I have been getting the spark fun newsletter emails for a while and kits look very good but I have a slight problem. I have little to no experience with electronics.
I have signed up to the forum to see if anyone would be able to help with a project I know would be to difficult for me to attempt.
I run a scout group in York, UK and I have a summer camp planned for later in the year. My idea is to create an alarmed box with various things inside and various ways to set off / disable the alarm system.
I am wondering if anyone has done something like this that could help with the project or point me in the direction of some simple set by step instructions.
My plan is to have an armed box the scouts will have to find but when its found I would like it to be armed in various ways.
I was going to have a section where they would need to disconnect wires to disarm if wrong one is unplugged it would set off an audible alarm maybe some LEDs to. I was also going to have a keypad they could try and disable with the correct code again if wrong one is entered the alarm is set off. I did think of a laser beam activation so if they break the beam the alarm goes off or a (trip wire) and finally once they are about to open the box 1 last one that will sound if they tilt it to much.
Does all this sound possible? anyone know how this could be done?
I really appreciate any help. I would like to answer any other questions but feel I may struggle if you ask any electrons related ones.
One last thing it would all need to run off batteries.
ian124:
Does all this sound possible? anyone know how this could be done?
Possible ... absolutely. But you'll need to put down a lot lot lot more details before beginning to build this device. It's a form of a puzzle box. A question for you is whether the puzzle to be solved is via a seemingly random set of actions or if there's some reasoning that can be/supposed to be applied, perhaps via some clues.
Tilt detection is done via a 3 axis accelerometer. There are various way to detect the presence of a person. Plugging/unplugging wires is simple switch detection.
Thank you for getting back to me. I feel I may have left it a little bit late to get this made in time for the end of July. The closer I get to the camp the more stuff I find I need to get done.
My idea was to have the scouts complete challenges and we would then give them a clue after each challenge as to what code to put in or what cable to pull out. Originally we did think of a keypad to put a code in but now we think it would be easier to make with toggle switches to turn on and off. It would also be easier for us to changed which switch sets off the alarm system. Having multiple coloured wires would mean we could also easily change which colour wire sets off the alarm. Ideally we would like something that looks very complicated to the scouts but simple to reset and change the sequence needed to open it.
The sundial quest box is a fantastic idea the more I look at what can be done the more complex I want to make mine.
Maybe something like this is not such an easy project for me to start with
ian124:
Maybe something like this is not such an easy project for me to start with
Hard for me to say. I do think you need to get out of "analysis paralysis" and decide what you need for inputs and outputs. so let me suggest as few things based on what you've said.
Switches : you wanted to to have some toggle switches to put into position A or B. Let me suggest 8 of them. You’ll use them to switch ground to an input (sw closed) or leave the input open (internal pull-up to 5v).
Wires : Banana cables seem as good idea, as they are durable. Perhaps another vendor has them in more colors ? Again start with 8 cables and so 16 binding posts.
Tilt sensor : This device is more, much more, than a tilt sensor. It’s a 3 axis accelerometer, gyro and magnetometer. So you can detect tilt or spin and (w/some work) implement a compass. Good for all manner of motion sensing.
Display : You’ve not said much so let me suggest a simple 4 line character display to allow the box to “talk” to the scouts. https://www.sparkfun.com/products/256 Adafruit has a larger selection IIRC.
And why not a kewl LED “status” or “countdown” or ??? display ? With a rotary encoder and push switch (to enter the switch/cable/XYZ setting) …
Will you want a speaker ? And then a microphone ??
And of course some flavor of an Arduino to do all the computing. Let’s hold off on that for just a bit and see what you think about the above. Lastly … will this box run on battery power or be plugged into some “wall-wart” ?