Moteino controlled power receptacle

[drsprite]

Hey Felix, I was curious if you had any plans in the future for a Moteino controlled power receptacle?

In my kitchen I'm going to install some LED cabinet lights. I need a way to control those lights. I have power receptacles inside the cabinets I'm going to use, but they're not on a physical switch. So a Swithmote won't work -- Or will it?

My thought right now is to use an X10 (or zwave, or insteon. ugh so many) device to control power to an outlet. But since I'm looking at having a Raspberry Pi be my gateway - I'm wondering if Moteino could do this? That way the garage and kitchen lights will be on 1 gateway.

Thanks

[Felix]

A simple SwitchMotePSU will do it, you just have to do the wiring outside the box, perhaps mount that in a HomeDepot electric box, with a power cord that plugs into your regular power plug. There are other solutions out there, like this power tail that has a relay controllable via an Arduino/Moteino. I haven't tried it so I can't speak of how well it works, you would have to do all the low power wiring to the Moteino if you want wireless control, and also figure out how to power the Moteino since I don't think this will give you any DC output. The SwitchMotePSU has all that and Moteino plugs right into it, but it doesn't come in a nice molded plastic case...
As far as future plans for a plug ... I'm not sure. The plug receptacles themselves are bulky and it's very tedious to make a design that will fit very tightly. I think most if not all commercial designs use a non isolated PSU with very basic circuitry, and that's something the maker community is not comfortable with from a DIY-hobby solution like a SwitchMote, hence the way SwitchMote R2 was designed with 3kV isolation etc.

[TomWS]

@drsprite, as Felix alluded, a commercial control is not feasible since it would have to have safety certifications from UL and others and that is costly.  However, since you are thinking specifically about LED lighting within your cabinets, you have a much more restricted case than a 'standard' Switchmote control would have to address.

Normally the LED lighting strips operate off of 12V DC power.  Some of the power drivers are dimmable, but, suppose, for example, you have a simple 12V power supply (lots available and draw virtually no power if not loaded) and, further, suppose you have a device that is capable of PWM output (Moteino to take a random example).  It wouldn't be too difficult to come up with a relatively simple circuit to modulate the power to your LED strip to:

• Turn it on or off.
• Control the intensity of the lighting strip.

And, as it happens, 12V DC would be a perfectly acceptable power source for said randomly chosen controller...

Are you smiling yet?

T
UPDATE: Bet you could even reprogram a SwitchMote to wirelessly control such a receiver  (assuming you could get access to the source code for the SwitchMote)...

[drsprite]

@Felix - Good idea about the SwitchMotePSU. This could be exactly what I'm after.

Until @Tom brought up dimming. Hmm... now I have no idea what to do! Suppose I need to buy my LED cabinet lights, then decide? The SwitchMote idea is pretty cool. 3 buttons. Top to dim up, bottom to dim down and middle for simple on/off. I don't know how to build the circuit for PWM output though. And this all depends on if the lights I buy are capable of PWM dimming?

[TomWS]

@Felix - Good idea about the SwitchMotePSU. This could be exactly what I'm after.

Until @Tom brought up dimming. Hmm... now I have no idea what to do! Suppose I need to buy my LED cabinet lights, then decide? The SwitchMote idea is pretty cool. 3 buttons. Top to dim up, bottom to dim down and middle for simple on/off. I don't know how to build the circuit for PWM output though. And this all depends on if the lights I buy are capable of PWM dimming?

I had second thoughts about direct PWM control of the lights.  The code is easy in an Arduino processor, the problem is the switching frequency.  IIRC, on an Arduino its around 450 Hz to get 8 bit resolution.  You'll hear this as a fixed tone of varying amplitude as you change your light intensity - not good. 

There are high frequency or current mode controllers that, in turn, can be controlled by a PWM signal from a Moteino, but I'd have to look around to match one up with an LED lighting strip.  Sorry for the misdirection.  If you want me to look into it, let me know and I'll research.

Tom

[drsprite]

No problem. I'm trying to plan ahead - but perhaps I need to purchase the lights, then figure out what to do with them.