GPIO projects for the Raspberry Pi

This blog post summarises a number of sample projects for the Raspberry Pi GPIO and provides links to detailed instructions with downloadable Python code. These are great for students and those wanting to interface the Raspberry Pi to the outside world.

Using the Mains Switch Widget to switch 4 mains powered appliances

The other day I had the following query regarding the Mains Switch Widget. "I am looking into a project involving my Raspberry Pi I wish to complete which will allow me to automate the habitat of my Bearded Dragon's vivarium including temperature control and lighting. I am in need of some way to control the ON/OFF status of a few 240v devices which would usually plug into a standard, UK power outlet." Well - below are a couple of ways of doing this.

Custard Pi Combos for the Raspberry Pi

If a particular Custard Pi does not have all the right inputs and outputs, then it’s possible to combine more than one. This post looks at the various combinations that are possible. (It's a chapter extraction from the new book 'Raspberry Pi with Custard' which is available from Amazon.)

Monitoring Energy usage with the LED Pulse Sensor from Crucible Technologies

With winter coming, and all the energy scares in the news, I was keen to start monitoring the power we were using. I had always intended designing my own system with the LED Pulse Sensor and the Raspberry Pi, but had never got round to it. So I thought I'd quickly rig up soemthing using the Meter Logger from Crucible Technologies. Took me around half an hour to set it all up.

Switching appliances ON and OFF remotely by e-mail with the Raspberry Pi and Mains Switch Widget #2

Switching appliances ON and OFF using e-mails. This part of this multi-part post looks at logging in and reading e-mails from a gmail account and using the subject field to switch an appliance ON and OFF.

Switching appliances ON and OFF remotely by e-mail with the Raspberry Pi and Mains Switch Widget #1

Having designed the Mains Switch Widget, my next challenge was to turn appliances ON and OFF from outside the house. I investigated Twitter and texts as a means of doing this but finally settled on using e-mails to control the appliances. This multi part post outlines the various steps along the way.

Electrical Safety in product design

If your product is going to be powered by batteries or use an external plug top supply, then this subject is not a priority for you. However a well rounded electronics engineer should have an appreciation of electrical safety in a product. If your product is going to use mains voltage, then it is vital that you have a good understanding of this.