romor / blind-control Goto Github PK

If I use the raspi's 3.3 volt or one of the GPIO pins as output and set both to 0/1 and connect it to the pin on the button and then the ground on the remote or raspi nothing happens but if I use a wire and short circuit the 2 vertical pins or one of the pins and ground (see video) the blinds go up and down. Is there a solution to this or will I have to use optocouplers/isolators like this.
video

Hello!

First of all, thanks for sharing your project, and sorry to bother you with a n00b question. (disclaimer: I'm good at software, but very bad at electronics)

Thing is, I have this very basic setup, in which the RTS remote, with the battery removed, is powered up by the pi. Red cable is 3.3V, black is GND. I have removed the buttons.

Thing is, if I short-circuit two button pins with a cable, the blind will go up and down.

But if I short circuit GND and one of the pins (I've tried them all), nothing happens. As far as I know, what the button does is exactly short-circuiting GND and the other pin, right?

Am I doing something stupid? I'd really like being able to control the blind with the pi but...

If I cannot do this this way, I'll try the opto capacitor way, but it looks unnecessarily complex as you say in the docs, also I'm not receiving my opto capacitors until the end of the month so I'll have to wait 😄

Thanks in advance and sorry to bother!

The Somfy Telis 5 RTS provides the interface to the radio signal. I use this unit as it is and just solder wires to the button lines to control them automatically. The buttons seem to be connected to pull up resistors and close contact to ground if pressed. Therefore, I soldered wires to each button and the GND connection. Notice that the Somfy Telis remote is powered by the Raspberry Pi. Its battery is removed and the contacts are connected to the 3.3 V supply of the RPi. There are 2 good places to put the supply wires on, with holes where they can easily be soldered.

Can you please provide the connection diagram on the Somfy remote - which terminals on the Somfy remote did you solder? (the picture you provided is difficult to see)

These wires are connected to the GPIO interface of a Raspberry Pi. To simulate a button press, the GPIO pin of the RPi is set to zero, to release the button again the GPIO pin is set to high impedance state (thus reconfigured as input).

Are you using limiting resistors or just connecting directly to the GPIOs?