Dr Acula shows you how to create a good start at a powerful and low cost home automation system. If home automation isn’t your thing then how about a wild Christmas light show controlled by some software on your computer. Using the Picaxe microcontroller gives you a head start in the development of this system.

“This Instructable shows you how to interface a PC and microcontroller. This demo will sense the value of a pot or any analog input and also control a servo. Total cost is under $40 including the servo. The servo turns on a microswitch and then the microswitch turns on a lamp. In a practical application the pot could be a temperature sensor and the servo could be turning on a heater. The servo could be replaced with a relay or other power controller. The picaxe is programmed in a simplified version of basic and the interface uses VB.Net. All software is available for free.”