WiFi Work From Home Indicator

For those of use fortunate enough to be able to work from home, we are probably finding that there are some major challenges when it comes to boundaries with others in the house.

To help with this, I created this really simple build that allows you to control the colour of LEDs using a web interface to let others in the house know that you are on a call or otherwise not to be disturbed.

The light also contains a magnet so it can easily be attached and removed from the door handle for ease of use and charging.

So if you area looking for a little more peace at home, maybe this is a guide for you!
Supplies:

√    Adafruit Feather Huzzah ESP8266 (Any ESP8266 could potentially work, but the Huzzah has lipo charging circuitry and also quite a beefy 3.3v regulator)
    √ 8 piece Neopixel strip
 √   Lipo battery - Any reasonable size should do (600mAH +) I don't have a good source for these
  √  Project Case
 √   Old Hard drive - Great source of really strong magnets!

 This is a purposely simple build from a hardware point of view, making the project simple was more important to me than optimizing for battery, but it should last a work day on a single charge so I felt that was good enough.

Micrcontroller: ESP8266


For the micro controller we are using an ESP8266 programmed with the Arduino IDE.If you unfamiliar with the ESP8266, It is an amazing Arduino compatible device that has built in WiFi, I recommend checking out Becky Stern's IoT class for more information.

I specifically chose the Adafruit Feather Huzzah ESP8266 because it comes with circuitry for using a Lipo battery integrated. It also has a 500mA 3.3V regulator, which is a decent bit better than would be available on most of the cheaper Chinese ESP8266 boards. This allows us to power the Neopixels using 3.3V, which can help us avoid problems that sometimes occur when using Neopixles powered with 5v from a 3.3v logic level device like an ESP8266.


Lights: Neopixels


I chose neopxiels because they are a really simple way of adding RGB leds to your project. They only require power and a single data wire to connect, and they allow you to set them to any colour, even setting the colour of the LEDs individually.

The neopixels are wired as followed.

VCC -> 3V

GND -> GND

Data-in -> gpio 0

Battery: Any Lipo

Using the battery circuitry of the feather huzzah makes using a lipo really easy. You can either plug it straight into the JST connector of the feather huzzah (NOTE: please check the polarity of your battery, there is no standard for this so it maybe need to be swapped around) or you can connect to GND and BAT pins of the huzzah.To charge the battery you can just plug a micro USB cable into the huzzah.

You should check on the health of the battery. It is generally accepted that a lipo should not be allowed drop below 3V, so you should make sure that it is above that before using it in your project.

The code for this project is heavily based on the helloServer example available for the ESP8266 in the Arudino IDE.

There is an and point for changing the LEDs to Red, Green and then to turn them off, but more features could be added if needed.

You can download and install the code from my Github

There is one external library you will need to add from the library manager, and that's the Neopixel library from Adafruit.

To attach it to the door I used a really strong magnet from an old hard drive. Just remove all the screws from the outside of the hard drive and you should be able to fairly easily be able to pry out the magnet. I think it goes without saying that this should only be done on a hard drive you do not need anymore! This will ruin the drive!

These are really strong so I recommend being careful with them, especially when removing them as you could easily pinch a finger.

As this was just a rapid prototype build, and the force of the magnetic would be pulling towards the case anyways, I decided to just use blu-tack to attach it to the case.

To use the device, you can just visit "wfh.local" on your web browser. Please note that is based on Bonjour services, for more information check out this link.

After that you can just use the web interface to update the colour of the LED whenever you need!

Turned Your Old Phone Into a Motion Alarm Guard.

RvMotionAlarm,

Ever think to have a guard to detect all motions and warn you while you are leaving for a while?

Ever want to use a mobile phone to help you keeping aware of environment changing?

Here you can use RvMotionAlaram.

Easy to use, just one click to make your phone a motion detector.

With mobile app "RvMotionAlarm (also have Win32, Win64 fo PC), it will analyse and classify the motion strength and tracking data.

In according to your setting on alarm sensitivity, it will then sound emergency voice if detecting any exceeding strength on motion activity.

I use this to monitor moving people when I was out

Step 1:　Place your mobile phone to target where you want to monitor.

Step 2: 　Adjust the alarm sensitivity.

Step 3:: Press "Alarm" button to enable alarm and start detecting.

Once there is any motion activity occurs, it will alarm with emergency sound.

The red shadow in the image shows the motion data.
You can change detecting sensitivity, motion color...in the side panel.

Google Play :
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.embarcadero.RvBGS

Win32, Win64, Android and more download here.

http://www.rasvector.url.tw/Download%20Pages/Download_MultiMedia.htm

 By setting tracking color of object, the program will track only the assigned object color.

As you can see, if I set the color of my skin color, it appear only the skin parts.

If I set the tracking color to light blue, it will then track only the blue box.

In the future, I will send the Motion-detecting and Object-tracking data to an Arduino device via BlueTooth or Wifi. Then driving the module in Arduino to do something like sound warning voice, lock the door, make a call, enable lighting...etc.

Welcome to send me any comment. I will try to make this tool more helpful.

How to Make a DIY Alarm/Tripwire (part 1)

Follow these simple steps and you will soon have an awesome little gadget that alerts you to any unwanted intruders. You will immediately get a call on your phone alerting you that your tripwire has been activated.

 Supplies and Tools You Will Need:

    1 Pre-paid phone (We used a $10 Tracfone)
    1 Soldering Iron (You can get a cheap one at Radio Shack)
    60/40 Rosin-Core Solder
    Some wire
    1 Box cutter
    1 Small phillips head screwdriver
    1 Hot glue gun with glue
    Tin Foil
    1 Clothespin

Step 1:

Begin by following the instructions in the phone’s manual to activate the phone. We went online to activate ours, but if you don’t have an internet connection there’s a number you can call as well. All of this information can be found in the box that the phone came in.

Step 2:

Next, we need to program the phone’s speed dial function to call your phone number when the number 8 key is held down.

First, Enter your phone number into the phone by going to: Menu >> Contacts >> Add New Contact

Once you’ve added yourself to the phone’s contact list, pair your number with the phone’s number 8 key by going to: Menu >> Contacts >> Speed Dial List

Select cell number 8, and then select your name from the contacts list.

 
 
If you’ve done this correctly, it will look like this.


Step 3:

Remove the screws from the back plate and disassemble the phone. There are five screws total.

he arrows show you where you will find the screws you need to remove.

Use a small Phillips head screw driver to remove the screws.

 

Step 4:

Once the screws are out, you can use your box cutter to pry the back plate from the front plate. It takes a bit of force and will make a loud snapping sound as it separates, so don’t worry about breaking it because you wont. Once you’ve created some space with the box cutter, you can use your fingers to do the rest of the