En route to a smart home with the Z-Wave protocol

Turn On

Article from Issue 184/2016
Author(s):

Whether you want to control your lights or water your house plants remotely, home automation is making inroads into nerd households. Z-Wave technology offers devices for reliable control – a quick Perl script gets you started.

Now that inexpensive mini Linux platforms like the Raspberry Pi are readily available, I can think of dozens of home automation projects I'd love to be working on in the near future. For example, how could I use my cellphone – while out and about – to check whether my surfing wetsuit drying device is still doing its job, and how could I switch it off when all the moisture is out? Is the front door really closed and locked?

I just love to whip up applications like this, and I have explored similar topics in the past. Regular readers may recall the – now somewhat dated – articles on an Internet-controlled power switch [1] and a weather-controlled plant watering system [2].

At the end of the day, the procedure for these and similar applications is always the same: A sensor measures a value, such as brightness or moisture, and reports the values to a controller, which then trips an actuator – say, a relay – which in turn switches on a lamp or a pump. At this point, you may be faced with the problem that the control unit is quite a distance away, and you need a wireless approach to transmitting the signal to the actuator. Or do you really want to have the controlling computer in your plant pot?

[...]

Use Express-Checkout link below to read the full article (PDF).

Buy this article as PDF

Download Article PDF now with Express Checkout
Price $2.95
(incl. VAT)

Buy Linux Magazine

SINGLE ISSUES
Print Issues
Digital Issues
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Print Subscriptions
Digital Subscriptions

Related content

  • Z-Wave

    Z-Wave connects components in the smart home and ensures that remote commands from the control station take effect on real household appliances. We look at how it works, its range, the security of the protocol, and some basics that every Z-Waver should know.

    more »
  • Z-Wave Home Assistant

    Z-Wave components, a RaZberry module, and the free Home Assistant software make the Raspberry Pi a powerful smart home control center.

    more »
  • Z-Wave

    The RaZberry daughter board for your Raspberry Pi unlocks the power of the Z-Wave home automation environment.

    more »
  • Mastering a power outage in the smart home

    A power failure can cause the IQ of a smart home to plummet suddenly. An emergency power supply and a script on the SmartThings platform can prevent a total outage and inform the owner. The polyglot Perlmeister embarks on a foray into the territory of the Groovy scripting language in this issue.

    more »
  • Switch power outlets on and off with home automation tools

    The "If This Then That" web service lets you simply click together home automation components, instead of laboriously integrating them via their APIs. However, you still have to open the hood for the nitty gritty where applicable.

    more »
comments powered by Disqus
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters

Digital Autonomy

• How the Fediverse Found Parts for Its Platforms
• The Answer Was Already on the Shelf
• Changing the Chip Industry: How Public Investment Has Grown Open Silicon
• United Nations Open Source Portal Goes Live
• EU Open Source Strategy Plays Key Role in Tech Sovereignty Package
• France Says “Au Revoir” to Microsoft

Support Our Work

Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

Learn More

News

Tag Cloud

Administration Community Desktop Events Hardware Linux Mobile Programming Security Software Ubuntu Web Development Windows free software open source