Arduino Controlled Power Outlet

A power outlet allows electrical equipment and appliances to get connected to AC power. Arduino can be used to control this power outlet in order to turn the electrical equipment or appliance in to a smart device. Normally, we plug in different appliances or electrical devices in to the wall socket and turn them ON or OFF with the help of associated switches on the wall.

In this project, we have used Arduino to control a Power Outlet so that it can be controlled with the help of a sensor or remote switch. We have designed a Power Outlet box with one plug and a switch that is connected to a relay module, which is controlled by the Arduino. For triggering the relay, we have used an LDR light sensor.

Alternatively, the Power Outlet can be made to work with Bluetooth, over the internet with Wi-Fi Module (ESP8266) or any other type of sensor.

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Arduino Servo Motor

As mentioned in our Arduino based DC Motor control project, a DC Motor is one of the most commonly used electric motor in electronics, robotics, toys etc. It generally consists of only two wires for electrical connection. When these wires are properly connected and given electrical supply (like a battery), the motor starts rotating. A technique called Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) allows us to control the speed of rotation of the motor.

The story of Servo Motor is entirely different from that of a DC Motor. A Servo Motor is a type of actuator that provides high precision control of linear or angular position. A typical servo motors consists of four things (or parts): a DC Motor (or AC Motor), a gear unit, a position and speed sensing device and a control unit.

Servo Motors are used in applications where very high precision motion is required like assembly robots, computer numeric controls etc.

Circuit Diagram

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8051 Microcontroller Introduction and Basics

This article is about the 8051 Microcontroller Introduction and some of its basic features. The 8051 Microcontroller is one of the most popular and most commonly used microcontrollers in various fields like embedded systems, consumer electronics, automobiles, etc.

Technically called as Intel MCS-51 Architecture, the 8051 microcontroller series was developed by Intel in the year 1980 and were very popular in the 80’s (still are popular).

8051 Microcontroller has many features like Serial Communication, Timers, Interrupts, etc. and hence many students and beginners start their work on the concept of Microcontrollers with 8051 Microcontroller (although this trend seems to be changed with the introduction of Arduino).

Even though 8051 Microcontroller might seem a little bit out of fashion, we feel that it is one of the best platforms to get started with Microcontrollers, Embedded Systems and Programming (both C and Assembly). 

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