I would like to begin this blog post by sharing a project I completed this week. Due to the "Maker" in myself that this course has been channeling I finally made time to complete some craft projects. Thank you Dr. B for helping to bring the maker spirit back out in me. What made it so special is my daughter sat down with me and we both created beautiful wreaths and precious memories together. Now onto the challenge. :)
This week was the Iron Chef- Maker Space Challenge. I was terrified and excited at the same time. I wanted to expand on my Christmas Tunes with LED's from last week, but the coding for the ideas I had were beyond my coding ability at this point. I discovered that fact after working for a few days to conquer the code and because of a looming assignment deadline I had to move on and come up with another idea. I will continue trying to conquer the coding for the original idea during Christmas break.
Challenge: Servo and Photo Resister Controlling LED's and Christmas Tunes
Now, onto what I chose for the Iron Chef- Maker Space Challenge. For my project I knew I wanted a Christmas theme so I chose to develop a circuit in which a photo resister would turn on LED lights when it is dark and turn the LEDs off when it is light. The idea sparked from a statement my dad made earlier this week when the temperature was in the 20's. My dad went outside about midnight to turn off the Christmas lights for the night. When he came back into the house, shivering he said, "I wish the lights would just turn on and off by themselves!" Through trial and error I created a circuit that would make that happen. I used a servo on my circuit to create the illusion of light and dark so the photo resister could register the difference between light and dark.
After creating the circuit I knew something was missing. I could not give up on the idea of Christmas tunes included in my circuit. I worked with the code until I was able to get tunes to play. YAY!! VICTORY!! I was a happy woman. When the servo moves the platform over the photo resistor and creates the illusion of darkness, the LEDs light up and the Christmas tune starts playing. The servo will wait until the tune has completed to start rotating again.
Challenge: Servo and Photo Resister Controlling LED's and Christmas Tunes
Now, onto what I chose for the Iron Chef- Maker Space Challenge. For my project I knew I wanted a Christmas theme so I chose to develop a circuit in which a photo resister would turn on LED lights when it is dark and turn the LEDs off when it is light. The idea sparked from a statement my dad made earlier this week when the temperature was in the 20's. My dad went outside about midnight to turn off the Christmas lights for the night. When he came back into the house, shivering he said, "I wish the lights would just turn on and off by themselves!" Through trial and error I created a circuit that would make that happen. I used a servo on my circuit to create the illusion of light and dark so the photo resister could register the difference between light and dark.
After creating the circuit I knew something was missing. I could not give up on the idea of Christmas tunes included in my circuit. I worked with the code until I was able to get tunes to play. YAY!! VICTORY!! I was a happy woman. When the servo moves the platform over the photo resistor and creates the illusion of darkness, the LEDs light up and the Christmas tune starts playing. The servo will wait until the tune has completed to start rotating again.
Code
Picture of the circuit including Arduino and Breadboard
Diagram
After I finished building the circuit and created a platform that the servo controls out of cardboard I wasn't happy with the results. I got out my box of Christmas decorations and chose to "make" something I could feel proud of. I am sharing pictures taken through the process.
Video
Reflection: The process this week was full of failures. I did not have the time to complete the project I envisioned for the week. I knew that I had to come up with something using the photo resistor and servo. I thought I had decided to have the photo resistor placed on the breadboard and I would place my hand over the photo resistor which would turn on the servo. Once I got that completed I wanted more and decided to use a platform and have the servo provided the illusion of darkness instead of using my hand. Once again, I was not satisfied. I had to decorate. :) Still, I wasn't satisfied, I needed a Christmas tune for the circuit to be complete. Once I completed the board, and finally finished the code with no errors I was happy and feel I completed what I set out to do. I am happy that I was not satisfied in what I initially completed. I feel I now have the passion and determination it takes to be a "maker!"
When I thought on the possible extensions of this project and examples of similar programs/circuits in the real world my solar lights came to mind. I have the most adorable solar light Gnome and I can't help but think he could have a photo resistor or something similar. Street lights and other similar lights are also a possible extension. I have posted a picture of my Gnome below. His name is Bob!
Bob at Night
Bob at Night
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