I want to make full arduino home controll. With that I mean light control, curtain motors and things like turning on TV or the water cooker.
So I have some questions for you guys.
I wanted to ask if I could connect whole home devices (lighning, sockets, curtain) to one arduino device or do I need several? Could it handle so much electricity ? How many channels there is pr. device.
Another question is if it is possible to connect multiple devices, is it possible to use multiple shields like (ethernet, xbee, relay, motor, other) ?
If all of this is possible then I am ever more exited about this little micro controller.
There are some major "engineering challenges" related to switching AC power, including getting the control signal to the switch/relay, providing low-voltage power for the electronics, electrically isolating the control signals, and allowing manual control, and fitting the circuitry into an electrical wall-box.
So... I recommend you start with one of the existing home automation protocols and use pre-made switches & relays, etc. You can buy an X-10 dimmer switch for about $20 USD. You can get a simple manual remote controller for about the same price, but you'll probably want something more advanced on the control-side of things.
If you want to build a controller or "control center", you can do that while avoiding all of those AC related engineering challenges.
I've had an X-10/Insteon system for many years. I didn't build any of it myself. I've got about 10 controlled lights & appliances, a master timer-controller that's programmed from the computer, and 3 or 4 wired & wireless manual remote controllers. My setup doesn't have any Wi-Fi, or cell phone control/access, but that could be added without changing any of the switches/dimmers, etc.
I did build a "sunrise dimmer" that plugs into an X-10 controlled outlet. The X-10 controller takes care of the time-of-day and day-of week business, and the thing I built just fades-up the light in when it's powered-up.
And... I just had an issue with the X-10 controller switching to daylight savings time one week early!
sqll:
I wanted to ask if I could connect whole home devices (lighting, sockets, curtain) to one Arduino device or do I need several? Could it handle so much electricity ? How many channels there is pr. device.
OK, so you are nowhere near ready to even start on this project and your knowledge of electricity and electronics is negligible.
You really do (as others have explained) have two paths to choose - or pursue simultaneously. Either buy some of the commercial home control appliances - start with one or two - and experiment to see what you can do with them, and/ or buy a (genuine) Arduino UNO and start with the most basic of exercises such as in one of the "project" books in order to learn the principles of electronics.
Paul__B:
OK, so you are nowhere near ready to even start on this project and your knowledge of electricity and electronics is negligible.
You really do (as others have explained) have two paths to choose - or pursue simultaneously. Either buy some of the commercial home control appliances - start with one or two - and experiment to see what you can do with them, and/ or buy a (genuine) Arduino UNO and start with the most basic of exercises such as in one of the "project" books in order to learn the principles of electronics.
Yes, I don't have any electronic skills. Programming part does not look difficult to me. Could you recommend some books for the electronic part which could give me a nice overview about how things works.
Of course i could use tutorials, but they are mostly not explaining the theory behind the process, which could be usefull to have in this project.
If you want to do it all, you might want to do some reading on home automation sites like below to see what is available and how various controls are done. Then decide what the arduino can support. There is also a home automation section in this forum you can read.
For GSM based home automation there are two main methods, Method 1 - Using SMS one can send instructions to switch on or switch off the relay, which controls the 230 Volt appliances, Method 2- Using DTMF based decoder to decode the keypress at the calling end.
Regarding the limit at which the Arduino can handle mainly depends on the number of port pins used for Relay output. Using Arduino Megs 2560 board can handle more than 50 appliances simultaneously!! 8)
If you are from India, I suggest getting a kit from https://elementzonline.com which has all the instructions for getting started with the GSM based automation system.
Advantage using the DTMF method is that, the decoder will function from the Audio port of an old phone lying in the house, and we can make use of that. No programming is required.
But for other advances stuffs like measuring the energy consumption, you need to use a litttle CPU such as Arduino for storing and sending values to the user mobile using a GSM Modem such as SIM800 which can be directly interfaced using the RX-TX pin of Arduino boards. I am sharing useful links for buying GSM modem and project kits which I used for studying my electronics fundamentals.
If one have experience using the serial programming then using the Zigbee, Bluetooth modules are straightforward and only need to change some bit of programming in the Arduino
there are a few basics that you should jump in and get started.
I would recommend you get an ESP8266 to get started and some boards that add sensors and a display.
get a BME280 temperature/pressure/humidity sensor
get a couple DS18B20 sensors.
with these you can get started programming and reading the sensors.
at this point it is all pretty much plug in and download programs to get started.
there are pre-made interfaces between the Arduino and wall power. there is no need for you to ever do anything with wall voltages as these interfaces are pre-made and enclosed.
as you get things working, you will find limitations and you will find additional things you can do easily.
as a suggestion, I would say, get one ESP8266 up and running
and get a second to play with.
add a sensor and use your second unit to learn and try out the sensor,
Once you have figured out the new sensor, and you have it working well, then add it to your main unit.
This hobby is always a learning curve the sooner you get started, the more sense things will become.
there is [beginners guide to the ESP8266](http://tttapa.github.io/ESP8266/Chap01 - ESP8266.html) that has a steep learning curve for a noob, but also covers almost anything you want.
I agree with the others. You are jumping into the deep end without even knowing where the rocks are.
Yes, one Arduino could do everything - but that would be the hard way. You would be re-inventing the wheel at practically every step.
My home automation uses a Raspberry Pi running Home Assistant as the control hardware/Software. The individual nodes around the house are an eclectic mix of Z-Wave switches, XBee lights, WiFi lights, and about a dozen nodes using ESP8266 devices (because they are small, cheap and have WiFi), and some ESP nodes of my own design. The ESP devices can be programmed using the Arduino IDE.
Yes, you could do all this on one Arduino Mega, but then you have to consider, how are you going to communicate commands and status between the devices (lights, switches, etc) and the Arduino?
GoForSmoke:
Members here DO KNOW that the thread died OVER 3 YEARS AGO and the OP may have moved on?
That may be so, but on the positive side I (an others) may read old threads in order to learn for ourselves and benefit from others' questions without having to repeat the same question (which I'm sure is an irritation for established contributors).
So don't be disheartened, old posts, like old folks, have their uses too!
Glorymill:
That may be so, but on the positive side I (an others) may read old threads in order to learn for ourselves and benefit from others' questions without having to repeat the same question (which I'm sure is an irritation for established contributors).
So don't be disheartened, old posts, like old folks, have their uses too!
And when people spend real time replying to the long gone OP and expecting replies?
Who has the interest to reply is supposed to start their own thread where they may refer to the old one.
Resurrecting threads is frowned upon like hijacking, cross-posting and spam.
What happens next archive when the whole start of the thread moves to archives?
There are limits to the forum system itself, there have been less than smooth forum changes before to get what we have.
Btw sometimes its actually a genuine case, when you are working on some project and you get exact info from some old thread. Moreover, new users can't understand the difference and thus make the reply. Home Automation is also quite common project.
But that's not the case here as he has shared links from single site so it's a clear case of spamming.
