I’m running a program called Homebridge on a Raspberry Pi to automate my home. This serves as a centralized backbone running MQTT.
I’ve built devices on ESP8266 WiFi microcontrollers. So far, I’ve built plugs for lamps, LED lighting, temperature sensors, a thermostat, motion sensors and motorized blinds. All of this is controlled from me iPhone or my voice. My voice setup utilizes either Siri or Google. I prefer Google.
I have certain timed jobs on the Raspberry Pi that trigger relative to sunrise/sunset. For example the blinds open/close and at night, various lights trigger starting 2 hours before sunset.
I have other jobs triggered from Apples HomeKit based on my location. For example, when I leave, the thermostat adjusts, the lights turn off and the blinds close. When I return, the thermostat adjusts and the blinds open if it’s daytime. Lights trigger upon commands.
Motion sensors light my stairs when I approach. My toilet is illuminated the same way which is very handy at night. The kitchen cabinets shine down on to the countertops. As I move through the house, various lights glow like night lights.
All of this was built with parts from China that I bought for pennies on eBay. One ESP8266 microcontroller costs me about $2. The SR501 motion sensors and power relays both run about $1 each. LED RGB tape is about $8 for 5 meters. The rest was assembled and coded by me in the Arduino IDE.
Contact me with questions.