This Christmas, I decided to automate our Family Room Christmas lights
using my previously built Parallel Port 8 channel interface box. This box allows
for the computer to control 8 different segments of lights via a transistor
array and automotive relays.
The relay box was then hooked up to my Pentium 3 server which was placed behind
the tree with a wifi connection to the network and internet.
This server allowed for light control via direct posts to its web server, UDP
broadcasts from other computers in the network, and from local Remote Desktop
commands to run various local programs.
I also designed a website in which anyone in my home network could control the
lights via their web browser. This website also had public access enabled
between the hours of 11pm and 5am during which anyone online could visit the
webpage and control the lights. These hours were chosen in order to avoid
annoying the parents with excessive random light flashing.
Check out the video of the lights in action below:
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