“Smarten” a dumb switch without running wires
Using a pair of Arduino Unos and nRF24L01+ modules, this hacker can now remote control his lights.
After struggling with a wall switch that was just too far from his desk to turn off without getting up, “Guyfromhe” decided to take matters into his own hands and rig up a servo to do it for him. The servo is simply hot glued to the switch plate, and when it gets a command, it obediently switches the lights on or off. Though crude, it seems to get the job done, and it wouldn’t be too hard to imagine a good bracket setup.
An Arduino Uno controls the servo, and takes signals from another Arduino via an nRF24+ RF module. He chose this wireless device as a simple transmission method, and one that uses less power than an ESP8266 that he also tried out. The non-servo Arduino can potentially take signals from several sources, including a Raspberry Pi, laptop, or even a hacked Amazon Dash button.
You can see this makeshift system demonstrated in the video below, and read more about the build here.
March 15th, 2017 at 17:30:53
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