The history of the X10 communications protocol dates back nearly four decades. It was developed back in 1975 by Pico Electronics and quickly acquired the status of the de facto standard. This happened thanks to the ingenious engineering solution: to use the electrical wiring of the house to transmit control signals.

The idea was developed in industrial PLC modems, which are used today to transmit data from electric meters through power wiring. An example is the Mercury counters of the Incotex Moscow company. But, unlike its ancestor, this data transfer protocol is closed because it uses a proprietary data encoding algorithm to achieve high noise immunity. Today, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of companies that manufacture products compatible with the X10 protocol, and Chinese manufacturers of home automation products have been added to them ...

The human need for water is very high. In the modern world, it is needed almost everywhere. Therefore, many problems are associated with the problems of water supply, with its correct and safe consumption.

Eternal problems with interruptions in water supply, the need to provide a small farm in the water, the need for a reliable irrigation system of vegetable gardens, gardens, increased pressure in the water supply system are just some of the problems that Russians face. All of them affect the desire of consumers in any way to ensure permanent access to water resources.

Each of the situations comes out differently. However, drilling the own well is considered the best solution to this problem. But in this case, there is a need for the entire water supply system to ensure safety and control its working pressure ...

Water supply systems can be controlled and controlled according to various parameters - water level, pressure, temperature. The most common pressure control. One of the simplest and most popular elements of home automation in this case is the pressure switch RM-5.

This relay is designed to control electric pumps to supply water to the house. Using the RM-5 relay, the pump will work clearly in the preset pressure mode. At minimum pressure, the contacts will close and the pump will turn on, and when the maximum pressure is reached, the contacts will open and the pump will turn off.

Pressure switch RM-5 is produced by different manufacturers. Because of this, such relays may have slight differences in the type of housing and the location of the cable connections. There are varieties of this type of pressure switch with integrated pressure gauges ...

In addition to electrical apparatuses of general use (starters, intermediate relays, switches, etc.), special control and control devices, for example, pressure relays, level control relays, jet relays, etc. are used to automate pumping installations.

Level control relays regulate the operation of pump starters and valves to control fluid levels. Such devices are able to maintain a fixed water level in tanks.

Modern liquid level control relays are electronic devices, most often of modular design, receiving signals from sensors, processing them according to a certain algorithm, and switching actuating elements connected to the relay output contacts (electromagnetic valves, pump motors). Since the maximum switched current of the output circuits of electronic level control relays usually does not exceed ...

The temperature regulator in everyday life is used in a wide variety of devices, from the refrigerator to the irons and soldering irons. Probably, there is no radio amateur who would bypass such a scheme. Most often, temperature sensors, transistors or diodes are used as a sensor or temperature sensor in various amateur designs. The operation of such temperature controllers is quite simple, the operation algorithm is primitive, and as a result a simple electrical circuit.

The preset temperature is maintained by turning the heating element (TEN) on and off: as soon as the temperature reaches the set value, the comparator (comparator) is activated and the TEN is turned off. This principle of regulation is implemented in all simple regulators. It would seem that everything is simple and clear, but this is only until it comes to practical experiments. The most difficult and time-consuming process ...

The problem of finding alternative methods of heating apartments and houses does not lose its relevance. One of the modern solutions for space heating is the installation of infrared films. All their advantages are described in detail by sellers of such products.

We give a specific example of the use of this type of heating. The owners of a three-room apartment building, it was decided to heat their home using infrared films. They turned to the appropriate company, whose specialists performed the installation and commissioning of the necessary equipment.

A temperature controller was installed in each room to control the temperature. The heating performance was tested, the owners performed the calculation, and the company employees left. After a short period of using infrared heating, a serious problem arose. The fact is that the power of a meter of a square heating film is 250 W ...

From a letter from a reader of the mailing list: “Using SIEMENS LOGO! Controller, I want to practice learning how to program controllers, automate different processes and in the future create a comprehensive smart home system. Tell me if this is possible and what additional modules you need to buy for a LOGO controller for organization smart home? "

In this article, we will try to answer the question of the newsletter reader - we will consider the possibility of using programmable logic controllers for home automation and for creating a "smart home" system.

Before considering the use of automation tools, let's understand what is generally meant by the concept of "smart" house? Is it possible to consider a dimmer installed in the circuit of one of the lamps as an intelligent home? If not, at what point does the “intellectuality” of the home begin? After all, even with an abundance of various devices ...

Before the advent of solid-state logic circuits, the development of logical control systems was based on electromechanical relays. To this day, the relays are not outdated in their destination, but nevertheless in some of their previous functions they are replaced by a controller.

In modern industry there are a large number of different systems and processes that require automation, but now such systems are rarely designed from relays. Modern production processes need a device that is programmed to perform various logical functions. In the late 1960s, the American company Bedford Associates developed a computer device called MODICON (Modular Digital Controller). Later, the name of the device became the name of the unit of the company that designed, made and sold it ...