Design and Construction of a Two Channel Microcontroller Based Remote Control for Switching Electrical Appliances

Abstract

This paper presents the design and development of a microcontroller-based system that can switch off and on Electrical appliances or wall sockets at user’s will remotely. This research is aimed at increasing the accessibility as well as response rate to prevent appliances from damage due to transient, intermittent and fluctuations in power supply. This system uses a wireless telemetry technique through an infra-Red (IR) transmitter and receiver to control the switching state of home and laboratory/industrial electrical or electronic devices. The entire circuit is built around ATMEGA-328P microcontroller which was programmed to interpret digital signal sent from the IR transmitter (remote control) to the IR receiver. As the microcontroller receives a real time signal from the IR transmitter through the IR receiver module, a command is sent to the relay switching unit which activates or deactivates the channel(s) based on the software code embedded in the microcontroller. The normally open (N/O) and normally closed (N/C) terminals of the relay are connected to the live terminals of AC sockets for automation. The Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) displays the status of the sockets in any of the two channels (points) as instructed by the microcontroller. The system is cost effective, durable and versatile as it can be applied to any devices connected to electrical socket outlet.