• 1
    Step 1

    Today we’re gonna try automating as many lights as possible in many different ways and make a DIY remote control that you can put on your bedside table to easily control all your smart lights.

    FEATURES

    • Set up your smart hub based on Raspberry Pi
    • Make a remote control out of a GPIO breadboard
    • Control your Hue Lights through physical buttons
    • Connect your power sockets and physical lights switches

    FOR WHOM

    • Any beginner in automation, even with no knowledge, will be able to easily follow this project. So it’s a great way to start automating your smart home and see how easy and fun it can actually be!
    • Owners of smart bulbs and/or smart sockets who want to go one step further and make it even easier to turn them on and off, especially if you have various brands (which implies different apps to open and use).
    • Tech enthusiasts who like fun and cheap DIY projects to automate their homes.
    • A person with limited mobility, because being able to switch on and off lights or other house appliances that are spread across the house with one single remote can be a significant help for the everyday life. Home automation can make a huge change for anyone with a disability, so don’t hesitate to spread your knowledge around you!

    This project should only take about an hour to make and you won’t need any particular skills nor a big budget (you can connect 5 lights for less than $60 in total).

  • 2
    Step 2

    Step 1: REQUIRED COMPONENTS

    REQUIRED COMPONENTS

    • Raspberry Pi 2 or 3 ($20~$35) // for RPi 2, you will need Bluetooth & WiFi dongles
    • 16Gb SD card ($9) GPIO breadboard + wires + buttons ($5~10)
    • RF transceiver for RPi ($3) + antenna to solder OR RF transceiver module with antenna included ($15)
    • RF switches (you can find 5 switches for $25 here) AND/OR MicroBot Push button pusher + velcro tape (also available on Amazon) AND/OR Philips Hue light bulbs ( link)

    The components should vary depending on how you plan on automating your lights.

    For the sake of the explanation, we will explain three different methods to connect your lights (with RF sockets, with MicroBot Push, with Philips Hue). Feel free to mix whatever way you want, depending on the setting of your house/room.

    For RF Sockets: currently our OS supports 433, 477 and 315 MHZ sockets. We recommend you to use WattsClever, DX or Etekcity. The following brands are not working properly: Westfalia, Energenie, DiO, JTD.

  • 3
    Step 3

    Step 2: SET UP YOUR PROTA PI

    You first need to build the smart hub that will control the automation of your ring bell and connect all devices together. Prota OS for Raspberry Pi is our free smart hub OS which is very easy to install. In no time you will turn your Raspberry Pi into a smart home automation hub!

    You can download Prota OS here . Then burn it on the SD card.
    We made an easy guide you can follow to set up your Prota Pi.

    Alternatively, you can check this Instructables .