DIY Smart Power Sockets

Why you should make your own smart sockets?

• Because it’s fun and you’ll learn something new.

• Because you’ll be able to automate your home and do lots of cool things with it.

• Because it’s cheaper than commercial alternatives, especially if you want to own multiple ones. Considering the current price for WiFi sockets is around $20 piece, the same automation for 5 socket would cost you at least $100.

Step 1: Required materials

This is what you will need

• 1 Raspberry PI (depending on the version, $20~$35)

• 1 Radio frequency (RF) transceiver for Raspberry PI (less than $2/unit)

• 8Gb SD card ($6)

• GPIO breadboard + wires ($5)

• RF switches ($29 for 5 here)

Total: for around $60 you can automate 5 lights or other electrical device and use your new smart home hub for many other uses.

Step 2: Set up your Prota Pi

You first need to build the smart hub that will control the automation of your ring bell and connect all devices together. Prota OS for Raspberry Pi is our free smart hub OS which is very easy to install. In no time you will turn your Raspberry Pi into a smart home automation hub!

You can download Prota OS here. Then burn it on the SD card. We made an easy guide you can follow to set up your Prota Pi.

Step 3: Solder antenna to the RF module

Step 3: Connect RF module to Raspberry Pi

Connect as following:

• RF module’s power to Raspberry PI pin #2. VDD -> 5V (#2)

• RF module’s ground to Raspberry PI pin #6. GND -> Ground (#6)

• RF modules data to Raspberry PI pin #16. DATA -> GPIO23 (#16)

Step 4: Install On/Off app

Go to App Libraries and install the ON/OFF app by clicking on "install":

Step 5: Connecting your socket to Prota Pi

For this step, don't hesitate to follow our ON/OFF app guide if you need any further help.

• Go back to the homescreen via the sidebar and open the ON/OFF app.

• Click on "add new socket"

• Name your socket

To discover your socket, press and hold on the button until the LED indicator starts blinking.

When the blinking stops, it means that your socket has been discovered. Click on "remember".

Now you can turn it on and off from your browser, smartphone, tablet.

Most importantly, it can now be integrated in any automation workflow of your choice. For that imply go to Stories app and select the RF socket as an actor.

Step 6: Creating a storyline

Let's write a storyline that turns on automatically all your lights with one message sent to your Prota via Telegram and a bot created in this app. A Telegram bot is a virtual assistant that you can create on Telegram messenger app.

First, let's set up your Telegram account and create a bot.

• Download Telegram app on your smartphone and create an account

• Download Telegram app on your Prota Pi (in App Libraries)

• Open the Telegram app on Prota and click on “Request Authorization”

• Set a name and username for your bot, then click on "Create"

Now let's create the automation storyline that will link your RF socket to your Telegram bot.

• Open Stories app

• Click on "+" and "When" and define the trigger as "When Telegram bot receives message equal to 'Lights'".

• Now define the RF socket of your choice as actor and set its action as "turn on"

• Add as many sockets as you want to this automation by either adding a "and" or "then" connector.

That's it! Now a simple message will trigger all your lights, which can be practical if you want to turn them on while you're away.

Of course your Prota Pi can do much more, it can detect the bluetooth of your phone when you go home and turn on the lights automatically. It can also turn them on and off depending on the hour of sunset/sunrise. And it can also

Enjoy!

We hope this project will be fun for you to make and help you automate your lights for few bucks .

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