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The Arduino team has highlighted a project showcasing the flexibility of its Arduino Cloud platform, through automated control of a Honeywell Evohome heating system — without the need for any Arduino boards at all.
"In today’s fast-paced world, the convenience and comfort of a smart home have become paramount. Monitoring systems offer us a way to streamline daily tasks, optimize energy usage, and ultimately lead to more comfortable and cost-effective living," the Arduino team claims by way of background to the project, highlighted on the official blog this week. "One of the key areas where smart systems shine is in heating control, allowing us to optimize temperature levels while keeping energy consumption in check and our bill under control."
To demonstrate that, the team has highlighted a project by David Beamonte which integrates a Honeywell Evohome smart home heating system with the Arduino Cloud, using a Node-RED flowgraph to link the two and automate any number of tasks based on the status of the heating system at any given time. Somewhat unusually for an Arduino project, though, there are no Arduino boards involved at all: everything is done using only software alongside the stock Honeywell Evohome hardware.
"Arduino Cloud is an excellent solution for [automation], but integrating external platforms can be a bit tricky, especially with many commercial products lacking direct integration," Beamonte explains. "That's where Node-RED comes to the rescue! It helps us redirect and manage the traffic between these commercial products and Arduino Cloud."
In Beamonte's project, a local or cloud-based Node-RED instance is used to link the Arduino Cloud and Homewell Evohome platforms — using Honeywell's developer-centric application programming interface (API). Once linked, the Evohome data can be integrated into an Arduino Cloud dashboard — with or without data from other compatible devices — and automations created depending on the data received.
"By embracing the power of smart home monitoring systems, such as Honeywell Evohome, and combining it with cloud platforms like the Arduino Cloud and the flexible integration capabilities of Node-RED," the Arduino team claims, "you can create an ecosystem that optimizes temperature, enhances comfort, and significantly reduces energy consumption."
Beamonte's full write-up is now available on the Arduino Project Hub, with source code on GitHub.
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