livolo Glass Panel Touch Light Wall Switch + arduino 433Mhz

[Tore André Rosander]

Im just about to finish this one, i use a black (transparrent) acrylic plate with touchmodules and LCD behind the acrylic.

[Nca78]

Hello, I just found out that Livolo is selling the glass plates (EU standard only, too bad for me :( ) alone on it's aliexpress shop. 3.72€ for square plate (1 or 2 switches), 6.24€ for double sized plate (up to 4 switches) and 8.77€ for triple size (up to 6 switches !).

I have US(AU) sized switches here so I'm a bit screwed up, but I think I will try to order a double plate and put on top of one of my switches boxes which are a bit smaller.
Check the "EU DIY Parts" category in the Livolo shop.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Livolo-Luxury-White-Pearl-Crystal-Glass-80mm-80mm-EU-standard-Single-Glass-Panel-For-1-Gang/32484221458.html

[scalz]

@Nca78 that's what I'm planning to do ;) you can't find cheaper for already cutted glass plate imho. I'm redesigning the box for 3d printing, and maybe sand and repeint the plate, I'm note sure yet as I don't really care about the button layout (I will use gesture).

[Samuel235]

@Nca78 - Very interesting, thank you for linking that! So any sort of capacitive touch sensor behind the button on this glass panel should be good to go. I think o.O I will have to see about ordering one to try out.

@scalz - Fill us in with some more info and images regarding your gesture design ;)

[Nca78]

@scalz said:

@Nca78 that's wat I'm planning to do ;) you can't find cheaper for already cutted glass plate imho. I'm redesigning the box for 3d printing, and maybe sand and repeint the plate, I'm note sure yet as I don't really care about the button layout (I will use gesture).

It depends for the price, if there is a local maker here it can end up cheaper than on aliexpress.
What sensor are you planning to use for the touch ? TTP22x for relative ease of soldering, or an hardcode 3x3mm MPR121 ?

[edit] Just found cheaper panels here (for simple EU size, bigger sizes are more expensive), but maybe a bit less sexy
http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/3gang-white-small-glass-switch-panel-match-with-Bingo-Elec-frame-glass-or-aluminum-and-3gang/1157683_32394538766.html

[scalz]

@Nca78 yep. sure I thought about this. it depends also of the quantity, as locals are not always the cheaper, at least where I live lol. about the sensor, I use gesture (more hygienic and cool) so it's more complicated than common sensor. and no cheap eval board so I made mine and variant for those interested. but you will see, I will show sure ;)

[Samuel235]

@scalz - Very very interested, might even make a purchase ;)

@Nca78 - Thank you for that link for a price comparison, looks tempting.

[Nca78]

@Samuel235 said:

@Nca78 - Thank you for that link for a price comparison, looks tempting.

You're welcome. I ordered the three size of plates to see how I can use them in my home. I will test with TTP and MPR121 and give a feedback.

@scalz made me look for gesture sensors and I discovered the ADPS 9960, it was too tempting not to order one, can't wait to receive and play with it !

[Samuel235]

@Nca78 said:

@scalz made me look for gesture sensors and I discovered the ADPS 9960, it was too tempting not to order one, can't wait to receive and play with it !

I'm also now looking up these. Times like this i wished i had a workshop to manufacture things like a switch plate myself out of plexi with a gesture sensor behind with leds lighting the frosted plate up as you signal movements to the sensor.

[scalz]

@Samuel235 stop looking in my mind :) I have already some working proto though for the plate pcb ;) but I'm waiting a bit for posting vids, I have others projects to show running in vid before this one. or maybe I will show everything at same time. i don't know yet :) I miss a bit of time..

[Samuel235]

@scalz said:

@Samuel235 stop looking in my mind :) I have already some working proto though for the plate pcb ;) but I'm waiting a bit for posting vids, I have others projects to show running in vid before this one. or maybe I will show everything at same time. i don't know yet :) I miss a bit of time..

Damn you! Stop stealing my aspirations! Please, just make sure you share the products with us!

[Nca78]

@scalz said:

On mine, the brain mcu is on the capacitive plate (a microchip mcu). I have not tried to access/change fw of the mcu though but I thought, well, I could do another plate and reuse relay board, easy!..but then there is the radio. Reuse the livolo one? some work, not the best perf, no state back.. Use my rfm69 radio (I prefer 868 than 433) ? I'm not sure the livolo can provide power I need etc... so it could put me on a tricky road for not great results, looking not good inside the box..

Hello, I have ordered one full livolo switch, single button with no radio.
And I think I will disagree with you on this :)

I've soldered some pins on the available headers (next to the 2*7 connector) and plugged a sensor on the GND and 3V pins.
The switch is still running fine, led on and I can switch the lights on and off. The sensor is running and sending data very reliably at the moment meaning even on the non-radio version of the switch the power is clean enough for NRF24 radio. This is true for both lights on and off.

It might not be true when using the 4 switches version with all relays on, but this is making me very confident about the 2/3 switches version which would fill my needs.
I'm using US sized switches also, so maybe (probably) the power supply is not the same on the EU sized switches that has a maximum of 2 relays.

[Cristian Tone]

this guy did some work on this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykqv4bZ9zb0

[Nca78]

@Cristian-Tone said:

this guy did some work on this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykqv4bZ9zb0

Yes I have seen it but it's a completely different concept. They reprogram the PIC on the sensor board so it will send data to a computer over serial. And last time I saw it they had to change the relays also to put 5V relays instead of 12V.
It's much cleaner to just replace the sensor board and communicate through radio...

[Cristian Tone]

@Nca78 Indeed, I've done some more research on this too and I agree with you, it would have been nice though. :)

[DJONvl]

это моя переделка китайского Livolo arduino+nrf24, красным на фото отмечено куда ставить перемычки на плату для повышения мощности блока питания в режиме ожидания,

[Nca78]

Hello @DJONvl could you post in English please ? :)
It looks interesting, are you hacking the touch pad signal to simulate user touch ? And the led voltage to know the current status ?

[DJONvl]

к сожалению не говорю по английски, вот код для ясности :smiley:

#include <SPI.h>
#include <MySensor.h>

#include <Bounce2.h>
#define sensor_PIN  6
#define RELAY_PIN  A3  // Arduino Digital I/O pin number for relay 
#define BUTTON_PIN  5  // Arduino Digital I/O pin number for button 
#define CHILD_ID 1   // Id of the sensor child
#define RELAY_ON 1
#define RELAY_OFF 0

Bounce debouncer = Bounce(); 
int oldValue=0;
bool state;
bool sens;

MySensor gw;
MyMessage msg(CHILD_ID,V_LIGHT);

void setup()  
{  
  delay(2400);
  
  gw.begin(incomingMessage, AUTO, true);

  // Send the sketch version information to the gateway and Controller
 // gw.sendSketchInfo("Livolo", "1.0");

 // Setup the button
  pinMode(BUTTON_PIN,INPUT);
  pinMode(sensor_PIN,INPUT);
  // Activate internal pull-up
  digitalWrite(BUTTON_PIN,HIGH);
  
  // After setting up the button, setup debouncer
  debouncer.attach(BUTTON_PIN);
  debouncer.interval(5);

  // Register all sensors to gw (they will be created as child devices)
  gw.present(CHILD_ID, S_LIGHT);
  delay(1400);
  // Make sure relays are off when starting up
  digitalWrite(RELAY_PIN, RELAY_OFF);
  // Then set relay pins in output mode
  pinMode(RELAY_PIN, OUTPUT);   
      
  // Set relay to last known state (using eeprom storage) 
 // state = gw.loadState(CHILD_ID);
  //digitalWrite(RELAY_PIN, state?RELAY_ON:RELAY_OFF);
state=false;
}


/*
*  Example on how to asynchronously check for new messages from gw
*/
void loop() 
{
  gw.process();
  //debouncer.update();
  // Get the update value
  
 int value =digitalRead(sensor_PIN);
    if (value==1){
      state=true;
    }else{
      state=false;
    }

  if (value != oldValue) {
      gw.send(msg.set(state), true); // Send new state and request ack back
  }
  oldValue = value;
} 
 
void incomingMessage(const MyMessage &message) {


  if (message.type == V_LIGHT) {
     // Change relay state
    bool instate = message.getBool();

 while(instate!=state){
     digitalWrite(RELAY_PIN, RELAY_ON); 
     delay(60);
     digitalWrite(RELAY_PIN, RELAY_OFF);  
     delay(60);     
    int value =digitalRead(sensor_PIN);
    if (value==1){
      state=true;
    }else{
      state=false;
    }
 }    
    

   } 
}

[Cliff Karlsson]

Sorry if this already has been covered in the thread but I can't find the info. When looking at ebay it looks like the connectors are L = in, L1, = out (for one way). But how are the radio/touch etc powered? is there also a battery inside or can you power the switch without neutral wire?

[Nca78]

@Cliff-Karlsson it takes the voltage from live wire only. It generates a light voltage drop and from there gets enough power to run the circuit.
The downside is it constantly have to leak a bit of current through the live wire, so if you have a small light connected to it it might flicker. Livolo sells some small unit you can connect to your load and that will let the current pass and save your lights from premature death because of flickering. But it all depends on the light bulbs and also on the quality/efficiency of the switches.