TCP on Internet of Things with the NanoESP

Day 18: Universal remote control

Fri, 18 Dec 2015 00:01:00 +0100

Yesterday, you built a receiver for infra-red remote controls. Today, you are building the remote control itself. More precisely, you will build a universal remote control that you can operate by computer or Smartphone and with which you can operate your TV or other devices whenever you misplace the original remote control.

The IR-diode at Pin D3

For this project, you need the component behind today’s door: the IR diode. It looks like a simple LED, but it sends light in the invisible infra-red range. The IR-signals are visible to a digital camera, however. The structure of today’s experiment is shown in the figure. Don’t be surprised that the IR-LED is not given a dropping resistor. The effective dropping resistor is the On-resistor of the port, at approx. 30 Ohm. Because of this, the current through the diode is quite high, but the impulses sent are so short that the diode will not take damage.

Day 17: IR module

Thu, 17 Dec 2015 00:01:46 +0100

Today’s project permits controlling the controller by remote control. You can change the colour of the RGB-LED with buttons you can choose on an infra-red remote control, and change the background colour of the website right along with it.

TheIR-Modul on Pins D7-D5

Behind today’s door, you will find the important part of today’s project, i.e. the infra-red receiver module. You can connect the module without a cable as shown in the figure below. The program sets the corresponding pins so that the module is supplied with power.

Day 16: GPIO Control

Wed, 16 Dec 2015 00:01:26 +0100

Today’s project permits simple control of the digital pins D2-D7 per website. The status of the respective pin is also presented on the website, so that you will never lose the overview.

To review the condition of the pin well, a setup as in the following figure is recommended. Both the RGB-LED and the regular LED are used. The cathodes of the LEDs are now not connected to the long ground line on the outside of the board, but are also at a digital output. Only when these pins are switched low can the LEDs light up.

Day 15: Light sensor

Tue, 15 Dec 2015 00:01:56 +0100

Today’s project does not use the web server’s website as a control interface, but as an output element. The brightness measured via a brightness sensor is displayed well-structuredly as a relative value.

The fototranistor at Pin A0

Behind today’s door, there is another photo transistor that serves as a light sensor. The photo transistor looks like an LED, but should not be mistaken for one. The structure of today’s experiment is shown in the figure. The collector of the photo transistor is the shorter connection. It is applied to +5 V.

Day 14: Webserver for the RGB-LED

Mon, 14 Dec 2015 00:01:19 +0100

Today’s project is about controlling the RGB-LED by web server. A well-structured interface can be used to change the colour of the LED. The website has also been adjusted and should be easy to display even on Smartphones.

The website on a PC browser

Behind today’s advent calendar door, there is another resistor, but this one is of 10 kΩ (brown, black, orange). You will need it for tomorrow’s experiment.

Day 13: Website with buttons

Sun, 13 Dec 2015 00:01:54 +0100

In today’s experiment, the illustration of the website is even more sophisticated. There are now also control elements that permit much more comfortable control of the LED.

The 9V-batterie powers the board

The structure of today’s experiment is no different from yesterday’s: An LED at pin D9, which can be controlled via the module. As an additional component, today’s door once again holds a resistor with 1 kΩ. If necessary, you can now reduce the brightness of an LED by switching two resistors in series.

Day 12: Autonomous webserver

Sat, 12 Dec 2015 00:01:02 +0100

The results of yesterday’s experiment are now to be used in an autonomous program. Today’s program not only sends a simple website to the browser, but also permits control of an LED.

The 9V-batterie powers the board

Behind today’s door, you will find a 9-V battery clip that can make your board mobile. As an alternative, you may also use a Power Bank (a battery pack usually used for mobile phones). If you want to use the 9-V-battery, observe that the red wire must be connected to Vin, and the black one to GND. The figure shows the setup of today’s experiment with external power supply.

Day 11: TCP-Webserver

Fri, 11 Dec 2015 00:01:31 +0100

In the previous experiments, we dealt with the subject of TCP and access to web servers a lot. Today, the module is to act as a web server of its own for the first time.

Behind the door of the 11th day, there is a special cable that will be very useful soon. A special setup is not necessary today, since the program works similarly to the serial monitor programme of day one.