I have been working on a home automation project lately. It is complete to the extent of switch control and getting the readings of temperature, humidity. I am using a Raspberry Pi 3 as MQTT broker. It is running Node-Red and Mosca. At the client side, I am using ESP8266, wired up with relays and sensors. Also, I have a mobile app build on the ionic framework. Moreover, I have used two-way switches in order to maintain the connection with physical wall switches so that appliances can still be controlled if something breaks down. After completing all this, I was wondering to install it in my home. So I started a bit of research for being on a safe side as my plan was to play with MAINS now.
Recently, I got to know about solid state relays and they seem to be a lot better than the one I am using. So far, I have used normal relays. Like this. However, I see a problem with solid state relays. It has two ports at the output(COM & NO).
- How can I add a two-way switch to SSR in order to make it accessible from wall-mounted switches as well as the mobile app?
I was also thinking to add a dimmer to adjust the brightness of lights and speed of a fan. For which I found TRIAC as the solution. I got how it works but still, I could not just understand the TRIAC completely.
- Does TRIAC replace a relay?
I am planning to use this relay board with this dimmer.
Moreover, I was looking around for adding a surveillance option using IP cam but could not find anything fruitful. If anyone could post some references for that too, it would be of great help.
Any other suggestions apart from my questions would also be appreciated.