Team Group 47: Nicholas Melton, antonio kraychete

Published November 25, 2019

You got mail!

Tired of having to walk out in the cold rain to see if you got mail? Well don't worry anymore! "You got mail!" is here to save the day!

IntermediateFull instructions provided750

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Breadboard (generic)

Particle Photon

Jumper wires (generic)

AA Batteries

5 mm LED: Red

Magnetic Proximity Sensor, Sensor and Magnet

4xAA battery holder

Resistor 1k ohm

Software apps and online services

IFTTT Maker service

Google Sheets

Particle Build Web IDE

Story

Tired of checking your mailbox every time you are expecting important mail? Don't worry about it anymore. You Got Mail just arrived on the marketplace.

Composed of two Particle Argon circuits, You Got Mail will notify you by sending an Facebook message when your mailbox was last opened. One particle argon circuit will remain inside your house with an LED light present. The other will remain inside the mailbox connected to a closed switch. A set of 4 AA batteries will power the circuit.

As the mailbox is opened, the switch also opens, making the photon alert that the mailbox is open - it also makes the LED light inside the house turn on. When the mailbox is closed again, the photon will alert that the mailbox closed.

The first circuit, shown below is a simple LED connection with a resistor which is used to notify the consumer they have received mail.

Home Circuit

The second circuit is the one used inside the mailbox that will ping a signal when the proximity sensor is altered, essentially the mailbox door will be opened and this will send a signal to the second argon to activate the LED. It will also shut off the light once the mailbox door has been closed and the proximity sensors are in the original position. Below is a picture of our second circuit.

Mailbox Circuit

Below is a video of our prototype model working in action.

Video of Project

How do we get the message to be sent through Facebook?

By creating an applet on the IFTTT website. This applet connected the particle software to the Facebook account. So, every time the mailbox was opened, the particle website published it, which made a message be sent through Facebook. The applet is shown below:

Facebook Message IFTTT Applet

How do we gather data on excel?

By using the same method as the Facebook messages.

Google Sheets IFTTT Applet

The link to the live spreadsheet is:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mdhe2mpEHFykuXEqvU0sd29kIqI5L8k4FUgxLJAOfPg/edit#gid=0

Graph of data collected:

Code

int ledPin = D6;                // LED Pin


void setup() {
    pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
    Particle.subscribe("Box", myHandler);
}

 void myHandler(const char *event, const char *data)
 {
  Particle.publish("mail_new", "New Mail", PRIVATE);
  digitalWrite(D7,HIGH);
  digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);
  delay(1000);
  digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
  delay(1000);
  digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);
  delay(1000);
  digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
  delay(1000);
  digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);
  delay(1000);
  digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
  delay(1000);}
  
  void loop() {
      
  }

SYSTEM_THREAD(ENABLED);

SYSTEM_MODE(AUTOMATIC);  

int inputPin = D6;              
int light = D4;
int pirState = LOW;             
int val = 0;                    
                
int calibrateTime = 5000;   

void setup() {
    pinMode(light, OUTPUT);
    pinMode(inputPin, INPUT);  
    Particle.subscribe ("mail_new", myHandler );
}

void loop() {

  if (calibrated()) {

    readTheSensor();

    reportTheData();
    }
}

void readTheSensor() {
    val = digitalRead(inputPin);
}

bool calibrated() {
    return millis() - calibrateTime > 0;
}


void reportTheData() {
    if (val == HIGH) {
        
        if (pirState == LOW) {
         
         Particle.publish("mail_new", "Mailbox Open", PUBLIC);
          
          pirState = HIGH;
                 }
    } else {
        if (pirState == HIGH) {
       
          Particle.publish("mail_new", "Mailbox Closed", PUBLIC);
          pirState = LOW;
                  }
    }
}

void myHandler(const char *event, const char *data) {
    digitalWrite (light, HIGH);
    delay(1500);
    digitalWrite (light, LOW);
}

Credits

Nicholas Melton

1 project • 0 followers

antonio kraychete

1 project • 0 followers

You got mail!

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Story

Schematics

At Home Circuit

Mailbox Circuit

Code

House Code

Mailbox Code

Credits

Nicholas Melton

antonio kraychete

Comments

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You got mail!

You got mail!

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Story

Schematics

At Home Circuit

Mailbox Circuit

Code

House Code

Mailbox Code

Credits

Nicholas Melton

antonio kraychete

Comments

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