Automate Your Curtain (natural Lighting)

I just moved to America to study abroad. Because my dorm is so dark, I want to make myself some lighting. Since I only been here for 1 months, I can't make anything too complicated, so I made a simple lamp. Using the power of the sun, this "lamp" is bright half of the time. This "lamp" provide different level of light by spining the shade by a certain degree. The design also have different features.

The design is simple so there can be 2 way to activate the curtains. I'm countrolling the curtain with a Sound sensor because it is cool. There is an alternative way in the last step, which only uses button to activate. The one that I show in the clip is the sound one, which activate when it detects 2 hand clap.

Step 1: What You'll Need

Arduino (I'm using NANO to save space; in the picture, it's attached to a shield for easy testing)

Adafruit sound sensor (optional)

Stepper motor + Darlington array driver

2-3 Button

1 LED for indication

Jumper wires and breadboard

Step 2: Prototyping

The first step I did was testing the design. I'm very sorry because I accidentally deleted the testing video clip and pictures by mistake, so it's kinda hard to explain.

The motor is connected to the 4 wire coming from the diagram. Because I don't know where to find the driver so I leave it blank. Depends on the direction of your curtain, you need to plug the driver accordingly

Basically, the first button from the right will activate the motor to spin an amount of round (you can change in the code); press it again 4 more times will return to the original place since it'll only spin a quarter of the amount of round (change the light level). The middle button will lock the circuit, so that the first button cannot activate the motor; the LED will turn on when it's locked. The final button will return the motor to original place no matter where is it at the time pressed. It's still a simple program, hope you guys understands

Step 3: Finishing the Project

After I finished the prototype, I simply change the input (button) into a sound sensor. The program was written by someone else, so sorry because I can't find it atm for some reason... I also modify the code a little bit (the spancondition is there so that there won't be interference).

I used foam board to make the holder for the motor and curtain handle. Because my dorm doesn't allow modding the wall, I used command tape to stick it in place.

The pause button is there so if your room gets too loud, you can lock it so that the curtain won't go crazy.

Note, you might want to adjust the potentiometer on the sound sensor to adjust the sensitivity

Step 4: Alternative Design

If you don't like sound control, you can simply use a button. In this design, there is only 2 button, activate and return (since the pause isn't needed). The activate is the same as before; the reset button will activate the LED as it returns the curtain back to the original place.

I hope that you enjoy my short instructable; I was planning to write a longer one but I'm really busy with college. I'm having a hard time getting used to it....