Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Hardware and software requirements
Let's first see what you will need to create this project. Similar to many other projects of
this topic, this project is based on the Arduino platform, and we will once again use an Ar-
duino Uno board. Note that an Arduino Mega board will work as well.
Then, you also need some relay modules so that you can control the lamps. A relay is ba-
sically an electromechanical switch. They are usually used when you want to command a
high voltage device (for example, a lamp plugged into a wall socket) with a much smaller
command voltage (for example, the 5V of the Arduino board). For more information on re-
lays, you can visit the following web page:
For this project, I used a 5V relay module from Polulu that can handle up to 250V (thus
supporting 110V and 230V devices) and a maximum of 10 A. The following image dis-
plays the relay module:
I used two of them, as I want to command two lamps from my Arduino board. Of course,
the project will work perfectly fine if you want to add more relays, or just use a single one.
You don't have to get this specific relay module, and you can get one from any of your fa-
vorite brands. It just has to have similar characteristics: being compatible with 5V for the
command part (so it works with Arduino) and being able to handle the voltage and current
of the device you want to control. For example, the module you will see in this project can
handle up to 230 V and 10 A, which means the module can handle a device that consumes
up to 2300 W of power.
