Smart Home

Affordable solutions with the ESP8266 and 3D printing If you are looking for a small yet powerful IoT device, you are likely to come across the ESP8266 and compatible products on the market today. One of these, the Wemos/Lolin D1 Mini Pro board strikes a remarkable balance between cost and performance. A small and very affordable prototype board, the D1 Mini Pro stands out with its WiFi functionality and a 16-Mbytes flash memory for easy creation of a flash file system. In addition, there are sufficient input and output pins (only one analog input though) to support PWM, I²C, and One-Wire systems to mention but a few. The book describes the operation, modding, construction, and programming of home appliances including a colorful smart home accessory, a refrigerator/greenhouse controller, an AC powerline monitor, a door lock monitor, and an IKEA Trådfri controller. As a benefit, all firmware developed for these DIY, 'IoT-ized' devices can be updated over-the-air (OTA). For most of the designs in the book, a small printed circuit board (PCB) and an enclosure are presented so readers can have a finished and attractive-looking product. Readers having – or with access to! – a 3D printer can 'print' the suggested enclosures at home or in a shop. Some of the constructions benefit from a Raspberry Pi configured as a gateway or cms server. This is also described in detail with all the necessary configuring. You don’t need to be an expert but the prerequisites to successful replication of the projects include basic skills with PC software including the ability to surf the Internet. In terms of hardware, you should be comfortable with soldering and generally assembling the PCBs presented in the book. All custom software written for the IoT devices, the PCB layouts, and 3D print files described in the book are available for free downloading.

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Projects with Arduino, ESPHome, Home Assistant, and Raspberry Pi & Co. We start by learning about electrical engineering by looking at the basics of voltage and current and the types of resistors, diodes and transistors. In the second chapter, we get to know the most famous microcontroller, the Arduino Uno. We will analyze its structure, learn how to code and carry out illustrative examples. In chapter three, we set up Home Assistant on a Raspberry Pi. We look at scenes, automations and the general handling of HA. We then look at the MQTT protocol, which is the gold standard in home electronics communication, so to speak, but other interfaces such as I²C, SPI and UART are also explained in detail in this chapter. In the following chapter we will take a look at the ESP8266, the more modern ESP32 and of course the ESP32-CAM. First some theory, followed by practical examples. Indoor climate sensors for temperature and humidity, motion sensors, RFID readers and many more sensors are explained in detail in chapter 7, followed by practical examples. Chapter 8 deals with actuators such as the 7-segment display, servo motors, displays, stepper motors and much more. You can use ESPHome to integrate sensors and actuators into Home Assistant without any programming effort. In this chapter, you will be guided step by step through how to integrate your own sensors. Do you want to bring more colorful light into your living space? Then the chapter on LEDs is just right for you. The different types of LED lights are explained here and, of course, the basics of lighting technology are not forgotten. There are a lot of ICs in electronics that make our lives easier; in this chapter we get to know a few ICs and the basic knowledge is immediately put into practice. All code examples do not have to be typed out, you can download them for free from GitHub and modify them. The respective link (with QR code) can be found in the code example.

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Learn programming for Alexa devices, extend it to smart home devices and control the Raspberry PiThe book is split into two parts: the first part covers creating Alexa skills and the second part, designing Internet of Things and Smart Home devices using a Raspberry Pi.The first chapters describe the process of Alexa communication, opening an Amazon account and creating a skill for free. The operation of an Alexa skill and terminology such as utterances, intents, slots, and conversations are explained. Debugging your code, saving user data between sessions, S3 data storage and Dynamo DB database are discussed.In-skill purchasing, enabling users to buy items for your skill as well as certification and publication is outlined. Creating skills using AWS Lambda and ASK CLI is covered, along with the Visual Studio code editor and local debugging. Also covered is the process of designing skills for visual displays and interactive touch designs using Alexa Presentation Language.The second half of the book starts by creating a Raspberry Pi IoT 'thing' to control a robot from your Alexa device. This covers security issues and methods of sending and receiving MQTT messages between an Alexa device and the Raspberry Pi.Creating a smart home device is described including forming a security profile, linking with Amazon, and writing a Lambda function that gets triggered by an Alexa skill. Device discovery and on/off control is demonstrated.Next, readers discover how to control a smart home Raspberry Pi display from an Alexa skill using Simple Queue Service (SQS) messaging to switch the display on and off or change the color.A node-RED design is discussed from the basic user interface right up to configuring MQTT nodes. MQTT messages sent from a user are displayed on a Raspberry Pi.A chapter discusses sending a proactive notification such as a weather alert from a Raspberry Pi to an Alexa device. The book concludes by explaining how to create Raspberry Pi as a stand-alone Alexa device.

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There are many so-called 'Arduino compatible' platforms on the market. The ESP8266 – in the form of the WeMos D1 Mini Pro – is one that really stands out. This device includes WiFi Internet access and the option of a flash file system using up to 16 MB of external flash memory. Furthermore, there are ample in/output pins (though only one analogue input), PWM, I²C, and one-wire. Needless to say, you are easily able to construct many small IoT devices! This book contains the following builds: A colourful smart home accessory refrigerator controller 230 V power monitor door lock monitor and some further spin-off devices. All builds are documented together with relevant background information for further study. For your convenience, there is a small PCB for most of the designs; you can also use a perf board. You don’t need to be an expert but the minimum recommended essentials include basic experience with a PC, software, and hardware, including the ability to surf the Internet and assemble PCBs. And of course: A handle was kept on development costs. All custom software for the IoT devices and PCB layouts are available for free download from at Elektor.com.

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Features Easy-to-use and low-cost hardware kit: combines an affordable hardware kit with FREE curriculums and activities for students’ hands-on experience in precision agriculture techniques to food production. New tools for STEAM Education learners: students learn about AI, Machine learning, and IoT by building a garden monitoring system. Easily use with Raspberry Pi 4: with atmospheric and environmental sensors to understand their soil's health, analyze data, and make decisions. Real-time data collection: The student-built IoT devices connect to custom Microsoft Excel workbooks that collect real-time data using Excel’s Data Streamer. Building your own Machine Learning models: using Lobe.ai, students apply the technique to predict nutrient deficiencies in their plants and identifying pests in their garden. Introducing Microsoft responsible AI framework: engaging students with some of the social and ethical challenges raised by this new technology. Applications Combined with software and curriculum & resources, you can get hands-on experience, learn about artificial intelligence, machine learning, the Internet of Things, data science and then apply the knowledge in growing plants in the real world. This kit is highly suitable for use in different scenarios, no matter in the classroom, at home, at maker spaces/ fab labs or through distance learning courses: School garden monitoring Home garden monitoring Distance teaching /learning Online courses Hobby and DIY projects Included 1x Grove Base Hat for Raspberry Pi with a Fan 1x One Wire Temperature Sensor 1x Grove Capacitive Soil Moisture Sensor 1x Grove Sunlight Sensor 1x Grove Temperature & Humidity Sensor 1x Grove Relay 1x Grove Dual Button 1x micro SD Card with Card Reader (32 GB) 1x USB to TTL Serial Cable 1x Screwdriver Downloads FarmBeats for Student Kit Brochure FarmBeats Student Image

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Take your first step to upgrading your smart home with Home Assistant Green, the easiest way to start using Home Assistant. Its powerful hardware lets you control and automate everything in your home from a single app with Home Assistant. Just plug in power and network cables, and you'll be up and running. Download our mobile apps or use our web app to guide you through the setup process seamlessly. That's all! Home Assistant will automatically start detecting your smart home devices. Everything in one app More than 1,000 built-in integrations support hundreds of thousands of smart devices and online services, with more regularly added by our community. Switch from other smart home ecosystems at your own pace Home Assistant works with your existing Apple HomeKit, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, and Amazon Alexa setup, allowing a seamless and gradual migration for everyone in your home. Expand compatibility as your home expands You can add Home Assistant SkyConnect to connect Zigbee and Thread devices, set up Home Assistant Cloud for voice assistants, and integrate third-party USB accessories to support other smart standards, such as Z-Wave or Bluetooth. Home Assistant is built by one of the largest communities of open-source contributors. New features and improvements are added every month, ensuring your smart home never lets you down. Home Assistant keeps your data locally, which means you are safe from invasive privacy practices and you can access your smart home even when the Internet is down. Specifications SoC Rockchip RK3566 SoC with quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 CPU CPU Frequency 1.8 GHz Storage 32 GB eMMC flash drive RAM 4 GB LPDDR4X Interfaces Status LEDs White (power indicator)Green (activity indicator)Yellow (system health indicator) Power supply DC barrel connector, 5.5 x 2.1 mm12 V DC, 1 A Battery CR2032 (not included) Energy consumption Idle: ~1.7 W at 12 VLoad: ~3 W at 12 V USB 2x USB 2.0 Type-A Host ports, 5 V up to 2 A (combined) Display HDMI port, for diagnostic purposes only External storage MicroSD slot, for recovery purposes only Networking Gigabit Ethernet Dimensions 112 x 112 x 32 mm Weight 340 g Included Home Assistant Green smart home hub Gigabit Ethernet cable 12 V/1 A universal power supply (comes with plug adapters for EU, US, and UK) Quick Start Guide Warranty and Safety Information Downloads Datasheet Documentation GitHub

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