Hi,
This is my first topic so sorry in advance if I'm not at the right place in the forum.
I intent to set up bit by bit a smart and connected home. I already began to think about it and fractioned the tasks in 3 main actions :
First step, setting up some sensors (non connected) for temperature / humidity / light / (optional plant moisture /presence or motion). For the moment, the board will just have the sensors and one button to show the results on a basic screen. (or something basic like that) On battery or plugged in.
Centralizing the data on a concentrator and making it available on a self hosted website or something like that.
Later details but for now, to have actuator (HVAC, lights, blinds, plugs,...) that can be controled depending on the sensors state.
My problem to begin that project is which board to use to begin the first step. I don't think that it require lot of capacities to handle the sensors but the question is more about the wireless protocol that will be used on the second step to communicate with the concentrator. My house has thick rock wall so I think a meshed network could be a good solution. I want to use another network than the wifi for internet. It seems that the choice for IoT is limited to "Thread", "Bluetooth", and "Zigbee". The choice of protocol could define the board used, moreover if its embedded or if it will be a shield later for communication.
If you have also good advices for the sensors
I run a Raspberry Pi (RPi) as my home automated server. I run MQTT Broker, a FTP server and image processing on the RPi. Connected to the RPi are 13 ESP32's located throughout my house. The ESP32's use MQTT to send receive messages from the RPi. I run a Python program that acts as my communications manager. Node Red can do the same thing.
I can call up, on my web site, various sensor readings. I can then set my HVAC system or my dehumidifier from my website.
The ESP32's connected to the RPi are on their own internal network. The RPi is the go between the RPi and my website.
Look at this Thread. There's some discussion of mesh. I think there has been conversation too about running the sensor nodes on a different WiFi network.
I custom built some basic sensor boards optimized for battery power. It uses the ever popular NRF240L wireless module paired with low cost Attiny418/816/1616 MCU. It can take an AHTXX for temp/humidity, BH1750 (lux sensor), or the APDS99XX if I want to convert it to some form of a touchless switch.
I have been playing with home automation in some form or other for something like 40 years now. I think the best way to get started is not worry too much about the big picture and just work on some simple, individual projects and let it slowly build up over time.
I would just build a few simple stand alone units using esp32s which allow you to read temperatures, turn things on and off with relays etc. via a web browser...
Then as you have new ideas / learn more you can keep adding to their functionality, getting them to update a central server with the information etc.
Building your own burglar alarm with integrates in to all this is a good project, you can have it turn lights on, email or text you etc.
My main advice I always give is do not use anything in "the cloud" and keep it all in-house so you have full control over it all.
First, choose a protocol.. The home automation market is very "fractured" with no dominate standard. The future is probably Zigbee, which Apple, Google, and Amazon have signed-onto. Direct-Wi-Fi is not common so you generally need a hub.
Not really... I have a programmable home automation hub that's plugged into my regular home network router/hub. I use it with Wi-Fi but basically it can work with anything that connects to the regular computer network. I'm not controlling it remotely over the Internet or cell phone network but that can be done. The home-automation side of the hub works with Zigbee and Z-Wave.
The fact that it's "programmable" means that it can run stand-alone to turn-on lights at sundown, etc., without a constant computer or phone connection. And you can program what happens when a motion detector is triggered, etc.
I recently upgraded to Z-Wave from X-10. I chose Z-Wave because it seemed to offer the best choice of devices. (But my hub also supports Zigbee.) I had the X-10 system for many-many years but some things were failing and they no longer sell a programmable stand-alone controller.
Second, I recommend that you buy, rather than make anyswitches/dimmers/outlets. It's very difficult to build a remote switch that fits into a regular outlet box, looks nice, and works remotely or locally, and it would probably cost more to build than to buy.
You can build your own snesors & controller(s) or hub if you want, but I'd recommend at-least buying one to "get started" for testing & troubleshooting. Depending on the system/protocol you choose, you may be able to find a (relatively) inexpensive controller that plugs-into your computer like a thumb drive.
...I didn't build any of my system myself, except for a "wake-up system" that includes a "sunrise dimmer" and a beeper that starts beeping after the light has faded-up, The thing I built doesn't have a real-time clock or a clock-display... It's simply plugged-into an outlet controlled by the programmable hub.
The MySensors website is a good place to start, even if you don't go on to use their setup. Their system seems to operate with either the NRF24L01 radio modules or the RFM69 radio modules. Their getting started page is a good intro.
They provide the code (open source) and plenty of examples if you go with their setup.
Ask 10 Arduino people how to do Smart Home, and you will get 11 answers. All correct.
My home is about as smart as you can get. Almost every light in my home is connected, and I have 10 Alexa units in 9 rooms. I rarely need to touch a switch, just tell Alexa to turn the light on. I have tried all protocols and have mixed results. In my case I never got Zigbee to work satisfactorily, Z-wave is reliable, but Z-wave hardware is the most expensive (and difficult to manage). MQTT is mostly working but I have been adopting a new protocol (ESPHome) in my ESP devices. I also have a few 433 MHz devices.
One primary rule here is I buy NOTHING that requires a connection to a cloud service.
My controller is Home Assistant running on an Intel NUC. I started with running Home Assistant on a Raspberry Pi, but since switching to the NUC I no longer have to watch my memory usage and updates and restarts only take seconds. The majority of my lights are on Sonoff devices plus four Z-wave switches. (I had 5 but one died).
Hi,
Firstly, thanks for all your answers.
Thanks for all the sources to check.
From all I could read, I think I will begin with the ESP8266 and use the ESP Mesh that seems promising. (5 or 6 sensors).
Having a RPi unused I'll try to setup HA and look into how to connect it to the network and retrieve all the infos.
If you have good cheap link for the ESP board and some good sensors (tempª +-1Cª , humidity +-3%, pressure, presence)
Thanks again for all the messages.
My go-to ESP board is the Wemos D1 Mini. I buy them ten at a time from Amazon for $3 each. You can get them cheaper from AliExpress or Banggood, but clearing customs takes a month or more.
If you need more I/O ports, there is the NodeMCU board at about $6 each.
Home Assistant can be connected to the Internet to allow control of your home from anywhere, but it is not required. (Mine is not). The HA team also offers a paid cloud service, but I haven't tried it.
I already manage to try them on a breadboard and setup the mesh, and it works very well.
I would like to know what are the autonomy depending on the power solution (cilindrical, button, rectangular, rechargeable,...), which one would you recommend? or if it's better to stay plugged?
Also, I would like to weld them on a PCB and design a 3d printable box, would you be able to recommend website where to do it?
As you'll soon figure out, WiFi and battery doesn't go very well together. Unless you want to replace batteries all the time, better stick to AC/DC adapter for powering your sensor nodes
