Raspberry Pi Project Lets You Control Backyard Lights From Inside

There are so many ways to make your home into a smart home using a Raspberry Pi. We've covered home DIY Pi projects that make your home smarter before—from garage door openers to AR light switches. But this latest project, from a maker known as Rleekc, brings the smart home concept outside by using a Raspberry Pi to control lights in the backyard.

The backyard lights use a relay switch that can receive input from a 433 MHz remote control. A 433 MHz receiver and transmitter modules are necessary for the Raspberry Pi to interact with the relay. The Raspberry Pi runs a Flask-based web server that's used to adjust the lights. 

The remote has a limited range of about 50 feet, but Rleekc was able to copy the remote signal to be retransmitted with the 433 MHz modules. This made it possible to control the lights through the Pi server.

The biggest challenge with this project is interference. Many devices, like TV remotes and garage door openers, operate on the same wavelength. To alleviate this issue, Rleekc invested in a faraday blanket to block radio waves and isolate the signal.

You can explore the original post on Reddit and check out the official project write-up on Github. Be sure to follow Rleekc for more updates and future Raspberry Pi projects.