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I just found out this little guy:

http://www.dx.com/p/ir-remote-controlled-ac-outlet-for-appliances-220v-12902#.U8eeRfmSx8E

Is a infra red (IR) controlled socket who learn your IR signals for 4€. Is that the best idea ever for controling mains from raspberry or am I missing something?

My plan is simple, to plug a IR led to a gpio, generate a sequence, make the outlet learn it and from there no use it from the raspi. Sounds good to you ?

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Yea, thats great :)

The outlet is a simple MCU that translates IR signal and is connected to a relay, to switch on and off the power. It' simple awesome but IR is a bit bad sometimes when the angles are wrong.

I use 433mhz outlets, similar to these. The advantage is the range. Most outlets that DONT have security you can get the codes online. You connect a good 433 transmitter to the Pi and you can have range up to 50metres if you want.

Good luck with your porjects.

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  • is not just easier to hack the remote control and control the buttons from the pi ?
    – javirs
    Commented Jul 17, 2014 at 12:34
  • Haha :) It is an option, you use some basic transistors to do that of course, directly on the remote. But if you have a transceiver installed on the Pi you could put 2 or 3 Pi's in various locations and send allot of other data on 433mhz. This means you could have sensors like like, temp, wind sending data to a main server, or use each Pi as repeaters and get maybe 100~200 meters distance? These are just ideas off course but you can see how much more robust radio comms is than IR. Of Course by triggering the button directly, you don't worry about any codes and stuff. It just works! :)
    – Piotr Kula
    Commented Jul 17, 2014 at 12:42
  • and ... I want them to be euro-plug style. I can add a converter but it increases both price and size :(
    – javirs
    Commented Jul 17, 2014 at 12:43
  • ppumkin , to do this kind of things, do I need a raspberry in every sensor, to handle the communications, isnt it?
    – javirs
    Commented Jul 17, 2014 at 12:48
  • To do more advanced communications, yes. But you can also use cheap AVR aTiny, atMega using simple C code with Arduino IDE, to send 433mhz form any sensors.Doorbells work on 433mhz, power management in homes work on 433, you can read all that data, maybe even ring the neighbour doorbell every hour, hahah :) The Pi can receive all the data and log to database- It is very flexible. But for this simple switch, only the remote+Pi and put the outlets anywhere in your house.
    – Piotr Kula
    Commented Jul 17, 2014 at 12:54

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