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At this point, I have yet to actually touch an Arduino. I'm toying with the RPi3 along with Home Assistant, but I'm always thinking of ways to do useless things that are fun.

Let's say I had a kitchen with 32 cabinet doors and drawers and I wanted to make sure that each one had a switch that would detect a simple on/off state. That would translate to a map whereby a visual indicator would show that something's "ajar."

  • Is this the best approach to achieve this goal?
  • How many Arduino boards would this require, and/or are there other methods or concepts to achieve the same ultimate goal?

Thanks!

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  • There are more useful applications for Arduino in the kitche. For example, a precision programmable oven, like, "heat to 200° and then count 10 minutes", or "At 12:45, heat to 80° ".
    – user31481
    Oct 14, 2017 at 8:36
  • Not to douse your enthusiasm, but start simpler. There is plenty to learn w/o getting the car out of the garage just yet. As for your specific cabinet door open / close conundrum - I would solve it completely in software using a more powerful computer like a RaspberryPi3. And using OpenCV and a camera.
    – st2000
    Oct 14, 2017 at 12:41
  • I agree with starting simpler. For what you are describing you would need an external multiplexer circuit to reduce the 32 switch inputs to a manageable amount like 5 bits for the address then 1 bit for the input - 6 input pins on a single Arduino. BUT THEN you would need a way to do a "hold-up" or "hold-down" on each external input so the sensor can rely on the voltages it encounters. ---Have you considered simply setting up an Arduino and the IDE then making the "Blink" program work? That is how most of us began. Once you have done that then you can see how the unit works.
    – SDsolar
    Oct 15, 2017 at 3:07

2 Answers 2

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Touch less sensors (IR, magnetic hall), detecting drawer state.

1pc Arduino with I/O expanders to increase I/O ports.

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Since you are just starting out, start simple and build from there. Build a system that can handle one cabinet door. By doing that, you will learn a lot of the basics, without the risk of having to troubleshoot a large complex system.

The most common sensor to detect open or closed door is called a reed switch. They are low cost and simple to use.

The number of Arduinos required is mainly dependent on how much wiring you want to do. I would probably choose one battery-powered Arduino with wireless communication for each door, to avoid having wires between cabinets at all.

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  • Most reed switches are made of glass. That link to the Sparkfun reed switch is probably a glass reed switch inside plastic. When a drawer is slammed hard or the drawer is not in shape anymore, then the reed switch could break. Would a sealed microswitch with a lever last longer ?
    – Jot
    Oct 14, 2017 at 11:53
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    I was thinking that the reed switch could be embedded on the back side of the cabinet door such that it might even be flush with the surface and wouldn't be visible at all, and would probably remain in tact.
    – Jon Griffith
    Oct 16, 2017 at 17:49

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