Home Automation Wizardry

Building home automation projects is a favorite pastime among electronics enthusiasts. Integrating a wide variety of smart devices into one’s home not only adds convenience to their life, but it is also an excellent excuse for experimenting with all sorts of hardware. From setting up voice-controlled lighting systems to designing security cameras that can be monitored remotely, the possibilities are virtually endless when it comes to home automation.

Of course, not all projects need to be entirely practical — there is plenty of room for creativity, exploration, and learning as well. YouTuber byteMyCache recently developed a home automation system that falls into this category. Rather than using traditional mechanisms like voice, gestures, or a smartphone app for home control, byteMyCache instead used a magic wand. Spoiler alert — it was not a real magic wand, so some electronics wizardry was needed to make the magic happen.

Great Wolf Lodge is known for their MagiQuest magic wands that children can use to play interactive games during their stay. But when they come home, the wands are little more than a paperweight. As an inquisitive individual, byteMyCache wondered what made them tick. After digging in a bit, he found that they have infrared transmitters that broadcast a unique wand identifier. Really, they are little more than an old infrared television remote control with a single button.

That gave byteMyCache the idea to build receiving devices that could be used to trigger actions around the house for his children. Once you know how the wands work, there is not much to it. The key is to use an appropriate infrared receiver — in this case a TSOP4838. That was wired into byteMyCache’s favorite little inexpensive development board that features an ESP8266 microcontroller. Since the ESP8266 has a decent amount of processing power and also a Wi-Fi transceiver, it is a great choice for use in a home automation system.

After soldering the receiver to the development board, the next step involved setting up the software ecosystem. Home Assistant is a very popular free and open source solution for custom home automation setups, and that is exactly what was selected in this case. This was paired with ESPHome, which is a tool that makes it very simple to configure ESP development boards for use, and even do over-the-air updates. As a bonus, it plays nicely with Home Assistant, and devices configured in ESPHome will automatically appear in the Home Assistant user interface for further configuration.

Once firmware is flashed to the device, it can be programmed to take any arbitrary action via the Home Assistant interface when it gets blasted with the wand’s infrared signal. To demonstrate some of the possibilities, byteMyCache showed the wand being used to turn on a lamp and a television, but of course that can be customized to suit each individual’s needs.

If you do not have a MagiQuest wand, or any Great Wolf Lodge locations in your area, byteMyCache noted that the wands can be purchased pretty inexpensively on platforms like EBay. The possibilities for this device extend beyond home automation. What would you build with this wand? Be sure to post it on Hackster so we can take a look!

If magic wands are not really your style, maybe you'd rather slip on some ShAIdes for home automation?