In this project, we will make another Home Automation System using ESP Rainmaker and ESP32 Development Board which can be controlled by Google Assistant, Alexa, IR remote and also with manual switches. You can monitor room temperature and humidity as well as real-time feedback through your smartphone from anywhere in the world. If there is no internet available, still you can control all appliances via IR remote and manual switches. During this Home Automation series, I will add some automations to turn On/Off the relays according to time schedule. For this project, I used all the free tools, ESP Rainmaker, Google Assistant, and Alexa.
ESP Rainmaker
We are living in a world which is mostly connected by technology. But the development of the devices is still a challenge. Building a cloud platform from scratch is quite time-consuming and difficult. But using any third-party AIOT does not provide data security and flexibility to all the products. The ESP Rainmaker Home Automation System provides complete flexibility and customizable AIOT products. Rainmaker provides high-performance SOCs and modules and fully-fledged cloud deployment through your own account. It supports readymade mobile apps with all common smart home scenarios. It can be controlled with Amazon Alexa and Google Voice Assistant accordingly.
ESP Rainmaker is built on the AWS serverless architecture. Comparing other AIOT platforms Rainmaker can store data in the cloud at a very low cost. You need to add your device to the Rainmaker platform and it easily customizes the device. You can control as many switches or loads as you want.
Project
Circuit Diagram
Components Required
- ESP32 Development Board
- DHT11 Temperature And Humidity Sensor
- TSOP1838 IR Sensor
- LDR (Light Dependent Resistor)
- 5V Relay (x8)/ 8-channel Relay module
- Green Led (x8)
- 100 Ohm Resistor (x8)
- 1K Resistor (x8)
- BC547 NPN Transistor (x8)
- IN4007 PN Diode (x8)
- Push Button/Electrical Switch (x8)
- +5V/2A Power Supply
About Parts
ESP32 Development Board
It is a low-cost, minimal-power system on a microcontroller with integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth facility. ESP32 is created and developed by Espressif Systems, a Shanghai-based Chinese company, and it is manufactured by TSMC using its 40nm chip technology. In this project, we can use ESP8266 NodeMCU but there is only one analog pin that comes with it. And ESP32 have so many analog pins. So according to our needs (Voltage and Current), we choose ESP32 in spite of ESP8266 NodeMCU.
DHT11 Temperature And Humidity Sensor
It is a very accurate and low-cost temperature sensor that can measure both the real-time temperature and humidity of your surroundings. The applied supply voltage of this sensor is +5V.
TSOP1838 IR Sensor
TSOP1838 is a type of IR receiver which has an inbuilt amplifier. It acts as a switch and converter. TSOP1838 has three pins, which are GND, VSS, and Output. Its operating frequency is 38 KHz. TSOP1838 is a modified version of TSOP1738, so you can use both of them.
Circuit Connection for Rainmaker Home Automation System
Connect all the switches with the GPIO pins as shown in the circuit diagram. The other ends of the switches are to be grounded. The output pin of TSOP1838 is connected to the D35 pin of the ESP32. The LDR is connected to the D34 pin of ESP32. The data pin of DHT11 is connected to the RX pin. The IN1, IN2, IN3, IN4, IN5, IN6, IN7 and IN8 of the relay module are connected to the D23, D22, D21, D19, D18, D5, D25 and D26 of the ESP32 board respectively. We provide a +5V/2A DC power supply to the ESP32 development board as well as sensors.
After designing the schematic diagram of the home automation system, the assembled components and wiring are too clumsy and unprofessional. In fact, the wiring also has a chance of loose connection. I realised that we need to design the whole system small so that it will fit in the electric box. To give it a clean and professional look I decided to build its PCB prototype using EasyEDA software as it is so simple to use. Now come to the main part, where we need to order our PCB prototype. I always prefer PCBWay for their quality assurance, fastest delivery and also for 24/7 customer support.
I’ve done several runs with PCBWay and am happy with the results, it’s good quality. The etching, solder mask, and hole sizes are all done well and that is what matters to me. It takes a few hours for a design to get approved and then a couple of days to finish and ship.
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High Delivery Rate
In previous years, the on-time delivery rate was 99%. Rather than PCB quality, PCBWay knows that the other most important factor is the shortest possible lead time, which is critical for R&D engineers, especially in the prototyping phase. PCBWay keeps working to ensure PCBs will be delivered to customers as soon as possible and they’re delighted. It takes only 3 to 15 days according to the courier service to deliver your products. After PCBWay moved to the new factory, the production capacity of multi-layer PCB can be as high as tens of thousands of square meters per month. So on-time delay is also reduced for that. They have the “Return and Refund” principle, for every unusable board caused by PCBWay, they will rebuild and refund the order soon.
Quality Assurance
When talking about quality assurance, all the PCB prototypes go through the most stringent tests rather than the basic visual checks. They have most of the testing and inspecting types of equipment used in the PCB prototyping industry, such as Flying Probe Tester, X-Ray Inspection Machine, and Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) Machine.
Previously there have 9 different types of solder masks available in their company. But now recently they have launched extra 4 solder masks that are pink, grey, orange and transparent solder masks.
Also, there is a piece of great news about the price reduction of PCB prototypes. From 5th August you can now buy 4-layers & 6-layers with upto 20% discounts. As the price dropped, don’t think they will compromise on the quality.
There are three types of assembly services:
- Turnkey where PCBWay supplies all PCB parts.
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3D Printing & CNC
It also produces Rapid Prototyping like 3D printing, CNC Machining, Sheet Metal Fabrication, and Injection Molding. The quality of the product is too premium and reliable. And also the best part is that you will receive your order within a minimum of 3 days.
Guide for Ordering PCB from
How To Configure IR Remote With ESP32
First, you have to install the ESP32 board manager.
Click on the “File” from the Arduino IDE. Then click on “Preference”. From the additional board manager, you have to paste this URL: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/espressif/arduino-esp32/gh-pages/package_esp32_index.json. After that click on “Tools→Board→Boards Manager→Type ESP32 and install.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 | #include <IRremote.h> int IR_RECV_PIN = 35; //D35 Update the pin as per circuit IRrecv irrecv(IR_RECV_PIN); decode_results results; void setup() { Serial.begin(115200); irrecv.enableIRIn(); // Start the receiver } void loop() { if (irrecv.decode(&results)) { Serial.print("0x"); Serial.println(results.value, HEX); //print the HEX code irrecv.resume(); } } |
- First, you have to upload the code to ESP32 using Arduino IDE and connect the IR receiver data pin with GPIO pin D35.
- Then open the serial monitor and select the baud rate at 9600.
- Now start to press all the remote buttons one by one which you want to control the keys and comment down which key is for what hex code.
- Save all the HEX codes on the notepad.
- Now you have to update the main code with the HEX codes. You need 8 HEX codes to control 8 relays.
Working Principle of Rainmaker Home Automation System
The working principle of this Rainmaker Home Automation System is too simple. You can control a total of 8 loads with your smartphone, any kind of IR remote and also via manually switches. The Rainmaker application is used here to control all the appliances smoothly. Here we use a DHT11 temperature sensor module to measure real-time temperature as well as humidity. The LDR is used in this project to measure the intensity of light in the room. The ESP32 is connected to a WiFi network as a main hub or controller.
First, get the HEX codes of unused IR Remote buttons. Then update the HEX codes in the main code. When WiFi is not connected you can control it with the IR remote and manual switches.
The main work before this project is when the control pins of the relay module receive the LOW signal the relay will turn on and when it receives a HIGH signal it gets turned off (basically it works only for the relay module).
Libraries for Rainmaker Home Automation System
How to Operate Rainmaker to Control Appliances
After uploading the code to the ESP32 development board, you must open the serial monitor. Then press the boot button on the ESP32 board for 4 seconds and you can see the QR code. You just need to copy the link below the QR code and paste it into the browser.
Now you can see a QR code on your screen. Now scan it with the Rainmaker application. You can download it from the playstore. Before scanning, you have to enable Bluetooth and GPS on your mobile. Then click add device and enter the WiFi credentials. You can see a blue LED glowing on the ESP32. In the rainmaker app, you can see all the switches you connected with the ESP32 board.