcmaster.com/94300A120/) M3 Clamp Screw [4](https://www.mcmaster.com/91287A022/) Plastic Carriage Screw [3](https://www.mcmaster.com/90380A108/) Pulley [3](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DNZTSG4) Pulley Screw Double [1](https://www.mcmaster.com/92010A788/) Pulley Screw Single & Clamp [3](https://www.mcmaster.com/92010A122/) Wall Mount Screw [1](https://www.mcmaster.com/92800A537/) Wall Mount Nut [1](https://www.mcmaster.com/97400A135/) Wall Anchor [2](https://www.mcmaster.com/66615A7/) Wall Anchor Screw [2](https://www.mcmaster.com/90031A151/) PCB Screw [4](https://www.mcmaster.com/90380A005/) Motor M3 Screw Short [2](https://www.mcmaster.com/91294A130/) Motor M3 Screw Long [2](https://www.mcmaster.com/92125A141/) M3 Nut Square [6](https://www.mcmaster.com/97259A101/) Clamp Bearing [2](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FW18RQ) Clamp Holding Screw [1](https://www.mcmaster.com/92005A133/) Pulley [1](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KJONSRS) PCB [1](https://valarsystems.com/products/val1000-all-in-one-motion-controller) Motor [1](https://www.amazon.com/17HS4401-1-8%C2%B02-Phrase-Universal-Electric-Engraving/dp/B07C1MVTZC) Power Supply [1](https://www.amazon.com/TMEZON-Power-Adapter-Supply-2-1mm/dp/B00Q2E5IXW)