Status: This is an active project. For near-realtime progress logs, please have a look at the ProjectsBlog.
Description
This project creates a system to control electrical circuits in a home environment, such as an appartment. The user can turn lights on and off just as before (though the switches might be of momentary contact type, but even this is not a fixed requirement), but also the automation system can influence the status of electrical connections in the environment.
The usefulness of this is more obvious when taking into account time-triggered actions, grouping outputs and actions together, and automatically sensing and reacting to environmental events. Remote control through a web interface or wireless devices may also be possible. Ever wondered if the lights were switched off at home when on vacation trips? No need to call mum or the neighbors, just do a quick status check through the Internet... Endless possibilities, so that should be enough motivation for tackling this.
Overview
The following table attempts to provide an overview about the hard- and software stack used in this project.
The Controller Area Network (CAN) bus system is an existing standard, so its definition is out of scope here. It's marked red in the table. The yellow fields represent a mixture of hardware and software, including software running on embedded devices and protocol definitions. The higher-level protocol to be spoken on the CAN bus is also defined here. Green fields contain software "parts" only, these usually run on an off-the-shelf computer system (though the hardware to be used here is not yet defined).
hagui |
haweb |
HARC terminal |
HAWL wireless |
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A list of hardware planned and design documents written can be found in the parts overview, as usual. Some thoughts on the different parts of the stack are also there:
/HardwareConcepts discusses bus design and hardware functionality of the devices involved
/FirmwareConcepts explains how the programs running on the bus devices must make the hardware behave
/ControlConcepts contains the plan for tying it all together, mostly in the ha_control program.
An implementation-specific list of device IDs assigned to individual bus members can be found in /ThiemosDeviceList.
Features
- Centralized control of lights and wall outlets
- Centralized control of electrical shading
- Sensing of temperature and lighting conditions outside and inside the environment
- Low-voltage backup lighting in case utility power fails
- Controller power backed up by rechargable battery so no breakdown in case of power outages
- Lighting programs for predefined occasions, e.g. "reading on sofa", "watching TV", "going to sleep"
- Timer controlled programs, e.g. for turning on lights and coffee-maker in the morning
- When employed in a house, control of central heating might also be feasible
Notes
- in-wall boxes: 80x80x50, 100x100x50, and several more. The "standard" round one: usable diameter 50 mm.
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