Hi guys,
I created this project and my target is improve the comfort of my home. Taking a look around I noticed that home automation solution proposed by the big market player are too much expensive for me and, above all, I should create new wires connections between light, plug, etc.. and the control box.
My idea is use what we already have without spend lot of money to buy a owner solution, so I started with arduino, my android mobile phone, some relays and my home.
I have a nice home, 2 bad rooms, kitchen with living room and it was very nice tka e the control of the lights, gate and door with my mobile phone.
Let's start to play.
I used an Arduino 2009 with ethernet shield and the game is very easy, I send some http message to arduino, he moves some relays and give me back a JSON response. Not so hard, but the hard business is interfacing with the electrical wiring of home, with some patience I found what I need and I linked those wires at the relays.
Go deeper.
Let's analyze a bit what my mobile send to arduino, the actors in this scenario are:
AS = Arduino Station (arduino 2009/Mega + ethernet shield with relays linked to arduin digital out)
M = Master (android app)
Sync Mobile - Arduino
You have to configure the ip of your arduino on the app, in this way when you perform a sync the mobile will send to arduino this:
and arduini will reply with this json message:
{"ip" : "arduinoip", "devices" : [" + "{ "type" : "gate", "name" : "cancellino ingresso", "out" : "5"}, {"type" : "door", "name" : "porta ingresso", "out" : "4"}, {"type" : "light", "name" : "luce soggiorno", "out" : "6"}, {"type" : "light", "name" : "luce cucina", "out" : "7"}, {"type" : "temperature", "name" : "camera da letto", "out" : "0"}, {"type" : "temperature", "name" : "camera bimbi", "out" : "9"}, {"type" : "wattmeter", "name" : "consumo energetico casa", "out" : "10"}]}
so we know what sensor/realys are linked to arduino and what they are used for.
Take a closer look at this message:
ip is the arduino ip
out is the arduino pin where the relay/sensor is linked
name a human identifier
type object type
Right now there are the following type available:
plug
light
door
gate
temperature
humidity
wattmeter
The type temperature, humidity, wattmeter can't be controlled because they are sensons, the app has a background job that retrieve this value and store into a database, in the future we could make graph or use this data for statistical consideration.
Now the app is in sync with arduino!
Put something on/off
We just have to call to turn something on:
http://arduinoip/?out=1&status=1
status can be 1(on) or 0(off)
out point at the arduino pin
our arduino will give back this JSON massage if the transaction succeed:
{"out": "4", "status" , "1"}
What can we do with the andriod app:
- sync the app with arduino
- turn something on/off
- create custom action (turn light on and then open the gate)
Items used:
1 Arduino 2009
1 Ethernet shield
1 Relay with driver
1 power pack
1 electrical stuff
1 Pannello di plexiglas
Total in euro: 70
What I control:
- living light
- home gate
- front door
- check living room temperature
What I like to do in the future:
- integrate my irrigation system
- trigger an action at a specified time (need to work on android app)
- link another arduino and handle it with the app
- when the software will work fine give the code at the community
Sorry for my english, I'm not a native speaker.