Sunday 17 April 2016

Energy Saving Switch With Presence Sensor


Detailed, step by step Instructions: http://www.instructables.com/id/Energy-Saving-Switch-With-Presence-Sensor/



Do you face such situations when you leave your reading lights, table fans or soldering irons without switching them off and later realize that they were on for too many hours which subsequently jumps off your electricity bills? Well, if you have such a problem of forgetting things which probably most of you would have (including me :P), you have just found the right thing! This project will detect your presence on your work chair and then switch on and off appliances connected to it accordingly. 

The project uses an ultrasonic sensor connected to the Mediatek Linkit ONE as it's brain. By detecting the distance from the sensor to your chair, it can detect your presence as the distance will decrease when you are sitting on the chair. The relay connected to linkit one gets activated when you are sitting on your chair thus switching on the appliance while it switches it off as you leave. Thus, this project will greatly help to reduce your electricity bills as any appliance from soldering irons and hot glue guns to lights and fans can be controlled using this appliance.

The project is not very complicated and easy to make thus can be a good way to start with linkit one. There are innumerable number of modifications you can make to this project. Remember to post a feedback in the comment section below. Do post the pictures of your own project if you've made one yourself. Don't forget to follow for more great projects!



Detailed, step by step Instructions: http://www.instructables.com/id/Energy-Saving-Switch-With-Presence-Sensor/


Tuesday 12 April 2016

Get An SMS Tank Overflow Alert


Detailed step by step instructions at: http://www.instructables.com/id/SMS-Tank-Overflow-Alert/

Introduction:
Water tank overflow is a major problem in most of the homes these days (not in appartments). Of course there are such alarms to prevent this problem but still, they are not that effective. This is almost the same thing but much smaller and with better features, the best one being that instead of an audio or visual signal, this one gives you an SMS alert to your phone as the tank gets full! This should be a much better option, isn't it? If not, then you can just build it as a cool weekend project just to satisfy your desire to MAKE it yourself!
This one uses the Mediatek Linkit ONE, an awesome prototyping platform with loads of features. As you just have to send a text message, this one uses the GSM feature to give you an alert no matter where you are in this world. For overflow detection, it uses that old yet effective transistor circuit with two wires moving towards the tank. Some people would have a doubt that combining electricity and water can be risky, but you needn't worry as this one has no such risks unless you throw your Linkit ONE inside water ;)

How It Works?
First, starting with the working of this project. The main process, as already explained in the introduction part is that the Linkit ONE will send you a text and will ring a buzzer + glow an LED as soon as it detects that the water tank is full.
The first part is the water sensor board that actually detects water after it has reached a certain level to prevent an overflow. You may already know that tap water is a fair conductor of electricity (neither too good, nor too bad). Now using this fact and placing two wires inside the tank at a certain level, we can easily detect the level of water as when the water will reach that level, it will act as a conductor or simply a resistor and join the other two wires completing the circuit. As water has a quite high resistance, I have used a transistor to detect even very small current that will flow through and give the output to linkit ONE accordingly.
Rest of the part is pretty straightforward. As the Linkit ONE gets a output from the transistor, it sends an SMS to your phone through it's built-in GSM feature. But you should also have a SIM card inserted to actually make it work. I have also added an LED and a buzzer to give audio as well as visual indications along with an SMS alert. 

Detailed step by step instructions at: http://www.instructables.com/id/SMS-Tank-Overflow-Alert/

Monday 11 April 2016

Breadboard Projects: The Musical Bell (DIY)



Detailed Instructions: http://www.instructables.com/id/Ten-Breadboard-Projects-For-Beginners/?ALLSTEPS

Description: This is simple project that can be made easily in five minutes. It is a musical bell that produces a melodious sound just like doorbells. It uses the um66 ic popularly known as the melody ic which has a built in oscillator and an amplifier which can directly drive a buzzer but needs an external circuit to drive a speaker. The supply voltage if the ic is 1.5 - 4.5v so cannot be powered by a 9v battery.

Instructions: Connect everything to the breadboard according to the layout given above. Refer to the images above for the pin configurations of the transistor as well as the ic. Connect a battery holder with 2 AA or AAA batteries to the power rails of the breadboard. Do not connect a 9v battery as it would burn the ic. On switching it on, a musical sound will be heard.

Difficulty: Easy
Parts List:
• 1x UM66 ic
• 1x bc547 or 2n2222 or 2n3904 transistor
• 1x 1K resistor
• 1x 8 ohm speaker
• 2x AA or AAA batteries
• 1x Battery holder