Finally - use for Raspberry Pi!

Marci

Finally found a use for my 2x Raspberry Pi's... have a look at https://energenie4u.co.uk/catalogue/category/Raspberry-Pi-Accessories

I've just got the RF transmitter and IR transmitter, one on each Pi... quick knock up of OSC for Python and a pair of teeny scripts, and I can now turn 4x channels worth of RF master plugs on and off (I've got 16x plugs from various manufacturers that all run on the same RF frequency, so basically I can turn each bunch of 4 on and off), and control practically anything that uses an infrared remote from Isadora (and pretty much anything else that supports OSC). For added luxury I've got a USB to RS232 converter running on one of them too, so that's handling my VISCA cameras, also via OSC.

Just thought I'd draw folks' attention to 'em as they really do open up a world of niftyness for controlling stage props etc for what equates to not a great deal of cash if you happen to have a raspberry pi hanging about doing not a lot!

Skulpture

This is awesome!

Im really starting to get into this Arduino/Raspberry pi stuff.

I've also just bought some bare conductive paint to use with my Makey Makey.

But, I love this above because I would love to be able to have my iPad running a basic OSC (Touch OSC) sending messages to my Pi; which could then control all my lighting at home!

I am wondering if this is then possible with the products above. Thanks for sharing - I will be looking into this for sure.

Marci

Yup... definitely doable, as long as your lights plug in to 13a wall sockets! The IR-mote has given me touchosc control over all my old hifi separates, my 50" plasma that I refuse to upgrade for smart capabilities etc. You can stack them both on a single PI, but you have to use breakout wires rather than plugging directly onto the gpio header...

Skulpture

Yeah they are in wall sockets; but I was also looking at the extension cable they make; it looks like you can reference individual sockets. Just need some time, bit of cash and some patience lol.

Marci

Indeed you can reference individuals on the 4 gang.

Marci

Righty fella - I’m up n’ running with this... but I ended up buying an RFXCOM RFXtrx433E because the Ener314-RT TwoWay module just isn’t supported well enough by Energenie to be available to the retail market. Also, the RFXtrx433E supports pretty much everything out there - HomeKit devices to Energenie to Z-Wave to Honeywell... you name it. It’s a MUCH more mature product. See http://www.uk-automation.co.uk/rfxcom-rfxtrx433e/

So - I now have full control of all lights in the house, heaters & lights in my shed, TV, Sony Amp, Sky+ box (x2), AppleTV (x3) & DVD player, along with temperature sensors reporting living room, outside and shed temperatures. I have scenes (e.g.: movie-mode = lights off, amp on, Apple TV on, TV to correct HDMI input, TV Volume muted, Amp set to -42dB all via one button push), and triggers (GPS / Geofenced - as I pull onto the street coming back from work, it switches my lights on for me, and temperature based - if temp in shed drops below a set figure whilst the light is on, turn on heater).

Done this all via RaspPi running Domoticz (see http://www.domoticz.com) in Living Room with RFXtrx433e (via USB) and Energenie Pi-moteIR (mounted on the GPIO headers), along with my CurrentCost EnvIR electric consumption meter (aka the one that eOn dishes out cheap to it’s customers - plugs into RaspPi via USB). I have my second RaspPi out in the shed with the ENER314-RT attached, and all the devices in the shed are on Energenie-specific sockets. The rest are all generic Maplin 433mhz remote sockets (http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/remote-controlled-mains-sockets-5-pack-n38hn)

When I trigger a switch in Domoticz, it runs a script which fires OSC messages off to the shed Pi to handle devices in there. Everything is handled by Siri also, and everything can be controlled from any programmable OSC controller (i.e.: Izzy, TouchOSC etc).

Domoticz links into Apple’s HomeKit via Homebridge (https://github.com/nfarina/homebridge) and makes it all controllable via Siri. AppleTV detects the HomeKit setup via iCloud and exposes it all remotely (acts as a relay between Homebridge on the RaspberryPi and the outside world, tied to your AppleID) so it all works from home or anywhere else with a net connection, and guest users can be added via the HomeKit menu that appears in Settings within iOS once it detects a HomeKit enabled device.

It’s all VERY snazzy. I had to write my own shim (eDomoticz) between Homebridge and Domoticz to enable temp sensors via HomeKit as the native Domoticz shim doesn’t support that (https://github.com/PatchworkBoy/homebridge-edomoticz)

Next step is to knock up some low-power Bluetooth modules in each room to detect presence of myself or the missus and automatically switch lights on dependant on lux level and room occupancy.

And all of this can be hooked up to / triggered from Izzy!

Skulpture

Thanks @Marci I need to go through all this properly when I get a spare hour. Sounds awesome! The fact it can all be controlled via Izzy is just incredible! Love it. I will come back to this post and read it all properly. Thanks for sharing!