[?] Motorising blinds in curved bay window.

[David Chapman]

Morning all!

I'd like to be able to motorise two small cord-operated roller blinds, and one larger one, that go around a bay window so that I can use an electronic timer to control opening and closing automatically at night and morning if/when the house is unoccupied.

There's not much room above the windows to mount motors and, if possible, I'd rather not have to use an elaborate belts and pulleys solution or anything that significantly detracts from the appearance of the room.

Quite often there's no local person that we can call on to come in and do the job manually twice a day.

I've spent some time pondering various possible ways to do this so I'm wondering if anyone in this NG has managed to devise an original answer to this type of problem.

Any constructive and/or interesting suggestions will be appreciated.

TIA - Dave.

[charles]

Swish make a motorised curtain rail which can be operated from either a timer or a light sensor. You might be able to adapt this.

[polygonum]

Won't actually help you at all, but I couldn't help but think of Pod, Homily and Arrietty being asked to help.

[Nick Odell]

Does the room above also have a bay window? In other words, have you got an underfloor space you can play with?

One other thought: once you have got it working, use it on a regular basis whether or not you are at home and iron out all the inevitable bugs. Nothing says 'this house is unoccupied' more than a twisted tangled blind haplessly trying to raise and lower itself all day.

Nick

[Dave Plowman (News)]

If they are already cord operated you can get motors which use the existing cords. More usually used for curtains where the motor is hidden by them, but the principle is the same.

Supplied the ones I use.