Home is the center of comfort and a place where in a sense of security of people is caressed. Nowadays, in 20th Century, technology is the very trend of every people to connect to others, making chores easily, and other things man could think of. The security and the coziness of one’s self that it gives to the family is the broadest sense that the system is able to.

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Electrical power correlates to constant expansion of electrical appliances especially at home. At times, due to excessive need of appliances, overloading and unmonitored power usage, weights major factors that causes electrical mishaps to homeowners.

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Often times, electrical appliances are forgotten to unplug by homeowners. Electrical faults such as overloading and octopus wiring may lead to accidents like fire. We design a system to resolve the problem by maximizing communicating devices so that the activity is in within the reach the homeowners anywhere and anytime.

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In addition, the adaptation of every individual to the continuous progress of the technology in this age is very vital especially in connecting people, even things from afar through the usage of the internet and text messaging.

This system can switch electrical appliances and constantly monitor the power consumption usage of all the devices in a single system using a microcontroller that can be manually and remotely controlled via text messaging through GSM, has data uploading capabilities to the internet using Internet of things (IoT) and limits the power to desired power allocation per branch current lines to ensure the safety of home from electrical overloading.

materials used

• Relay Module

This module is designed to integrate 4 relays that it is capable of switching 4 different connections

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• Liquid Crystal Display

Liquid Crystal Display is used to display an actual voltage, current generated and the power consumed of a specific electrical line. Mainly used for monitoring the status of the system.

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• Microcontroller

Arduino Mega was the type of microcontroller used in the system.

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• GPS/ GPRS/ GSM A7 Module

The module is a package of multiple systems which has Global Positioning System which can locate a place, General Packet Radio Service and Global Systems for Mobile for text messaging. The GSM is programmed to send and receive messages from the homeowner in order to respond and trigger homeowner’s command.

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• ESP8266 Internet of Things Module

Internet of things is defined as the interconnection via the Internet of computing devices embedded in everyday objects, enabling them to send and receive data. The module will serve as a gateway for the data from our Arduino to upload it to cloud via Ubidots.com.

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• YHDC SCT013-0000 Current Transformer

YHDC SCT013 current transformer is used for current monitoring.

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The system starts reading voltage and current via voltmeter and ammeter through sensing from the line in which both of them are multiplied to identify power. The Arduino Mega gathers data and displays it to the LCD and uploaded it to the internet via IoT. The GSM module A7 is use for switching, confirmation and information using a two-way communication between the homeowner and the system. Arduino is programmed to limit the power consumption of each outlets and lights. Once it reaches the intended power limit, it will alarm the high-powered buzzer. It will then notify the homeowner via texting an alert message through GSM of the said electrical activity and let the homeowner do the action if he wants to turn on or off the plugged apliances. The data gathered is displayed to the LCD, plotted and uploaded it to the internet via internet of things module.

The system is loaded from the power source for supply and a relay is being provided along the line that is fetched to power outlet to connect to industrial appliances or load. The relay is used for cutting the electrical load for the purpose of switching and safety from excessive power usage as used by the homeowners.

Actual Prototype

1. AC Switch
2. Buzzer
3. 20x4 LCD
4. 4-channel Relay
5. Arduino Mega 2560
6. SIM800L GSM
7. SCT013 Current Transformer
8. ESP8266 Wifi Module

The picture shows the actual prototype of the system inside the control area. The numbers pointing to the devices serves as the labels as listed above the figures. All the devices were integrated as a whole for the system.

Power Limiting Demonstration

The intended power limit is set to 5A and it is known that the current consumed by the electric iron is 5A. So whenever a large current is being plugged to the power limiting system, the system automatically texts the homeowner about the event.

Control and Monitoring Results

This is an actual text messaging when the homeowners want to switch the electrical appliances at home and the system is also capable of giving feedback on the information of active line currents at home.

This is an actual text messaging when the homeowners want to monitor the current power consumption used in the household in the real time basis.

IoT Monitoring Display

It shows the data monitoring using the Internet in the Ubidots.com as an IoT platform. The chart shown is the real time monitoring of the power consumed in the system.

Actual Simulation

PLEASE CLICK THE VIDEO FOR ACTUAL SIMULATION OF THE SYSTEM

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The usage of technology, such as mobile phones, in reaching out the electrical activities at home could help surpass the absence of the homeowners in controlling the appliances and monitors the power consumption and used outlets in order to prevent electrical mishaps such as overloading that may cause fire. With this, the safety of the electrical exposure is attainable at the very reach of the palm. By using gadgets that the most people are now engaged to could help prevent accidents and could allow the homeowners to monitor electrical appliances efficiently. Employing a GSM for controlling and monitoring features and IoT for data logging feature helps the homeowners to efficiently direct electrical activities.

Here with me is my groupmates for this research during our final defense.

@egbertcabahug and @igso7 who were my colleagues for 5 years. Congratulations to us. Procrastination is there, the endless fights but we made it beyond what we expected, thank you for the company and teamwork :D

Let’s go mc∆team.

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