This project was created and designed with primary intentions for users to have a sense of security at any time and any place. This idea came about because of all the unfortunate crimes that have been happening around our University area. We realized that this is the first time most of the young adults, who live around a campus, are living on their own. With this in mind, we created a simple solution to security, applicable not only to apartment dwellers but to the general home owner as well. This security system is designed so that the user will have a constant live feed of information when unusual activity is happening inside their home.
Our security system works by connecting two or more photons to each other by the feature Particle.publish and Particle.subscribe. Photon 1 is connected to a magnetic reed switch that is attached to the front door. Photon 2 is connected to a remote. When the loop is broken (door open) Photon 1 will notice and will immediately send an alert to your phone, turn on a camera that looks over the living space (both via IFTTT), and publish that the door is open to all subscribing photons. Photon 2, upon hearing that the door is open from Photon 1, will power on the lights in your room by the attached remote control.
Component OverviewThe Magnetic Reed Switch
The switch (pictured above) signals to Photon 1, which is positioned near by, that the door has either opened or closed. Photon 1 (pictured below) will then publish the state of this door to any device listening.
The listening devices include Thingspeak, IFTTT, and Photon 2. Thingspeak will record the state of the door (1 is open 0 is closed) on a graph. The graph provides a complete record of the door's state, so that at any time one can check to see the condition of the door.
IFTTT is also listening to Photon 1, it runs 3 apps, when certain events are published. The first is Camio, it is a video recording app which is most often used as a live security feed. When the door is published as open, IFTTT tells the old cell phone, mounted on the wall, to begin recording with Camio. This recording is available to see from the Camio app or website from any device, provided you have the proper login credentials. The two other IFTTT applets that will run send a notification to your phone telling you that the door is either open or closed, depending on what the photon published.
Photon 2 (pictured below) will receive the information from the Photon 1's publish and will react accordingly by turning on the lights when the door is open, and by turning them off when the door closes.
Step 0, connect your photons to the WiFi. link: https://youtu.be/uxE9uf_EJtU
The first true step in the creation of your own apartment security system should be wiring the first photon as shown in the circuit diagram below. The reed switch should then be connected above the desired door through whatever means you prefer. Our reed switch, which was meant to only be temporary, was taped to the door and door frame. When connecting the reed switch to the door make sure that the ends are as close as possible, but not so close that they collide when the door opens or closes.
The second step is to set up the second photon (circuit diagram below). The two leads from the photon should be connected to the positive and negative terminals of a remote that controls the lights. The button on the remote that powers the lights is already compressed (we used a metal binder clip) so that the photon (attached to the wall) will act as a switch by supplying power to the remote when the door is opened thus turning on the lights. The remote should be properly angled so that when power is given to it, the signal will be read by the receiver on the LED. If desired, multiple photons and sets of lights may be placed in any however many rooms desired. Each can be set to listen to the opening and closing of the door.
Step 3, setting up Thingspeak. Create a Thingspeak account, go to my channels and create a new channel. Name it whatever you like, and leave the rest set to default. Save it then go to the API keys tab, record your API key. this key will be used in the codes for your photons.
Step 4 should be flashing the code shown below to your photons, Photon 1 code should go to the Photon monitoring the door, and the Individual room code should go to the Photon controlling the lights in whichever room you choose. These codes will only have to be modified slightly, which is done by adding in your API key from the previous step. You must also add in a webhook through these simple steps. Go to particle.build then to the console then to integrations then to new integration, then webhook then custom template, and paste the code below (webhook).
Step 5, download the IFTTT app to your phone and create an applet that will send you a notification when the door opens. This is done by selecting the trigger to be the event name (in our case roomate2017rc3557) and the event trigger (in our case open) if that trigger word is published select notification and write door opened in the notification. Repeat, this time replacing open with closed. By doing this you will receive a notification to your phone whenever the door is opened and closed. (IFTTT is a little slow at times, so it is not abnormal to receive the notification around 10 seconds after the door is opened)
Step 6 (optional) we decided to add additional security to our apartment by adding an old smartphone to our security system. Its function is to solely run the app Camio, which records live video. We positioned our smartphone running Camio directly across from the door to witch the reed switch was connected. Camio is controlled by the third IFTTT applet, its trigger being the same as that for the notification. When the trigger happens, IFTTT will tell Camio to begin recording. The footage from Camio is stored online, can be watched live from any device provided you have the proper login information.
Final ProductWith this system active, whenever the door opens, the lights in the bedroom turn on, a notification is sent to your phone, and Camio begins recording. By these means you can maintain a constant monitoring of your apartment, or home, and have stored footage online of any intruders to your home. While this system is on, everyone in the apartment will know what is going on and can be visually alerted if something suspicious is going on.
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