Home Automation

by Matthew Ford 12th April 2025 (original 20^th August 2017)
© Forward Computing and Control Pty. Ltd. NSW Australia
All rights reserved.

Home Automation Projects

Simple Home Automation for Beginners – Android/Arduino for switching things on and off (Absolutely No coding or soldering required)

BLE Rain Gauge for Beginners – A Bluetooth Low Energy Rain Gauge. Runs for years on 2 x AA batteries.

BLE Door Bell for Beginners – A Bluetooth Low Energy Door Bell and Monitor and WiFi extension suitable for beginners

Automatic Lights – Turns light on, if it is dark, when anyone enters and off when they leave. Suitable for beginners.

Audio Rain Sensor and BLE Window/Door Open Detector – Sound Alarm if there is a window open when it starts raining.

BLE High Power Light Switch -- 2023 – Retrofit existing switch with Android control.
This project supersedes all these previous BLE light switch projects:- BLE Led Light Switch – 2023, Remote Controlled Light Switch – 2017, BLE Power Control with pfodApp

Auto Night Lights – Lights turn on at Dusk and off at Dawn using an external BLE ambient light sensor.

ESP-01 Time Switch – Simple construction of a Power Timer. Suitable for beginners. Turns low voltage devices on/off at set times during the day. Keeps accurate time and handles time zones and daylight saving changes without re-programming. Uses web pages instead of pfodApp. Also see Water Pump Control using this Timer Switch

BLE Room Temperature controlled Heater with Timer Switch – Combines 4 existing projects to measure the room temperature with a remove BLE temperature sensor and control a heater during the times set by the NTP Timer Switch

NonBlockingModbusMaster Library – Tutorial on how to use the NonBlockingModbusMaster Library. Includes retries and chaining of commands into an executable block.

IoTaWatt Real Time Electricity Cost and Reprogramming with Arduino IDE – Shows how to program IoTaWatt using Arduino IDE and remove any WiFi settings and how to plot the Electricity cost in real time.

How to Accurately Calculate Electricity Cost using JSY-MK modules – A JSY-MK-354 module is shown to be hopelessly in-accurate. A simple code method gives accurate Import and Export kWh results and hence Electricity cost.

ESP8266 Controlled Garage Diesel Heater – A truck diesel heater for the garage with WiFi remote control and fuel/air flow/air temperature monitoring.

ESP8266 AutoLocking Door – Controlled and monitored by pfodApp

Wifi IR Remote – Android controlled (via Wifi) Customizable IR Remote Replacement. Handles multiple devices with customizable screen display and IR recording function.

Long Life Battery Powered Remote – On/Off remote via WiFi, Bluetooth Classic, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Radio/LoRa or SMS

LoRa/Radio Long Range Garage Door Controller – A point-to-point LoRa in-car remote control and garage door receiver. 128bit security and indication the door has reached the required position. The door can also be controlled from your Android mobile, via a WiFi to Radio bridge, with a visual display of the door's position

Simple WiFi to BLE Bridge – Provides WiFi connection to your BLE projects

How to Add Relays to Arduino

Remote Controlled Light Switch - 2017 – This has been superseded by BLE Light Switch - 2023

Remote Controlled High Power Loads – Retrofit existing switch with Android control for kilowatt loads

Retrofitted Fan Timer – with override off and settable time

Retrofit House Lights with WiFi control - Keep existing switches. Uses ESP8266 and pfodApp (No Android programming required)

Simple, Secure, Internet Power Switch with Manual Override – IoT Extension Cable Inline Switch, Android controlled by pfodApp (No Android programming required)

AC Power/Light Switch Monitor – Optically Isolated Monitor for Power/Light Switch

Connecting DIY IoT devices to the Internet with pfodApp – How to connect at home and away using the same Connection

WiFi/Internet controlled Dual Power Switch (deprecated use the Simple, Secure, Internet Power Switch with Manual Override project instead)

Android^TM is a trademark of Google Inc. For use of the Arduino name see http://arduino.cc/en/Main/FAQ

The General Purpose Android/Arduino Control App.
pfodDevice™ and pfodApp™ are trade marks of Forward Computing and Control Pty. Ltd.