How to use Raspberry Pi to Create a Home Automation System? – Automate your Home

Automation is one of the branches of engineering that have increased in recent years with the development of technology. Automating your home is one task that you can carry out without making a high cost investment, for this you can use the Raspberry PI correctly. In this post we will talk about how to make a home automation system using a Raspberry PI, continue reading and you will see.

What home automation devices can be developed with Raspberry Pi?

Creating a smart home will be at your fingertips by having devices like the Raspberry Pi, and it is with these equipment you can develop various localized and specialized systems that together will make your home a center of attraction. Among the multiple applications and developments that you can get you have the following:

Meteorological stations

The development of this type of project with the Raspberry Pi requires various materials and equipment such as an insulating box and with protection against unfavorable environmental conditions, sensors for measuring air humidity, pressure and temperature. In addition, depending on the complexity you require in your weather station, a thermal probe is also recommended.

The BME280 sensor is one of the highly recommended for these projects, has I2C communication that will facilitate the installation of the same taking up less space in the project box. As for the software you should use Python on the one hand and on the other hand Oracle Raspberry Pi Wheather Station.

Alarm system

There are many alarm systems that you can develop with the Raspberry Pi, from camera surveillance system, to access control systems. In either case, the development will depend on what you are looking to obtain in terms of security. For example, you will have the possibility of connecting cameras to monitor your young children, motion detectors, among others.

Similar to the previous process, you must identify the hardware you want to connect to your Raspberry Pi and execute the installation of the corresponding library through Python using the command sudo pip3 install (Resource Name).

Portable water cooler

A portable water cooler will be very useful in times of intense heat, to be able to make one of these equipment you will only have to have the reservoir, the Raspberry Pi, some peltier cells, and fans. By combining the powerful performance of peltier cells and using the Raspberry Pi to control the speed of the fans, you are getting an excellent performance cooler.

Other applications that you can develop with this board are servers music streaming, web server according to your characteristic, automatic doors and shutters, arcade games, automatic garden watering and more.

Materials needed to create a home automation system with Raspberry Pi

There are many materials that can be used to create a home automation system and with it get a smart home using Raspberry PiHowever, we will mention the most commonly used in most projects:

Placa Raspberry Pi

It is the brain of the project and as such the main source for the control and monitoring of the different stages that comprise the project activities, so you should have one of these as your main team.

Light sensor

They will serve as the main element to identify the presence or absence of lighting in a certain place, being the fundamental factor of communication with the Rasberry Pi board to turn on or off the lights on the periphery of your home for example.

InifiniPi

It is a device that allows the connection of analog sensors, as well as other wireless elements such as the Xbee S2C, 3GBee, Bluetooth, among others. Further, this equipment has 2 outputs A relay that will allow you to connect equipment such as the refrigerator, TV, Lights.

Computer equipment

These teams are the ones in charge of carrying out the totals, records, adjustments of the data received For the Raspberry Pi, it is one of the options you can take if you want to leave the Raspberry Pi in charge of only the control processes. These computer equipment can be computers or others of a similar nature.

Light bulbs

They are essential in most projects carried out with devices such as the Raspberry Pi, since they serve to show the operating states of certain actuators that are not located near the control center. They are also used to illuminate sectors that are part of the project.

How to make a home automation system with Raspberry Pi?

To make a home automation system with a Raspberry Pi you must have software such as Python and the Raspberry Pi operating system which could well be Debian or the Windows 10 operating system. Once you have defined the operating system and know what type of system you want to mount in your home and considering that you have the necessary materials.

Execute the functions sudo pip3 install (required resource), sudo apt-get install -y mariadb-server mariadb-client libmariadbclient-dev and sudo pip3 install mysqlclient to install sensor library and MariaDB database servers.

Consider running projects on these boards requires some prior knowledge in programming, so it is recommended that you have notions and certain skills in this area.

The most complex thing you will find to do is iidentify the suitable sensors for your home automation systemConsider that most of the applications are developed in Python, and you will only have to download the libraries and install them on your Raspberry Pi.

With what boards can Raspberry Pi be complemented to domotize the house?

Currently there are many systems that can be used together with the Raspberry Pi board to get a home automation systemAmong them you have for example the SonOff Basic, Orange Pi Zero, among others. In addition, you will have another very recognized plate worldwide such as:

Arduino

It is one of the most widely used and recognized panels worldwide to carry out projects of various natures, the reality is that many people use this panel to achieve automation of their homes. Nevertheless, the combination of the Arduino with the Raspberry Pi is excellent and you will be able to improve the performance of both, thus leaving the Arduino for specific tasks and Raspberry for general control and monitoring.

What are the best Raspberry Pi versions to automate?

Like any system, the Raspberry Pi board has been improving over time, and what you will see between each of them is the incorporation of more and better functions, the form of communication and the versatility that is added in each version updated. Raspberry Pi 4 is the most advanced version out there, although they are working on version 4A and 5.

According to the CEO of Raspberry, the novelty that these boards will incorporate with respect to the previous ones is that will have touch screens and better communication, video and memory performance. Below we show you the characteristics of the most advanced boards currently.

Raspberry Pi 4

It is the most advanced board available to Raspberry today. Has video output HDMI 2.0, USB c, RAM capacity up to 4 GB and 1.5 GHz quad-core processor. In addition, it has 2 USB 2.0 and 2 USB 3.0, Bluetooth 5.0 and unlimited speed Ethernet.

Undoubtedly an excellent option to carry out home automation work by taking said board as a control center. Due to its features, it is compatible with many devices, so the application range is wide.

Raspberry Pi 3

This Raspberry PI 3 board is the predecessor of the current and more advanced version 4. It has a 1.4 GHz quad-core processor, 1 GB RAM, 4 USB 2.0 output ports, HDMI output, 300 Mbps speed Ethernet. In addition, it has the ability to connect via Bluetooth 4.2.

In general it is not a bad option, on the contrary it is similar in certain aspects to the most updated model of the board, But there will be certain current devices that are not compatible with this board due to communication technology.

As you may have noticed in this post, we have told you about some examples and generalities that you should take into account when establishing a home automation system with a Raspberry Pi board. However, for correct learning you will need put knowledge into practice, so it will be good for you to get the Debian OS for your board, download it and start.