Possible project

[NeilIves]

Hello everyone; this is my first post here.
I'm thinking of using a Raspberry Pi to control the lighting in my kitchen. I have an array of LED spotlights in the ceiling. I'm thinking the R'Pi could be used to control relays that could be switched on and off in pre-set set patterns from a control on the wall.
Do you have any thoughts on doing this? Have you seen a suitable control panel or even a rotary numbered switch for the wall? Maybe someone has already done this? Thanks.
Neil Ives

[Navyscourge]

I have not done this, but lots of people have; Google "pi light control"

To give you help, we would need to know which bit you are stuck on, as there are several parts to this project.
1) You need the wiring from lights to relays (NOTE: this might be mains electricity which is 'dangerous')
2) You the wiring between the Pi GPIO connector and the relays
3) You need a program on the Pi to control the GPIO to make the lights turn on and off
4) You need a program to allow you to tell the Pi what the lights should do (could be the same program)

You need some sort of design for this so you can be clear what you are doing. I would start with 4, then 2, then 3 then 1; probably doing 1 and 2 by using LEDs first instead of relays.

Good luck, and don't blow your house up

[NeilIves]

Thanks for the reply. I'll do some more research. The electrickery is not a problem for me. The programming should not be a problem either.

[NeilIves]

Maybe I should be looking at using an Arduino board.