Programming Your Home: Automate With Arduino, Android, and Your Computer

Top Five Home Automation Tips

1. Start Small. While it would be cool for your home to behave like a scene out of a science fiction movie, building such an elaborate configuration will take a lot of time, effort and money. Try a couple small, easy projects first to get an idea of what to expect, how it behaves, and what needs to be modified to work optimally for your needs.


2. Search YouTube. Creating a nifty home automation project is a badge of honor, worthy of showing off to the world. And what better place to show off these accomplishments in action. Searching combined keywords like "Arduino," "Home," and "Automation" will return a number of short videos demonstrating a variety of inspiring ideas.


3. Ask an Engineer. DIY electronics vendor Adafruit, along with a number of other DIY sites like Sparkfun and Element14, have experienced electronics engineers on staff and/or in the product forums ready to help. In the case of Adafruit, they even have a weekly live broadcast that gives customers a chance to freely ask Adafruit founder Limor 'LadyAda' Fried for her expert technical advice.


4. Be Safe. While most home automation projects don't call upon radical amounts of electrical current to operate, electricity can still be very dangerous if not handled with respect and understanding the risks. When in doubt, call upon the expertise of an experienced electrician before manipulating anything having to do with home electrical wiring.


5. Have Fun! In addition to capturing the obvious benefits of home automation aspects that will make your life easier, the other, larger reward is the actual building of the project itself. This is especially meaningful if you build it with your family, so that each time your project activates, you have the satisfaction of recalling the joy and wonder on the faces of your loved ones witnessing the working assembly for the first time.