Self-described technologist and inventor Tom Beraducci is seeking to make it simpler to deploy all kinds of sensors for ingestion into House Assistant with the SensorNode — a credit score card-sized board powered by a Raspberry Pi Pico W.
“SensorNode is a straightforward credit-card sized PC [Printed Circuit] board with a Raspberry Pi Pico W put in on it,” Beraducci explains of his creation. “The Pico is loaded with software program that permits many widespread dwelling automation sensors to be interfaced to House Assistant, one of the crucial well-liked open-source dwelling automation software program options accessible. All you do is connect sensors to it, configure it by means of the built-in Wi-Fi Entry Level, and run. Though all of the code is open-sourced, you needn’t write code to make use of SensorNode.”
As Beraducci says, the SensorNode board itself is constructed round Raspberry Pi’s Pico W improvement board and its dual-core Arm Cortex-M0+ RP2040 microcontroller — hosted on headers, somewhat than surface-mounted, making it detachable if required. Elsewhere on the board is a 7.5–24VDC energy enter jack, screw terminals for 2 sensors — a two-wire dry contact sensor and a three-wire sensor — and bodily switches for enabling a Wi-Fi entry level for configuration, powering on and off, and turning off the standing lights if desired.
The board itself has no on-board sensors, although a high-speed latch chip is included to ensure the Raspberry Pi Pico does not miss something. As a substitute, the SensorNode is designed to interface with exterior {hardware}: a two-wire sensor like push-button switches, magnetic door and window sensors, float sensors, vibration sensors and the like, and/or a three-wire movement, temperature, and moisture sensor, with early help for human presence detection sensors. There’s additionally an I2C interface, which on the time of writing solely supported the ASAIR AHT20 temperature and humidity sensor.
Beraducci has been utilizing SensorNodes for quite a lot of duties, like fountain water degree alerts, for a 12 months now. (📷: TNB Applied sciences)
“The principle cause I got here up with SensorNode was, as I used to be organising my dwelling automation system, I had the necessity for a number of dry contact switches (storage doorways, fountains, push buttons, and so forth.) and located that there have been few choices accessible,” Beraducci explains. “Those that had been accessible had been costly and battery-powered. Neither of which I needed. So, as any good engineer would do, I constructed my very own. The design is full. I’ve over 20 models up and operating round my home, a number of of them for a lot of months continuous. Some for over 1 12 months. The {hardware} could be very easy so I am assured it is going to be sturdy.”
Beraducci is crowdfunding the SensorNode mission on Kickstarter, with rewards beginning at $10 for a naked PCB or $15 for a PCB and all elements excluding the Raspberry Pi Pico W and rising to $49 for “early fowl” pricing on a whole ready-to-run assembled unit with housing and energy provide or $100 for a pack of three.
