Home Automation 1

So. My first official post about a project. And what is it? Home automation.

Home automation, is a concept that has been around for quite some time, and could mean quite a number of things, such as controlling lights with a press of a button, or turning on your heat from your couch. It's bridging on the concept of the "smart house," which science fiction has depicted with variation over the years. There are a number of ways to make your home automated, or to start turning it "smart."

Again, the idea of home automation has been around for years, as have the means to do so. That's right! This is old technology! There are a ton of companies producing devices that allow you to control things around your house. And there are a number of "standards" to choose from. I chose one called X10.

X10 (like many other standards, btw) uses the existing power lines with in the house to transmit brief radio frequencies to turn devices on and off. It was first developed by a Scottish company in 1975, and is still used and produced today, though considered to be outdated technology (1975!). As a result, these devices are pretty cheap on Amazon. Appliance modules are around 4 or 5 bucks. The handheld remote control was around 8. The most expensive item was the wireless transceiver, and it was only 10 bucks, or so (not including shipping, mind you).

Allow me to explain what these items are:

The handheld remote is simply a remote that sends a wireless signal to the transceiver. Easy enough.

The wireless transceiver, which is plugged into a wall outlet, picks up the wireless signal from the remote and pushes that signal into the wiring of the house, via radio frequencies.

The appliance module, which is plugged into a normal wall outlet elsewhere in the house, receives the radio frequencies from the electrical wiring. An appliance, such as a lamp, is plugged into the bottom of the appliance module. The radio frequency will tell the appliance module to either turn the appliance on or off.

I typed appliance way too much in that last paragraph. Anyway, it is a rather simple, but brilliant process. It's a wonder why it has caught on in the US.

Okay. I should explain why I vouched for the remote control/transceiver setup. I could have easily bought something that plugs straight into the wall, essentially skipping the wireless-to-wire ordeal.

But, keep in mind that I am not a electrician, electrical engineer, or anything of the sort. Hell, if my college degree tells me anything, I'm a political scientist. What you ought to take from this is that I don't feel comfort dealing with high voltage electricity. With the handheld remote control, I'm dealing with 4 AAA batteries. At 1.5 volts per battery, that's 6 volts. The alternative (wall outlet) would be around 119 volts. So, with the handheld remote I can tinker with very little fear.

To close the post, when my new (used, but new to me) X10 devices came, I plugged them in and played around for a bit.

But after a while, I couldn't suppress the urge any longer, so I opened the remote.

More to come.

Arduino

So, I’m currently working on a few different projects, most of which an arduino development board is used. But before I get into the projects, I should give a quick explanation of an arduino. There are tons of reviews and wikis and informative sites that one could go to; but, I think I can make a fair shake of it.

An arduino board is essentially a circuit board with a programmable micro-controller. It uses a USB plug to connect to a computer. The arduino IDE is the program used to communicate between the computer and the board, as well as write and compile code. The software is fairly simple to use, and install, even on a Linux box. The board uses its own programming language, which is pretty standard compared to other languages.

To explain what the board actually does is problematic, due to its wide variety of possible uses. On a very elementary level, it uses the installed code to interact with pins on the micro-controller. These pins are capable of doing many things. They are inputs and outputs, analog and digital. They can interact with sensors, control motors, use LEDs, practically anything one can electronically comprehend.

People of all stripes and professions are more than able to use arduinos. It is geared towards artists, designers, inventors, tinkerers, hackers, and many others. One can use an arduino and have a limited-to-zero understanding of electronics, or be a master micro-electrician. It is practical to all skill levels, and it is great way to learn about electronics.

Plainly put: I highly recommend the arduino platform.

Oh, did I mention that it's open source?


-Drake

My blog.

I always start off a new blog in the same way. I always say that I've tried to keep a blog before, and it never caught on. Consider that a quote, because I'm not going to say it this time.

My blog will probably be about many things. But mainly, I am going to talk DIY, and my projects.

This is my blog. My name is Drake Beckner.