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Home Automation

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Efundies Staff
September 01, 2022 (Last Updated: ) | Reading Time: 1 minutes

Home automation is a rewarding hobby. It is a great way to learn about electronics, programming, and networking. It can also be a way to save money by automating your lights and temperature sensors to be more energy efficient. If you are interested in home automation but do not want to pay monthly subscription fees, our DIY home automation guides will show you how to make your own self-hosted services. Follow the links below to get started with home automation.

You can use home automation to control just about anything you can think of.
You can use home automation to control just about anything you can think of.

Suggested Home Automation Articles

How To Choose Your Home Automation Server Hardware
Learn about setting up a home automation server, and what kind of hardware you need.
5 Reasons You Should be Using Docker for Home Automation
You should be running Docker on your home automation server.
What is MQTT and Why You Need It
MQTT allows you to automate anything.
Node-RED Makes Automation With Home Assistant Fun
Node-RED is a visual programming tool that makes it easy to create rules for home automation.
How To Choose an MQTT Broker: Mosquitto vs HiveMQ vs Home Assistant
One of the core components of a home automation system is the MQTT broker.
How To Set Up An MQTT Broker with Mosquitto
When it's time to set up your Mosquitto MQTT broker, you've got a few options to get sorted out before you are up and running.

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Your home automation server can run many different operating systems, including Ubuntu, Proxmox, Unraid, and TrueNAS.

Unraid vs Proxmox vs Ubuntu - Battle For the Best Home Network Server OS

When it comes time to put an operating system on your home network server, you've got a few options.

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Docker is an essential service on your home automation server

Install Docker on Your Home Automation Server: 4 Different Ways

There are many different ways to install Docker for Home Automation. Let's talk about some of the ways that you can install Docker on your home automation server.

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5 Reasons You Should be Using Docker for Home Automation

If you are not using Docker on your home automation server, then it's time to start thinking about it.

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Home automation can be fun with Node-RED and Home Assistant

Node-RED Makes Automation With Home Assistant Fun

Node-RED adds a lot of fun to Home Assistant.

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An MQTT broker helps glue your home automation systems together.

How To Choose an MQTT Broker: Mosquitto vs HiveMQ vs Home Assistant

When it comes time to choose an MQTT broker, you have a few choices. Let's check out the pros and cons of Mosquitto, HiveMQ, and Home Assistant's built-in MQTT broker.

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MQTT is the backbone of many home automation systems.

MQTT

MQTT is the backbone of many home automation systems. We consider MQTT to be the most important part of your home automation system.

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MQTT is the easiest way to get IoT devices communicating.

What is MQTT and Why You Need It (How to Automate Anything)

MQTT is a protocol that allows devices to communicate with each other in a simple and efficient way.

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Mosquitto is one of the most popular open source MQTT brokers.

How To Set Up An MQTT Broker with Mosquitto

There are a few options to get your MQTT broker up and running, including Dockers and bare-metal installations. Let's talk about some of the most common ways to get your MQTT broker ready to go.

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If you want to conIf you want to connect to your MQTT broker from the internet, then you need to forward a port in your router.

Connect to Your MQTT Broker from the Internet: Port Forwarding MQTT

If you want to connect to your MQTT broker from the internet, then you need to forward a port in your router

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There are many different Arduinos to choose from, such as this Uno variety.

Arduino

Many home automation projects can be solved by simply "throwing an Arduino at it". Our Arduino articles show you how.

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MIDI Controlled Solenoids with Arduino and Ableton Live - Part 2

This is part 2 in a 3 part series that shows how to make Ableton Live play music on electric solenoids using an Arduino.

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Here’s a closeup of how we wired our IRF520 modules. You can see that the power to the modules is in parallel.

MIDI Controlled Solenoids with Arduino and Ableton Live - Part 1

At the end of the series you will have a setup that is capable doing this. This is a pretty complex topic so it is split into 3 parts to make it easier to follow.

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You can see that the MIDI data generated in Ableton Live flows into the USB port of an Arduino, where it is used to control solenoids.

MIDI Controlled Solenoids with Arduino and Ableton Live - Part 3

This is the 3rd and final part in a 3 part series about how to control solenoids using Ableton Live and an Arduino.

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Node-RED makes writing home automations fast and easy.

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This MIDI controller can be used to play music, write tracks in a DAW, or just about any home automation you can think of.

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You can see that the MIDI data generated in Ableton Live flows into the USB port of an Arduino, where it is used to control solenoids.

MIDI Controlled Solenoids with Arduino and Ableton Live - Part 3

This is the 3rd and final part in a 3 part series about how to control solenoids using Ableton Live and an Arduino.

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Perl may be an old language, but it is still the glue that holds many projects together.

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When you wire resistors in series, you can simply add their values together to get the new equivalent reistance.

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If you are not using Docker on your home automation server, then it's time to start thinking about it.

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How to Select the Right Resistor for Your Circuit: A Fundamentals Guide

The most important component to understand in electronics is the resistor.

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C# is a great language to do image processing in. It's fast and easy to handle complex image manipulations with it.

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NodeMCU is one of our go-to chips for tackling various home automation projects.

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We use NodeMCU boards for almost every aspect of home automation. These inexpensive little power-houses can solve many home automation problems.

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### Connect PortB To Switches Remember how we connected **PORTA** to the **LEDS**. Now we are going to connect **PORTB** to the **SWITCHES**.

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Mosquitto is one of the most popular open source MQTT brokers.

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