hey ARC s! I was looking to automate my room using the ez-board. I planned on being able to turn things on and off, weather reports, checking rss feeds, etc. I have a desktop computer in my room that i never use but would be perfect to run the software 24/7. To control outlet power/power strip for each individual plug Im assuming i would need some type of relay in line with the plug? The programming would be the easy part. However Im not sure what i would need so that the digital port on the board can interact with the plugs. Does anyone have a safe and reliable way of going about controlling outlet plugs so i don't electrocute myself or burn my house down?
I feel like I remember someone doing this a long time ago with their workshop. But i was unable to find the thread again. Any help or suggestions would be great! I just saw the new iron man/stark industries piece that disneyland put in the innovations building and want to build my own Jarvis-like system using a dedicated ez-board and desktop
Josh has used relays in his smart salt water tank project, that would be one way to go about it. Power via a TIP transistor circuit to energise the relays and bring on the outlet.
Well it depends how far you want to go . Relay cards are widely available on eBay to be used with arduino and many other boards that can simply be connected to ezb to do the job. Safe and easy to plug in. Just use 5v input signal to control
Example: Two channel relays
More options:
Other options is to have easybulb led bulbs that can be controlled wirelessly thru ARC on your laptop or your mobile that activate any lamp or light intensity depending on room normal light or demand. Air conditioner or fans can be controlled using thermometer sensors connected to your computer and EZB.
You can use IR transmitter with EZB o control your TV and home surrounding systems. Automated door lock for your room.
Simply look for arduino sensors and should do the job with EZB.
Just ideas that , where you can find sensors easily on eBay. with your programming skills you can reach your target easily.
Someone did a home automation robot also. It had a panel on the wall and a robot. The panel controlled the robot And lights. Oh and told weather and stuff too. I think he was going for the house from the TV show Eureka! Which is pretty cool! I'm on my phone and can't search for the thread right now though. Ill try later
This one?
More on it in this thread too
To save you time if you really want an automated home check out HAL (Home Automated Living) at www.automatedliving.com it will do all you want and more.
The workshop one was possibly me.... but I have gone backwards with my project and pulled everything out as we are in the process of shifting house....
I did hack a couple of multi boards and put a 6-way relay unit into them. See:
https://synthiam.com/Community/Questions/1835&page=1
I made sure to keep things safe by using the first two relays as a power breaker where one had to be on and the other off in order for the unit to receive power. This way if the data line was dropped or the system went mad and all lines went high then the power would not go to the board.
I have continued to script in and around home automation. I'ill post something in the next few days as school holidays approach here in New Zealand.
@Tameion
you can do something like this PHK05 this is what i did. Just wired remote to ezb and now i can have robot turn on/off any light or what ever i have pluged in. It is nice because i can turn on lights on second floor and did not have to run wires
One day I'll post full details on my system (JARVIS) however it is very complex. The basics are it uses RF outlets and modules (very cheap), an RF tranceiver, and EventGhost to do the leg work. A web server running a very basic PHP code to broadcast over the network which can be used with the HTTPGet function to operate anything connected to the system.
But since it's not exactly EZ-B driven I've not posted much info on it. Once Melvin is talking to it properly, and it talking to Melvin I may expand on it all.
An old demo of the voice guided system, it's been improved since.
All of that can be done via HTTPGet()
Lighting control first test (again, it's been greatly improved since then)
It's all still work in progress. Jarvis has no physical presence which will change once Melvin is finished. It also does so much more than I've recorded (mainly based around media playback but lights, outlets, energy usage, temperature etc. are all running through him) but lack of time has stopped me from doing any more demos... heck I still have no proper interface for it!..
To add, something I have recently discovered (well I knew it was there but didn't look at it) is the command line controls through telnet. Those are easy to interface.
More will come on that all once Melvin is finished and Jarvis becomes a physical entity rather than just a voice.
I plan to use some EZ-Bs on it too for some fancy lighting effects, curtain motors and a few other things.