I have been working on home automation bits and pieces for a little while now and I’m finally getting a few things done.

I started off with a USB Energenie (https://energenie4u.co.uk/catalogue/product/ENER011) which has six sockets, 4 of which are controllable via USB. There is also an ethernet version which I don’t have sadly. I had originally controlled it with a Linux software called SIS-PM which provides a simple WebUI or control from the command line.

As I had started to get more into it I decided to go down the MQTT route for comms between devices and front ends. So I setup Mosquitto. I found a bridge for the Energenie which subscribes to an MQTT topic and then allows control of the 4 sockets via MQTT messages. Great!

Well my latest thing now is a small device called a Sonoff. These devices have an ESP8266 controller, which is Arduino compatible, connects over wifi and controls a relay all in one neat little package.

They come with their own software on them which is cloud based but you can upload Sketches via the Ardino software just like you would with an Arduino. So I have a sketch written by Jonathan Oxer who runs the Youtube Channel SuperHouse and also Director at Freetronics. http://www.superhouse.tv/17-home-automation-control-with-sonoff-arduino-openhab-and-mqtt/

I now have more control over home stuff and can go about wiring up items with these devices.