Published May 16, 2016 © GPL3+

Voice, Blynk, Qmote Controlled Smart Light

Control the color of the light using "Voice", "Blynk" and "Qmote" . It can also react to Events in Android Phone.

IntermediateShowcase (no instructions)15 hours2,002

Voice, Blynk, Qmote Controlled Smart Light

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Particle Spark Core

ULN2803

Linear Regulator (7805)

RGB LED Strip - Common Anode

Android device

Software apps and online services

Blynk

Tasker

AutoVoice

RESTask for Tasker

Qmote

Story

This was my old project inspired by Philips Lights, now I thought to showcase in Hackster.

I call it Smart Lights because color of the light can be changed by

-> Voice

-> Blynk app

-> Qmote

-> Light can also react to the events on Android Smart Phone

Hardware

This project is built around Particle Core, a tiny IoT development board. This is an amazing board to start your IoT project. The newer version of Core, Particle Photon is much more stable than Core.

Hardware Schematic

HW build on PCB

I have used Common Anode RGB LED strip to get the desired color. +ve terminal of the LED strip is directly connected to 12v. Depending on the number of LEDs in the strip, the current consumption may be until few 100 mill amps. Since microcontroller can not drain such huge current, a darlington IC (ULN2803) is used. This IC has 8 darlington pair channels, each channel can drain until 500 ma of current. Two channels are used in parallel to control each color of the LED so it can drain until 1000 ma of current, approximately 50 LEDs.

Software

Build the below SW and Flash using the Particle Web IDE.

Now the action part ..

Control From Blynk

Blynk is a simple but powerful app to control any connected hardware.

Using simple zeRGBa widget from Blynk. Blynk can directly control the the HW pins.

1 / 2 • Configuration on Blynk app

Below video demonstrates the control from Blynk app.

Controlling the color from Blynk

My personal experience, Blynk app and Blynk Cloud is amazingly fast. You can see in the video, light color changes so fast as my finger moves on the widget.

Control from Qmote

Qmote is a small Bluetooth key chain from Qblinks. Each click pattern can be configured to control different functions on smartphone. It also connects to Qblinks Cloud, which makes it very helpful to use it as a remote for IoT project.

IFTTT is used to connect Qblinks Cloud and Particle Cloud. Each click on this key chain can call a function in Particle Core with different parameters. There by changing the color of the light with each click pattern.

Control flow from Qmote

Since multiple cloud services are involved, response time is very slow.

Example configuration for "short, short" pattern.

1 / 3 • Example configuration for "short, short" pattern

I have configured different colors for every pattern and single "short" click pattern to turn off the lights.

Below video demonstrates the control from Qmote.

Qmote controlled smart light

Performance and quality of Qmote is quite good, but build quality of the antenna is very weak, that it breaks in few weeks of normal usage.

Control from Voice

Control from Voice

Voice control is achieved using Tasker, a powerful automation app for Android phone.

AutoVoice is a Tasker plugin used to intercepts the voice and trigger an event in Tasker.

RESTasker is a Tasker plugin used to post a http request to Particle Cloud.

Setup is quite simple:

1. Create a Tasker profile with AutoVoice plugin.

Configuration:

Command Filter "red light" (example),

Contains All is checked. With this configuration, your voice command can be any statement with the key word "red light" included.

2. Create a Task, add RESTask.

Configuration:

Request Type: Post,

Host: https://api.particle.io/v1/devices/"YourDeviceID"/setColor

Parameters:

Add parameter: Name = access_token, value= "YourAccessToken"

Add parameter: Name = params, value = R(255),G(000),B(000)

Thats all, trigger google now and say a command that include the key words "red light" and see the magic ;-).

For each color, a Profile and Task should be created. Any number of Profiles and Tasks can be created.

Below video demonstrates the Voice Control feature.

Voice controlled smart light

Reaction to Events on Smart Phone

With Tasker integration, your can do amazing things. You can create any number of profiles and link to these lights using the RESTask.

Example:

-> Flash particular color light when a new email arrives.

-> Flash particular color light when there is a missed call.

and much more ...

In the below video I show an example, when a missed call arrives on my phone, Green light is blinked for around 10 times.

Flashing Green Light on a Missed Call.

Hope you enjoy the project.

Code

SW for Particle Core

// This #include statement was automatically added by the Particle IDE.
#include "SparkCorePolledTimer/SparkCorePolledTimer.h"

// This #include statement was automatically added by the Particle IDE.
#include "blynk/blynk.h"

char auth[] = "your blynk Auth code";


int LED_RED     = A5;
int LED_GREEN   = A7;
int LED_BLUE    = A4;

int redValue;
int greenValue;
int blueValue;

bool notiActionActive = 0;
int  notiActionCntr = 0;


SparkCorePolledTimer  cyclicTimer(750);

void CyclicFunction( void );

void setup() {
    pinMode(LED_RED,    OUTPUT);
    pinMode(LED_GREEN,  OUTPUT);
    pinMode(LED_BLUE,   OUTPUT);

    analogWrite(LED_RED,    0);
    analogWrite(LED_GREEN,  0);
    analogWrite(LED_BLUE,   0);
    
    redValue = 0;
    greenValue = 0;
    blueValue = 0;
    
    Particle.function("setColor",          processLEDColor);
    Particle.function("startNotiAct",   startNotificationAction);
    
    cyclicTimer.SetCallback(CyclicFunction);

    Blynk.begin(auth);
}

void loop() {
    
    Blynk.run();
    
    cyclicTimer.Update();
}

void setOutLEDColor(int rd, int grn, int blu)
{
    analogWrite(LED_RED,    rd);
    analogWrite(LED_GREEN,  grn);
    analogWrite(LED_BLUE,   blu);
}

/* Called from external world */
/* Set RGB LED Color */
int processLEDColor(String command)
{
    // Example pattern R(000),G(000),B(000)
    
    redValue = command.substring(2, 5).toInt();
    greenValue = command.substring(9, 12).toInt();
    blueValue = command.substring(16, 19).toInt();
    
    setOutLEDColor(redValue, greenValue, blueValue);
    return 1;
}

/* Called from external world */
/* Set RGB LED Color */
int startNotificationAction(String command)
{
    // Example pattern R(000),G(000),B(000)
    
    redValue = command.substring(2, 5).toInt();
    greenValue = command.substring(9, 12).toInt();
    blueValue = command.substring(16, 19).toInt();
    
    notiActionActive = 1;
    
    return 1;
}

/****************************************************************************
* Cyclic 1s function
******************************************************************************/
void CyclicFunction( void )
{
    if(notiActionActive == 1)
    {
        if(notiActionCntr < 20)
        {
            if((notiActionCntr % 2) == 1)
            {
                setOutLEDColor(redValue, greenValue, blueValue);
            }
            else
            {
                setOutLEDColor(0, 0, 0);
            }
            notiActionCntr++;
        }
        else
        {
            notiActionActive = 0;
            notiActionCntr = 0;
            setOutLEDColor(0,0,0);
        }
    }
}

Credits

Raghavendra Ponuganti

3 projects • 11 followers

Voice, Blynk, Qmote Controlled Smart Light

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Story

Schematics

HW Schematic

Code

SW for Particle Core

Credits

Raghavendra Ponuganti

Comments

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Voice, Blynk, Qmote Controlled Smart Light

Voice, Blynk, Qmote Controlled Smart Light

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Story

Schematics

HW Schematic

Code

SW for Particle Core

Credits

Raghavendra Ponuganti

Comments

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