Smart Light Made With Old Table Lamp And Relay Module

As you begin the transformation of your personal space into a modern smart home, a great starting point is to experiment with simple tasks. For instance, you could convert an old desk lamp into a smart light using just a few components:

• An old desk lamp
• A basic HW-622 Relay Module described here.
• A cheap obstacle sensor typically used in robotics

With these items, you can equip your old desk lamp with several smart capabilities:

• Remote control – via your smartphone (covered here)
• Vacation mode – a schedule for turning the lamp on and off, giving the impression that you’re home
• Auto off – an automatic shutdown after a pre-set amount of time, conserving energy
• Monitoring – data collection on light usage for further optimization of power consumption

Budget

Item	Pcs	Unit price (€)
ayatec unicontrol mini	1	4
ESP8266 HW-622 Relay Module or similar	1	3 – 7
Infrared obstacle sensor module	1	1 – 2
12V 1A Power supply	1	3 – 6
A scrap desk lamp	1	0

Depending on your location and some luck with finding good deals, the cost of this upgrade could be as low as €14.

Furthermore, the obstacle sensor in this setup can be replaced with a variety of other sensors, each bringing a unique functionality to the final arrangement with very little other changes. Here are a few examples:

• A PIR motion sensor that turns the light on when someone enters the room,
• A capacitive touch sensor that toggles the light on or off upon touch,
• A vibration sensor that illuminates the light in response to mechanical disturbance (like a door knock),
• A photoresistor module that activates the light after sunset and deactivates it after sunrise, and more…

Smart Light Installation

The physical installation of the system involves supplying power to the module and correctly connecting the sensor and lamp to their respective ports.

Power supply:

• Connect the adapter’s positive (+) terminal to the module’s VIN connector (strong red cable)
• Connect the adapter’s ground (-) terminal to the module’s GND connector (strong black cable)
• Interconnect the module’s GND and GND EXT connectors. This avoids the need for an extra power supply for the sensor due to the optocoupler separation (grey cable)
• Plug the adapter into the power socket

Sensor:

• First, connect the sensor’s VCC pin to the module’s 5V connector (red cable)
• Second, connect the sensor’s GND pin to the module’s GND EXT connector (grey/brown cable)
• Finally, connect the sensor’s OUT pin to the module’s IN EXT connector (black cable)

Lamp:

Please be aware that the following steps involve working with 230V AC electricity. Ensure that you follow all relevant safety precautions, or consider having a professional handle the critical steps.

• Cut the lamp’s live line (L, brown wire) at a suitable location according to the final position of the module. Keep the neutral line (N, blue wire) intact.
• Strip both ends of the newly separated live line (L).
• Connect the two conductors to the module’s RELAY COM and RELAY NO connectors. Be careful not to use the RELAY NC connector.
• Plug the lamp’s adapter into the power socket

Once power is supplied, the board can be flashed with the unicontrol software. For detailed instructions, you can refer to the introductory tutorial specifically written for this module. Afterward, follow the First boot tutorial to set up the Wi-Fi and establish a connection to the device.

Peripherals

Once you’ve accessed the module via the Interface, navigate to the Peripheral menu and make sure that:

• D1 is set as Logical IN
• D2 is set as General OUT

While not essential, it’s a good practice to maintain D3 as a System Button and D4 as a System LED.

In the process set-up, you need to specify how the device’s relay (D2) will respond based on the input received (D1).

• First, assign a name to the process. While not essential for functionality, using intuitive and easily remembered process names simplifies MQTT setup.
• Set the Input source as D1 (sensor).
• Set the Primary output as D2 (relay).
• Set both On event and Off event as Rising edge. This will sequentially turn the output ON and OFF when the sensor connected to the D1 pin detects an obstacle.
• Allow Publish. This will send an MQTT message every time the relay changes its state.
• Allow to Use name in Subtopic. While not essential, this simplifies MQTT setup by including the process name in the MQTT topic for greater convenience.
• Click “Save” to apply the changes.

Your module is now ready for operation.

Calibration and testing

After successful assembly and system setup, the sensor requires calibration using its built-in potentiometer to respond at the desired distance, which can be set anywhere between 2 and 30 centimeters. Moreover, it’s crucial to position the sensor correctly to avoid false triggers from the table itself or other objects within its range. Make sure to thoroughly test the new smart light to ensure that the sensor activates when it’s supposed to and remains inactive otherwise.

If you find that the sensor triggers too frequently or “eagerly,” you might want to consider setting a positive Control period.

As usual, I will be using my preferred testing tools, the test.mosquitto.org broker and IoT MQTT Panel app, with the following placeholder settings in Wireless/MQTT menu:

• Connection: Enabled
• Broker: test.mosquitto.org
• Port: 1883
• User: empty
• Topic Level 1: johndoe5896
• Topic Level 2: home
• Topic Level 3: tablelight1

To gain initial control over the newly installed smart light, it’s enough to set up just a few simple panels (assuming the topic settings mentioned above):

• ON button – sends Payload 1 to the Topic johndoe5896/home/tablelight1/sub/Relay/outset
• OFF button – sends Payload 0 to the Topic johndoe5896/home/tablelight1/sub/Relay/outset
• Relay State LED – receives the current relay state from Topic johndoe5896/home/tablelight1/pub/Relay/output with Payload 0 (relay off) or 1 (relay on)
• Device State LED – receives the current device state from Topic johndoe5896/home/tablelight1/pub/conn with Payload 0 (offline) or 1 (online)
• Device IP address– receives the device’s current local network IP address as a Payload from Topic johndoe5896/home/tablelight1/pub/ip

You may obtain further guidance you may follow this step-by-step tutorial to learn how to set-up the MQTT from scratch. Moreover, you can check the MQTT API documentation for a full technical reference.

Once you’ve tested everything and confirmed that the installation is functioning as intended, the final step is to conceal the hardware, leaving only the lamp visible.

Were you successful in making your own smart light?