ScR4tCh

homectrl – a raspberry pi based home automation gateway

Hey this is the introduction to a project of mine, to build a cheap home automation gateway using a raspberry pi. The gateway is (for now) capable to control 433mhz outlets and has a small touchscreen to control things directly in the future.

parts

Raspberry Pi Model B (rev 1) —- desoldered composite out
Adafruit Pitft
An universal housing box (found at my local electronics dealer 120×70×30 mm)
Edimax nano usb wifi dongle
32g SD-card
18 “wire” flat cable (scavanged from an old usb expansion from my “i'd use it somewhen in the future” box)
f-f jumper wires —- cutted – soldered the connectors to the flat cable
4 tactile switch buttons
433 Mhz sender module (the cheap thing … have a look at ebay)
3 mini leds (green) + 3 resistors
shrinkable tubing (isolate soldered connectors / resisors)
“tons” of hot glue ;)

software

I started off using the raspian wheezy image. The following software/libraries/code is used to provide basic functionality

pitft kernel link

rcswitch pi —- provides a binary to send commands via the transmitter to the power sockets
link

code to control leds (hdd/net) link

class to control tactile buttons/backlight fot pitft (pitftgpio.py) link

init script to init gpio i/o

/etc/init.d/gpioinit

#! /bin/sh
# /etc/init.d/gpioinit
#

# init gpio ports (to output)
case "$1" in
  start)
    echo "setting gpio ports to output "
    /usr/local/bin/gpio -g mode 4 out
    /usr/local/bin/gpio -g mode 17 out
    #/usr/local/bin/gpio -g mode 24 out
    ;;
esac

exit 0

things done so far

desoldered composite out to fit pi into housing
drilled and cut holes for display/connectors/switches/LEDs
cut extra hole for secondary USB port
soldered antenna to the 433mhz transmitter (see this link).

Overall this little box might not win any award (not for design nor for crafing skills) but it works well since month now :). holes were cur using a cutter knife and a drill ( i had no dremel available back then). Updates follow …

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