A DIY home automation system for hobbyists

Dec 18, 2015 04:30 GMT  ·  By

It's almost weekend, so we're continuing our "Watch" series of articles with a DIY (Do It Yourself) HVAC automation system called Pi-Cubes, which is powered by the Raspberry Pi single-board computer as well as the Ubuntu Snappy Core operating system.

This is not the first time we're introducing you, guys, to Pi-Cubes. We actually wrote an introductory article a couple of months back, when the device started its Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign, which was completed not long ago thanks to 29 backers who contributed the sum of $5,636 CAD to help bring the project to life.

For those of you who are not in the loop and don't want to read our introductory article, we would take this opportunity to inform you that Pi-Cubes is a modular, app-enabled HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) home automation system based on the Raspberry Pi and powered by Canonical's Snappy Ubuntu Core OS.

It supports up to 24 I/Os and 4 thermostats and lets customers use different I/O boards for all kinds of home automation projects. Pi-Cubes also comes with the Pi-Cubes Communication Thermostat device, which uses the Modbus open-source communication protocol to allow access through a Raspberry Pi's I2C serial port.

Pi-Cubes SDK

Being a HAVA control system categorized as DIY, Pi-Cubes boasts the Pi-Cubes SDK (Software Development Kit). This features the Node-RED tool on top of the Snappy Ubuntu Core operating system for embedded and IoT (Internet of Things) devices for easy app deployment, thus offering a wide range of programming options based on Python, node.js, or C/C++.

If you're interested in buying a Pi-Cubes device to build your very first home automation and HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) control systems, you can visit the project's official website, where you'll find all the information you need to get started. There, you can also download the Pi-Cubes Raspbian operating system for Raspberry Pi 2, based on Debian GNU/Linux Wheezy.

Furnace Controller with Pi-Cubes and Raspberry Pi 2
Furnace Controller with Pi-Cubes and Raspberry Pi 2

Pi-Cubes (2 Images)

Pi-Cubes
Furnace Controller with Pi-Cubes and Raspberry Pi 2
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