Materials
| Qty | Description | Link |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Decora Light switch | Home Depot |
| 1 | 9g servo (preferably with metal gears) | Amazon | EBay |
| a few inches | 14 guage wire | Scrap romex |
Tools
| Description |
|---|
| Dremel |
| Needle nose pilers |
| Hot glue gun |
| Thin blade flat head screwdriver |
Step 1
Gently pry the lightswitch paddle off.
Careful not to loose this little piece of metal
Final Result
Step 2
Measure out some wire
And give it a bend
And another bend
Strip the tip of the short side up to the plastic block
Drill a small hole through the plastic block to allow the stripped wire to pass through
Make sure the wire fits snugly inside of the paddle
Dremel out a valley on the opposite side of your drill hole
After and before
Notch out a valley on the outer part of the plastic clip big enough for a stripped bit of wire to fit into
Cut the long side of the wire about an inch past the paddle’s length
And strip back until the middle of the paddle
Fit the wire into the valley you notched out
And bend it upwards so that it is flush to the outside.
Here is another view of the prior step.
Hot glue down your handywork
Step 3
Remove the tab on the opposite side of the screw terminals
Before and after
Drill a 1/4in hole down the middle of the tab you just removed
Snap it together, and make sure it toggles with ease
Step 4
Position the servo so that it is flush to the switch body
Make sure not to cover this hole
Or this one
Hot glue down your handywork
Final product
Step 5
Chop two legs off of a X servo horn
Like so
It should look like this once it is attached
Shape the wire so that it can easily be toggled by the servo.
Yet does not protude out to far past the lightswitch body
The mechanical portion is complete!
Stay tuned for the circuit and firmware!
coming soon.
EDIT:
I just realized I never linked in the videos of it in action, bear in mind these are of the first prototype where the servo was connected to the toggle mechanically, the version outlined in this blog post is superior as there is no mechanical linkage to break.