Lan control. A simple way to remotely control electrical appliances via the Internet. Load management via phone via Wi-Fi network

Description of the presentation by individual slides:

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Technology of working in the Inkscape program Drawing graphic primitives in the editor. Editing and transformation. The concept of a layer. Work with text

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Inkscape. Working with primitives The Star or Polygon Tool lets you draw stars and polygons in Inkscape. To draw a star or polygon, select the tool from the side window of the Inkscape toolbar and left-click and drag your mouse cursor from one point to another. The starting point will correspond to the center of the star, the ending point to one of its vertices.

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When drawing a star, if you hold down the Ctrl key, the rotation angle of the star will be limited to 15 degrees. Already drawn stars can be modified using node markers. These markers will also be active if the node management tool node management tool is active

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You can determine the type of shape: star or polygon in the properties panel. To do this, there are two icons in the menu with the corresponding image of a yellow polygon and an asterisk. The second parameter that can also be changed is the number of corners.

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There are two node handles to change the shape of a star or polygon. The top node controls the position of the star tip or the angle of the polygon.

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The second marker - the base node controls the position of the "inner" vertex of the star.

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Holding down the Shift key while changing the nodes of a star allows you to control the rounding of its corners.

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Holding the Alt key while changing star nodes will move all star vertices or polygon vertices independently of each other in a random order.

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Drawing with the Spiral Tool The Spiral tool is designed for drawing Archimedean spirals in Inkscape. To draw a spiral, select a tool in the side window of the Inkscape toolbar and left-drag your mouse cursor from one point to another.

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The characteristics of the spiral are determined by two nodes, external and internal. The node handles will also be active if the node control tool is active. The spiral can be changed by dragging the handles of these nodes after selecting the spiral using the Selection and Transform tool. If the spiral is selected and the Spiral tool itself is active, then these handles will be visible.

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Dragging the handles allows you to make the spiral longer or shorter, or change the radius of its inner and outer ends. Holding down the Shift key while clicking on an inner node will reset the inner radius to zero.

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The external node can be used to modify and rotate the helix. If you hold down the Shift+Alt keys, the spiral will only rotate, maintaining a fixed radius. The number of spiral turns, nonlinearity, and internal radius can also be set as the numeric parameters of this tool in the properties panel. To return the values ​​of these parameters to their original default state, click the whisk button in this panel on the right.

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To understand how a spiral is filled with color, we need to explain how Inkscape calculates the fill of a spiral. The spiral is an open loop. However, filling with color is carried out as if the path were a closed segment between two nodes, internal and external. This can be clearly demonstrated using the example picture below. In the first case, the spiral was filled by clicking the button Any self-intersections or internal subcontours use holes in the fill; in the second case, the button Fill has a hole only if the internal subcontour is directed in the opposite direction was pressed.

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Drawing with the Ellipse Tool The Ellipse tool allows you to draw ellipses, circles, and arcs in Inkscape. To draw an ellipse or circle, select a tool from the side window of the inkscape toolbar. To draw an ellipse or circle, drag the mouse cursor with the left button pressed from one point to another. To draw even circles, hold down the Ctrl key while drawing. This method also allows you to draw ellipses with integer height to width ratios. If you hold down the Shift key while drawing an ellipse or circle, the starting point will correspond not to the outline, but to the center of the ellipse.

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The circle marker controls the angle of a sector or arc. Like the rectangle tool, there are actually two circle markers. If you pull the visible top round marker down, you will create a sector and another marker will become visible, which can be moved up. Initially, both round markers are on top of each other. If you hold down the Ctrl key while dragging round markers, the arc change step will be limited to 15 degrees.

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If you try to move the round marker inside the ellipse (the marker itself, of course, will not move, but you can try), then the segment drawing mode shown above will change to an arc, such as shown in the figure below. In order to switch to a segment again, as in the figure above, you need to try to move one of the round markers outside the outline of the ellipse.

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The same can be done in the settings that are in the context panel of the ellipse tool. As can be seen from the figure above, in the properties panel of the ellipse tool, you can use the numerical parameters to adjust the angle values ​​of the round markers and select the mode: arc or segment. The coordinates of the start and end circle markers are specified in degrees, and are measured in a clockwise direction, starting from the abscissa (X) axis. You can also return everything back by clicking on the button “make the figure an entire ellipse, and not an arc or segment.”

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Drawing with the Rectangle Tool The Rectangle Tool allows you to draw shapes: rectangles and squares. To draw a rectangle or square, select this tool in the side window of the inkscape toolbar and drag the mouse cursor with the left button pressed from one corner to the other opposite corner. To draw squares, hold down the Ctrl key while drawing. If you hold down the Shift key while drawing a rectangle, the starting point will correspond not to the top, but to the center of the rectangle.

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If a rectangle is selected and the Rectangle Tool is active, special handles will appear at the corners of the rectangle. The square handles in the opposite corners change the size of the rectangle, and the round handle in the upper right corner controls the rounding of the corners.

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The circle handle controls the rounding of the rectangle's corners. But there are actually two round markers. If you drag the visible top round handle down, you will get a rounded corner. This will make the second round marker in the corner visible.

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You can return the corners back to their original state by clicking the Remove rounded corners button on the property bar (the button appears if the Rectangle tool is active). Here you can also set the width and height of the rectangle using numerical parameters.

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Editing and Transformation The Selection and Transformation tool is used to select, move, and resize objects on the canvas using the mouse. In order to activate the inkscape selection and transformation tool, select it in the tools window (the first tool at the top in the form of a black arrow) or press the S or F1 key.

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How to select a single object in inkscape Using the Selection and Transform tool, click on the object and it will become selected. The selected inkscape object will have a black or dotted border around it. When you hover over an object, an image of a hand will appear next to the mouse cursor. In this case, holding down the left mouse button, you can change the location of the object by dragging it across the canvas. Black straight arrows along the edges of the frame allow you to change the size of the object. If you click on the object again, the black straight arrows will change to black curved arrows. In this case, you can rotate the object or change its tilt.

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Let us note the main window elements that are distinctive for this program:

Set of tools . Some tools are grouped together, as indicated by the black arrow in the lower right corner of the tool icon. Clicking on this arrow brings up a submenu containing all the tools in this group.

Properties panel. Its contents change depending on the selected tool and the selected object.

Rulers. Rulers make it possible to visually assess the distance and location of objects.

Color palette . Allows you to set the outline and fill color of objects.

Toolbar

Selector Tool (Pointer) Bezier Pen Tool
Tool Contour Node Editor Calligraphy Pen Tool
Corrector tool Text Tool
Scale tool Spray Tool
Rectangle Tool Eraser tool
Parallelogram tool Fill Tool
Oval tool Gradient Edit Tool
Star tool or
Polygon
Eyedropper tool
Spiral Tool Connection Lines Tool
Pencil Tool

Changing the scale

There are several ways to change the scale:

Saving a document

There are several ways to save files in inkscape:

  1. Menu File -> Save . This command saves an existing document using the current file name. If the document is new and has never been saved, a dialog box will open prompting the user to specify a file name and save location. You can save the file using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+S, as well as by pressing the button Save document
  2. Menu File -> Save How... This command allows you to save a new copy of the file under a different name or in a different location. In this case, the last saved file automatically becomes a working copy, so further actions will be performed in the new file. This command is usually used to save different versions of a drawing. The same action is available using a keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + S.
  3. Menu File -> Export to raster . This command allows you to transform an entire SVG vector file or individual document objects into a raster image. Currently inkscape only supports one raster format, PNG. This command is available via keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + E.

Opening a document

There are several methods you can use to open an existing document file:

  1. Menu File -> Open... . With this command, inkscape opens the file in a new window. Thus, opening the file will not in any way affect the work with other documents. The same action of opening a new document can be performed using a key combination CTRL + O or via icon Open in the toolbar.
  2. Menu File -> Import... Loading the file being opened into the active document, i.e. the one you are currently working in. The imported file becomes an object in the already open document. Importing an object is also possible using a key combination Ctrl + I or by button Import in the top toolbar.

Creating a document

There are several ways to create a new document in inkscape:

  1. On the menu File -> New . This will open a list of all document templates available in the program.
  2. Key combination CTRL + N(creates a new document using the default template).
  3. Via icon new document in the Toolbar (this method also creates a new document from the default template).

Changing Page Options

To change document properties such as page size, units of measurement, etc., use:

    Menu File → Document Properties

    Translator's Preface:
    In the early months of 2013, the authors of PCLinuxOS Magazine (distributed under the CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0 license) focused on Windows migration, a GIMP tutorial, several computer games, and other topics. An article about Inkscape appeared in the March issue. From its author Meemaw it was called Inkscape: Getting Started. Basically, that's it. After this line, the result of my attempt to translate this article is presented.

    We've had success creating quirky things with GIMP, but we shouldn't forget that GIMP is not the only graphics editor. The main purpose of GIMP is photo processing. Inkscape is a great drawing program.

    Although it sounds intimidating, drawing with Inkscape is actually not that difficult. Specific practice will help you draw really good drawings. I was able to draw much more in Inkscape than with pencil and pen. I'm far from an artist, but with such an assistant as the Inkscape program, many things come out much better.

    Let's take a look around the main Inkscape window and take a closer look at it.

    When you open Inkscape for the first time, you will get a window like the one shown in the following image.

    It already has a new document open, as well as rulers along the top and down the left side. You can change this view to show or hide as many tools as you wish.

    At the top we see a menu bar with the items File, Edit, View, Layer, Object, Path, Filters, Extensions and Help. Many menu items are accessible from other locations, as we'll see soon.

    Below the menu bar is the toolbar, which contains a significant portion of the most used tools. When you start working, there are eleven first items: New Document, Open, Save, Print, Import, Export, Redo, Redo, Copy, Cut and Paste.

    The remaining tools work alongside the tools on the left side of the window, or help you move from one part of the project to another, and require some explanation.

    The next three elements look like magnifying glasses with inner rectangles. These are scaling tools: from left to right there is scaling to the window size of the selected part of the image, drawing and page. They help you conveniently zoom in and out to the entire page and any selected area you're working on. These commands are also available from the menu bar in the View → Zoom submenu.

    To the left of these are three elements that look like overlapping sheets of paper, the first of which is blank, the second has an image of a closed lock, and the third has an open lock. These are tools for duplicating and cloning a selected object, used in cases where you need more than one of the same object (for example, many stars or flowers), and also for removing the connection between the clone and the original. By duplicating an individual object and making a specific change to it, you can only change the original. With cloning, if you make changes to the original, they also happen to the clone. This is very useful when you need two completely identical objects, except for color, for example. If you clone an object, you can modify it and break the connection between the clone and the original by using the third mouse button, and then change the color of one of them. These tools are also available from the menu bar under the Edit → Duplicate or Edit → Clone submenu.

    The group of the next two elements includes a circle and a rectangle surrounded by black dots. The left tool is used to group selected objects, and the right tool is used to ungroup them. While drawing safely, there will be times when you will want to group several objects together to complete the project. These buttons are quite handy for doing this, and also for ungrouping if you suddenly find out that you need to fix something. These tools are also available from the menu bar under the Object → Group and Object → Ungroup submenus.

    The last seven tools are perhaps the most used in this toolbar. From left to right, in order, you'll find the Fill & Stroke, Text & Font, Layers, XML Editor, Align & Arrange, Inkscape Options, and Document Properties tools. Let's look at the individual windows that open when you click on each of these tools.

    Fill and stroke. With this tool you paint most objects and their borders. If I draw a rectangle, the Stroke is the color of its border, and the fill is the inner color of the rectangle. I can change the inner color by selecting the Fill tab and specifying a color, gradient, or pattern. I can change the color of the border by selecting the Stroke tab and choosing a color, gradient, or pattern. In the following example, I drew a rectangle, filled it with blue and also made a black border, then chose a Stroke Style and specified its thickness to 5 pixels. Using the Fill and Stroke dialog, you can apply numerous fill and stroke options. You can open it from the menu bar using the Object → Fill and Stroke submenu.

    Text and font. Whenever you fix some text in your drawing, you use this tool because with it you change the font settings for your text. This tool works in conjunction with the Text tool located on the left side of the window. You select the Text tool on the left side of the window, then type whatever text you want and open this tool (located at the top, center) to adjust the text you wrote, or even change it. There is a Text submenu in the menu bar that contains this tool.

    Layers. As with many other programs such as LibreOffice Draw, Scribus and GIMP, layers are very useful when creating your project. You can create your image on one layer, your background image on another layer, and put your text on a third layer. This helps keep things organized and also helps you keep things stationary that don't need to be moved. If you are confident in your wallpaper, you can put it on the bottom layer and lock it, and you won't be able to move your wallpaper anymore until you unlock it again. This mechanism allows you to freely engage with other objects. The Layers tool is also available in the Layers submenu. These are the same buttons as we saw in Gimp: clicking on the eye causes the layer to be hidden, and clicking on the closed lock causes the layer to be locked and nothing can be changed on it.


    XML editor. Every drawing you make in Inkscape has a text description that is saved in the drawing file in .svg format. Each object you insert into your drawing has a specific name and is listed in this text file. Clicking on its name gives you a full list of parameters for this object (size, color, location on the page, etc.). The more complex objects you use, the larger this file size you get. Although I never do this, you can change the drawing by editing this file. I tried to do this by duplicating an entity in an XML file that was a circle I drew. I got two identical circles. If you understand this well enough, you may be able to draw the entire drawing this way. This tool is also available through the menu item Edit → XML Editor.


    Align and arrange. If you want to shape a page with a specific object at its center, grab this tool. It is also in the Object submenu. Once you click on an object, you can press any of the buttons to align it and center it. You can center the two selected objects, align them along their boundaries, or scatter them across the page.


    Inkscape Options. This is a fast, convenient and accessible way to open the options window. You can also open it using the command from the File menu.

    Document properties. Every document you create is different. This tool gives you the ability to change document properties, orientation settings, padding, page size, enable guides and grid. This tool is also available in the File menu.


    If you don't already know, every time you hover your mouse over a tool, a tooltip appears with its description and the hotkey for that tool. So, if you hover your mouse over the Fill and Stroke Tool, the hotkey is Shift + CTRL + F. So you have three ways to get this tool. Use the one that comes most naturally to you. By the way, the last action is canceled using the menu item Edit → Undo or CTRL+Z, as in other programs.

    Now let's look at the left side of the window.

    There are a wide range of tools with which you can do whatever you want. Also, the third toolbar changes depending on which of these tools you are using. The tools are the following:

    Selection tool. This is the arrow that we all know well. She selects an object with one simple click. In the most basic view of an object, you'll see outward-facing arrows along its edges, which you can use to resize the object. If you click again, these arrows will change direction and you will be able to rotate the object. These arrows are called "manipulators" and they help you change an object in a specific way.


    Tool for working with nodes. When an object is selected and this tool is turned on, the “manipulators” will lose their arrow appearance and become two shapes: like small squares and circles, and will give more ways to manipulate the object. The first thing you can do in this regard is to make rounded corners by bending the circles on the rectangle. By moving the circle lying on the ellipse, you will get either an object that looks like a pie with a piece cut out, or, if you move the circle without going beyond the ellipse, an arc. The image on the left contains the object after dragging the node handle inside the circle, and the arc on the right appears after dragging the node handle outside the circle. Be prepared for the ellipse to flicker a little while doing this. The node tool is quite useful for all your objects.


    Tweak tool. This group of tools is focused on changing your object - blurring, moving, zooming and some other acts. As you move your mouse over these tools, tooltips will tell you what they do. True, so far I have used them a little, but for the article I blurred the object using one of these tools.

    Zoom tool. Oh, here's another tool for changing the scale of your drawing back and forth! Selecting it will change your mouse cursor to an image of a magnifying glass with a plus sign inside. Left-clicking brings objects closer, and right-clicking zooms out. You can also use the scroll wheel, but remember to hold down the CTRL key while doing so.

    Rectangle. Lost between the tools is “Rectangle”, with which you can draw any rectangle. The following technology is used with it: you need to place your mouse cursor on the page, click, drag the mouse cursor and a rectangle will be drawn on the page. If you hold down the CTRL key while doing this, you will get a square or rectangle with an integer aspect ratio. At the top of the page in the toolbar you will see fields for entering the desired dimensions and coordinates.


    3D Box tool. With this tool you can draw parallelepipeds in 3D. To control an object, you control the axes that appear with it. You will need to experiment with this a bit.


    Ellipse. This tool draws ellipses and circles. If you hold CTRL while dragging the mouse cursor, you will draw a real circle.


    Star. If your desired object has three or more sides, use this tool. Together with its corresponding toolbar located above the page, you can choose whether it will be a polygon or a star, and also set the number of angles your object will have. In the case of a star, you can also set the ratio of the radius of the base and the top of the beam (the smaller this value, the sharper the star will be; the closer the value approaches one, the more the star will look like a circle). Below are two examples, in which both objects have 8 angles and the star has a radius ratio of 0.5. While the star tool is selected, you can change the appearance of your polygon or star by adding more angles or changing the ratio of the radii of its rays.


    Spiral. This tool got its name because it draws spirals. Its toolbar is based on three settings: number of turns, non-linearity and inner radius. The first specifies how many times your line will turn around in a circle. Nonlinearity refers to how much less often the outer lines follow each other than the inner ones, and the inner radius is the radius of the open area inside the spiral. On the left, the spiral has 9 turns, nonlinearity 2 and inner radius 0.5. The spiral on the right has 5 turns, nonlinearity 4 and internal radius 0.25. Again, with this tool selected, you can modify the spiral you drew earlier if you wish.


    Pencil. The Pencil tool allows you to draw freehand lines on the page. While this is sometimes a good thing, the tool is sensitive to deviating mouse cursor behavior, so the Pen tool is better suited for drawing a perfectly straight line.

    Feather. The Pen tool is used to draw Bezier curves and straight lines. A Bezier curve is built using control points, which allow you to edit the curve. Below there are three lines: the top one is drawn with a pencil, the second one is drawn with a pen, and the curve is a Bezier curve. By using the tools shown above your page, you can draw whatever you want. With this tool and the knot tool, you can actually draw a spiral, but the spiral tool makes it easier and faster.


    Calligraphy pen. This is a different pen type tool, but with it you can draw calligraphic type lines. This tool's settings, available above your page, will change the presentation of your line. You have 6 preset tools, plus "No Presets". This tool can create interesting variations of drawn lines.


    Text tool. This is a tool that allows you to enter your text. By selecting it and clicking your mouse on the page, you will get a cursor. Type your text and click on the top Text button to change the font and size. Your text will also be displayed there, so you can change it in case of a typo or any other correction you want to make.

    Spray. The sprayer is an interesting tool. It has three settings: “Spray copies of the selected object”, “Spray clones of the selected object” and “Spray copies of the object, combining them into one outline”. If you make copies, each of the objects can be changed independently of the others, and if you make clones, any changes to the original will be reflected in its clones until you break the connection between them. If you spray objects, combining them into one outline, you get an extension of the object you are using, everything is limited within a given stroke. Creating a cloud from an ellipse is an example of using this setup. In the example, the left ellipse is the original, and the cloud on the right is what I got by spraying copies of it and combining them into one outline.


    Eraser. This tool is like most other erasers: a small pink eraser. Select the object you want to erase and grab the eraser. The top toolbar shows the fill and stroke color you'll see during deletion; they are unnerving, but everything will be fine. If you don't select an object, all objects that you dragged the eraser over will be deleted.


    Solid fill. I think all pour tools are alike! Select a color and click on the area you want to paint. That's all.

    Gradient fill. Gradient Fill works with the Fill and Stroke tool to create gradients together. Selecting a gradient in the Fill and Stroke window creates a gradient from the last color you used: from that color to transparency. However, clicking the Gradient Tool will help you see the direction of the gradient and change it if desired, as well as edit the gradient to create different effects. You can add so-called anchor points, and change the color on each of them. You can arrange your anchor points to get the effect you want.


    Pipette. This tool is a simple tool for selecting a fill color for an object. Let's say you have two objects and you want them to be the same color. Select the one whose color you want to change, then select the eyedropper and place it in the color you want, and the object you selected will turn into that color.

    Connecting lines. With connector lines you can draw lines between objects. If you redistribute objects on the page, these lines will remain between them instead of just staying in place. This is desirable for flowcharts or other cases where you need lines between two objects. Settings allow connectors to ignore or bypass objects that you do not want to be included in the group of connected objects. Below, lines have been drawn to connect three ellipses, going around the central one. Connector lines are strokes, so you can open Fill and Stroke and choose a design for your connector lines (wide lines, dotted lines, etc.)


    These tools are ready for you to start painting with! You can choose some of them and try them out. Now is the time to look at the bottom of the window. Everything is pretty good there, there is a color palette, and in general the lower part of the window is rich in various information.
    This board tells something about any selected item. On the left side of the board it is reported about its fill and stroke, about their colors. You can use these colors to change them if you wish. Clicking on any color in the palette changes the fill color, and clicking while holding down the Shift key changes the stroke color. Here are the colors of my circle chosen below. To the right of the stroke color is the number 5. I used the same value to draw the ellipse as I did earlier to draw the rectangle, for which I chose a stroke size of 5 pixels (obviously I changed the fill color at the same time). There is a context menu with several standard sizes from which you can select the size of the stroke, or even remove it if you wish. Next is a field with a value of 100. This is the transparency that you can set here and also in the Fill and Stroke window. Next are the “eye”, by clicking on which you can make the layer invisible, and the lock, by clicking on which you will lock the layer and after that you will not be able to change anything on it. In the center is the message “Ellipse in layer Layer 1”. It looks like it repeats the word Layer, but I think it means "Ellipse in layer Named Layer 1", so if you gave the layer some other name, this line would be more correct. To the right you can also see useful text. Since we've selected the ellipse with our marquee tool, it tells us that if we click again, we can switch the tool to rotate mode. To the right of it we get the X and Y coordinates. They tell us the current position of the mouse cursor. Finally, the percentage shows the viewing scale of our drawing.


    I know this is a lot of information, but we will soon be able to understand its meaning. Don't forget that Inkscape is designed to provide multiple ways to do any task, so if you prefer to use one method for doing something (the menu bar), but your friend does the same thing differently (hotkeys), you both will love Inkscape.

    Next time we will start a project.

    Tags: Add tags


    I continue to talk about the simplest and most accessible ways to control electrical appliances via the Internet using cloud services. First of all, such devices are relevant for owners of country houses in order to be able to turn on the heating remotely and prevent the house from freezing. Wireless Wi-Fi relays in DIY format from ITEAD are primarily attractive for their price. A ready-to-use device is actually offered at the cost of the components that are used in it. Is it a joke that the simplest relay costs less than $5?

    Earlier, I already talked about compact relays that allow you to remotely control the load. Today I will show new devices. Firstly, this is a device with two independent Sonoff Dual relays, and secondly, a Sonoff TH relay, which has an onboard input for an external temperature/humidity sensor. Such a relay allows not only to gain the ability to remotely monitor temperature and humidity, but also to automate the process of maintaining these parameters in a given range.

    So, let's find out!


    2. First of all, the relay got a new housing. They are approximately 2 times larger in size than the first generation relays. There are clearer markings and a more convenient button for programming and manual control.

    3. Screw terminals have been replaced with spring terminals. A very correct solution that allows you to reliably connect the load without the risk of stripping the threads on the contacts. Sonoff TH is available in two versions, with a relay designed for a load of 10 or 16 amperes. That is, in the second case, a load with a power of up to 3600 watts can be switched through a relay. A modification with a 10 amp relay costs $7.5. With a 16 amp relay - $8.6 (the same price for a Sonoff Dual 10A relay).

    4. The relay can work independently, or external sensors can be connected to it. You can choose from the DS18B20 temperature probe (pictured in the center), costing $3.5, or the AM2301 temperature/humidity sensor, costing $4.3.

    5. On the left is a single relay with a connector for external sensors. On the right is a double relay, without a connector for external sensors.

    6. The device is based on the well-known ESP8266 chip. The entire low-current part is located on the bottom of the board. On the left you can see connectors that allow you to connect a USB-TTL adapter. Those who do not trust the public cloud service can always upload modified firmware to the device and customize it to their needs. There are examples on the Internet of how to do this.

    7. We assemble a simple circuit to demonstrate the operation of the device. We have a small LED spotlight as a load. We connect it to a 220 volt network via a Sonoff TH10 relay. To be able to remotely control the relay, you need to “pair” the relay with your home Wi-Fi network operating in the 2.4 GHz range.

    8. Setup is done through the proprietary EWeLink application on a smartphone, available for both iOS and Android.

    9. After the initial pairing procedure, you get the opportunity to control the load both manually (from a button on the relay body) and remotely (via an application on a smartphone). You can also set timers to turn on and automate control by specifying operating temperature and humidity ranges.

    10. One of the options for using the relay of the first version is to control the sconce next to the bed in the bedroom. The only drawback is that, from an aesthetic point of view, it would be better if the relay were made in the body of a regular floor lamp switch, because in its current form, pressing a small button on the body to turn on the light without using the application is completely inconvenient. The presence of a timer allows you to program the lights on/off, for example, for the period of your vacation, in order to create an imitation of the fact that someone is in the apartment.

    11. There are a lot of options for using relays. In particular, I have a desire to finally automate the control using a Sonoff Dual relay (one relay for lowering the cable, the other for raising it). Once I do, I’ll definitely write about it. I also use a relay to turn on the lights remotely when I drive up to a country house at night.

    There are quite a lot of applications. You can, for example, make a homemade heat accumulator from a tank of water, programming it to heat at night, at a cheap rate. You can make storage for potatoes on the heated balcony or remotely open the gate in the garage. You can automatically turn on the fan in the bathroom when a specified humidity level threshold is exceeded. In general, it all depends on your imagination. To program and remotely control the relays, they must have Internet access. If they are pre-programmed to operate on a timer, they can operate autonomously. It’s better to order the relay on the company’s official website; delivery to Russia costs $6.

    All materials about building a country house with your own hands can be viewed in chronological order.

    In this short review, we will look at four types of relays controlled via the Internet from the Russian company KERNELCHIP. For more than 10 years, this company has been professionally engaged in the development and programming of non-standard devices for interfacing with computers, as well as the development of automation and control systems and remote control and monitoring systems via Ethernet and GSM/GPRS. Today, when the Internet is everywhere, such solutions are more relevant than ever. We will talk about controlled relays of the Laurent series.

    This module has a special feature: collection and transmission, via an Ethernet (LAN) interface, of readings from digital temperature sensors. The module is capable of working with a maximum of 20 Dallas DS18B20 sensors. The sensors are connected to a common 1-Wire bus.

    Thus, Laurent-T is an Ethernet temperature controller capable of working with from 1 to 20 sensors, having a built-in web interface with a convenient table of sensor names (which the user can freely set), with the ability to hardware reset the 1-Wire bus using built-in relay, while the command interface (API) is, of course, open.

    Often at an enterprise there is a need for group data collection from digital temperature sensors - for centralized collection of readings. It is convenient to do this via an Ethernet network remotely. You don’t always have time to walk around and collect bits of information from each of the dozens of digital temperature sensors connected via a 1-Wire bus. These are the types of problems that the Laurent-T module helps solve.

    The readings collected from the sensors will be transmitted to the operator via an Ethernet network through an integrated web interface, XML/JSON or command line (TCP port). Each sensor can be easily assigned a name according to the sensor ID number. Sensor readings are protected from short-term interference (typical of a long line) through smoothing and filtering. In the event of a fault on the bus, an automatic reset occurs using a relay. In this way, a large number of temperature sensors can be monitored and controlled remotely.

    The built-in web page opens in any browser; you just need to enter the IP address of the module, which by default is 192.168.1.99, and the user will see a convenient visual interface for monitoring readings from all temperature sensors in real time. The table of sensor names will be stored in the non-volatile memory of the module.

    The Laurent-112 module is built on the basis of 12 relays to control various devices via Ethernet via a web interface or using an open command interface. The board has 12 relays, designed to switch voltages from 0 to 220 volts, with a current of up to 7 amperes. Each relay can be controlled separately. The CAT system allows you to implement a controlled reaction to events: based on a timer or, for example, in the absence of a response from a remote network device using the PING command. The command interface (API) here is open.

    The built-in web page for managing the module will open in any browser; you just need to enter the IP address of the module, which by default is 192.168.0.101. The interface is conveniently visualized, the relay status is visible (the button is on - green or the button is off - gray). The integrated web interface can optionally be protected with a password that can be changed. The product delivery set includes only the module itself; the power supply must be purchased separately.

    This is a module with advanced functionality; it features rich hardware peripherals for controlling relays and for monitoring and configuring parameters of various devices over the network. Autonomous event processing is allowed (pulse counters, timer, PING, ADC, temperature sensor). Modules can interact with each other using special commands (see instructions) even without the participation of a server (M2M function).

    The board is equipped with 4 relays for a maximum current of up to 7A. It has 4 pulse counters, 6 discrete inputs, 12 discrete outputs, PWM output, RS-232, a pair of 10-bit ADCs, an input for a KTS-18B20 digital temperature sensor, a CAT system - controlled response to events, an open command interface (API) . Thus, this module is an improved and developed model of previous products while maintaining full compatibility of connectors and commands.

    The Laurent-2 module is suitable for controlling analog and digital devices, actuators and sensors via Ethernet. Various ways to control the module are possible: via the web interface, using direct http requests, text commands via a TCP port, using data received from a COM port, autonomously via the CAT system, and finally via M2M.

    The control web page built into the module will work in any browser; its default address is 192.168.0.101. Here is a convenient visualized interface for managing various module resources and monitoring its parameters online.

    Using the CAT system, the module's reactions to various events at its inputs are configured: when a temperature threshold is exceeded, by a pulse counter, by a timer, or when there is no response from a remote device to the PING command. The CAT system allows you to program the module and use it even standalone without the need to be connected to the network all the time.

    Using the Laurent-2 module and the CAT system, you can quickly build a system for automatically monitoring the state of the server over the network and immediately reboot it if a freeze is detected. The server and Laurent-2 will be on the same subnet. Laurent-2 will periodically send a PING command to the server via its IP, and if there is no response, an automatic power reset via the relay will be performed.

    Laurent-2 modules can be easily connected to a wireless Wi-Fi network via a Wi-Fi router. This combination of the Laurent-2 module and a Wi-Fi router allows you to control / manage the module from almost any device equipped with a Wi-Fi interface over a considerable distance.

    The Laurent-2G module is a modified version of the Laurent-2 module, simply adding a GSM modem with the ability to connect an antenna to it. Laurent-2G, like the previous model, is designed to control digital and analog devices, sensors and actuators via an Ethernet (LAN) interface, only here it is now possible to control via the GSM interface - using SMS commands or DTMF tone commands.

    Andrey Povny