Desktop Controlled Workdesk Lights

Hey geeks, I am again here with my new project ie: IoT Controlled Workdesk Lights. The idea starts with an instance when I forgot to turn off my workdesk lights when somebody calls me downstairs. I got an idea of IoT switch from which I can turn off the lights remotely. But if I had the time to switch off the lights by remote control, then I could switch off the physical switch too. So I dropped this idea.

Then one day I noticed that when I when away from my system Skype automatically set my status. I immediately decided to set my desktop to control the lights. So here is the build log of this interesting project...

The whole system is based on IoT cloud service Blynk. Each node is connected to Blynk Cloud Service. In my case there are 3 nodes:
1. Lights
2. Desktop
3. Mobile

Lights node is controlled by Desktop and Mobile device.

Desktop
As I use Ubuntu, I started to search some sort of trigger handler when computer goes in sleep mode on inactivity. But in default program there is nothing like Pre or Post trigger handle. Then I decided to write my own code to control the sleep and inactivity. I coded this part in Python.

ESP8266

I used Mongoose Os on ESP8266. As it is very easy to configure and fast as well. Also it comes with Blynk library.

Mobile

Blynk has a awesome mobile app. In the app you can add buttons, sliders etc. very easily.

I first created the circuit on bread board. After successfully testing the circuit on bread board I designed the PCB layout in Eagle.
I used toner transfer method to transfer the design on copper clad, used FeCL3 for etching.
Mounted the components on the PCB board. And also mounted the PCB on a Plastic board using standard standoffs along with AC to DC Power Supply. I finally smook tested everything.

After fitting all the parts on the workdesk roof, the result was satisfying. Now I can control my lights with Desktop Sleep and as well as Mobile device can also control the lights.