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• Is anyone there...

  Lewis • 01/31/2016 at 13:49 • 0 comments

  While it may not appear that much is going on, I have been spending some time on this project and putting design ideas down on paper. I aim to go to a hack space to refine some of the ideas and 3D print the first prototype.

  The latest version of the "light switch" is going to have large centre capacitive touch control for on and off functions. around that there will be a capacitive touch wheel to change brightness and more. and on the four corners will be different function buttons. The top left being the default option of lighting, maybe with a second press for colour of the light via the touch wheel. The top right will be Temperature control for the room, linked to smart thermostatic radiator valves for the room. The bottom left will be music, this will control the Sonos system in the room with a tap in the centre for play/pause, volume via the touch wheel and a tap on the left or right of the touch wheel for next or previous track. Lastly, holding down the button on the bottom right of the controller will activate the microphone for the intercom to other rooms in the house where presence is detected.

  The designs have evolved and simplified quite a lot over the last few months, the main problem has always been how to power the system. Recently I found a similar light switch that uses a touch sensor to control lighting and this gets its power from the lighting circuit. This includes a component that goes between the live and neutral at the light fitting which enables it to take a small current to power the switch. I have two of these sat in the boxes to try out. Hopefully I will be able to copy some of this design to provide my switches with power and filling in the missing link with my smart switches.

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