Electrical engineers: Remote control/automation question?

Question

I have a cabinet with a sliding door and I want to automate it and control it with a remote control.

I figured I could buy a small motor with a cord/pulley connected to the door, and I could probably buy a generic remote somewhere.

Can someone tell me how to make this work or a book or website that can help me out?

I assume I would need a small dc motor that opens the door and reverses current to close the door? Is that right? How would it know when to stop? And what kind of device is used to reverse the current? Or should it be done a completely different way?

I appreciate the help.

Answer 1

A DC motor is a good idea.

Typically, you'd install "limit switches" - either contact, optical or magnetic, at the fully closed and fully open positions.

If your remote is 'tethered' - i.e.: a cable - you can put a momentary DPDT switch on the end of the cable.  The cable will need 4 conductors.  2 from the battery, 2 to the motor.  At the switch, a cross over is done so that one position reverses the current.

Answer 2

Hi Robert,

There are several ways to accomplish this task. Using a simple IR transceiver and receiver will suffice for your communication. You should consider using a microcontroller for motor control.

Try looking up a 8-pin PICAXE microcontroller. They are very simple to program and there is a lot of documentation on simple wireless projects like this one.

You could either use a gear system where the motor will move the sliding door open and close by pushing or pulling a chain.

You could use a pulley system as you suggest but it may be more fickle to deal with.

You may also want to consider an actuator system using a dc motor. This is also simple to implement.

Good Luck and Have Fun!!

Answer 3

I think your idea is probably a good one, if you look at large scale garage doors that ue as simliar system, some of them are times, or a notch on the belt drive operate as stop switch when the door/belt is in a certain position.

Never built a remotely/radio controlled device or system but i dont think i can be that difficult, perhaps an ifrared system might be better?