I'm thinking of motorizing my Hunter Douglas blinds with a string that's ratcheted. What I mean by that is the string is not bidirectional. You pull the string 90' downward to raise the blinds, and pull the string 45' downward to lower the blinds. I'm wondering if this open/close mechanism of my blinds should still be amenable to DIY motorization.

Our PowerRise blinds started having problems going up and down. The motor started making loud squealing noises when moving. It seemed like the motor or gears were binding-up. I finally ended up taking the blinds apart, removing the motor, getting the motor specs and ordering a new motor from Ebay. The replacement motor fit perfectly. After re-assembling, it worked just like new...any much quieter. The motor spec is: Copal DC Gear Motor LA16G-324SH, 50:1 300RPM, 12V (4.8-14.8V). Also, years previously, the blinds weren't working, even after replacing the batteries. I found that the far end of the tube where the batteries are stacked was dirty and not making electrical contact. I put some steel wool on the end of w wooded dowel and stuck down the tube and after turning around and around many times and reinserting the batteries, things worked again...