First project controling light-sensor and "smart" lightbulbs

[Cliff Karlsson]

Hi I want to use a couple of light-sensors to control wemo-lightbulbs or similar to dim the bulbs up/down depending on the light-input from the windows. How can I do this and is it advisable for me to try it with very basic arduino skills?

If so I was thinking of using a arduino nano/micro/sensebender + light sensor .
I think the wemo bulbs use zigbee so maybe I also need a raspberry pi + zigbee dongle.

Can anyone help me understanding what steps I need to take to make this project real?

[AWI]

Since you are on the MySensors forum you have found where you need to be. When you want to control zigbee I would suggest to find a controller (look on the website) which is able to accomplish this. (Vera or Domoticz?). Next step is to make light sensors and connect wireless to the controller (you need a gateway). Best is to start with standard designs on the website.
Then you need to let the controller know how to adapt the lights to the light levels.

After that works you will be so enthusiastic that you automate everything.. (if not... Utterly frustrated)

[Dwalt]

@Cliff-Karlsson
As @AWI pointed out, you will need a 'controller' between mySensors and the wemo bulbs. The wemo link is just a gateway to their ZigBee ecosystem. The Wemo app is not a controller in that it can't take outside inputs and automatically act on them. You need to either buy a controller which can interface with wemo (e.g. Vera) or build one yourself with a raspberry pi or similar. Take a look at quimeaux for an example. I use Vera to control a Phillips hue hub with Cree Connect bulbs.

[Cliff Karlsson]

@AWI said:

Domoticz

Yes I understad that I need a controller, but what is the cheapest controller to control Zigbee devices? (As I understand Wemo bulbs and Philips Hue uses zigbee protocol) I already own a couple of raspberry pies, so can I use any zigbee dongle or similar? What is the best dongle in that case?

[AWI]

@Cliff-Karlsson To make it a little easier.. I understand that WeMo devices are controlled by their own controller which is connected to a LAN network. If you controller is attached to the same network (or can get access to it) you don't need a special Zigbee devices but rather use the Network API of the WeMo controller... The domiticz wiki indicates that something like that has already been done before. I imagine hacking the WiMo ZigBee protocol is a lot more difficult..

[Cliff Karlsson]

Ok so I also need the wemo controller, is it not possible to control directly from rpi+zigbee dongle?

The reason that I ask is because I currently own a couple of Ninja Spheres but the developers ran out of money so that project crashed and burned. But I am still able to control my wemo bulbs directly from the sphere without any additional controler.

I am also waiting for another kickstarter project called WigWag that is also able to control devices directly. I just wanted something semi-cheap to use while I am waiting for the wigwag as I don't know how many months will pass before they start to ship.

[AWI]

@Cliff-Karlsson I is getting a little off-topic but the Ninja Spheres are open-source and should be able to act as a controller (i.e. gateway between Wifi/LAN and ZigBee. If you look for something out of the box than MySensors is probably not the way to go..