Control AC Appliances Sitting on Your Bed

I am way too lazy and one just fine day I was lying on my bed and my laptop's battery was dying. There was no way I was getting up to connect the charger. Hence I slept and when I woke up I thought of this beautiful project that will save from future dilemmas like these.

So, In this Instructable, I'll show you how can convert a cheap and simple extension board to a remote controlled extension board to which you can connect almost any AC appliance and turn it on or off sitting on your bed. You will get an idea of room automation and will be able to build one for yourself. You will also be able to modify the circuit according to your needs.

Step 1: The Concept.

Out of many options available for going wireless like Radio Frequency, Bluetooth, I chose the simplest one i.e. Infrared.
The concept is, using an Arduino and an IR receiver, I will distinguish the IR codes of different buttons of an IR remote. And after comparing the codes with predefined ones, I will turn on or off different appliances according to the buttons pressed. We can control almost any number of appliance using a shift register, if Arduino pins are not enough, providing you have enough buttons on your IR remote.

So with this is mind, watch the video in the next step.

Step 2: Watch the Video!

The video contains detailed explanation of all the steps required for this project.

Step 3: Parts Required.

1. Arduino Pro Mini:
India: http://www.amazon.in/Arduino-Atmega-Compatible-Boa...

US:https://www.amazon.com/Arducam-Atmega328-Developme...

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Arduino-Pro-Mini-328-16MH...

2. 12 Volt Relays, according to your requirements
To make things easier, you can buy one of these
India: http://www.amazon.in/Kitsguru-Com-Channel-Uln2003...

US: https://www.amazon.com/GERI-8-Channel-Module-Opto...

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/8-Channel-Relay-Module-S...

3. Flyback Diodes (you can use any diode like 1N4007)
4. Darlington Driver IC with IC base
5. LEDs (for indication) with current limiting resistors (I am using a 10k resistor as I don't want the LEDs to be too bright because I will be using it at night also.)
6. Headers (male and female) and Perfboard
7. Extension Board
8. IR Receiver (I used TSOP1338)
9. IR Remote (any kind like TV, Speaker, AC etc.)
10. DC Barrel Jack
11. 5 wire Wago Terminal

Step 4: Get the IR Codes and Test With a LED.

Download this library and add it to your libraries folder of Arduino.

https://github.com/cyborg5/IRLib

After this, upload the program attached in this step and get the IR codes of each button you will be needing in your IR remote.

Now connect a LED to pin 4 and change the value of hex code in the same program to your remote hex code. I have added a comment in the sketch where you have to change the hex code.

IRhashdecode_MODIFIED.ino
Download

Step 5: Schematic.

Now that everything is working fine, use this diagram to make the complete circuit on a perfboard.

Step 6: Soldering Wire to Extension Board and Headers.

Using the pictres in this step, solder wire to the extension board and breakout LEDs, receiver and headers as well.

Step 7: Upload Program to the Arduino.

Upload the program attached in this step to the Arduino.

You might not be able to do so with the latest version of Arduino IDE. If so, download Arduino 1.0.6 and try again. You will now be able to upload the program to your pro mini.

Download it from here: https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/OldSoftwareReleases