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Sensor/IoT device to send an alert message - Squirrel Traps

DigitalHillbilly

Greetings, I am new to the forum.  I want to make a device that will send a message/email/other home automation protocol message when an event happens (trap trips). I have looked at several microcontrollers ESP32, firebeetle, etc..., Pi and Arduino devices, but looks like the Pi Zero might be my best (easiest) solution. I wanted to keep it simple, and very cheap (under $20 if possible)... I need the device to be battery powered, and portable. (I don't like the idea on connecting a wall outlet to a metal cage.)  It doesn’t need to be on all of the time, when the event happens two contact plates touch, a circuit is closed (or a button pushed) the device powers up and send the message. At this point it can be programmed to shut down, or just let the power drop off until it fails.. I don’t really care here... It’s a pain to get into these attic areas every day to check, as fiberglass insulation gets everywhere, I would rather know when something is trapped, so I can go take the squirrel to a park and let it go. I had one die and decompose in a trap a long time ago, and it was messy.. Don’t want to do that again. My purpose is not to kill them,, just get them out of my attic, they are damaging my home.

My experience with power bricks is that there is usually a button that has to be pushed to activate or wake them up, they don't usually just serve power when the connected device powers up, at least the ones I have. I can't seem to find any 5V batteries with a micro USB cable ready for the Pi Zero. Weird, I would have thought someone somewhere would have made one by now.  I don’t need more than maybe 5-10 minutes of on time, the pi to power up, connect to my home Wi-Fi, send the message, then shutdown, all of that is easy enough to set up. I had thought there would be some IoT sensor or device out there to handle this type of thing, but I haven’t found anything yet... So it’s back to a Pi solution... 

I work in Critical Infrastructure and Cyber Security and am expanding my skillset a bit with some of these types of projects, and IoT and IIoT sensors and like devices are on the rise... It seems that a device similar to this could be used for a whole slew of functions and situations, weird no one has a solution yet... I'm starting small and simple, with plans to go on to bigger and better things.. Any help, recommendations, or suggestions are welcome Slight smile

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  • 0

    I always start by looking at your requirements.

    I want to make a device that will send a message/email/other home automation protocol message

    I wanted to keep it simple, and very cheap (under $20 if possible)

    I need the device to be battery powered, and portable.


    Then I look at some obvious solutions. You've listed one already.

    It doesn’t need to be on all of the time, when the event happens two contact plates touch, a circuit is closed (or a button pushed) the device powers up and send the message. At this point it can be programmed to shut down, or just let the power drop off until it fails.

    Well, I do recall this chap on YouTube who designed his own WiFi board which did all this power management for you so that it could operate off a battery. He called it a TrigBoard.

    I believe you can buy it on Tindie - although it looks to be more than $30. Here's the YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD-jmSkM3d4

    Then, instead of the standalone options, another way to go is look at a cloud based platform which incorporates a dev board. This helps with the notification side. An example would be Particle.io and they offer a Photon board for less than $20: https://store.particle.io/products/photon?_pos=3&_sid=883694116&_ss=r


    However, from a requirements perspective, you have to first consider the distance and communication reliability from your WiFi router to the device if you want to use WiFi. Also WiFi is quite power hungry as it provides more bandwidth and speed than you really need for the application. So not sure if this really is the best solution out there. An alternative low power wireless option for you would be a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) device, which can connect to your phone or a tablet to act as a bridge etc. There are plenty of devices under $20. For example, the BGM220 Explorer Kit (community.element14.com/.../silicon_labs_ble_exp.

    For Arduino fans there is also a new lost cost BLE board from SeeedStudio for <$10. Although its still at preorder stage: www.seeedstudio.com/Seeed-XIAO-BLE-nRF52840-p-5201.html

    Otherwise you are looking at LoRa or sub GHz wireless devices.

    Hope this helps.

  • 0 in reply to BigG

    Thanks for the suggestions, I’ll look closely into each one of them. Wi-Fi signal was one of the first things I thought of, and the distance from the closest WAP, and the number of walls (amount of wood and sheetrock) the signals would need to navigate. The BLE was one of the methods I have considered, and might still end up using, but right now I am playing with the ESP-Now communication method, it seems to have more than adequate range to cover my home. My secondary purpose for this project was to educate myself on what was possible now, what technologies already existed, and or what was new that I didn’t know about. So thanks again for helping me on both points Blush  

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  • 0 in reply to BigG

    Thanks for the suggestions, I’ll look closely into each one of them. Wi-Fi signal was one of the first things I thought of, and the distance from the closest WAP, and the number of walls (amount of wood and sheetrock) the signals would need to navigate. The BLE was one of the methods I have considered, and might still end up using, but right now I am playing with the ESP-Now communication method, it seems to have more than adequate range to cover my home. My secondary purpose for this project was to educate myself on what was possible now, what technologies already existed, and or what was new that I didn’t know about. So thanks again for helping me on both points Blush  

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