EEVblog Electronics Community Forum
Electronics => Beginners => Topic started by: medictrode on October 12, 2016, 11:40:51 pm
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Hello all, awesome forum,
My mailbox is about 300 Feet from my front door, and last year I got some battery powered Christmas lights for it. It's a huge pain at the end of the night to walk out there, especially when all the other lights have on an indoor switch or 2. Anyway, I'd like to make a remote switch and I am thinking an XBee would do the trick, with maybe a relay and a lantern battery on the mailbox side so it lasts the whole season(LED Lights). Am I correct in assuming the Xbee would do the Job? I am a little overwhelmed by the amount of models there are, but it seems like a easy and useful project. Any ideas would be appreciated on what to buy, thank you..
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XBee and Bluetooth and the like have data rates much higher than what you would need to switch lights on and off. I would grab one of those cheap wireless door chimes or an old remote control car and turn that into a wireless link.
One of these maybe http://www.ebay.com.au/bhp/remote-power-switch. (http://www.ebay.com.au/bhp/remote-power-switch.) At Bunnings, a warehouse shop in Australia, they have them for around $18 with one remote and a mains switch.
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I would grab one of those cheap wireless door chimes or an old remote control car and turn that into a wireless link.
One of these maybe http://www.ebay.com.au/bhp/remote-power-switch. (http://www.ebay.com.au/bhp/remote-power-switch.) At Bunnings, a warehouse shop in Australia, they have them for around $18 with one remote and a mains switch.
They don't have anything like 300' range, although you could possibly add better antennas.
Xbee would probably work, but why not use a simple timer?
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I'd probably go for a solar charged battery and let it turn itself off when the charge falls below a set minimum.
There are heaps to choose from all over eBay and other places.
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Or a phototransistor & MOSFET (plus $0.30 worth of glue). $3 all-in on veroboard.
What sort of battery are you using? SLA will die with deep discharge - you may want to lookk into cut-off and charging options as well. Or walk 300m to the switch!
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All great ideas, much appreciated. I guess I just like to overcomplicate things, plus I always wanted to use the XBee module..:-)
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All great ideas, much appreciated. I guess I just like to overcomplicate things, plus I always wanted to use the XBee module..:-)
Ahhh - now I understand!
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They don't have anything like 300' range
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Ah right, good point.
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just use some levers, string, pulleys, rods :D
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instead of a RF remote, how about using an infrared remote? just replace the IR LED with an IR laser diode >:D
IR should work well at night.
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Why not a photo sensor and a timer? I guess when sky goes dark you want it to turn on and a few hours after that off... A µC doing so would draw very little, sure the duration of the battery would still be imposed by the lights... The solar charger mentioned before would help with that.
JS
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We have a couple sets of LED lighted snowmen powered by batteries (varies, either AA or D) which have an timer build into the battery case. Push the button once, and they power on for about four hours at the same time every day. I have yet to take mine apart - would be funny if it had a 555 timer.
You are in the US, what I am talking about looks very similar to what can be found quite cheaply at that big box discount store everyone likes to hate. (Holiday Time 4-Piece Vintage Snowman Pathway Christmas Lighted Lawn Stakes Set ). If you don't like snowmen splice in LEDs of your choosing.
tim
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I use one of these https://www.amazon.com/Thunbird-Channel-Wireless-Receiver-Momentary/dp/B00BQ842DG/ref=pd_lpo_267_lp_t_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=XAZ36YTAX9M53XV6APZP (https://www.amazon.com/Thunbird-Channel-Wireless-Receiver-Momentary/dp/B00BQ842DG/ref=pd_lpo_267_lp_t_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=XAZ36YTAX9M53XV6APZP) works really well
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We have a couple sets of LED lighted snowmen powered by batteries (varies, either AA or D) which have an timer build into the battery case. Push the button once, and they power on for about four hours at the same time every day. I have yet to take mine apart - would be funny if it had a 555 timer.
...
tim
i'd like to see those caps!
JS