How to make a smart home yourself. How to make a smart home with your own hands. What does a smart home include?
Films often show a living space that seems to live its own life. Light bulbs light up at the wave of a hand, curtains open, and music plays after a certain word. All this equipment is intelligent home system, and we propose to consider how to make a smart home with your own hands, what is needed for this, and also what is the diagram of such a system.
Smart home - what is it?
Smart House Home automation is a residential extension of building automation. Home automation can include centralized control of lighting, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), home appliances, gate openers, door openers, GSM and other systems to provide improved convenience, comfort, energy efficiency and security. It should be noted that for some categories of the population (elderly, disabled people) this event may become necessary.
Photo – Smart home distribution ideas
Photo – Simple smart home WITH latest implementation SMART technologies have become part of our lives, many can no longer imagine their lives without automatic installations, software equipment, we need wireless Internet, Appliances.
Home automation refers to the use of computer and information technologies For driving household appliances and their functions. It can range from simple remote lighting control to complex computer/micro-controller based networks with varying degrees of intelligence and automation. Home automation should mainly be as simple as possible.
Photo – Smart door lock Advantages of using " smart home» in an apartment based on PIC or WAVE:
- Economical expenditure of time on daily setup of various mechanisms, receiving calls, sending mail;
- Use of gaseous or liquid fuel materials, and later the use of electricity, allowed increased automation in heating systems, reducing the labor required to manually refill the heater and furnace.
- The development of thermostats has made it possible to adjust more automated control heating and later cooling;
- This is how industrial facilities and residential premises are often protected;
- As the number of controlled devices in a home increases, their interconnection increases. For example, a furnace can send notifications when it needs cleaning, or a refrigerator when it needs servicing.
- IN simple installations, smart can turn on the light when a person enters the room. Also, depending on the time of day, the TV can be tuned to necessary channels, set the air temperature, lighting.
A smart home can provide an access interface to household appliances or automation to provide control and monitoring on your smartphone, through a server, mini Smart for iPhone, iPod touch, as well as using a laptop computer (special soft: AVR Studio is required).
Photo - Home control via tablet Video: Schneider Electric smart home system
Smart home elements
Home automation elements include sensors (e.g. temperature, daylight or motion detection), controllers and actuators such as motorized valves, switches, motors and others.
Photo - House control diagram This heating, ventilation and air conditioning, HVAC can control temperature and humidity, for example, an internet control thermostat allows the homeowner to remotely control the building's heating and air conditioning systems, the system can automatically open and close windows, turn on radiators and boilers, and heated floors.
Lighting
These lighting control mechanisms can be used to control household lights and appliances. This also includes the system natural light, work of blinds or curtains.
Photo - Smart home diagram Audio-visual
- Remote control presence effect (This is the most modern technology, which is used to increase security). It involves turning on the lights and playing music.
- Presence simulation
- Temperature regulation
- Brightness adjustment (electric lamps, street lighting)
- Security (alarm, blinds).
How to make a smart home
You can make an intelligent system with your own hands, the most a budget option– this is setting up control of lighting in the house or turning on the computer.
Photo - Smart home control option To make a lamp that will light up on its own, you will need to connect it to special equipment. There are several options for solving this problem:
- Install an acoustic relay (1 or x10-wire);
- Attach the dimmer;
- Connect a motion sensor.
The easiest way to work is with a sensor. It is sold in any online store, you can buy a duct device, or you can develop your own according to your parameters. The only note is that you cannot install an incandescent lamp with such a device, it may not withstand the load and explode; it is better to work with an LED one.
Photo – Smart home concept Another “smart” silent option is a dimmer. Here you will need to touch the lamp, depending on the number of touches, the speaking device will change brightness. This is very convenient to use on a lamp in a bedroom or children's room.
To set up temperature control and regulation, we need a multi-channel system. Central scheme temperature and humidity control consists of:
- Sensors (ds1820) that measure the physical state of liquid and air.
- Controllers (rfm12), which can be simple physical components and complex devices special purpose or embedded computers.
- Lunex drives that respond to controller signals.
Most modern way– this is to buy all the components of a smart home, wires, thermostats. Then install devices in each room, one thermostat for the radiator and one for the boiler. You will also need a controlled unit, or the “brain” of the entire system. It is recommended to install it on the heating inlet pipe.
Photo – Smart home system The easiest way to install a video surveillance and alarm system. Fundamental provisions for installing security systems:
- You need to connect sensors on the windows, doorways, electricians will be the most productive there;
- The most difficult thing is to select a board; the smart home controller, the operation of mediocre parts, and the signal level depend on it;
- Many experts believe that indicators should be mounted at floor level. About 20 cm from the baseboard, this increases efficiency;
- It is advisable to establish constant monitoring, establish digital system contact with the security service. Often responsible owners set special program to your place Personal Computer, which allows you to control the operation of the system from anywhere where there is Internet (Elena Tesla and her book: “Smart Home: How to Do It Yourself” advises doing this; there are also other solutions there). You can enable SMS notifications.
A smart home is very convenient way make your life easier, often the whole system purchased in full (Arduino, KNX, Linux).
The cost of each system is individual. The most popular brands are the following: beckhoff, gira, lpt, redeye, Smart Switch IOT screen, teleco. We recommend that before building such housing, you consult with specialists; they will help you calculate the load level and calculate the power consumption.
Photo - Light control via phone To get ideas, you can scroll through V.N. Gololobov’s “Smart Home” with your own hands, DJVU or PDF, look at our photos and video instructions, read the advice of famous masters.
The topic “Smart Home” is already on everyone’s lips. They talk about it, they invest in it, they develop it... On this topic, to such giants as Siemens, General Electric and others, seemingly not entirely specialized companies joined, such as Microsoft, Google, Apple.
There is no single standard on the topic, just as there are no instructions, they say, “do this and that,” so theoretically, anyone can build their own smart home and exactly the way they want, and therefore I could not miss this topic and actively joined it. I won’t say that I ate the dog with smart houses... no, rather, I took the bite, but nevertheless, based on my experience and my observations, I will try to post a detailed... mmm... How-To? No, it won't work. Review? That’s not it either... More likely it will be parting words or some set of advice.
Theater begins with a hanger, and I will start by dotting all the “I’s” right away, so that readers do not have any unfounded negativity or simply some kind of misunderstanding during the reading process.
The most important thing is that the article is intended for people who have not yet really understood whether they even need this “Smart Home” and whether they need to get involved in this topic?
Now the term.
Let's be honest, "Smart Home" is not only such a system with artificial intelligence, who talks to you in the morning in the bathroom (while you shave) and cooks you dinner while you drive home. There is no need to confuse the system with the wife.
Smart home is any an automation/automation system (or a complex of automation/automation systems) that somehow, even the smallest fraction, makes your life easier. It doesn’t matter what it is: automatically turning off the light in the toilet after a person leaves and closes the door, or a system that itself waters house flowers, feeds your beloved cat and shuts off a leaking water supply pipe if you stay late at work. If something in your home is triggered based on some kind of algorithm, then it can already be called a “Smart Home” system, only with limited functionality.
Also, a “Smart Home” is not only a mansion stuffed with electronics, but also an apartment in which your automation and/or control system operates, i.e. " Smart apartment" - this is also a “Smart Home” and further in the text we will use this very term.
In general, there is no need for a person to be excessively boring, and to get into a debate on the question of how smart the “Smart House” turned out to be, which was made by student Kolya, is, in my opinion, a disrespect for the work of that same Kolya. Did he do it? Does it work and control something? Great, well done! Let it continue to grow above itself.
Let's return to the topic.
We want to build our “Smart Home”, where to start? From purchase, construction? No, in this case, as in all engineering problems, you need to start with paper, or rather, with a project. Will it be a piece of chewed paper with diagrams and drawings that only you can understand, or will it be something drawn in *CAD... the main thing is that at least you understand what is depicted there.
Don’t be afraid to describe “long-term plans”; write down and think through everything, even what you can do in the very distant future. It’s better to think about everything now because then it will be too late. This is an experience paid for with the blood of many engineers who stepped on numerous mistakes.
What should you pay attention to?
1. Users
Consider how the system you introduce will be handled by users, i.e. residents of your home or members of your family. Will people who are not technically savvy (old people, children or a wife - it doesn’t matter who exactly) be able to use this? Scenario like: “Honey, the light in the toilet is about to turn on, now I’m just updating the firmware to the Arduino.” doesn't fit. Imagine that you are renting out your system to a rich “redneck” bandit, who, seeing your switches with LED backlight will tell you: " This... hear, what kind of crap is this? Where is there to go?"What is obvious to you may not be completely clear to others.
2. Technology
Wired or wireless. If it’s wired, then you need to make plans for laying all the necessary cables (and preferably with a large margin). Where to lay out the walls, where to place sockets and automation elements - everything should be on the diagram. If the system is wireless, then think about where the transmitters/receivers will be located, where the signal repeaters will be located.
Now you remember this, in a month, when there is a lot of information, your head will be a mess and something will be forgotten.
3. Executor
Who will do all this? Are you yourself or a hired company specializing in the topic? It will be cheaper to do it yourself, but it will be required from you deep dive in question. We will still rely on self-deployment, because the category of the article is “Do it yourself”, right?
4. Autonomy
When thinking through the functionality and capabilities of a smart home, always count on the fact that there will be no Internet in the house. Of course, many smart guys will object to me, they say, you need to think about the possibility of pairing with something in outside world... think it over, plan it, no one argues, but your smart home should work properly in full autonomy/isolation mode. It may be difficult for a person living in a metropolis to understand how it is possible to have no Internet at all... GPRS, ADSL, at least there should be something back up? No no and one more time no! Nothing may happen, but it should work All.
Here's an example:
You have built a funny system: say “Nafanya, turn on the multicooker/light in the toilet” and the system turns off the multicooker or the light in the toilet, simultaneously saying “Turning it on.” But suddenly, due to the evil hackers of Al-Qaeda, your provider’s network fell off, and after it the network of your mobile operator“Speaker”, which provides you with a backup LTE channel. Naturally Google TTS, which was based on your system voice control, fell off and the smart home instantly turned into a dumb dumbass who couldn’t turn on anything. Make it possible manual control, or better yet, make the system so that it can, for example, read the weather out loud without Google's voice service. It's difficult, but it's possible. Nobody said that deploying a Smart Home is like installing MS Office.
Second example:
You managed your smart home through an Android application, but after the malicious hacker attack described above, your smartphone was unable to contact the cloud service and command the smart home to turn off the forgotten iron. Write your own application that can work remotely via a mobile operator’s 2G network or via Wi-Fi if you are within the coverage area of your home access point.
5. The next point to remember when designing follows from the previous one: The “core” of your automation system.
Your home may have a router (ADSL, LTE or some other), a switch or some other network switching device, but a smart home must be controlled by a “core” - a separate and independent device. Under no circumstances combine network traffic management and home management in one piece of hardware. Nowadays there are many routers on which you can install firmware with a miniature copy of Linux, and many people who are familiar with this topic try to attach whatever comes to mind to such routers. Personally, I love routers that allow me to fine-tune everything I need more precisely, but I don’t think it’s right to install controls on a device that wasn’t originally designed for it.
Your home may be left completely without a network, but it should work home automation or vice versa, home automation may fail, but this should not drag down the work of the LAN (local area network).
6. Kernel placement
Underneath all this fuss with the router, switch, control system core, backup power systems, etc. need to be highlighted separate place: wardrobe, closet, closed niche/mezzanine. Anything where there is ventilation (the equipment will get hot and you need to think about cooling) and where it will not be in the way/in the eye. Your system should not spoil general view housing and make negative changes to home comfort.
If you have a basement, then it is better to deploy your “mission control center” there. 
7. Expenses
Perhaps this should have been inserted somewhere closer to the beginning, but if the previous points were not fully worked out, then the matter may not come to expenses.
The most important thing to know is that a Smart Home is a damn expensive endeavor. You can do something yourself (etch boards, program microcontrollers), but this will only reduce your costs, and not eliminate them altogether.
The next most important thing to consider at this point is duplication. Include the purchase of all equipment and performers in double size and always round to the larger side. In your home, for each performer (switches, sensors, etc.) there should be a backup in the stash (unless, of course, a third-party organization is involved in servicing your home). Don't count on the fact that if something breaks, you will go to the store and buy it.
Example:
The tension jumped. Although the protection worked, some of the built-in light switches burned out. I You got sick yesterday and are lying at home with a temperature of 39.2 degrees. Let's say that you are a courageous man (that's a pun), and, not caring about your health, you decided to get out of bed and replace all the switches yourself, but... with what? Understudy.
Have you decided to place a camera in front of the entrance? Buy two. Have you figured out that you need 12 smart switches around the house? Buy 24. Do you think it’s possible that all 12 will fly out at once? It happens, unfortunately, that the very first thing you have to duplicate is the system kernel.
Bottom line
I described a negligible part of the beginning of such a large and interesting project for most “techies” as the “Smart Home”. This topic affects almost all areas of IT: networks, programming, administration, automation, electrical and electronics... and this makes it a complex topic that requires a special approach. This is clear from what I wrote above, but if it’s not visible, it means the writer in me has never matured.
It’s impossible to cram the entire text into one article; I’ve already shortened it enough, so there will be at least one more part of the material, which, in principle, will contain advice/recommendations on choosing software and hardware. It sounds a little strange, they say, there is such a variety of technologies, what advice can there be? However, there are tips and recommendations even in such a situation.
Thanks to everyone for your attention, and to those who read all this to the end.
Intelligent control system for various engineering communications and devices that increase the degree of comfort under common name"smart home" has many advantages. Its installation is all the more necessary if among the household there are people with disabilities, elderly people who find it difficult to use ordinary elements technical diagrams(for example, switches).
Firstly, the terminology “smart home” applies to everything that is subject to “automation”. Even a simple lighting controller installed in just one room is already a sign of the presence of an element of such a system in the home. Therefore, it is necessary, first of all, to decide on the specific goal that we are pursuing.
What we need is to control household appliances using one electronic “brain center”, open gate leaves at suburban area, provide automatic on/off street lighting(and so on)? There are many options, but this approach will help optimize costs. And they can be significant.
Secondly, you should evaluate your abilities. It is not enough to know something, you also need to be able to perform various technological operations with your own hands, without outside help.
Thirdly, what should you use to assemble a smart home circuit? Available for sale ready-made kits, but their cost (especially imported) is quite high. In addition, are the components subject to repair (if so, how much will it cost) and will it be possible to ensure working together elements from different manufacturers?
In some cases, it is more expedient to buy everything you need at retail and install it in a common circuit controlled from a PC. There is now a computer in almost every home, although it will take a little longer, but at the same time it will be cheaper.
In principle, you can meet 35,000 - 40,000 rubles. If you pay for the services of masters, you need to multiply the indicated amount by approximately 1.5.
Another control option is from a separate remote control with the ability to program various options.
And most importantly. Much depends on the deterioration of the electrical supply system. Before planning large-scale improvements, it is necessary to calculate how much the load on the “line” will increase. Will its capabilities be enough to satisfy all our requests and wishes to improve comfort? And if you have to re-lay cables (wires), what will be the total cost of such an undertaking? It is this factor that, as a rule, most often limits the “appetite” of the homeowner in terms of the degree of home automation.
Therefore, we will consider only some variants of circuits that can be used to control something.
Lighting
With the help of such a device, the degree of illumination of the room is regulated, therefore, there is no need for various night lights, sconces, and the like. By the way, it can also control curtains (blinds).
If you include motion sensors in the circuit, the light will turn on when you enter the room. Their installation and configuration has a number of features, so read about them in detail.
Engineering systems
First of all, heating and forced ventilation. By installing the appropriate sensors (humidity, temperature), and positioning them correctly, the owner can, for example, remotely turn on heated floors and adjust the position of window sashes. The possibilities depend only on the degree of automation and the number of people involved in the scheme household appliances, right up to the boiler (if it is not programmable).
Protection system
None of the schemes is capable of ensuring 100% home security, no matter what advertisers claim. Their goal is to sell, and our task is to think everything through first. How to minimize the risks of unauthorized entry? The most “dangerous” areas from this point of view should be identified. Perhaps it is enough to “protect” only 2 of them, or maybe to put such “barriers” on all windows and doors, combining them into a common scheme. The choice of appropriate sensors is large - motion, presence and a number of others.
Listing all the capabilities of systems is a waste of time. The range of relevant products is significant; the operation of each model has its own characteristics. One of simple options shown in general scheme:
Here is an expanded package with increased functionality.
Well, what exactly to choose for your home is at your discretion, dear reader.
Life hacker understands how to automate an apartment and why it is worth doing.
What is a smart home
Remember Ray Bradbury's story "There Will Come Soft Rains"? If not, then let us briefly remind you: we are talking about the life of a house left without owners. Automatic systems continue to work as before: talking clock they remind you that it’s time to get up, the smart oven prepares breakfast on its own, and the weather box reports that it’s raining outside. It reminds me painfully modern technology, Truth? But the story was published in 1950.
A smart home is a set of solutions for automating everyday actions that will save you from routine. Here and Appliances- from robotic vacuum cleaners to devices controlled from a smartphone - and systems that control everything that happens in the apartment.
At its core, this is a story about improving the quality of life. Comfort consists of little things, and a smart home will take care of all the little things. If you wake up at night and go to the kitchen for a glass of water, you don’t have to make your way through a dark corridor looking for a switch: the light will turn on automatically. Have you ever worried that you didn't turn off the iron or TV? No more anxious thoughts: just send a command to the smart socket from your smartphone, and it will turn off the device that is powered by it.
Why is it needed at all?
Everything is obvious: to make your life easier and better. A smart home means peace of mind and significant savings.
Let's start with calm. If worrying about everything in the world is a common thing for you, a smart home will help you get rid of at least those worries that are associated with your apartment. Did you turn off the iron? No problem, send a command to the smart socket, it will quickly turn off the power. You are afraid that you are neglected before leaving home washing machine went out of order and set up a water park for the neighbors downstairs? It's OK. If it really is leaking, the leak sensor will instantly tell you about it.
The result: you worry less about non-existent problems and free your brain from unnecessary thoughts. You can check how things are going at home at any time using your smartphone.
Now about saving. To many, this advantage of a smart home will probably seem dubious. They say, what other savings can there be when you need to buy several sensors, sockets and a video camera? Believe me, it's tangible. Take the same smart socket - it can track how much energy the device connected to it consumes. As a result, you can identify the most power-hungry appliances and save a lot on bills. And it’s hard to imagine how much money you will save if the leakage sensor promptly reports an incipient flood.
In general, a smart home is an idea that fully justifies itself. A life without unnecessary worries is worth much more than a few sensors and sockets.
How to make your home smart
Easier than it seems. If you select correct technique, you don’t even have to call specially trained people for installation. For example, all Rubetek devices are equipped with simple and clear instructions, so you can handle it on your own without any problems. Let's figure out what's worth purchasing if you want to upgrade your home, but it's not very clear where to start.
This is probably the first thing you need to buy if you are serious. The control center will allow you to interact with all the smart devices you purchase: you can connect up to 300 devices to it. With its help, you can create operating scenarios for equipment. For example, if you leave home, you launch the appropriate mode. The lights in the rooms go out, the blinds or curtains close, and appliances powered by smart plugs turn off. No more running around the apartment, checking if you turned everything off.
The control center works in conjunction with a free mobile app, so it's easy to control from your smartphone. You can even give commands by voice.
Sensors
They will protect your home from intruders, floods, fires and gas leaks. The guys from Rubetek secretly told us that a very cool thing will soon go on sale - a temperature and humidity sensor.
If you connect it to the control center, the sensor will monitor whether the apartment is too hot or cold. For example, if the temperature drops below a set limit, the sensor will report this to the control center, and it will send a signal to the heater.
The opening sensor will be useful for parents of overly curious children. If you have cabinets or drawers at home where your child should absolutely not look, install such a sensor on them. As soon as the child climbs where he shouldn’t, you will know about it. And if you attach a sensor to the door, you can monitor whether the child came home from school on time.
Cameras
What is your child doing while you are away from home, what is your pet doing right now, is everything okay with your elderly parents - a smart video camera will answer each of these questions. IN mobile application The Rubetek camera keeps an event log and saves screenshots; videos can also be recorded in an archive on Google.Disk or Yandex.Disk.
An outdoor video camera will be useful to car owners. Firstly, this way you will know for sure that everything is fine with your car. Secondly, it makes it easy to find out if there is a parking space near your house: you can do this right on the road. If someone damaged your car in this parking lot, you will identify the culprit in just a few minutes.
Smart plugs
A real find for anyone who doesn’t remember whether they turned off the iron or the TV. You send a command to the outlet - it immediately de-energizes the device powered by it. Sockets with a dimmer allow you to adjust the brightness of a floor lamp or wall sconce without leaving the sofa. You can install such an outlet in a children's room. If the baby is used to falling asleep in the light, the night light connected to it will go out gradually.
If your electricity bill surprises you every time, buy an outlet that measures your energy consumption. She will tell you exactly which device decided not to deny itself anything.
Smart technology
If you have been thinking about buying an air conditioner, you should definitely make a choice in favor of it. smart option. It is worth purchasing a temperature and humidity sensor to pair it with. The sensor monitors the temperature in the room, and when it rises, it tells the air conditioner that it is time to correct the situation. Control the air conditioner from your smartphone, give it voice commands, integrate it into everyday smart home scenarios - in general, do not deny yourself anything.
Ready-made sets
In case you don’t want to think on your own which devices to buy, Rubetek has ready-made kits for specific needs. Great option for the first acquaintance with smart technology Moreover, such a kit is cheaper than the devices included in it separately. The “Video surveillance and access control” set is suitable for those who are concerned about protecting their home from intrusion by strangers.
The kit includes a control center, a video camera, an opening sensor and a motion sensor, which can be paired with a relay or smart socket so that the light automatically turns on when a person appears.
The “Smart Apartment” kit will save you from worrying about whether the faucet is leaking or whether the lights are turned off.
The set contains a control center, an opening sensor, a leakage sensor, a video camera and a relay for two-gang switch to turn the lights on and off from your smartphone. For complete peace of mind, you can additionally purchase a smart intercom, socket, smoke and gas leak detectors.
Progress is not only about landing a man on Mars or transplanting everything that is possible, but also about solutions that help get rid of everyday worries. Yes, even if suffering about a leaky tap looks funny on a global scale, but if there is an opportunity to entrust the entire routine smart devices, it would be a sin not to take advantage of this.
Today in Minsk you can find many offers from companies that deal with automation of residential and office premises"Full construction". But there is still a long way to go before the widespread implementation of new technology in life, because most of these solutions have high price. Minsk programmer Alexander Bogdanovich independently designed and installed “smart automation” in his home with the help of the Belarusian manufacturer Nootekhnika. He shared his experience with KV readers.
- Alexander, tell us how much time it took you to design and install a “smart home”?
I don't really like the name "smart home". In my opinion it's more marketing ploy, which does not particularly reflect the very essence of the system, but the essence lies in smart automation.
It all started with the fact that after long wanderings around rented apartments, my wife and I decided to build own house. Already at the time of purchasing the plot, I began to think about smart automation systems. I wanted something unusual, and besides, it was a great opportunity to apply my knowledge, because I am a software engineer by training.
I understood that even at the construction stage it was necessary to lay down the possibility so that in the future it would be possible to “screw on” something and automate it where it would be reasonable.
About three years before construction began, I started designing everything on paper. I tested a lot of things, roughly speaking, on my knees, assembled them, wrote code. Works good. I put it aside as a worked out moment and moved on.
Construction went on for three years, and about a year and a half ago we moved into our own house, in which at that time only two rooms were ready. And so, when it came to practical implementation, some of the ideas “fell off” by themselves as unnecessary.
- What main elements does your system include?
Today, my smart automation system includes four main elements.
Firstly, this remote control light using Noolite solutions from Nootekhnika. This is a very important moment for me. For those who live in an apartment, it may not be clear, because the areas are completely different.
Opportunity wireless control light (Noolite systems control lighting via radio) immediately intrigued me, plus the price tag won me over. From the very beginning, I wanted my smart automation to be quite affordable in addition to comfort.
The switch, which is essentially a remote control radio transmitter, is battery operated. It can be placed anywhere, you can even glue it to furniture, the main thing is that the surface on which it is installed is non-metallic. One lamp can be controlled by several switches at once.
Now we have absolutely no conventional mechanical switches at home. Sometimes the Noolite transmitter just lies somewhere in the room, and only six months later, when we decide that this is where it is really needed, we stick it on. At one time I even had such a switch in my car so that I could turn on the lights at the entrance to the house.
Lighting control is not carried out according to electrical network, so there is no need to run wiring under each switch. The control unit, which is used to turn the light on/off, is neatly mounted in my wall; you can also hide it under a suspended ceiling.
It is also possible to control the Noolite lighting system via a USB adapter, as in principle with any load. And by controlling the load, you can control almost any electrical appliance, to the point that with the help of Nootekhnika solutions you can turn on or off the TV.
Another plus was that the guys from Nootekhnika are located in Minsk, they are a Belarusian manufacturer. So during the design of my system, I communicated with them a lot, and in general I was satisfied with everything. In the summer, Nootekhnika should release blocks with feedback, which I again plan to use myself.
Next I needed to know the temperature readings by room. I started looking for solutions. Wireless? At that time, to implement it, a lot of money was needed. One such sensor cost about $30, but there is more than one need for it in the house. As a result, I found a bidirectional 1-Wire bus, which I ordered in England. With a line up to 200 m, it works even without any additional power supplies.
The wires go straight from the computer through a USB adapter. Next, I bought it in China temperature sensors DS18B20 for a dollar each, DS2408 chip for controlling 8 channels for 8 dollars.
Another important element my system – automated lawn watering. When I watered 5-6 acres with a hose in the summer, I realized that automatic watering was necessary. So far, of course, it is in a semi-assembled state, but it has already been tested - everything works. It is controlled through an 8-channel microcircuit and a key board, which opens the solenoid valve.
CCTV. Over the course of a year, I tested several video surveillance systems. I chose Xeoma: I won a key for 8 cameras from them at a promotion, and I managed to save money again.
- How is the system managed?
The system consists of the usual system unit, servers with Ubuntu. All this works and communicates via a USB adapter using a 1-Wire topology. As for programming languages, I used Python plus MongoDB and the Flask microframework.
I rewrote everything several times, making the system simpler and more convenient. Now you can manage it through the Web interface, which is used mainly for adding scripts, and the Windows Phone application - directly for management. I sketched it out in a couple of days, and now all the necessary information is displayed on my phone.
Any script can be run in manual mode or automatically. Soon I’m going to connect the Internet to the system, and it will be possible to control it from the outside.
- What happens if the electricity goes out in the house?
If the power goes out, everything goes out. And in order to “reboot” the work of smart automation after this, there is a Monit system that monitors all processes, like a parent watching over their children. If something suddenly crashes or freezes, it simply restarts the service. Of course, Monit itself could “fall”; this is not excluded. But for almost two years of test work there were no problems. When the lights come back on, the server itself automatically “rises.” In a minute or two everything is working again.
- How realistic is it for a person who does not have an engineering education to assemble such a system?
When we buy a box and sensors for it, install the application, and everything works - that’s one thing. In my case, the system is do it yourself, and everything in it depends on the software. The 1-Wire protocol involves writing special software through which communication with system devices occurs, and not everyone can write it. Most likely, there are some frameworks based on 1-Wire. But these will be generalized solutions that need to be “finished” to suit your needs.
- What important requirements Is “smart automation” responsible for your home?
I have two criteria: my system must be quite convenient and at the same time budget-friendly. The main elements - Noolite switches, temperature sensors - I can easily buy myself. In addition, I was able to achieve the flexibility of the system because I designed, soldered, installed and wrote the code myself. I needed automation that would be convenient not only for me, but also for my family and guests. As a result, I can easily add new elements and change the system at will, which is not something you get when buying ready-made expensive solutions.
Interviewed by Nadezhda Abramchuk