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Thermostat Hack

This hot hack will help keep your home cool, no matter where you are!

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This thermostat add-on uses the littleBits cloudBit and a servo module to change the temperature of your home from anywhere. Heading home from work and want to cool your apartment down? Use the slider app on littleBits Cloud Control to wirelessly move the move the needle on the temperature scale. Want to make your thermostat smarter? Add a temperature sensor to get real time readings from your home.

Control - With this add-on, the littleBits servo is connected to adjuster arm on your thermostat. Use Cloud Control (on your phone or computer) to adjust the position of the servo arm, thus moving the little adjuster lever and changing the temperature.

Automate - Use IFTTT to automatically adjust your thermostat in response to conditions that you set (i.e. time of day or forecasted weather conditions). IFTTT (If This Then That) is a service that lets you connect to different web apps through simple conditional statements. Use the Date & Time channel to turn your thermostat down at 1pm and up at 6pm. The littleBits trigger allows you to adjust the percentage of output voltage sent to the servo, giving you more control over the temperature of your home.

Monitor - The temperature sensor transmits data through the cloudBit to Cloud Control, which can be viewed under the “receive signal” tab. This way, you can always know temperature in your apartment/house.

  • 1 × cloudBit
  • 1 × servoBit
  • 1 × temperature sensorBit Coming soon!
  • 1 × usb powerBit
  • 1 × Clear Acrylic

View all 11 components

  • 1
    Step 1
    1. Set up your cloudBits if you haven’t done so already. Instructions for setting up the cloudBit can be found here..
    2. 2.  Connect your circuit:  USB power + temperature sensor + cloudBit + servo.
    3. 3.  Adjust the template [Cloud Thermostat Cut File] to fit your thermostat.The part you cut will be sandwiched between the back of your thermostat and its front cover. Remove the front cover to take measurements and adjust the size of the cutout. Then laser cut the adjusted file out of acrylic sheet. You can also use other materials and tools available to you, just make sure what ever you use is sturdy.
    4. 4.  Position your circuit and attach servo. Use littleBits Adhesive Shoes to stick your circuit to the cutout. Then secure the servo down to the board with a small nut and bolt.
    5. 5.  Attach the servo arm. Attach the small cutout from the [Cloud Thermostat Cut File] to the servo. Then connect your threaded shaft set to the servo arm. This will give you more range of motion and wiggle room when you attach the servo to the adjuster arm on the thermostat. Secure it with a small nut and bolt.
    6. 6.  Install! Take the front cover off your thermostat and fit your newly assembled part in place. Then simply place the thermostat cover back on where it was. Now you need to attach the threaded shaft set to the adjuster arm. There will be some trial and error here to position everything just right. You also may need to cut down the threaded shaft set to fit the range of motion you desire. Then use a strong double-sided tape, gluedots, or Sugru to connect the threaded shaft set to the adjuster arm on your thermostat.
    7. 7.  Take it for a test run. In Cloud Control see which voltage values best work for finer temperature adjustments. Now you can control your thermostat from anywhere!!!

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Discussions

Bruce Land wrote 07/24/2014 at 19:55 point
Cool! Any security on it yet?

  Are you sure? yes | no

littleBits wrote 07/24/2014 at 20:04 point
The traffic to and from the cloudBit uses TLS to remain secure, so no worries with someone raising the temp in your home anytime soon.

  Are you sure? yes | no

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