Hi guys, thought I'd post up a simple little project I've been working on over the last few days.
The aim is to make a laser trip wire trigger that is simple, cheap and can be used to trigger a variety of props (or even control a DIY prop itself for those of you who are more advanced with your programming).
I'm also happy to answer any questions at all so feel free to ask! I promise I won't bite your head off for a stupid question, we all had to start somewhere!
This project uses the following parts:
Arduino Nano - $3.00 USD: http://www.banggood.com/ATmega328P-Nano-V3-Controller-Board-Compatible-Arduino-p-940937.html
Laser receiver Module - $3.28 (for two): http://www.banggood.com/2Pcs-Laser-...-Tube-Sensor-Module-For-Arduino-p-944603.html
Laser module - $3.49 (for 3!): http://www.banggood.com/3Pcs-KY-008-Laser-Transmitter-Module-For-Arduino-AVR-PIC-p-943280.html
So a total cost of $5.80 each (not including wire or a project box).
You'll also need some thin wires, some sort of box for the project and a power supply (between 6-12v will be fine, most people would have an old "wall wart" type power supply lying around which should do the job just fine as long as the voltage is correct).
Now, for those of you who have never used an ardunio (or even programmed anything in your life) please don't be scared off by this project! This is a perfect project to start with as its extremely simple to set up and I'll provide the program for you at the end so all you've got to do is follow instructions
This is probably going to be a fairly lengthy tutorial so I'm going to stretch this out over a few posts so that I don't have to write it all at once.
Before we begin you will also need to install the Arduino software which is what we will use to program our arduino. There's no point in re-inventing the wheel so I won't bother explaining how to do that here just follow the instructions on this page and you should be fine: https://www.arduino.cc/en/Guide/Windows
Once you've installed Arduino open the software and from the "Tools/Board" menu select the option "Arduino Pro or Pro Mini (5V, 16 MHz) w/ ATmega328" to tell the program what type of Arduino board we will be connecting. Later you will need to select the correct serial port from the "Tools/Serial Port" menu but more on that when we are ready to program our Arduino.
I'll put the first step in the next post!
- Daniel
**EDIT**
Here's the download link for the code, so you don't have to go fishing through comments for it!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9wqy5zzsbm1n1mj/Prop_Controller.ino?dl=0
The aim is to make a laser trip wire trigger that is simple, cheap and can be used to trigger a variety of props (or even control a DIY prop itself for those of you who are more advanced with your programming).
I'm also happy to answer any questions at all so feel free to ask! I promise I won't bite your head off for a stupid question, we all had to start somewhere!
This project uses the following parts:
Arduino Nano - $3.00 USD: http://www.banggood.com/ATmega328P-Nano-V3-Controller-Board-Compatible-Arduino-p-940937.html
Laser receiver Module - $3.28 (for two): http://www.banggood.com/2Pcs-Laser-...-Tube-Sensor-Module-For-Arduino-p-944603.html
Laser module - $3.49 (for 3!): http://www.banggood.com/3Pcs-KY-008-Laser-Transmitter-Module-For-Arduino-AVR-PIC-p-943280.html
So a total cost of $5.80 each (not including wire or a project box).
You'll also need some thin wires, some sort of box for the project and a power supply (between 6-12v will be fine, most people would have an old "wall wart" type power supply lying around which should do the job just fine as long as the voltage is correct).
Now, for those of you who have never used an ardunio (or even programmed anything in your life) please don't be scared off by this project! This is a perfect project to start with as its extremely simple to set up and I'll provide the program for you at the end so all you've got to do is follow instructions
This is probably going to be a fairly lengthy tutorial so I'm going to stretch this out over a few posts so that I don't have to write it all at once.
Before we begin you will also need to install the Arduino software which is what we will use to program our arduino. There's no point in re-inventing the wheel so I won't bother explaining how to do that here just follow the instructions on this page and you should be fine: https://www.arduino.cc/en/Guide/Windows
Once you've installed Arduino open the software and from the "Tools/Board" menu select the option "Arduino Pro or Pro Mini (5V, 16 MHz) w/ ATmega328" to tell the program what type of Arduino board we will be connecting. Later you will need to select the correct serial port from the "Tools/Serial Port" menu but more on that when we are ready to program our Arduino.
I'll put the first step in the next post!
- Daniel
**EDIT**
Here's the download link for the code, so you don't have to go fishing through comments for it!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9wqy5zzsbm1n1mj/Prop_Controller.ino?dl=0