Controlling lights...

[Drchubby]

Hey,

I'm making a closed greenhouse, and im planning to use autoit to control and measure all the variables and operate a camera to keep track of growth. One of the variables im trying to control is light. I want to be able to setup a script which will put the lights on and off at predefined times. The scripting itself is not the problem, im just a total loss as how to control the lights. Im thinking of using a serial port, or hack a usb cable to use the power lines.

If anyone could comment on a way to do this I'd appreciate that.

Cheers

[picaxe]

One of the easiest ways is using a parallel printer port to drive one or more relays. There's a parallel port udf here and here is a relay board that can be used or you can build your own. Unfortunately new motherboards no longer have parallel ports interfaces, however the udf will work with some usb parallel printer port interfaces. Also there are usb relay interfaces available.

[Cynagen]

Hey,

I'm making a closed greenhouse, and im planning to use autoit to control and measure all the variables and operate a camera to keep track of growth. One of the variables im trying to control is light. I want to be able to setup a script which will put the lights on and off at predefined times. The scripting itself is not the problem, im just a total loss as how to control the lights. Im thinking of using a serial port, or hack a usb cable to use the power lines.

If anyone could comment on a way to do this I'd appreciate that.

Cheers

http://www.electronickits.com/kit/complete/elec/ck1610.htm

[DaRam]

If you do not want to mess with custom hardware, look for off the shelf solutions like X10.

The bundles might be a good starter http://www.x10.com/promotions/home_automation_n.html