Domotica school assignment

[BramBoos]

My story began three years ago, I bought a Velleman K8055D board with USB and made my own 'Room Control' system for my room. The software is written in VB.NET 2008 with the included DLL files. The system still works today but there are enough points to improve.Even it don't runs very smooth, for every action there is a delay of 1 to 5 seconds wich is very annoying. A new system would not be a luxury but a must.

The new system
At school I do the application developper study so I had to build a Android or iPhone application. The subject is free so I asked others for a couple nice subjects until I came to the teacher. He wanted an application power on his coffee machine at home so if he come home, the coffee is ready to drink. I told him about my 'Room control' and everything that's possible with domotica. Of course he liked it and I had an subject for a new application.

Key facts
* Maximum budget is 100 to 120 euro for the base system.
* The system must be universal so I can use it for other projects.
* No local server may be used, external server is no problem.
* No wires through the house (wireless)
* There must be an online managing system to set new events to an action.

My idea
My idea was to use a Arduino ethernet board with an Xbee shield. The Arduino will be programmed to do every second a request to the external server. With this request will the server sent the statuses from all the devices and sensors around the house. The server give the commands back to sent to the device(s). The server will be a Linux (Ubuntu / Debian) server with LAMP on it (Linux, Apache, Mysql, PHP). In PHP I can make an API wich gets the request from the Arduino board and sents the command(s) back. Also stores the API a new row in the DB with the new status. At this way I make very easy an Android/iPhone application.

So my question is: "Is it plausible to do it on this way or do you have ideas?".

P.S. Sorry for my very bad English.

[Phaeton]

Hi bram,

I would certainly look into jeenodes. The jeenode itself supports wireless communication and is based on arduino. Its also cheaper.

If you go to jeelabs.com you will find a weblog packed(!) with information, sketches, projects etc. Look into jeemon as well. Jwc (owner jeelabs) wrote a couple of very interesting blogs not so long ago. You might be able to use this as a base for your project.

Maybe you can combine your project with klik aan klik uit. Dat would certainly, for low budget purposes, be a nice addition.

If you go a bit furter (measuring temperatures for example) look for 'roomboard' at jeelabs.

Please update this thread with findings. I like to read about this stuff and i think a lot of others do to!

[Niels]

You can try something with WiFi and a little webserver running on the arduino

[BramBoos]

Thanks for the answers. I think I choose for Jeenodes, the programming language is similar to Arduino and low budget.

Wich base hardware is a must-have to run a domotica system?

The following items are at this moment on my list:
JeeNode (v6) - Kit
USB BUB
Heading Board - Kit
JeeNode Micro (v1) - Unregulated
Ether Card - Kit
Carrier Board - Board with Box

[Digit]

I suppose the V6 & Ethercard is for connectivity to your LAN and the micro to control a device?
Anyway, the items you chose seem like a good start; although the complete picture you have in mind is a bit blurry.

BTW, if you ever face problems or have questions, this forum also has a Arduino/JeeNode board: http://www.domoticaforum.eu/viewforum.php?f=63

[BramBoos]

Thats right, while i was searching too Jeenodes I came also on your blog where describe to made an ethernet doorbel. See the attachment with my schematic design how I want to make it.

[BramBoos]

After testing with Arduino I ask school for Jeenodes. This week I get the Jeenodes and place it all together and it works

But I asked also a Jeenode micro but I can't program it, after I searched for it I need other libraries to program the chip but i can't find how I can use the RF12 library with the attiny library. How can I solve this problem or is it better to use the normal Jeenode?

[Alexander]

Just a remark, if you will use your schematic design for your paper for school, i would change the "wich" in "which" otherwise you refer to a "heks".

[Digit]

Where do you get stuck; what are the error messages you get?
And did you also try the JeeLabs Forum? (http://forum.jeelabs.net/)?