TIME REQUIRED:
2–3 Hours
DIFFICULTY:
Intermediate
COST:
$60–$70
MATERIALS
» Adafruit FunHouse Wi-Fi Home Automation
microcontroller board Adafruit 4985, $35
» Mini PIR motion sensor breadboard-friendly,
Adafruit 4871, $4
» NeoPixel LED strip with Stemma connector,
Adafruit 3919, $13
» Servomotor, micro with Stemma connector,
Adafruit 4326, $6
» Craft paper, black
» Tape and glue
TOOLS
» Scissors
» Computer with internet connection
» Code and files: github.com/helenleigh/funhouse
Homebrew alternatives to smart home hubs
have been popular in the maker community for
a number of years. Lots of tech-aware people are
concerned about how Alexa, Google Assistant,
and other smart home devices behave when it
comes to privacy, advertising, and security issues.
Another reason to consider DIY alternatives to
these technologies is that it is just straight-up
awesome to hack your home with devices you
make yourself.
FunHouse is a new board from Adafruit that
makes it easy and joyful to make Wi-Fi-connected
home automation gadgets, from mailbox sensors
to doggie door detectors or cookie jar burglar
alarms. FunHouse has built-in sensors for
temperature, humidity, light, and pressure, plus
three Stemma connectors and a Stemma QT
port for I
2
C devices. The libraries are great too,
letting you easily connect your projects with home
automation software such as Home Assistant.
For this make, we’ll take a look at some of the
things the FunHouse can do by making a haunted
house that senses movement, then dispenses
jelly beans and lights up a window filled with
spooky shadows. We’ll also connect our project
to the internet and log temperature data from the
FunHouse using an Adafruit IO account. When
you’ve completed this project you’ll see how
easy it is to automate your own haunts, props, or
household devices, any day of the year.
BUILD A MINI HAUNTED HOUSE
1. CONNECT YOUR MOTION SENSOR
Start off by connecting the PIR motion sensor
to the FunHouse board. A passive infrared (PIR)
sensor is made up of pyroelectric sensors that
detect heat energy. You have almost certainly
interacted with a PIR sensor before by walking
through doors that open automatically or waving
your arms to turn on motion-triggered lights.
Take a look at the very top of your FunHouse
board and you’ll see a black circle marked PIR,
with some pins and symbols underneath it. Next,
look at your mini breadboard-friendly PIR sensor
and you should notice the labels VIN, OUT, and
GND next to the three pins. Plug your PIR sensor
into your FunHouse board, matching the VIN pin
with the hole labeled “+” and the GND pin with
the hole labeled “–“ (Figure
A
).
2. CONNECT YOUR OUTPUTS
On the side of the FunHouse board you will find
three connectors labeled A0, A1, and A2. These
are Stemma-format 3-pin JST connectors for
connecting NeoPixel strips, servos, speakers, or
relays. These pins can function as analog inputs
or digital I/O. Above these you’ll find another
connector labeled I
2
C, which is a 4-pin JST that
allows you to connect Stemma QT and Qwiic
inputs and outputs, or Grove I
2
C devices if you get
a $2 converter cable.
Connect your servomotor with Stemma
93
make.co
HELEN LEIGH is a hardware
hacker who specializes in
music technologies and craft-
based electronics. Say hello to
her on Twitter @helenleigh.
A
M78_092-97_HalloweenHelen_F1.indd 93M78_092-97_HalloweenHelen_F1.indd 93 7/13/21 10:05 AM7/13/21 10:05 AM
..................Content has been hidden....................
You can't read the all page of ebook, please click here login for view all page.