How to make Home Automation project for controlling Lights of our home?

[Tryin]

Can someone please help me with the Stuff about Home Automation . I saw various videos on but none of them had made it very clear about their connection and not even good expalation . i don't want whole ready mate project all i need is just how to start with it ? what could be my basic first step to understand my project well.
i have very basic idea about arduino boards but don't know its proper usage and configurations.

 

[Pommie]

If you google "Wemos IOT project" you'll find lots of info. For example.

Mike.

 

[be80be]

This is a lot more fun

 

[rjenkinsgb]

Most home automation devices use a dedicated communication system that is totally separate from WiFi etc. so there is no interference.
(The 2.4GHz WiFi band is massively overloaded in most cities and not a reliable communications link).

The earliest ones use X10, a basic "mains carrier" system using ultrasonic pulses. UPB (Universal powerline bus) was an advancement of that with better capabilities.


The best present devices use "Z-Wave", a UHF radio link system running at around 868 or 915 MHz (Europe or USA, respectively).

Every device is two-way, reporting back to whatever controls it as well as receiving, plus every device can act as a repeater and pass on data either way to other Z-Wave devices on the same network that are out of direct range of the controller, a mesh type system - up to five "hops" of extra range.

Search: 6 results found for "zwave"

Shop & learn about the perfect smart home products for your home in 2021. 30-Day No Hassle Returns.

home-automation.smarthome.com

Zigbee is another UHF mesh system used for some home control, but somewhat less standardised that z-wave, with different devices using different radio bands - mixing 2.4 GHz (the congested WiFi band) with 868 / 915 MHz..


You can get USB stick style Z-Wave controllers that you can use with PCs or a Raspberry Pi etc., so you could build your own main controller while being able to use ready-made sensors and power controllers etc.
Or dedicated Pi add-ons -

Z-Wave.me RaZberry 2 PI GPIO Daughter Card - Gen5 - New

Proven quality, but fresh hardware design! The RaZberry2 turns every Raspberry PI into a Z-Wave Home Automation Gateway. The bundle of hardware and precompiled Z-Wave wireless network management software waits to be completed by your own user interface running in a web browser or a mobile phone...

www.vesternet.com

You can even get lamps with internal Z-Wave on/off and dimming or colour control - eg.
**broken link removed**


Most things you would want to control in a home operate on 115 or 230/240V (depending where in the world you are), which is not something you want to mess with as a beginner in electronics - a mistake can have lethal consequences to you or someone else.



Or, you can use "hard wiring" at eg. 12V, with switches and relays connected to input and output boards on an arduino, pic or pi etc.

That's the simplest and cheapest for starting learning about control systems and automation - and how most "serious" (eg. factory, process control, machine tool) automations works - no radio links, everything is wired and generally working on 24V DC, with wired network links between devices if there is more that one intelligent controller in a machine.

 

[Dr_Doggy]

best 20$ spent:

Robot Check

 

[be80be]

Thats a led light with a esp2866 wifi chip in it

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Thats a led light with a esp2866 wifi chip in it

Which is all you need

 

[be80be]

Yell but I can make it for way less then 20 dollars

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Yell but I can make it for way less then 20 dollars

Feel free to do so and compete with retail suppliers then

However, it sounds like a bargain to me - ESP circuit, power supply, LED's and LED drivers, plus a suitable encapsulation, pacakaging, manufacturing costs, warehousing, distribution, small profit margin - I think you're living in cloud cuckoo land

 

[Visitor]

iTead's Sonoff modules start at $5 and are extremely capable. They are based on the ESP8266, have a phone app so you can control them from anyplace in the world and are compatible with Google Home, Alexa and IFTTT. If you don't like the furnished server-based software, they can be flashed with several 3rd party versions of firmware (but this is a one-way trip - you can't restore the original firmware). The Sonoff product line is constantly expanding.

The $5 module is meant to splice inline in a lamp or appliance cord. A typical approach is to splice the module into an extension cord rather then cut up the lamp's regular cord.

I have about 20 of these in operation for more than 5 years now. Very reliable operation.

 

[be80be]

Feel free to do so and compete with retail suppliers then

However, it sounds like a bargain to me - ESP circuit, power supply, LED's and LED drivers, plus a suitable encapsulation, pacakaging, manufacturing costs, warehousing, distribution, small profit margin - I think you're living in cloud cuckoo land

I'm not selling any I just said I can make it for less and I can
I been playing with this it from a dead light I got for free the bulb is not led I just had it laying on my desk.
Amazon echo dot controlled light I have nothing in it but time. I all the parts are from junk led lights.
I found a ESP 2866 in one a and the power supply is from a phone charger the idea is not really just for lights
the ceiling box the blue part is just for testing Alexa and the esp2866 but it's fun to play with after working on these all day.
The Alexa is after my main job of wiring car washes

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

I'm not selling any I just said I can make it for less and I can

So you can make it for less, as long as you get all the parts for free - I could make a Tesla car for less, if I could get all the parts for free - what a silly idea

 

[Visitor]

So you can make it for less, as long as you get all the parts for free - I could make a Tesla car for less, if I could get all the parts for free - what a silly idea

You can also BUY IT FOR LESS as was noted above.

iTead's Sonoff modules start at $5 and are extremely capable. They are based on the ESP8266, have a phone app so you can control them from anyplace in the world and are compatible with Google Home, Alexa and IFTTT. If you don't like the furnished server-based software, they can be flashed with several 3rd party versions of firmware (but this is a one-way trip - you can't restore the original firmware). The Sonoff product line is constantly expanding.

The $5 module is meant to splice inline in a lamp or appliance cord. A typical approach is to splice the module into an extension cord rather then cut up the lamp's regular cord.

I have about 20 of these in operation for more than 5 years now. Very reliable operation.

View attachment 122024

 

[JimB]

The Alexa is after my main job of wiring car washes

Nice cabinet.
I like the little touch where the correct size screwdrivers(?) are stored in the cabinet.

JimB

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

You can also BUY IT FOR LESS as was noted above.

Except that is buying something completely different, not a smart bulb at all, merely a smart switch - I've had the older (slightly larger one) for years, on a lamp in one of the bedrooms. I've never liked the SonOff modules, but only because I could never get registered to use them - I never got the conformation email back from them. Then, after a couple of years, I tried yet again, and it worked!

As Pommie mentioned way back at the start of this thread, you can easily make a Wemos compatible switch yourself anyway, and use their apps (I did it as a matter of experimentation a while back, for both single and multi channel options).

 

[be80be]

I do enough at work missing around with uC at home is a hobby.
I install Animated car washes

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

I do enough at work missing around with uC at home is a hobby.

Then why claim you can it a lot cheaper, and then admit that you get all the bits second hand for free, and that your device bears little resemblance to the smart bulb in question, which is dimmable and multicolour.

If you do enough at work, why quibble about buying a low cost product? - $20 is a giveaway price for what it is. You ought to try buying Philips Hue lamps!

 

[DrG]

Can someone please help me with the Stuff about Home Automation . I saw various videos on but none of them had made it very clear about their connection and not even good expalation . i don't want whole ready mate project all i need is just how to start with it ? what could be my basic first step to understand my project well.
i have very basic idea about arduino boards but don't know its proper usage and configurations.

The key to getting some help is in refining what you mean by "stuff" (and also returning to the board to see the responses)..

I read your post and the title carefully and from what I can gather, you want to automate lights in your home using an arduino. You have not stated that you want to automate your lights over the Internet using your phone, for example. With that it mind, I think post #3 has some good leads for investigating several techniques.

Several other posts have discussed IoT based approaches.

Let me talk about another very simple, yet effective, approach that you may be able to understand as a good starting point.

Start with the endpoint - the lightbulbs and/or the sockets that the lamps connect to. Here I am assuming the line or mains connection. As a beginner, I would advise that you not try to build that part. Instead, purchase those parts. For example:

https://www.amazon.com/DEWENWILS-Control-Wireless-Programmable-HRLSXXA/dp/B073RC6LLH/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=rf+controlled+light+sockets&qid=1576250111&sr=8-2

Those are remote-controlled light bulb sockets. They receive 433MHz RF to turn them on and off. Your remote controller functions as the transmitter and the receiver is built into the socket.

Here is another example:

Robot Check

Those operate in the same way, but instead of turning on the light bulb socket, they turn on whatever is plugged into the socket (which, of course, is plugged into the wall socket). I think those are also 433MHz, but you need to check as some are 315MHz. These are all pretty low-end.

So, now, the question becomes, how do you get the Arduino to take the place of the remote control transmitters that they come wth. Fortunately, there is a lot of work done with that.

First, you can get some 433 MHz transmitters and receivers that can be hooked up to an Arduino:

Amazon.com: HiLetgo 5 Sets 433M Transmitter + Receiver Kit High Frequency Super Regenerative Transceiver Module for Burglar Alarm : Electronics

Buy HiLetgo 5 Sets 433M Transmitter + Receiver Kit High Frequency Super Regenerative Transceiver Module for Burglar Alarm: FM Transmitters - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

Then, you first have the Arduino read the RF communication from the remote. Once read, that information is stored and can be transmitted by the Arduino from within a program.

Here is a good multi-part tutorial on that process.
**broken link removed**

There are many such tutorials.

Here is a good library for use with the Arduino:

GitHub - sui77/rc-switch: Arduino lib to operate 433/315Mhz devices like power outlet sockets.

Arduino lib to operate 433/315Mhz devices like power outlet sockets. - sui77/rc-switch

github.com

So, armed with those basic tools, there are a couple of points to consider. First is that these will have some limited range - maybe 80ft, maybe less, maybe a little more.

Second is that you will likely want to add a real time clock to your Arduino so that the automation is accomplished at certain times and under certain conditions.

This approach, I think, gives you a good, low cost, foundation for the "stuff" that you mentioned.

It is only one, relatively simple, and relatively hands-on, approach. Go back to post #4 as well as the IoT methods that were mentioned.

Fill in the "stuff"