I am fairly new to arduino have bought a couple of books and was proud to see my first "BLINKY" light along with "HELLO WORLD" on my LCD, So I think its time for my first major project and would like your thoughts on the following...
Project: E.P.D.S (Early Possum Detection System)
Combine the following components together to form a transmit station and a receive station with notification on both transmit and receive!
Transmit side:
HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor, 433.92MHZ Transmitter, LED, ATTINY85 and battery
Receive Side:
433.92MHZ receiver, wave/mp3 device?, LED or 16-2 LCD screen, speaker, ATTINY85, reset button, power supply (Battery or Wall-Wart)
I am expecting to need to add more pieces and parts but do you think I am on the right path or just out of my mind? (LOL) Any and all suggestions welcome....
el_supremo:
How do you plan to distinguish between a possum and anything else that can set off the ultrasonic detector?
Pete
LOL Pete!!
I don't expect to but the only "critter" eating the Persimmons off the tree that I know of is a couple of hungry Possums! This conclusion was formed from many vigilant hours watching the tree!! (Boring) Now let me make this perfectly clear...... NO Possum will be HARMED in any way other than depriving them of the persimmons!
Seriously I just thought it would be fun to build a project that could alert me of the possum so we can scare them away! I really would not mind but they take one or two bites of the fruit and leave them on the tree then I go to get some and there half eaten.
The problem I was thinking of is with false positives. For example, the alarm could go off whenever a bird flies within range, or if it is windy the alarm could go off because it has detected movement of branches or leaves.
Bear in mind that a lot of critters can hear ultrasound that you and I can't. Dogs can hear up to about 38 KHz. So your device might actually be a EPAS (Early Possum Annoyer System). You might see if there are any studies on the subject, and perhaps just build an ultrasonic transmitter, perhaps triggered by an infrared detector.
jrdoner:
Bear in mind that a lot of critters can hear ultrasound that you and I can't. Dogs can hear up to about 38 KHz. So your device might actually be a EPAS (Early Possum Annoyer System). You might see if there are any studies on the subject, and perhaps just build an ultrasonic transmitter, perhaps triggered by an infrared detector.
Thanks You for that Idea never thought of it from that direction! i will use my friend "Google" and see what he says.
PIR is probably a better fit for the task. You could also hook up a solenoid activated valve, attached to a presurised water reservoir to squirt them. Or just some compressed air. I'd bet that a hiss would scare the heebie jeebies out of them.
KenF:
PIR is probably a better fit for the task. You could also hook up a solenoid activated valve, attached to a presurised water reservoir to squirt them. Or just some compressed air. I'd bet that a hiss would scare the heebie jeebies out of them.
KenF
Thanks for the suggestion and I think you are right about the PIR it would most likely be the best fit for this project! Yes the water idea is also great the research I have done states that they definitely do not like being sprayed with water!!