Introduction: Home Automation

About: I am a Computer Science Graduate, and a Data Warehouse Engineer by profession. I am a DIY enthusiast, ardiuno/raspi hobbiyst, Love to hack electronics and stuff.

This is a quick instructable shows a quick demo of building your own Home Automation Devices and deploy them in your home. I will be showing how to control your household switches and the appliances connected to it, via your smartphone( ofcourse, Android :P). Though there are few hiccups that I have faced after building this thing, which I need to sit down and solve. Hence, I would ask you not expect a perfect-ideal working model of Home Automation in here. Also we would be playing around with our household voltages (220 V), be careful with that, and I am not liable for any damages. Lets get started then....

Things required :

1) Arduino Uno

2) Bluetooth Module (HC-05)

3) Lamp / Lamp Holder

4) Relay Cubes (one which is compatible to your household voltages)

5) connecting wires

6) Android Smartphone

Step 1: A Working Demo of My Project..

Step 2: Getting Your Connections Right

The basic control flow would be like this :

The app in your phone send a command via bluetooth. which in turn is recieved by our bluetooth module (HC-05), The bluetooth module forwards these commands to our Arduino Uno board to which it is connected. This Arduino board controls the relays using these commands. The relay are connected to our main switchboards which either break/close the ciruit, thereby switching on/off the appliance.

For the connections related to Bluetooth Module and Arduino Uno. Please refer my previous tutorial Night_Light. I have designed the app using MIT app inventor. I would be attaching the Android App that I have developed. and also the arduino code. please refer the code and post any doubts that you have. As far as the relay connections are concerned, it is very easy. All you need to do is supply it a 5V power/GND which can be taken from Arduino Board and the control pins to toggle switches (check the code). After that open up your switch board attach your relay(normally connected and com) in such a way that it forms a closed loop when the switch is in ON state. So all you need to do is toggle the relays from the app and your appliance will switch ON/OFF, also you could control your appliance manually(only when the relay is in normal position, this is the part i still need to work on). I will upload more details on the same soon.

Step 3: The App and Arduino Sketch

I have attached the app and the arduino code here. The app consists of a list picker from which you can select the bluetooth module, and two buttons to toggle the switches which sends out the following command to HC-05 in this format b:true/false, f:true/false (b for bulb, f for fan).

Connect the components in the circuit as mentioned in the previous step, and try to work it out.