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April 9, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

ESPurna-H is a Compact Open Source Hardware Board with ESP8266 WiSoC, a 10A Relay, HLW8012 Power Monitoring Chip

ESPurna is an open source firmware for ESP8266 based wireless switch as such Sonoff POW, which I’ve been personally using to monitor my office’s power consumption. The developer, Xose Pérez (aka tinkerman), has now developed his own hardware with ESPurna-H board, as existing wireless switches with power monitoring functions would not fit into a gang box. ESPurna-H board specifications: WiFi Module – ESP12 with Espressif ESP8266 WiSoC Relay – Songle SRD-05VDC-SL-C 10A relay with NO and NC connection Power Monitoring – HLW8012 chip as found in Sonoff POW Expansion – 2x 5-pin header with the programming GPIOs, and two connections for external button and LEDs Misc – Reset button Power Supply Input – 100 ~ 240V AC Output – 5V up to 600 mA via Hi-Link HLK-PM01 Safety – Optical isolation between the logic circuit and the relay circuit Dimensions – 50x50x20mm Xose designed the board with Eagle 8.0 and released […]

April 8, 2017April 8, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Cambrionix PowerPad 15S is a 15-Port USB Hub with 2.1A Output, Control API, Serial Console, Power Consumption Monitoring

Many development boards are powered over USB, usually via a micro USB ports, and if you have one board, you’d just use a 5V USB adapter with the right amperage, and it will work fine as long as you have a low resistance USB cable (AWG20 cables recommended for higher loads). But when you start to running multiple boards using power strips with USB adapter start to take space, so USB hubs are much more convenient. However, you need to find one that delivers enough power, is reliable, and possible allows per port power control. The guys at LAVA (Linaro Automated Validation Architecture) are using a lot of boards to validate software developed by Linaro and their members, with the boards having to run 24/7, and they had various misfortunes with USB hubs, but as Dave Pigott reports they’ve now found that USB hub of their dream with a 15-port […]

March 27, 2017April 22, 2017 by Karl Johnson - No Comments

Karl’s Home Automation Project – Part 3: Adding Light Detection to a Motion Sensor

This is the 3rd part of my Home Automation light project. In the first part, I wrote about basic setup with basic Sonoff Wifi MQTT switches and setting them up. In the second one, we added some 433 MHz motion sensors and a 433 MHz to MQTT bridge. And finally in part 3, we are going to modify the 433 MHz motion sensors to only work when it is dark in the room. Motion Sensor The motion sensor I linked in part 2 is run by a common chip called a BISS0001. We are interested in pin 9. If voltage is below .2v it will not trigger a motion. This solves the problem discussed in part 2, when we have a gloomy day or if blinds are closed etc. By adding an GL5537 LDR (Light Dependent Resistor) shown as R3 in the diagram above, you will achieve the desired effect. […]

March 24, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

Xiaomi 6-in-1 WiFi & Zigbee Smart Home Kit Works with Domoticz Home Automation Software

Xiaomi “Mijia” 6-in-1 smart home (security) kit is an home automation set with a WiFi & Zigbee multi-functional gateway with RGB light and speaker, a wireless switch, a window/door sensor, a human body sensor, temperature & humidity sensor, and a smart socket. The key features of each item are as follows: Multifunctional Gateway Remote Control WiFI and Bluetooth connectivity Built-in speaker Light sensor and 18x RGB LED for notifications potentially trigerred by connected sensors: body sensor, door sensor, IP camera… Online radio support Window / Door Sensor Set Light and rings the gateway when opened or closed Away from home mode: can trigger IP camera recording Power – CR2032 cell battery that should last for 2 years Smart Wireless Switch Programmable one key switch to turn off all lights/applicance, turn on one light at night, etc… Human Body Sensor Motion sensor allowing you to control other devices through the gateway Power […]

March 17, 2017March 17, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Dell Edge Gateway 3000 Series Are Powered by Intel Bay Trail-I SoCs for Automation, Transportation, and Digital Signage

Dell has recently introduced Edge Gateway 3000 series with three models powered by Intel Bay Trail-I processor, running Ubuntu Core 16 or Windows 10 IoT, with each model targeting respectively general-purpose automation, transportation & logistics, and digital signage and retail. The specifications for the three models can be found in the table below. Dell Edge Gateway 3001 Model for General-Purpose Automation Dell Edge Gateway 3002 Model for Transportation & Logistics Dell Edge Gateway 3003 Model for Media & Retail Kiosks SoC Intel Atom E3805 dual core processor @ 1.33 GHz (3W TDP) Intel Atom E3815 single core processor @ 1.46 GHz with GPU @ 400 MHz (5W TDP) System Memory 2 GB DDR3L-1066 Storage 8 or 32 GB eMMC flash Industrial-grade Micro-SD card: 8GB / 16GB / 32 GB / 64 GB Connectivity 1 x 10/100 Fast Ethernet (RJ-45) with PoE (15.4W) WiFi 802.11 b/g/n Bluetooth 4.0 LE Optional ZigBee […]

March 3, 2017May 8, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 35 Comments

$12 AI Light ESP8266 based WiFi RGB Light Bulb Supports MQTT via ESPurna Open Source Firmware

AI-Thinker is famous in the maker world for their ESP8266 modules, but they’ve also recently launched a WiFi RGB light bulb that sells for about $12.5 and up on eBay and Aliexpress. Some people noticed, and bought samples online, including Xose Pérez (aka Tinkerman), ESPurna open-source firmware developer, who could confirm ESP8266 was used in the light bulb, did some investigations, and eventually added the light bulb into ESPurna, which means it can be managed using MQTT or a web interface. AI Light looks very similar to Philips Hue, but comes with WiFi instead of Zigbee. AI Light “M1636” key features: RGBW LED E27 bulb with 16.7M colors Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n WiFi Encryption – AES Voltage Range – 110-240V LED Power – 5 watts WiFi Power Consumption – ≤0.3W Temperature Range – -5~45degree Humidity – ≤80% Certifications – FCC, CE, ROHS If you’re going to use the stock firmware, […]

March 2, 2017June 18, 2018 by Karl Johnson - 11 Comments

Karl’s Home Automation Project – Part 2: 433 MHz / WiFi MQTT Bridge, Door & PIR Motion Sensors

Karl here again for part 2 of my home automation project. We will be looking at how to automate your lights based on time of day and motion. In the first part we setup Home Assistant and uploaded firmware to basic Sonoff Wifi switches. Today we will setup a 433 MHz to MQTT bridge and some sensors. 433 MHz Depending on your country 433 MHz is an open frequency to use to communicate with. There are hundreds of different types of devices that use 433 MHz to communicate information. We will be focusing on 2 today from Gearbest: WMS07 motion sensor (left) and WDS07 door/window sensor (2 parts, right). I am not taking the door/window sensor apart, since it is super basic, but I’ve included some photos of the PIR motion detector. 433 MHz Bridge While contemplating how to get presence on a per room basis I ran across this […]

February 27, 2017April 22, 2017 by Karl Johnson - 30 Comments

Karl’s Home Automation Project – Part 1: Home Assistant & YAML, MQTT, Sonoff, and Xmas Lights

Karl here. I am here to write about my home automation project. First thing I want to say is that I am very cost conscious and I don’t mind putting in extra effort into the setup of things to keep costs down. I did invest a lot of time and had to do a lot of reading to get my project going. It took while and I received a lot of groans from my wife while testing. I am still in the process of tweaking things. I started watching a series of videos on YouTube from Bruh Automation. He introduced me to Home Assistant. It got me really excited. He uses a Raspberry Pi as a server but I already had a Wintel Pro CX-W8 Smart TV Box which I use as a server. I run 3 Minecraft Servers, Emby Server, iSpyConnect DVR (2 IP Cameras), Unifi wifi controller, and […]