Daniel de Waard

Posted on December 14, 2016 by Daniel de Waard — Leave a comment

Build Your Own Scoreboard

Wouldn’t it be cool to build your own full sized outdoor scoreboard? This is exactly what joevpt has done. The scoreboard uses 24 DMD displays which are controlled by 6 Arduino boards. Impressively the scoreboard updates automatically from an iPhone app which is used to keep track of the scores at joevpt’s rugby club. If you want to read more about this project checkout this thread on the Freetronics forum.

If you are impressed by this project and want to build your own scoreboard, why not checkout the range of displays offered by Freetronics. They are simple to use, yet very bright for indoor and outdoor situations. Available in various colours, the 32 x 16 LED matrix can display text and graphics easily, and can be daisy-chained together for extended displays. For more information, find out more about the Freetronics Dot Matrix Displays here.

Want to keep in the loop about the latest in home automation? Subscribing to SuperHouse Automation on YouTube is the best place to start!

Inspired to start work on this project? Are you working on a project you would like us to feature in this blog? The team at SuperHouse Automation would love to know! Tell us about it in the comments section below or on Facebook and Twitter.

Posted on December 13, 2016 by Daniel de Waard — Leave a comment

Particle Photon Environment Monitor

Sometimes it can be really handy to quickly access information such as the current temperature, humidity and light level. It can be very interesting to collect this kind of data from your home or office and to observe trends over time and in different spaces. One effective way of collecting this kind of data is to build a simple home environment monitor as Brian has done.

Brian’s home environment monitor uses a Particle Photon to collect data from a number of sensors. The Particle Photon and the sensors are all housed in a very tidy looking 3D printed case! If this project interests you, check out the following link to get started.

Looking for a temperature sensor to use in this project? Why not check out the Freetronics Humidity and Temperature Sensor Module?

Posted on December 10, 2016 by Daniel de Waard — Leave a comment

Lightning Detector

Wouldn’t it be awesome to be able to sense and track lighting strikes using Arduino? Typically lightning detectors are very expensive, however, runtimeprojects has developed a cheap system for detecting lighting using only an Arduino Uno and a few resistors. Impressively the circuit can detect lightning as far away as 20km! At a basic level this lightning detector works by detecting changes in electromagnetic radiation using a small antenna which picks up small fluctuations in the electromagnetic spectrum, particularly at around 7kHz. If you want to find out more about this impressive project checkout the following link.

Posted on December 8, 2016 by Daniel de Waard — Leave a comment

Arduino UV Meter

With warmer summer months approaching (at least for us Australians) it is becoming more important to be sunsmart. What better way to start being sunsmart than to build your own Arduino UV Meter! This UV meter uses an OLED display a ESP-1 WiFi module along with a number of sensor to provide the inputs and outputs.

If you want to find out more about this impressive project check out the instructable from funelab. The instructions are well explained and include instructions on how to 3D print a case which is perfectly designed for the keychain.

Posted on December 5, 2016 by Daniel de Waard — Leave a comment

Water Detection System

A water leak can often be a warning of imminent catastrophic failure with many appliances such as a washing machine or dishwasher. With this simple water detection system not only could you quickly detect appliance faults, but you could also set the system up to notify you if it is raining and you have left washing on the line. The possibilities are endless. This project uses a Particle Photon, although it could work with any microcontroller, and exploits the conducting properties of water to easily detect when water is present somewhere it shouldn’t be! To get started with this project check out the following link.

Thinking about making your own water detection system but don’t know where to get started with electronics? The Freetronics Experimenter’s Kit is a great way to learn.

Posted on December 1, 2016 by Daniel de Waard — Leave a comment

What is Arduino?

If you have been following our Facebook or Twitter pages or reading our blog you have probably heard a lot about this wonderful thing called “Arduino”. Although most of you are probably well versed in what Arduino is, some of our readers may have no idea. For this weeks Skill Sunday we have put together a brief introduction about exactly what Arduino is and why you should be interested, you can find it here.

Just discovered what Arduino is and you would like to learn how to use it yourself? The team at SuperHouse Automation recommends the Freetronics Experimenter’s Kit for Arduino. The package includes a wide variety of parts, sensors and modules including: a servo motor, lights, buttons, switches, sound, sensors, breadboard, wires and more. Furthermore a Freetronics Eleven Arduino-compatible board is included to make this an extensive hobby experimenter, inventor and starter kit. The kit also includes a great project and instruction booklet, plus access to a supporting web page and software examples. To get started or for more information and to pre-order (just in time for Christmas), check out the product page.

Posted on November 29, 2016 by Daniel de Waard — Leave a comment

Uploading an Arduino Sketch over Bluetooth

Have you ever stuck an Arduino in a hard to get place such as under the house and then realised that you want to upload a firmware revision? This can be a very frustrating situation, however, with the simple addition of a Bluetooth module it is possible to avoid this problem. Amazingly it is possible to program an Arduino over Bluetooth. For added flexibility there is even an Android app, “Bluino Loader” which allows you to upload a sketch to an Arduino from your smartphone. For step by step details of how this is possible, checkout the following link.

If you are looking for an easy way to add Bluetooth connectivity to your Arduino why not check out the Freetronics Bluetooth Shield?

Posted on November 28, 2016 by Daniel de Waard — Leave a comment

Gesture Controlled Smart Home

It is already possible to easily control devices in your house using an app on your phone, but what if you could turn on the lights or open the blinds with a simple movement of your hands? This is exactly what Joaquim has done using an MYO gesture control armband.

Joaquim has explained his project in great detail, but the results certainly have to been seen to be believed. To find out more check out the following link.

Fundamental to almost all home automation project is the ability to connect devices to Wifi. If you are wondering how to connect your Arduino to Wifi, why not checkout the Freetronics ESP-01 WiFi Module shield for Arduino. The shield has a socket that’s perfect for the ESP-01 module (a very common and cheap wifi module), and addresses all the needs of the ESP8266 including supplying the correct power and connections to your Arduino. Don’t fiddle with jumper wires or sub-standard power supplies – order your Freetronics ESP-01 WiFi Module Shield today! They’re in stock right now for only $14.

Posted on November 26, 2016 by Daniel de Waard — Leave a comment

Surface Mount Soldering

Surface mount parts can be so small that assembling surface mount projects can seem like magic! However, nowadays with the increasing prevalence of surface-mount technology (SMT) knowing how to put SMT projects together has become an increasingly important skill. Luckily Freetronics have put together a great tutorial to help you get started with SMT assembly. To get started assembling your own SMT boards in no time checkout the following link.

Posted on November 24, 2016 by Daniel de Waard — Leave a comment

Keiran’s Automation System

At SuperHouse we take great joy in seeing the amazing projects that our followers put together. We are starting a new “project showcase” blog segment, not only so we can see all the cool projects that our followers create but also so that we can share these awesome projects with the rest of the world, and use them to inspire others to make their own projects!

Our first showcase project is from Keiran who has started building his own home automation system. Keiran currently uses his system to control the fountains and lights in his pool and some of the lights in his house. He also has been working on using MQTT to interact between Arduino and Home Assistant running on a Raspberry Pi. Keiran has lots of ideas to keep adding to his system including motion activated lights and a power monitoring system. If you want to find out more about Keiran’s project you can read about his progress on the Freetronics forum.

Thanks to Keiran for sharing his awesome project with us. If you would like us to feature your project in our blog please get in contact with us on either Facebook or Twitter.