Team You Can Wear 'em Twice: Robert Stiltner, Benjamin Hodges

Published November 9, 2016 © GPL3+

The Asstron 3000

These motion activated toilet lights will change your entire outlook on using the bathroom.

IntermediateFull instructions provided6 hours2,248

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Double Sided Tape

Multicolor LED Strip

Particle SPDT Relay

Particle Photon

PIR Motion Sensor (generic)

1N4007 – High Voltage, High Current Rated Diode

Resistor 1k ohm

Particle Photon Maker Kit

General Purpose Transistor NPN

12 volt batteries

Software apps and online services

Ubidots

Story

Imagine a world... with toilets that illuminated.

The impossible has become a reality with the Asstron 3000. If you have ever used the bathroom at night, you know what a leap this is for mankind. To make your dreams come true, just follow the few simple steps of this project.

Using a simple PIR sensor for motion detection, two LED light strips placed within the toilet bowl can be illuminated upon entering the bathroom. And that's not all, the LED strips are equipped with a color change wheel located near the toilet so that the mood can be set for any sort of midnight pit stop.

The PIR Motion Circuit

This circuit is very simple involving only a PIR sensor. Connections include a ground, the Vin 5 volt power source, and finally to an analog pin A1. When motion is sensed, the sensor sends a full voltage signal to pin A1 which reads an analog value of 4095. The Motion Detector Code will examine the analog value and determine whether motion is detected or not. The resulting determination (motion or no motion) is sent to the other particle using a publish/subscribe system. The code will run in a continuous loop until motion is detected, and then a delay of about 7.5 minutes will occur. Since motion triggers the lights, they will stay on for 7.5 minutes once triggered (because we like to take our time on the throne). This circuit was placed right underneath the bathroom sink cabinet near the door, this way, as you walk into the bathroom or open the door motion is detected.

The Relay Circuit

This circuit is used to accept the data sent from the PIR circuit and translate it into the switching of a SPDT relay. Two small 12 volt batteries are used to power the two LED light strips inside the toilet (The large black rectangle on the side). They are connected across the "switching" tabs on the relay. Therefore, when the relay is triggered, the circuit is completed, allowing the voltage to pass through the color wheel controller and into the LED strips within the toilet. The relay will remain in this triggered position for a set length of time (7.5 minutes) due to the previously discussed publish/subscribe system within the code. This circuit was placed underneath the bathroom countertop using the sticky back of the photon breadboard.

Graphing

In this project, we used Ubidots to track motion in the bathroom. Using an analog pin on the Relay Circuit, data was sent to Ubidots. The A2 pin was directly connected to one side of the coil on the SPDT relay. When the coil was energized (due to detected motion), the A2 pin would receive a value of around 4000. Ubidots collects data every second using the values in our code, but this could be set to a longer period and still produce good data. Ubidots can be set up online to produce a graph that you need. The graph shown is only for a few seconds and isn't too exciting because the only data received is either 0 for no motion, or around 4000 for motion. We also set up Ubidots to send Ben a text message any time motion was detected in the bathroom. This way, he could tell when Robert was using the bathroom at any given time. A screenshot of the text message can be seen below.

The LED Strips

There are two LED light strips stuck to the underside of the toilet lid. They are wired around the toilet to a conveniently placed color wheel. This color wheel is the best thing since sliced bread. RED, GREEN, BLUE, AND EVEN DIFFERENT MODES!!! Folks, it really is unbelievable. Just a turn of a knob and you can set the mood for a bathroom break you'll never forget... well, maybe not that great, but it still beats the dark. Next time you wake up at 1:00am with an urge for going, don't turn on those dreadful lights, just make your way into a perfectly lit bathroom. Do yourself a favor... Go forth and build yourself the Asstron 3000.

Code

Motion Detector Code

Arduino

This code is used to send the detected motion of the PIR Sensor on the particle located at the entrance to the door to the other particle located in the cabinet powering the LED lights. The code uses the buddy system so to speak. The particle with the motion sensor takes the motion and publishes the signal to the other particle which is the subscriber to the code. The delay in line 50 is used to determine how long the lights are active and is up to the person using the code and lights.

int led = D0;
int sensor = A1;


int intactValue;
int brokenValue;
int beamThreshold;

bool beamBroken = false;

// We start with the setup function.

void setup() {
  
 
 
  pinMode(sensor,INPUT);  
  pinMode(power,OUTPUT); 

  // Here we are going to subscribe to your buddy's event using Particle.subscribe
 
  // Subscribe will listen for the event motiondetect and, when it finds it, will run the function myHandler()
  

  


  

  

  intactValue = 4095;
  brokenValue = 0;
  beamThreshold = 2000;

}


void loop() {
  // This loop sends a publish when the motion is detected.
   
  if (analogRead(sensor)>beamThreshold) {
    if (beamBroken==true) {
        Particle.publish("motiondetect","intact");
        // publish this public event
        
        
        // Set the flag to reflect the current status of the beam.
        beamBroken=false;
        delay(450000);
    }
  }

  else {
      if (beamBroken==false) {
        // Same deal as before...
        Particle.publish("motiondetect","broken");
        beamBroken=true;
      }
  }

}

Relay Circuit

Arduino

This code is used to accept the PIR sensor output signal from the other particle photon. When the code receives a signal that shows motion has been detected, an output pin D6 is triggered to output voltage through a SPDT Relay, therefore allowing voltage to pass to the two LED strips in the toilet.
This code also sends data to a graphing program online called Ubidots. A pin on the particle, A2, measured analog voltage across the coil in the relay, therefore showing when the relay was activated. The data was collected every second and seemed to work fine, but taking a measurement every couple of minutes would be sufficient to accurately plot data.

#include "Ubidots/Ubidots.h"
#define TOKEN "dqkFj8sPgfMqSX33HpJ10HaTuXyuCr" 

int relay = D6;

Ubidots ubidots(TOKEN);
void setup() {
   Serial.begin(115200);
  pinMode(relay,OUTPUT); // Our relay is output as well
  
  // Here we are going to subscribe to your buddy's event using Particle.subscribe
  Particle.subscribe("motiondetect", myHandler);
  // Subscribe will listen for the event motiondetect and, when it finds it, will run the function myHandler()
 
void loop() {
  // This loop sends a publish when motion is detected
   float value1 = analogRead(A2);

    ubidots.add("motion", value1);  // Change for your variable name
    ubidots.sendAll();
    delay(1000);
}
// Now for the myHandler function, which is called when the cloud tells us that our buddy's event is published.
void myHandler(const char *event, const char *data)
{


  if (strcmp(data,"intact")==0) {

    digitalWrite(relay,HIGH);
  }
  else if (strcmp(data,"broken")==0) {
 
    digitalWrite(relay,LOW);
  }
  else {
    // if the data is something else, don't do anything.
    // Really the data shouldn't be anything but those two listed above.
  }
}

Credits

Robert Stiltner

1 project • 1 follower

Benjamin Hodges

1 project • 1 follower

The Asstron 3000

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Story

Schematics

Motion Detector Schematic

LED and Relay Schematic

Code

Motion Detector Code

Relay Circuit

Credits

Robert Stiltner

Benjamin Hodges

Comments

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The Asstron 3000

The Asstron 3000

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Story

Schematics

Motion Detector Schematic

LED and Relay Schematic

Code

Motion Detector Code

Relay Circuit

Credits

Robert Stiltner

Benjamin Hodges

Comments

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