Jarvis Add-on #1

This might also work for night lighting of pathways from room to room.

Yeah, it can be used for a bunch of different applications, also energy saving to only light areas that are occupied is one I thought of. My house isn't big enough for that though (it's no bigger than I need - it's too big for me to clean as it is).

Hopefully this will also inspire others to think up awesome ways to use the EZ-B or to use this idea. I have another plan for external lighting that will be awesome (but will be kept under wraps for now).

I forgot to mention, this will be using EventGhost to know when it is dark enough to illuminate the strips too, which should hopefully demonstrate the telnet abilities of ARC and how simple it can be to link ARC to other applications.

Cool ideas , I couldnt do that with my staircase because it is carpeted , there doesn't look like a good place to hide lighting. It would be cool for lights to turn on when you walk into a room without having to turn the lights on. Then maybe a verbal command "turn out the lights" or "dim lights.

Man, you throw in a fog machine and you could be a space invader or a super something every time you went up and doe your stairs. Have you thought of using pressure plates?

I can get away with IR sensors since my stairs have had no carpet on for the best part of three years now... So I can fit them and then hide them in the carpet I hadn't thought of pressure plates, and now you have me thinking It would be cheaper and tidier but the foot of the stairs would be the problem (no way I could fit a pressure plate there, it would need to be on the first stair, which isn't when I want it to start up).

@Josh, I already have automatic lighting through RF modules and an RFXCON RXFTRX433. Currently it's only activated via voice, time, web page, tablet/smart phone and the original switches but soon it'll know when I'm home (based on detection of bluetooth devices). This isn't done with the EZ-B for the simple fact it's mains voltage and I don't want to mess with that if I can help it.

Hello Rich, have you think about using an analog photo-eye at one end of the stairs ? This way you only have one sensor. It not perfect but it can be easier than using a lot of sensors.

Do you have a rail on your stairs? If so I got some ideas to run by you that's relevant to the topic.

Not at the moment I haven't...

Excuse the mess, it was taken while decorating/building.

Pretty much a blank canvas for the entire staircase.

Oh, alright.

I like the idea of the lighting behind the furniture. That gives guys like a a place to hide some cool lighting. What would be really cool is if the light moved along with you. Maybe one stair in front of the one that you have a foot on and one behind. A gradual fade on then off is awesome.

That's actually what I was thinking for the rail, you get the steady lights so you can see on the stairs them self then you have that kind if light action with the railing.

A few bits and bobs of EZ-Script which will be used for this...

Currently there is an external photocell fitted for the outside light. The photocell is RF and Jarvis already aware of it's status. On change EventGhost picks up the event and a simple Python Script in EventGhost writes this change to the MySQL database. A PHP web page has also been already written which will lookup the data in the MySQL database and display a simple "On" or "Off" on the web page. A further overview web page exists however this holds a lot more information therefore would require parsing for use in ARC. The simple PHP page photocellstatus.php was the simplest option.

I'll post the PHP code and Python Scripts when I get home and have the chance to tidy them up a little.

# Daylight Check
# External RF Photocell status on http://192.168.0.107/Jarvis/photocellstatus.php

# Periodically check external photocell to enable or disable lighting
:checkphotocell
IF(HTTPGet("192.168.0.107/Jarvis/photocellstatus.php") = "On")
  $lightsactive = 1
Else
  $lightsactive = 0
EndIf
Sleep(10000)
Goto(checkphotocell)

This now checks for the status every 10 seconds and is stored in ARC as $lightsactive. This can now be used to enable other scripts to only work when either dark (or light) outside.

With that running and ARC aware of the photo cell status we can now look at the next part of activation. Time based. While it may not necessarily be used I will have it there just in case I change my mind.

# Time Check
# Disable lights during specified time over night

# Lights inactive between 11.30pm and 5.30am
:timecheck
IF($hour > 23 and $minute > 30 or $hour < 5 and $minute < 30 or $hour < 5)
  $lightsenabled = 0
Else
  $lightsenabled = 1
EndIf
WaitForChange($minute)
Goto(timecheck)

This one will check if the time is between 23:30 and 05:30, if it is then it sets $lightsenabled to 0 otherwise $lightsenabled is set to 1. At the end it waits for the minute to change (i.e. a different method of waiting or sleeping for 1 minute) and loops back to the start again.

Now we have; $lightsactive $lightsenabled

Now we have the "dependencies" on whether the lights should work we can move on to the sensors and getting the lights working...

For the lights to work, $lightsactive and $lightsenabled both need to be on, or set to a 1. The sensor must also be triggered, since there will be two sensors (originally three sensors however I think I may get away with using only two) in this case and the direction of the dance depends on which sensor is triggered we need to periodically check for triggering of each sensor and then run the correct sequence.

# Trigger Code
:triggercode

# First ensure that $lightsactive and $lightsenabled are set to 1
IF($lightsactive = 1 and $lightsenabled = 1)
  # Check if any are triggered and run sequence if they have been
  IF(GetDigital(D0) = 1)
    ControlCommand("Script Manager", ScriptStart, "Sequence1")
  ElseIF(GetDigital(D1) = 1)
    ControlCommand("Script Manager", ScriptStart, "Sequence2")
  EndIF
EndIf
Sleep(250)
Goto(triggercode)

Sequence1 & Sequence2 will be the scripts to illuminate the lights in the correct order, check for triggering of the sensors again to determine the direction the lights turn off, timing of the lights etc.

The bottom of the staircase (Sensor 1) takes priority over Sensor 2. This has assumed the sensors are digital on/off type (or pressure plates) connected to D0 and D1 and will, on being triggered, supply +5V to the signal pin of the port(s).

The code for Sequence 1 and Sequence 2 will follow another time. Hopefully the above does two things, 1. flags up any errors I may have made (which happens) and 2. explains a few of the commands and built in variables in EZ-Script and how they can be used. It also means I can work on scripts while at work and have them ready to copy and paste in to ARC when I get home But shhh... don't tell the boss! :D

One additional feature you might want to consider at some point is to tie your stairway lights in to some detectors and turn them on if a smoke is detected leading the way to an exit in case of a fire. (Heaven forbid!) A smoke detector at the top of a stairwell is not a bad idea anyway as smoke rises.

Smoke detectors are already installed But they don't turn the lights on... yet (cool idea though and easily added through Jarvis' current set up, I may add that in).

The main point in this project/add on is to use the EZ-B and ARC. I've wanted to use it as part of Jarvis for a while and just needed to find something that required (or could do with) a little bit of extra help from the EZ-B :)