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Raspberry Pi - Relays? Screen? Mirror touchscreen?


badjesus

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So I got a raspberry pi 3 for xmas and I have been messing around with it a bit. 
I have been looking on line, and 16 channel relays are STUPID cheap. When you compare it to adding relays to C4, it is about 100th the cost. 

So I started looking through the forum and really only see people using them for plex.... or xbmc.... and honestly think... WHY? It will work for plex, but seems when you get into raw streaming of near lossless bluray.... they are crap. 

So, I got to thinking about what I could use it for. If I used HTTP commands with it to send to control the relays I could see a HUGE benefit. Talk about cheap relay control! Less than $100 all in for 16 relays. 

Then I saw all of the touchscreen add ons. I started to think about embedding into bathroom mirrors. Or even just making my own 5" screens for navigators. 


Is anyone else doing things like this? Is this the wrong forum for stuff like this :)



 

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2 hours ago, rayk32 said:

I'm definitely interested in hearing any ideas for using Raspberry Pi's other than as streaming devices.

badjesus - what do you use for streaming in your project?

I stream with two dedicated PC's running plex home theater (nearly 20tb now of bluray rips), and I have an android box (minix) running Kodi but I cant remember the last time it was used. Normal TV is through a company called Bell ExpressVU here in Canada. 

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50 minutes ago, Joshua Pressnell said:

The "hardware appliance" part of my HomeKit interface for Control4 is based on Raspberry Pi.  Check out my thread on that topic for what I've been up to. :)

I saw some of the info on homekit but mostly skipped over it. Anything Apple related I wont touch with a 10 foot pole. :)

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28 minutes ago, badjesus said:

I stream with two dedicated PC's running plex home theater (nearly 20tb now of bluray rips), and I have an android box (minix) running Kodi but I cant remember the last time it was used. Normal TV is through a company called Bell ExpressVU here in Canada. 

 
 

Sounds like a very nice setup.  So are the PC's running Plex Home Theater connected to your video matrix and distributed to your TV's or are directly connected to your TV's?  I run Plex, but my players are Rokus and they distributed via my JAP matrix.  I also use the Chowmain Plex driver.

Thanks for your response.

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Just now, rayk32 said:

Sounds like a very nice setup.  So are the PC's running Plex Home Theater connected to your video matrix and distributed to your TV's or are directly connected to your TV's?  I run Plex, but my players are Rokus and they distributed via my JAP matrix.  Thanks for the response.

The one media box is connected via HDMI to the theater projector directly. 
The other ones outputs to a HDMI -> Component matrix which then is distributed to 11 zones. I haven't / probably won't for A LONG time go HDMI. I will wait for 4k Content to be standard probably before I upgrade. 

Audio is SONOS. All connects except for 3 connect amps. So 15 zones of SONOS I think now. 

90% of what we use is all the distributed PLEX server. I actually don't have ANY local source anymore. I did connections in each room to hide local sources but thankfully haven't needed to yet. 

The minix is also distrubuted from HDMI -> Component. For some reason though, it looks bad. The computer looks normal, VERY sharp even with the conversion. You would never know it was component. The Minix however; is more what you would expect. It loses contrast, seems a bit washed, and has a bit of artifacting around text. I am quite picky about pic quality, despite me using component. The component is actually quite nice. For the theater, the component wasn't good enough with the projector. While most TV's look amazing (even my 60"s), the projector at 120" is not. So that is why I set up the second box and dedicated it to the theater. While it is not distributed whole house, it is not a local source. It is still in the rack and baluned to the projector. I have been thinking though that I want to see what a raspberry pi would be like on the projector as a local source. Audio though, would be a bitch if I did that. 


The main projects I am thinking of for the Pi would be :

A smart mirror (but only with navigator and touch control)

A zwave relay controller for blinds. At first I was thinking http but I have a vera I am not using and would love to see how stable I could make it with my blind motors. I have other threads on here about my blinds, it has been 3 years and i STILL don't have them set up :) This might be the opportunity to find a stable / awesome way to set them up. 

Plex local source for projector

Beacon and / or NFC controller using IFTTT. 


I also want to see what can be done with this without having to use python or PHP. http://thethingbox.io/
To have a solution with control 4 that doesn't require customer code would be awesome. 

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I got a couple for Christmas and I'll be interested in what you do with yours. I touch Apple with my bare hands all the time ;), so I made one a homebridge and it has been rock solid for this -- so I have a lot more confidence in using it for other things. Thanks for the thing box link. Interesting.

If anything, the number of uses for these things are overwhelming.

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I have a project on the go right now on another thread regarding a Pi. He plan is to use a relay board and a sensor board and a small touch to produce a simple 8-16 zone thermostat. Main use will be in floor heating. Especially since I have had multiple installations of remote sensors with the thermostats in boiler room.

MULTIPLE ZONE VALVE CONTROLLER with wired remote temperature feedback appliance solution.

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?url=http://www.c4forums.com/index.php?/topic/22747-MULTIPLE-ZONE-VALVE-CONTROLLER-with-wired-remote-temperature-feedback-appliance-solution%2E-&share_tid=22747&share_fid=76380&share_type=t

Happy Automating!

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I made one of those pi magic mirrors with capacitive touch buttons behind it too. Control4 is connected via IP for button events. 

Arduinos are also easy to program and control from control4 via serial or even IP. With their PWM pins you can create RGB wireless lighting units for little cost. 

 

Just to add, Alan has a simple arduino relay driver on his website. Includes the arduino sketch. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have a raspberry pi zero and the automation pHAT from Pimoroni that I use with adafruit.io to control my garage doors.  One relay for open/close and one input to monitor door status.  This automation hat has one relay, three 24v digital inputs, three 24v outputs and one 3x12-bit ADC.  This runs ~$30 for everything you need to wifi enable almost any RPi sensor imaginable. Now I just need to figure out how to write an adafruit.io driver to make some simple RESTful calls to the adafruit.io cloud to get and/or set status of the different sensors.

https://www.adafruit.com/products/3352

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I have been drawing schematics some time now but haven't bought components yet. I'm planning to get atleast 2 new pi's:, one to control my curtains at living room (multiple servo control, 2 light sensors) and one with motion sensors to turn lighting on multiple rooms fully automatic and couple temperature sensors to help my thermostat. 
I've been using Raspberry pi 2 model b as KODI and done some other tests with it but i really don't have any knowledge how to make drivers to control4. But i trust google when the time comes :D

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I have a whole bunch of Pis that I play around with for various things.  The Pi3s are actually very impressive devices and are useful as linux workstations - I installed XRDP on them and I can use Windows Remote Desktop to connect to them and use the GUI.

I have an old Pi 1 set up as a temperature server.  I have a solar heating setup for my pool and I have attached one temperature sensor on each the input and output line so that I can measure how much of a temperature delta that I am getting.  I have built a simple web interface that graphs the temperatures.  I have also put a temperature sensor in my wine cabinet and I am using the Pi to send me an alarm if the temperature goes above 60F.  I also have set up a door open alarm but I am not using that right now.

I started a project a couple of years ago called PoolPi where I had a Pi encased in a plastic container with solar panels on top to charge it.  The Pi would monitor the temperature of the pool and I also planned to hook up motion sensors to use as a motion alarm.  In an ideal world you would also build in sensors to measure pH and chlorine levels, but the chlorine is hard to do properly.  And the sensors are expensive.  This project would work even better with a Pi Zero as they have very little power demands.

I am also considering doing exactly what the OP mentioned, for relays and sensors.  The CardAccess devices cost close to $200 in Canada which is crazy when you think of how much a RPi costs and the functionality that it has. 

One other interesting hobby project out there is the OpenSprikler Pi which is a Pi based irrigation controller.

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