A simple example that controls limited indoor and outdoor lighting in the evening

Let's consider a scenario where a person lives in a neighborhood that is not so well lit. In winter, the temperatures are usually extreme in cities such as Chicago and the sun usually sets around 5 p.m. The poorly lit neighborhood along with the cold weather makes it difficult for a person to enter their home.

We will build a simple solution that turns on a light (that can be either an outdoor or indoor hallway light) that speeds up the process of entering a building.

Prepare for lift off

In this example, we will make use of PowerSwitch Tail 2 (sold by Adafruit Industries: http://www.adafruit.com/product/268) to turn on/off the lights.

The Powerswitch tail is rated to control appliances rated to operate at 110V and it can switch resistive loads up to 15A. The PowerSwitch Tail 2 can switch on/off appliances when it is activated by a 3-12V DC signal.

One main advantage of using the PowerSwitch Tail 2 is that it is...