DIY – Page 6 – SuperHouse Automation

Posted on November 18, 2016November 18, 2016 by Daniel de Waard — Leave a comment

Smart Home Dashboard

One difficulty facing hobbyists who undertake home automation projects, is finding a common platform to centrally control all aspects of their smart home. Justin Unterreiner has attempted to solve this problem with his smart home dashboard.

The project uses a Raspberry Pi and a Touch screen to run a customizable interface to control different smart devices. To find out more about this project check out the following link.

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Have you been reading about cool projects like this and would like to understand more? Checkout the Freetronics Experimenter’s Kit for Arduino.

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 November 15, 2016 by Daniel de Waard — Leave a comment

Gas Detector

Undetected gas leaks can have extremely nasty consequences. Unlike a leaking tap, a gas leak can be at risk of explosion and in the case of carbon monoxide, poisoning and even possibly death. One way to avoid these consequences is to acquire a gas detector, or even better make your own! This is exactly what Stefan G has done using a Particle Photon, gas detector and a buzzer. To find out more about this project and to learn how you can make your own gas detector checkout this following link.

If you’re looking for a buzzer module to use in this project check out the Freetronics sound and buzzer module.

Although you can use the sound and buzzer module to generate sounds, it can also be used as a knock-detector input to sense events and react to them. This means it is perfect for this project! For more information and to order, please visit the product page.

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 November 10, 2016 by Daniel de Waard — Leave a comment

Foodie – Consumption Monitor

Have you ever thought it would be interesting to track food consumption? Foodie is an IoT project that tracks your food usage over time. The project uses a number of weight sensors connected to an Arduino and Raspberry Pi to monitor the contents of your pantry or fridge. By creating a network of weight sensors the “Foodie” system can track the consumption of individual items and link this data to individual barcodes so that it can make reccomendations for your shopping list! To get started with this project check out the following link.

If you are working on a projected that requires interaction between an Arduino and a Raspberry Pi the team at SuperHouse Automation recommends the Freetronics PiLeven. The PiLeven is a 100% Arduino Uno compatible board that is designed to fit perfectly onto your Raspberry Pi, adding a huge amount of potential functionality to your Raspberry Pi. For more information visit the PiLeven webpage.

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

Are you are thinking about making your own thermal imaging camera? Have 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 October 1, 2016 by Daniel de Waard — Leave a comment

Reading Sensor Values Online

If you want to take your projects to the next level and add online capabilities this tutorial is for you. Although it is relatively simply to connect up a sensor to your Arduino and read sensor values onto an LCD or your serial monitor, making these sensor values accessible over the internet adds a whole new level of complexity! With this tutorial you can learn how to create your own online thermometer. To get started checkout the following link.

If you are looking for a temperature sensor to use in this project the team at SuperHouse Automation recommends the Freetronics temperature sensor module. To find out more about check out the product page.

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

Working on your own home automation projects? 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 September 20, 2016 by Daniel de Waard — Leave a comment

Knock Controlled Night Light

Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night and stumbled around trying to turn on your light only to end up painfully bumping into things? With this project from Peter Javorsky you can build your own night light which will turn on with a simple knock.

The project uses a piezo sensor to detect a knock and power a white LED strip meaning you can quickly and easily turn on or off your night light! The project comes with full schematics and code examples so there is nothing to stop you getting started. This would be a great addition to your smarthome. Checkout this link to find out more.

If you’re looking for a piezo module to use in this project the team at SuperHouse Automation recommends the Freetronics Piezo module. For more information and to order, visit the product page.

Want to learn more about awesome automation hacks like this? Subscribing to SuperHouse Automation on YouTube is the best place to start!

Have an idea for a project you would like us to feature? 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 September 19, 2016September 19, 2016 by Daniel de Waard — Leave a comment

Arduino Oscilloscope!

An oscilloscope is a must have tool for any electronics enthusiast, however, they are typically extremely expensive ($600+), so price can be a real barrier to owning your own. With this fantastic project from BramMylemans you can use an Arduino to create your own oscilloscope very cheaply!

Not only is it great to be able to build your own oscilloscope, but this project will cost next to nothing as it only requires an Arduino Leonardo and a few capacitors, diodes and resistors. Furthermore, when you are working on home automation projects having an oscilloscope can really go a long way to helping you design and debug your system. To get started building your own oscilloscope check out the following link.

If you are looking for an Arduino Leonardo compatible board the team at SuperHouse Automation recommends the Freetronics LeoStick. The LeoStick is very similar to an Arduino Leonardo, however it comes in a compact, convenient USB stick style format! Checkout the product page to find out more.

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

Working on your own home automation projects? 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 September 14, 2016 by Daniel de Waard — Leave a comment

Eject-A-Bed

Do you ever struggle to get your kids out of bed in the morning? With this awesome hack from Jamie Dixon you can modify an old adjustable hospital bed so that you can control it over the internet, from anywhere in the world. With a simple push of a button on your phone or computer you can tilt the bed from a comfortable horizontal position into a vertical position sending the occupant flying out of their bed and hopefully waking them up without causing any serious injuries!

The eject a bed is controlled by Raspberry Pi 2 which talks to a servo and an Arduino. This is a really great project for learning how to control things over the internet and is sure to be lots of fun as well. For more information check out the following link or the video below.

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

Working on your own home automation projects? 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 September 7, 2016 by Daniel de Waard — Leave a comment

Joystick Controlled Labyrinth

Does your “labyrinth” game sit unused collecting dust on shelf? Is it too good to throw away even though you never use it? Why not bring your “labyrinth” into the 21st century! With this fascinating project from instructables member tripletray you can control your labyrinth using your Nintendo Wii controller and an Arduino (you can read more about using a Wii Controller with your Arduino here).

At a basic level the Arduino reads inputs from a game controller which are converted into movement of the labyrinth plane using some servos. Not only does this project allow you to control your labyrinth using your Wii Controller, but it also includes a solenoid which automatically reloads to the ball to the starting position in the event of a (likely) unsuccessful run. You can find full code examples and read about this project at the following link.

If you are looking for an Arduino board to provide the brains for your labyrinth, the SuperHouse team recommends the Freetronics “Eleven” Arduino Compatible Board, click on the link to find out more.

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

Thought that this was a cool project? 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 September 5, 2016 by Daniel de Waard — Leave a comment

Magnetic Stripe Decoder

Have you ever wondered if it was possible to use a magnetic card reader in your Arduino projects? Having control over a magnetic stripe reader opens up lots of possibilities such as adding swipe card access to one of the doors around your home. Instructables member powerpants has put together a fantastic guide which details every aspect of using a magnetic stripe reader from the wiring to full code examples. You can checkout the instructions here.

If you are looking for an Arduino board to use in this project, the SuperHouse team recommends the Freetronics “Eleven” Arduino Compatible Board, click on the link to find out more.

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

Thought that this was a cool project? 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 August 31, 2016 by Daniel de Waard — Leave a comment

Build Your Own Breathalyzer

If you have been reading our blog over the last few months you have probably read about the awesome Arduino homebrew controller or the Arduino cocktail maker. After writing about these projects we thought that it was only fair that we also let you know about Bot1398’s Arduino Breathalyzer. After all, it is important to make sure that your friends are safe to drive themselves home after partaking in some of your home brewed beers!

Breathalyzer

This project uses an alcohol sensor to provide an estimation of your blood alcohol content. If you are wanting to develop your soldering skills and build something which could genuinely be useful, this is definitely a great project to get started on. You can find out more at the following link.

If you are looking for an Arduino board to provide the brains for your breathalyzer, the SuperHouse team recommends the Freetronics “Eleven” Arduino Compatible Board, click on the link to find out more.

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

Working on your own home automation projects? The team at SuperHouse Automation would love to know! Tell us about it in the comments section below or on Facebook and Twitter.

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