I’m newbie in those electronic boards

but I’m a C# programmer actually I’ve a very good experience using .Net languages like C# and VB. I would like to implement some automation to my house basically with lights and appliances in terms of power, I would like to turn on/off stuff, could I do it using one of those boards provided in this site? if your answer is yes?.. could anybody give me a little tutorial in terms of connections?..how should I connect something to start testing for example to turn on/off a simple led?..etc.. I’m really interested in this topic and excuse this obvious question for you guys.

thanks in advanced

Hi Rafael,

in case you simply wanted to switch 110V or 220V AC devices, the easiest solution would be to use a relay. Since the portpins are not able to drive a load like a relay directly you would use a transistor or FET to drive the relay.

Here some good sites to look for information:

http://www.scienceprog.com/drive-relay-with-avr-microcontroller/
http://www.acroname.com/robotics/info/articles/drivers/drivers.html
http://www.arduino.cc/playground/uploads/Main/relays.pdf

But be careful on the 110V AC or 220V AC side, you might want to isolate this side of the relay carefully so you are safe from a electrical shock!

Uli