The Raspberry Pi is a small and versatile computer that you can use for many tasks. We show you step by step how to control your lighting via your PC, smartphone or tablet, how to make your home respond to contact and motion sensors, and how to develop smart scenarios for your home.
01 Which Raspberry Pi?
Most home automation controllers available on the market cost hundreds of dollars. And in the end, such a controller is no more than a mini computer. That can be cheaper right? Sure, a Raspberry Pi is equipped enough to perform the same tasks. In many cases, Model B or B+ with 512 MB RAM is sufficient. The more powerful Raspberry Pi 2 Model B with 1 GB RAM, a quad-core processor and four USB 2.0 ports only comes in handy if you want to control a lot of devices in the house.
02 Domoticz
The commercially available home automation controllers come with software to control your home. You still have to install it yourself on the Raspberry Pi. Fortunately, there is a lot of open source home automation software. Domoticz is a user-friendly package from the Netherlands. Download the image for the Raspberry Pi, unzip it and write it to a (micro)SD card with the included program Win32 Disk Imager. Then place it in your Pi and start up the mini computer. Then follow the instructions in the Readme.txt file that comes with the image.
03 Web Interface
In your router's DHCP lease list, find the IP address your Raspberry Pi has been assigned on your network. Now surf to //[IP address], with the correct IP address in place of the square brackets. Ignore the security certificate warning. This is the web interface with which you control Domoticz. In Dashboard All devices where you click on the star will go to the other pages. In switches all switches come with temperature all temperature and humidity sensors, in Weather precipitation, air pressure and other weather sensors and in Utility energy meters. The web interface automatically adapts to your screen; on mobile devices you get a more compact view.
04 Localization Settings
Click on the top right Setup and then on Settings. Here you set the behavior of Domoticz in various tabs. Do you change the language to English, you will see the interface in Dutch. If you enter your location, Domoticz calculates the times of sunrise and sunset. Handy for configuring the behavior of your switches; think of a light that only responds to a motion sensor at night. Then click on the top right Apply Settings.
