MotionMote with TSL2561 and Moteino Trace

[noch]

Well, my first Mote is finished up and I very pleased with it.  I needed an inexpensive way to detect motion as a part of my much larger home automation project, and while researching how to get the most battery out of bare atmega328ps, I came across LowPowerLabs.  Now I have 10 Moteinos and a head full of Winter projects  . 

I really like the MotionMote but since I already had the motion sensors, a 3d printer, and wanted to add a light sensor, I chose to make my own.  The reason for the light sensor is that I work from home a lot and want my home automation to turn on and off lights only as needed.  We have a lot of trees and depending on the time of day, cloud cover, and season, a room's ambient light source varies greatly.  Some rooms are nearly dark at different times of day but some are well lit on their own.  The TSL2561 does a great job of reading the amount of visible light in a room and I consider it very low power for my needs. 

I included a battery monitoring circuit on the proto board I used to hold the TSL2561 (the proto boards sold here are excellent for this and high quality it seems).  It actually turned out really well and the whole package places everything just right for the Mote.  I am a bit paranoid about fire and lipos so I added a tiny inline fuse in case my protoboard work has issues. 

I designed a 3d printable enclosure using Tinkercad.  I am just now getting into some of the other 3d modeling tools so I may revise this soon.  It works fine though.

Lessons learned and things I want to add/improve:

-This stuff can get complicated, fast.  Simple is the best.
-Don't throw away your Moteinos on accident or on purpose    -  I have a LOT of small parts coming in from all over and it is incredibly easy to trash what looks like an empty static bag.  I found out that a Moteino cost just enough and has more than enough "cool factor" points for me to go digging in the trash at midnight.  Lets just say I had a stinky Moteino for a couple of days but its all better now...  On that same note I pulled a solder pad off of one of them after repeated mistakes on my end and got a little depressed.  No worries, that one will make a great wireless programming Mote or something. 
-Learn how to make/order my own breakout circuits/shields.  I am torn between buying an inexpensive CNC machine (knowing I will mess up but can keep making them myself) or just ordering them from a maker knowing I will probably mess up some. 
-Make the cases and Mote more snap in.  I would like everything to securely fit into the case.  Right now its just the PIR dome superglued inside the case.  That will take time and practice. 

Thanks for all of the direct and indirect support!  This is a very rewarding hobby.

I will add a link to the modified MotionMote code and STL file for the case this weekend. 

[Felix]

Wow, really lovely work, you rock!
I need to get into 3d printing
I'd love to see this posted as a more thorough guide in the new Low Power Lab Guide. Let me know if you're interested.

[WhiteHare]

Looks like you're getting good results.  Which 3D printer are you using?  Last year I tried looking into buying one, but everything was in such a state of flux that I decided to just wait.

[noch]

Wow, really lovely work, you rock!
I need to get into 3d printing
I'd love to see this posted as a more thorough guide in the new Low Power Lab Guide. Let me know if you're interested.

Thanks!  I am happy to provide you whatever for a guide and think that would be awesome.  I am going to make more of these so I can take some more step by step pictures too, if needed. 

Looks like you're getting good results.  Which 3D printer are you using?  Last year I tried looking into buying one, but everything was in such a state of flux that I decided to just wait.

I have a Monoprice Maker Select (same exact thing as a Wanhao Duplicator i3).  They are pretty inexpensive, only $329 shipped, and will print pretty good out of the box.  There is a large community of users to help with support and modifications to get great results.  I would defiantly purchase it again.  Plenty of opinions and options out there as I am sure you have found.  I think you get faster printing and a more consumer grade experience as you go way up in price but I like to tinker.  I may get a kit to build a faster machine with some kind of auto leveling.  A lot of people say its great to start with a kit because you learn all about it but I am glad I didn't do that because I may have lost interest or became too frustrated starting out. 

Oh and in case anyone is curious, this box is printed in PLA which is much easier to print for me and seems just as durable as one I printed in ABS. 

[WhiteHare]

Wow!  Thanks for the pointer.  Looking at the Monoprice website, I see that prices have fallen like a rock since last year.  I notice that Monoprice even has a $199 mini-printer whose build area is probably big enough for me.

I'm like you: I just want an appliance I can plug in and use out of the box, and preferably without any assembly.  i.e. same as with a regular laser or inkjet printer.  I especially don't want to get sidetracked overcoming design flaws in some half baked product.

[Felix]

Thanks!  I am happy to provide you whatever for a guide and think that would be awesome.  I am going to make more of these so I can take some more step by step pictures too, if needed. 

Well look at the existing guides for format, generally there's an intro page then the details/build/code/whatever pages. The purpose would be to provide the overall complete build steps and details including code so others could build this as well based on your design, or of course add their own changes. Some nice touches would be analyzing the battery life and low power expectations and things like that. You could start drafting in a google doc and I can help further refine/reformat or add suggestions as you go. PM/email me if you'd like to get into more details