Printable View
I would like to know how to do this, if it is possible and also what I would need.
I want to control "appliances" and other things around the house from my computer (using a vb.net application that i would develop)
Lets say I want to control the motor on my front gate to open or close the gate.
What would I need to do this?
You would need relays (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relay) and a circuitboard to interface them with the PC via RS232, USB or in another way. Check this out http://www.controlanything.com/Merch...ode=PROTOTYPES and other items on their website.
If I use the wireless relays, will I still need a circuirboard?
A relay has two power inputs; low control voltage/current and a higher voltage/current. So you need to run power to the relay, power out of the relay, and you would not need to run control wires to the relay if you go wireless. You can go completely wireless with a tesla coil, but that will only work at close range and the power requirements are impractical unless you are generating your own electricity.
Like baja_yu said, you need SOMETHING on the PC side ( a card is a circuit board so is electronics in an enclosure; you just can't see it) and you need a relay with wires going to it. You won't need a circuit board for that if you just want wires running to a relay mounted somewhere (you will mount it, won't you?) but a circuit board (or a proto board) will make the job neater.
For home domotica you can make a choise to use the X10 protocoll. Certain devices are ready to use for this purpose. Look at this link for a explaination:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X10_(industry_standard)
My idea of the whole system is to interrupt the electricity flow to something, lets say a lamp, with the relay. So i'm thinking that the relay would be in the place where the switch would be on a bedlamp.
I want to connect to the wireless or bluetooth relay with my laptop (using my wireless or bluetooth on the laptop) and controll the relay (lamp) by doing this.
How far am I off-track?
All you need then is is a wireless relay on the device. A control transmitter connected to your laptop with an API.
An other link of using VB and X10
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/coding4fun/a...31/916464.aspx
I found the link that baja_yu gave me to be very usefull. They have videos explaining their product range, so I'm gona go with that.
http://www.controlanything.com
X-10 is a good idea nam. There are rare cases when interference can cause problems since it uses the same wires as line voltages, like sometimes motors starting and stopping can cause problems. But who hasn't had wireless problems?
Well I see the x-10 is a lot cheaper. I'm gona try find more info on that. Thanx