Published March 12, 2018

Lane Tech HS - PCL - Motion-Sensitive IOT Light Control

This project was part of the Lane Tech HS Physical Computing Lab course. I created this project as part of the Home Automation/IoT project.

BeginnerWork in progress4 hours702

Lane Tech HS - PCL - Motion-Sensitive IOT Light Control

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Particle Photon

Servos (Tower Pro MG996R)

Jumper wires (generic)

PIR Motion Sensor (generic)

Software apps and online services

Blynk

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Soldering iron (generic)

Hot glue gun (generic)

Story

Why

The reason why I did this project was because I wanted to control my light remotely, to ease turning off the light before going to bed.

Components

Basically this project consists of two main components: the motion sensor, and the servo.

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As you can see in the first image, the servo needs to be behind the motion sensor, because when the servo triggers, the PIR sensor will read that motion and output voltage.

The motion sensor has a Particle Photon wired to a 9g Micro Servo, which triggers when the PIR sensor outputs high voltage.

As you can see, the servo is taped to a cardboard pad; created by stacking multiple layers of corrugated cardboard on top of each other. This horizontally elevates the servo, allowing it to function better with the switch.

Enclosure

The enclosure is a basic cardboard box.

As you can see, the servo wires run through the Amazon box's convenient holes in the corners of the box in which the power cord(micro-USB) utilizes as well. Also, the motion sensor had to have a slit cut in it because the three jumper wires were not thin enough to fit between the two flaps.

Another feature was the door on the side that opens up. This reveals the wiring of the breadboard, so any parts may be easily replaced and modified in the future.

Blynk Integration

Thanks to Blynk, IoT integration was simple and easy. All I did was hook up a virtual button to my code, which took me less than 30 minutes.

Issues

There were a few problems encountered when doing this project, and most of them came initially, when I tried using a IR remote to trigger an IR receiver. The biggest and most frustrating was trying to increase the range of the IR pair. I tried many things to combat this problem. I tried using a TV remote, which is known for triggering a sensor over long distances. That didn't work. Next, i tried surrounding the receiver in aluminum foil, so the IR beam would refract back into the receiver.

That also didn't work. Finally, I tried focusing the beam of the remote control, which also didn't work.

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After that I tried tweaking my code, getting rid of delays, and removing Blynk altogether, but noting seemed to work. Finally, I decided to replace the IR pair with a PIR motion sensor, which made life a lot easier.

The Code

#include <blynk.h>

#define BLYNK_PRINT Serial  // Set serial output for debug prints

#include <blynk.h>
char auth[] = "1409008df1e1497db59877ce947e42ad";

const int analogInPin = A0;  // Analog input pin that the receiver is attached to
int sensorValue = 0;        // value read from the receiver
Servo theServo;
int pos = 0;
void setup() {
  delay(1000);
  Blynk.begin(auth);
  pinMode(D7, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(D5, INPUT);
  pinMode(A0,INPUT_PULLUP);
  pinMode(A4, OUTPUT);
  theServo.attach(A4);
  theServo.write(150);
}
BLYNK_WRITE(V1) {
    if (param.asInt() == 1) { // On button down...
        Blynk.tweet("My Particle project is tweeting using @blynk_app and it’s awesome!\n @Particle #IoT #blynk");
        digitalWrite(7, HIGH);
        Particle.publish("002_OBJECT_NOT_DETECTED");
        theServo.write(150);
        Blynk.notify("You pressed the button and I know it ;)");
    }
    if(param.asInt()==0){
        digitalWrite(7, LOW);
        Particle.publish("001_OBJECT_DETECTED");
        theServo.write(0);              // tell servo to go to position in variable 'pos'
        delay(1000); 
    }
}

BLYNK_WRITE(V2) {
    int r = param[0].asInt();
    int g = param[1].asInt();
    int b = param[2].asInt();
    if (r > 0 || g > 0 || b > 0) {
        RGB.control(true);
        RGB.color(r, g, b);
    } else {
        RGB.control(false);
    }
}
void loop() {
  // read the analog in value:
  sensorValue = analogRead(analogInPin);
  Particle.publish(String(sensorValue));
  Blynk.run();
  /*
  if(sensorValue < 30){ //checks if object is there or not
    digitalWrite(7, LOW);
    
    }
  else if (sensorValue>600){
    digitalWrite(7, HIGH);
    Particle.publish("002_OBJECT_NOT_DETECTED");
    //theServo.write(0);              // tell servo to go to position in variable 'pos'
    delay(100);
    }
    */
 float x=digitalRead(D5);
 if(x==HIGH){
        theServo.write(0);              // tell servo to go to position in variable 'pos'
        delay(100);
    }
}

Credits

Abram Kidane

2 projects • 2 followers

Junior at Lane Tech

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Lane Tech HS - PCL - Motion-Sensitive IOT Light Control

Lane Tech HS - PCL - Motion-Sensitive IOT Light Control

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Story

Why

Components

Enclosure

Blynk Integration

Issues

Code

The Code

Credits

Abram Kidane

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