Diy on Diogo Gomes

How I Automate my house

Mon, 04 Dec 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Introduction

I’ve always been interested in making all things smart through the use of cheap electronics and computers, moving all the “brains” from expensive hardware to hopefully Open Source Software. Today you can buy really cheap sensors on the internet and modify them to fit your purposes thanks to the numerous tutorials you can find online in great websites such as Instructables (here is one of my favorites). Since 2012 I’ve been building up stuff for my home, first very basic, today much more complex. Since people keep asking me why and how I do this stuff, I figured I should just write about it in this extended blog post.

Open your garage door using Bluetooth LE (BLE)

Sat, 03 Oct 2015 18:00:00 +0000

This was one of those projects I had kept in the backlog for too long, but finally got the time and drive to finish it up.

The problem was very simple and common. In the building I share, we have a common garage door which can be open/closed through a (very expensive) radio remote control. Each apartment has a single remote control and any now or then one of them gets lost.

Greenhouse

Sat, 04 Oct 2014 02:20:51 +0000

This is my Greenhouse, here I grow basil, thyme, coriander, parsley and other aromatic herbs which I enjoy using in my dishes. Having a greenhouse in my balcony is great, I have fresh herbs all year around. Problem being that I need to keep a constant look over it, checking humidity levels and watering.

There are several projects online by fellow makers in how to automate a greenhouse, monitoring humidity levels and triggering watering (either through a water pump or valve attached to a tap). These are all great, but lack an important feature: you can’t monitor the levels remotely, nor can you trigger watering on-demand.

Lisbon (Mini) Maker Faire

Sun, 21 Sep 2014 20:25:51 +0000

So this just happened :-)

I just spent 2 wonderful days at the “Pavilhão do Conhecimento - Ciência Viva” with my best friend and colleague João Paulo Barraca showcasing a maker’s version of our work in M2M communications, and with my pals from Hack’Aveiro who quickly put together a web-badged created specially for this event.

In order to show case what M2M communications are all about, we brought to the faire our very own motes and sensors that power our greenhouses and hydroponics systems, as well as a plant or two to gather everyones attention ;-)

An Arduino shield to control your house

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 17:38:00 +0000

This post is long due since I’ve built this shield almost half a year ago and works great :)

So here is the story of how it all came about.

Having too many remote controls around (TV, STB, Home Cinema, PS3, PowerSwitches) I decided to get ride of them all and use only my laptop/smartphone. Using an Arduino I developed a shield that works as an universal IR remote control and as an RF remote control (315Mhz). So here are the instructions:

Arduino - Network Remote Control

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 01:17:26 +0100

Although my Phd is in Electrotechnics, I’m mostly a Software Engineer. Trying to put things straight, I’ve picked up a personal project with a bit more hardware :)

The idea is to build something resembling this or this without leaving my pocket empty, and in the time between build something with my bare-hands.

So today I set things in motion by visiting InMotion in it’s office in Oporto where I met Filipe Valpereiro. There I picked up an Arduino Duemilanove and an Ethernet Shield to go with. Tomorrow I hope to drop by the local electronics shop to pickup a photodiode and an IR LED. That should account for all the hardware I need in this project.