- Mon Aug 20, 2018 11:48 pm
#77838
Hey everyone,
I'm new to ESP8266, but I'm trying to learn it in order to make a cool gift for my girlfriend. She's going back to college in a week (I graduated), and I am making an internet-connected lamp that will help us feel more connected while we're away. I'm wondering if I can use the ESP8266 to execute my idea. Any advice or direction to relevant tutorials would be much appreciated!
The Idea: I'm going to give her a lamp to take to school that has one switch and two separate LEDs (LED 1 and LED 2). I will have an identical lamp at home. When I flip the switch on MY lamp, it turns on LED 1 on both of our lamps. When I flip it back, LED 1 on both of our lamps turns off. In other words, the switch on my lamp controls LED 1 for both lamps. This obviously means that my lamp has to send a signal over the internet to hers.
Similarly, when she flips the switch on HER lamp, it turns on LED 2 on both of our lamps. Flipping her switch back turns off LED 2 for both of us. So her switch controls LED 2 for both lamps.
The overall idea is for each of us to be able to see when the other is home. If she comes back to her dorm and turns on her light, it will also turn on in my apartment back home (and vice versa). I know a simple text could solve that problem, but I'll get major brownie points for this if I can pull it off.
I think I should be able to do this with the ESP8266, but all the tutorials I have found describe only how to connect ESP8266 modules within the same local network. I need to have them communicate across the internet, which I assume is much more complex.
I have two NodeMCU LUA CP2102 ESP-12E units that I got on Amazon. I am using the Arduino IDE to mess around with code. Can anyone give me some advice or point me to a tutorial that might help me accomplish my goal? I'm pretty good at teaching myself things of this nature, but this has me stumped. It will be a bummer if I am unable to finish writing the software in time, because I've already finished the construction of the physical lamps and they look really nice.
Thank you all for any help you can offer!
I'm new to ESP8266, but I'm trying to learn it in order to make a cool gift for my girlfriend. She's going back to college in a week (I graduated), and I am making an internet-connected lamp that will help us feel more connected while we're away. I'm wondering if I can use the ESP8266 to execute my idea. Any advice or direction to relevant tutorials would be much appreciated!
The Idea: I'm going to give her a lamp to take to school that has one switch and two separate LEDs (LED 1 and LED 2). I will have an identical lamp at home. When I flip the switch on MY lamp, it turns on LED 1 on both of our lamps. When I flip it back, LED 1 on both of our lamps turns off. In other words, the switch on my lamp controls LED 1 for both lamps. This obviously means that my lamp has to send a signal over the internet to hers.
Similarly, when she flips the switch on HER lamp, it turns on LED 2 on both of our lamps. Flipping her switch back turns off LED 2 for both of us. So her switch controls LED 2 for both lamps.
The overall idea is for each of us to be able to see when the other is home. If she comes back to her dorm and turns on her light, it will also turn on in my apartment back home (and vice versa). I know a simple text could solve that problem, but I'll get major brownie points for this if I can pull it off.
I think I should be able to do this with the ESP8266, but all the tutorials I have found describe only how to connect ESP8266 modules within the same local network. I need to have them communicate across the internet, which I assume is much more complex.
I have two NodeMCU LUA CP2102 ESP-12E units that I got on Amazon. I am using the Arduino IDE to mess around with code. Can anyone give me some advice or point me to a tutorial that might help me accomplish my goal? I'm pretty good at teaching myself things of this nature, but this has me stumped. It will be a bummer if I am unable to finish writing the software in time, because I've already finished the construction of the physical lamps and they look really nice.
Thank you all for any help you can offer!
