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Light Automation

Objectives:

 

Control lighting in the room using raspberry pi. A set of bulbs must be programmable for task lighting, to mood lighting. If dance-floor effect is possible with the spot-light capability of the bulbs, synthesized light effects are a plus.

 

Must haves:

    1. RGBW dimmable LED bulbs
    2. Brightness to meet task lighting and mood
    3. Swivel control of the bulb socket
    4. Programmability of lights and swivel with python

    Research so far has dragged up:

    1. Bulbs: Philips Hue as the winner for programmable bulbs but LIFX and Belkin follow close on its heels if 16 million colors is not a criterion
      • Other options include LIFX, belkin, LG, Samsung, Lumen
    2. Robotics solution for swivel: Also called pan and tilt
      •  Uses 2 servos, one generic for pan and the other specialized for tilt
    3. Track lighting systems for mounting several bulbs
    4. Controller board for each pan-tilt assembly which talks to the pi using a wireless technology
    Found some interesting videos with low power led projects such as the led cube. Look it up on youtube.

    A note on the network technologies:

    • Bridge is on the internet using wifi
    • Hue and its friends talk to the bridge using Zigbee
    • There is no bridge zigbee API available for adding custom devices - walled garden

    Other smart bulbs connect to the link/bridge using Bluetooth LE. Bluetooth LE is a PAN technology with a span of a few meters whereas Zigbee is a LAN and covers the entire house.