This project was created to make me just a little bit lazier. Instead of turning on my phone, going to the weather widget, and refreshing it so I can get the latest weather, I had it so I "swiped" my card through the photo interrupter and I had the weather texted to me. This way, I have the weather as a constant reminder until the next update.
The mechanics of the photo-interrupter is as such, it is made up of an inferred led and a phototransistor with a gap in between them. When that gap is covered by a solid object, such as a card of some sort, the light from the led no longer reaches the phototransistor, sending a value that says that there is an object between the led and the transistor.
Set-Up:
Powered On:
Result:
A photo-interrupter was not always the objective, however. I planned on starting with a pir motion sensor. The sensor was too sensitive and would start the program even when I did not mean to activate it. I later switched to a photo-interrupter as it still seemed interesting enough to look like something from the future.
IFTTT:
How To:
1. Create an Open Weather Map account and have an API key created.
2. Create a webhook for Open Weather Map with the correct information. The appid is the API key from Open Weather
3. Follow a similar wiring pattern to the one shown below. The Input sensor for the photo-interrupter is plugged into pin A5 while the pin for the led is D5.
4. Copy the program onto a file in build.particle.io. Test the code after flashing it by putting an object (eg. card, paper) and watch as the led light up in confirmation.
5. Follow the directions shown through the picture of the IFTTT applet. Configure the applet to send you a text every time the weather changes to anything greater than -100 after it is called.
Close Up:
I even incorporated this into my day once. I used it to tell me the weather before I left for work. I used my work card and swiped it through, and seconds later I got my text message telling me the weather.


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