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DimeArduino.
Looking to mess around and see if I can get anything working with my home automation.
What would you suggest for someone who has zero experience with Arduino?
Watch this guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUEKr_48EfQ
Buy some of these: https://www.itead.cc/sonoff-wifi-wireless-switch.html
Pair with a Raspberry Pi running an MQTT server.
Thanks but not a qualified electrician and setting something like that up I am almost certain would void my home insurance.
Already have something setup but with HomeHab and a virtual Server running on my HP microserver but I use belkin weemo switches. More expensive but at least I know it won't void my insurance.
A lot of people talk about insurance but no one references any case where a claim was actually denied because of a dodgey appliance or wiring. You'll also find that policies technically cover "fire" as a result of whatever caused it.
Besides the scare tactics, if something is done right then what do you need to worry about exactly? If you're not confident or don't know what you're doing then that's another story.
What would you want to do with Arduino?
@tap:
You do know it is illegal to do it without being certified? If an insurance company finds out dodgy electrical work is the cause they certainly won't pay out if you did it yourself.
Electricity kills people and the laws about doing it unlicensed are pretty clear.
@tap: Totally get your point, I'm less worried about insurance and more about me being an idiot, mucking something up and either getting hurt or blowing up an appliance. It's less for me about insurance not paying out, and more about the fact that it's a hassle to replace stuff. Also minor chance of me getting zapped at first plug-in due to my own stupidity.
That said, I know people who wire mains and aren't sparkies and they're still alive, so it's prolly not rocket surgery; each person has to gauge their own level of skill and risk aversion :D
J
@kasp: You can scare munger all you like but electricity does not kill people like it's some out of control monster. Stupid people kill people. Unfortunately there's more stupid than not hence the laws.
@tap:
Its not just that it can kill you which is unlikely. It is against the law
http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/ftw/Tradespeople/Home_buil…
Then there is the added bonus of the risk of an insurance company not paying out because of it.
So yeah, risk of injury, risk of breaking the law and on top risk on voiding insurance.
If you want to risk it that is up to you but you really shouldn't encourage people to do something that can have serious consequences.
@tap: Tend to agree. I count myself among the stupid people! For now anyway, once I've learned more I may feel differently. I've heard heaps of conflicting stories on what's legal / not legal / will void / won't void insurance - so I'd agree that there's a lot of misinformation out there! At the end of the day if someone's interested in messing with mains power and feels confident doing so, it's only a couple of phone calls to find out the truth. Either to a decent lawyer or to the relevant government bodies.
@kasp: Nice work, straight to the source. I'd guess it's the same here in Vic, but I haven't checked, since the other risks are enough to keep me at 36V DC and below.
I think you've even scared yourself!
Firstly, how or who is going to find out you've installed an Arduino based switch?
Second, why are you so negative? What about the other side of the what if's? Such as.. what if you NEVER have to make an insurance claim because you safely installed an Arduino based switch?
Third, have you read your insurance policy? I think you might be surprised. I'd also love to hear of any stories where an insurance company did not cover a house fire due to dodgey wiring or an Ardunio based switch (not joking, I'd love to hear one).
I'm not arguing that there is not a severe risk of death and injury but educated people that are confident and have the resources and support should not be scare mungered into thinking they can't do simple things like change a light bulb or replace a switch without killing someone or being "fined hundreds of thousands of dollars" or blah blah blah..
@tap:
I have read my insurance policy but its clear you probably havent.
Its generally called code non compliance and is covered in most insurance pds under the section "faulty, inadequate or defective construction" Each pds is different but check yours and I am sure you will find a section that covers it. Every policy I have had has mentioned it might also be under licensed work.
Sure it would probably be hard to prove but we are talking half a million dollars plus usually so why risk it when you can either a) pay an electrician or b) buy some weemos.
Thats ignoring the risk to life and health and the fact it is illegal.
Oh you can change a lightbulb with no issues with breaking the law or risking your insurance.
However at the end of the day what you are suggesting is illegal.
You can get relays for Arduino, but you mention not wanting to wire mains in a comment below, so I think we're in the same boat of not wanting to pay $400 for a kit, but also not prepared to wire mains. I don't have a good answer, if you find one, please let me know!
DA
The deluxe uno kit on their site looks good, it has all the basics and lots of sensors + a couple of motors and leds. You could add the deluxe module box to it as well. There's plenty of other kits on ebay, I can't speak for the quality of any of them though.
It will give you a good idea of what you can do. If you have enough time you can pretty much automate any task that is do x if x. Hopefully your imagination is better than my 'turn this light on if it is dark' or 'if x happens turn motor on for x time until it hits x sensor' or 'display x coloured leds when x happens'.
If you have something specific you would like to do search youtube/google +arduino and then you can buy the parts for that task. If you don't mind shipping stuff from China, ebay has tons of cheap Arduino clones/shields (stick onto the Arduino adds some functionality)/breakout boards/extra sensors, etc.
Like it says on the deluxe starter kit page you can get wifi/bluetooth/rf/ir remote control sockets (cheap from China on ebay, search for stuff like "smart outlet") that you place between the wall socket and the device, so you can control mains power via Arduino without any risky wiring. Integrating it with the arduino is a small project of it's own depending if it is wifi or bluetooth or IR.
Dude, you're a legend, thanks for the detailed response.
DA
All I'd add is that if you can keep your projects to 12V-24V DC (lighting, heating (and minor cooling), pumping, motors) then it's much much much safer than mains voltage. That's not just because it's a lower voltage, but also because the body has a worse time with AC than DC (the body has capacitance, so it can pass more AC than DC). You can power them from lead acid batteries or 12V wall warts.
DA
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/wiki/help:deal_posting_guidelin…
Merchants & Store Representative
Merchants should note that small reductions, excessive conditions, and other costs related to the deal will NOT be well received. Users will likely vote negative for your deals which in turn leads to performance based store bans.
Nm
Can we get a ruling? My margin is about 5-10% on some products, so I can't go much deeper.
"first 20 orders site wide".
So for the first 20 people that order something for lets say $100, you'll give them $5 off. Meaning this whole campaign will cost you $100.
AND everything ships from China!!!!!
So this is about how much it costs me, not how good a deal my prices are? I try to curate a collection of cheap, useful products. My prices are often cheaper than Banggood, and this is a discount on top of that. Obviously, I'm not a high volume seller yet, so Banggood will often beat me, but I'm getting there in some categories. I'm in a car right now (passenger, don't stress), I'll see if there's a product category I can do better on when I get home in an hour or so.
Thanks for the feedback.
DimeArduino
Well it doesn't say you can't do it, just that it won't be well received. The proof will be in the negging, otherwise if it is well received and gets some + votes then you've got no problem.
Aha, thanks for the clarification. Seems like we're (slightly) positive on the feedback, but I'll take it as a lesson.
DimeArduino
Got my last order quickly. Only suggestion I might have is a lost of what each are the sensors are, I've got no idea for half of them.
Thanks
Yep, I have a sensor booster box at home, I'll add to my todo list a visual identification guide :D
Thanks,
DimeArduino
Check out this page. Ignore the library, but it has a picture with the 37 modules and their descriptions. The names are pretty vague, so I'll still try to get a more complete version together.
Also, on the product page, there's a picture with some descriptions. I've fallen behind a bit on the tutorial page, but check there for sensor tutorials periodically. Otherwise, if you work your way down the list in the description and google, for example, "flame sensor arduino", the sensors in this set should show up pretty high on the list, and you'll be able to sift through and find the one you want.
Just some website feedback. I checked out your "New Stuff" section and a lot of the items like the LED rings seem tricky to find unless you are searching for them specifically.
Hopefully you might add a menu with categories (and sub categories?) to quickly browse through when looking for something like LEDs :)
Maybe also the technical diagram or specs for some of the items.
Thanks for the feedback. I'm not a shopify expert, but it seems like it's not designed for good product hierarchies. I think I'll need a new platform at some point…. But yeah, some lists down the left hand side - even if I have to write the HTML statically would be awesome.
Thanks,
DimeArduino
What's the story with the Mega board?
It was $12 a few weeks back. Went to buy and it had gone up to $15. Thought I would wait for it to drop but now it's $22.
Nice looking board but eBay pricing is cheaper and more stable.
I use one set of pricing rules across the site, so long story short, the more reliable stuff has seen an unfair price rise because a couple of the other items weren't doing so well and needed to be replaced. Prices are going up and down a bit as I look for a level where we can continue to make money and still deliver a good service. Hopefully I'll be able to bring them down again as I secure more reliable vendors.
I'm still trying to figure out how to have a system in place that's fair and works well, but responds when a supplier moves a price 50% without warning. There is an option to set all prices manually and zero out inventory when prices change until I can update them, but that's pretty arduous.
That's what's up, sorry about the uncertainty, I'm trying to make it all more stable in the long run.
I'll be around in the comments, so feel free to ask questions or give feedback
DimeArduino.