How I turned my university dorm room into a smart room 💡 [THREAD]

Acting/Directing 🎥 - @djlapsy Inspo 🎭 - _ola_of_lagos_ [IG]

OPERATION The system was connected on the university Wi-Fi network, allowing all of the devices to communicate w each other The room can be operated in three ways: 1. Voice command, as seen in the video 2. Remote control, from your phone 3. Autonomously, using different sensors

When “Auto State” is turned on, the system uses its sensors to turn on/off the devices A photoresistor measures ambient light, controlling the night light An ultrasonic sensor detects when a bucket is full and turns off the tap …

And a piezoelectric pad for sensing when someone sits in the chair to turn on the reading lights

PARTS The system comprises three parts: - The devices to be controlled - A Power system, - And the controller (I used an ESP32)

THE DEVICES I hooked up the room lights, my reading light, some LED Lights, the ceiling fan, tap and a lock for my wardrobe to the system.

The tap and wardrobe were the most difficult for two reasons 🫠 One, I had to become a part time carpenter and plumber. Secondly, I used a solenoid valve and lock which are both inductive loads and created undesired voltage drops

DESIGN 🤣Because of the fantastic power supply we have, I had to find a way to make sure everything worked whenever there was no electricity. So, I designed three PCBs for the whole system. A small UPS, a personalized microcontroller expansion board and the relay module.

The expansion board houses the microcontroller with some JST connectors for easy wiring of the sensors and actuators.

CONNECTION I think I soldered so much that I may have slight lead poisoning 🤣 There was a LOT of wiring. I learnt the hard way to use at least 2mm gauge wire when connecting AC 🤕. I also used 20m of CAT-5 cable replacing the tips with male JST for all my sensors.

Yay, code 🥲💔 IMPORTANT: Make sure to add these lines of code if your RFID sensor uses SPI Protocol with wire longer than 6 inches

Finally, connect any Wi-Fi enabled device to the network and connect to the IP address of the microcontroller for remote control Or just use your voice 😉

I hope to be more consistent on here with my creations so stay tuned! 🍿 I don’t have anything to promote yet so for now here’s some friendly advice 🫶