Lazy Lights

An internet controlled light switch with logic.

IntermediateShowcase (no instructions)3 hours1,032

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Particle Photon

Photo resistor

Resistor 10k ohm

Servos (Tower Pro MG996R)

Software apps and online services

Google Assistant SDK

Story

Background

Our project is centered around the task assigned to us by our Instrumentation & Measurement professor: in some way, shape, or form, we must get our Particle Photons to communicate with each other. With each student equipped with a Photon, we then paired up and began brainstorming ideas.

We instantly homed in on the field of home automation. Reinforced by some of our professor's personal projects, our initial goal was to utilize a voice activated command via our smart phone in order to trigger the chain of events performed by the Photons.

Brief explanation and demonstration of Lazy Lights project

The Rundown

Our project consists of two Photons. Photon A is equipped with a photoresistor along with a 10K ohm resistor to fine tune the amount of analog voltage output. This Photon is programmed to publish these analog values to the cloud-- an output value of <200 denotes the event "Off", and anything above this threshold will be "On".

Photon B controls and powers a servo motor. The single arm attachment serves as the automatic finger to flip the light switch on or off. We used a razor blade to cut out a segment of the faceplate so we could snuggly fit the servo control box next to the appropriate switch. Google Assistant has been integrated into the code of Photon B in order to wirelessly control the servo switch. Photon B subscribes to the published events of Photon A; however, we have built-in logic to correct for any conflicting signals (e.g. Lights are already off when user sends command to turn lights off, light switch may have become out of sync, etc.)

Metrics

We have embedded code in each Photon's programming to output data to Ubidots. Photon A is configured to send and graph analog voltage values, while Photon B graphs a built-in counter to display how many times the user turns their lights on/off.

Photon A

Photon A analog output values over time

Photon B

Photon B counter of lights being turned on or off

Code

#include <Ubidots.h>

#define TOKEN "A1E-o4CPzsR5WSWiyJHr1nR43BPOAZjW7i"

Ubidots ubidots(TOKEN);

int light = A0;
int power = A5;
int noLightThresh = 200;
int analogvalue;
int counter=0;

void setup() {
    
    Serial.begin(115200);
    pinMode(light,INPUT);
    pinMode(power,OUTPUT);
    digitalWrite(power,HIGH);
    
    
}

void loop() {
    analogvalue = analogRead(light);
    Particle.variable("analogvalue", &analogvalue, INT);
    
    if(analogRead(light) < noLightThresh){
        Particle.publish("wallen20_light_out","Off");
        
    }
    else {
        Particle.publish("wallen20_light_out","On");
    }
    delay(1000);
    
    counter=counter + 1;
    
    if (counter == 10) {
        ubidots.add("light_sensor", analogvalue); 
        ubidots.sendAll();
        counter = 0;
    }
    
}

#include <Ubidots.h>

#define TOKEN "A1E-o4CPzsR5WSWiyJHr1nR43BPOAZjW7i"

Servo servo;
Ubidots ubidots(TOKEN);
int counterOn = 0;
int counterOff = 0;

void setup() {
    Serial.begin(115200);
    servo.attach(D0);
    servo.write(10);
    Particle.function("setpos", setPos);
}

int setPos(String command) {
    
    if(command == "Lights_On") {
        counterOn = counterOn + 1;
        ubidots.add("counterOn", counterOn);
        ubidots.sendAll();
        Particle.subscribe("wallen20_light_out", LightCommandOn1);
        return 1;
    }
    else if (command == "Lights_Off") {
        counterOn = counterOff + 1;
        ubidots.add("counterOff", counterOff);
        ubidots.sendAll();
        Particle.subscribe("wallen20_light_out", LightCommandOff1);
        return 0;
    }
}



void LightCommandOn1(const char *event, const char *data) {
    if (strcmp(data,"Off")==0) {
        servo.write(180);
        delay(1500);
        Particle.unsubscribe();
        Particle.subscribe("wallen20_light_out", LightCommandOn2);
    }
    else if (strcmp(data,"On")==0) {
        delay(1500);
        Particle.unsubscribe();
    }
}

void LightCommandOn2(const char *event, const char *data) {
    if (strcmp(data,"Off")==0) {
        servo.write(10);
        delay(1500);
        Particle.unsubscribe();
        Particle.subscribe("wallen20_light_out", LightCommandOn3);
    }
    else if (strcmp(data,"On")==0) {
        delay(1500); 
        Particle.unsubscribe();
    }
}

void LightCommandOn3(const char *event, const char *data) {
    if (strcmp(data,"Off")==0) {
        servo.write(180);
        delay(1500);
        Particle.unsubscribe();
    }
    else if (strcmp(data,"On")==0) {
        delay(1500);
        Particle.unsubscribe();
    }
}

void LightCommandOff1(const char *event, const char *data) {
    if (strcmp(data,"On")==0) {
        servo.write(10);
        delay(1500);
        Particle.unsubscribe();
        Particle.subscribe("wallen20_light_out", LightCommandOff2);
    }
    else if (strcmp(data,"Off")==0) {
        delay(1500);
        Particle.unsubscribe();
    }
}

void LightCommandOff2(const char *event, const char *data) {
    if (strcmp(data,"On")==0) {
        servo.write(180);
        delay(1500);
        Particle.unsubscribe();
        Particle.subscribe("wallen20_light_out", LightCommandOff3);
    }
    else if (strcmp(data,"Off")==0) {
        delay(1500);
        Particle.unsubscribe();
    }
}

void LightCommandOff3(const char *event, const char *data) {
    if (strcmp(data,"On")==0) {
        servo.write(10);
        delay(1500);
        Particle.unsubscribe();
    }
    else if (strcmp(data,"Off")==0) {
        delay(1500);
        Particle.unsubscribe();
    }
}

Credits

William Allen

1 project • 1 follower

Taylor Pearce

0 projects • 1 follower

MEGR 3171 Instumentation & Measurement student

Lazy Lights