Spring is in the air, and what better way to spend the weekend than working on a Home Automation project?! I scoured the internet and found three projects using relays and Arduino for home automation. I plan on completing some of these projects myself in the near future, so be on the lookout for an update to this article, soon!
Oh, and all of these projects incorporate Arduino ESP8266 and 5V relays. So if you’ve been looking for applications using RELAYS, here ya go! 🙂
Here’s what’s on deck for this week’s projects:
1. Build an Arduino Controlled Power Outlet
2. Control & Monitor your Garage door with Arduino & Relays
3. Make an Irrigation System with Arduino + Relays
Time to jump into it!
Project #1: Build an Arduino Controlled Power Outlet by Circuit Basics
Difficulty: ★★★☆☆
This is a project I’ve been wanting to complete for a while – and quite frankly, I’ll probably end up adding this project to the blog at some point.
But for those of you who’ve been asking me about 5V relay projects, this is what I’d recommend taking a look at. All credit for this project goes to Circuit Basics. Feel free to check out the full tutorial on their blog here.
Goal: Use a relay + Arduino to control a lamp plugged into a wall outlet.
In this project, rather than modify the lamp or device’s cable, we’re going to create a universal wall outlet controlled by the 5V relay and Arduino. It’s more practical to go one step closer to the source and switch the power at the outlet.
That way you can use it for multiple devices without having to re-wire the relay or cut into the device’s power supply. If you’re looking for a project like this, then I recommend checking the full tutorial on the Circuit Basics website!
Materials List
Use this list to gather materials for your project!
- 5V Relay
- Arduino Uno or ESP8266
- Breadboard
- Grounded 3 Wire Cord
- Receptacle
- Electrical Box
- Outlet Cover
- Jumper Wires
Additional Resources
I’ve also compiled some similar projects at the following links. Feel free to use these sites as well for additional resources and information!
Arduino Controlled Power Outlet by Electronics Hub
Controllable Power Outlet by SparkFun
Project #2: Control & Monitor your Garage Door with Arduino & Relays
Difficulty: ★★★★☆
This project is brought to you by Mike Mackes and Noah Mackes from Hackster.io. If you’ve been looking for a way to upgrade your garage door opener, then this tutorial is for you!
Goal: Control & Monitor your garage door with ESP8266, openHAB, & a 5V Relay
The project consists of an ESP8266, 5V relay, power supply, resistors, and LEDs. The ESP8266 connects to your local WIFI and runs a small web server that responds to simple HTTP GET/POST requests that will be sent to it via openHAB.
The relay works just like your existing wired garage door switch to activate the opener except for it’s controlled over WIFI via the ESP8266. The LEDs are there to provide you status information. You can also 3D print a case to store your Garage Door opener electronics. More details can be found in the full write-up on Hackster.io.
Project #3: Make an Irrigation System with Arduino + Relays
Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆
If you’re into gardening or like building devices for any & everything, here’s a classic example of using relays to create an automatic irrigation or watering system for plants. You can scale this system to work for watering lawns, gardens, or single plants depending on your use case.
I find this example to be pretty fascinating, so if you’re looking for an applied use for using Arduino and Relays, then this is definitely a project you’re going to want to check out!
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In this example project, we are going to make an automatic irrigation system that will sense the moisture of the soil and open or close the valve according to it. Read the full tutorial on the Maker Pro website, here.
[et_bloom_inline optin_id=optin_25]Additional Plant projects can be found on the Arduino Project Hub.
Which of these Home Automation projects are you going to try next? Leave a comment below!
2 Responses
Hi. I’m looking to join two 8 channel relays together running from an arduino mega but dont know how to power both at the same time(off each other) for christmas lights.One works fine with the jumper still connected but i dont know what to do next without wrecking everything. Any pictures of how-to would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Hey Shane, we appreciate your comment, but unfortunately, this is considered custom work. We don’t provide individual support for custom projects in the comments section. Good luck ~Liz from Learn Robotics