Author Topic: Smart Sensor Light / Surveillance  (Read 4038 times)

john k2ox

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Smart Sensor Light / Surveillance
« on: September 25, 2013, 10:41:30 AM »
I think most pieces of this may be done.

The motion sensing outdoor commercial flood lights stink.  I had one for several years and it died.  Three replacements later, I'm dissapointed with the new versions.  The new ones don't last, they stay on durring the day,  trigger with no one around ...

Moteino to the rescue.  I've collected a tiny 120VAC to 5VDC supply, IR detector, CDS cell, opto triac driver and triac.  Soon I'll have Moteino looking at the amount of light, sensing motion and listening for my RF commands.  I can have it turn on/off at radom times when I'm away...

I think adding a camera would be nice too.

je
« Last Edit: September 25, 2013, 12:07:31 PM by Felix »

Felix

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Re: Smart Sensor Light / Surveillance
« Reply #1 on: September 25, 2013, 12:10:56 PM »
I actually have a similar interest. I'm looking for a very tiny mains-5V supply for Moteino, one that could fit in a gang along with a relay, Moteino and a regular light switch.
Found a RECOM one on digi, $12ish. But still kinda bulky. I'm curious what supply you got...

Anyway this kinda project is also something of interest to me. Was planning to get my garage lights remotely controlled, but first I gotta get the finish touches on the garage opener itself. Will post on that very soon.

john k2ox

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Re: Smart Sensor Light / Surveillance
« Reply #2 on: September 25, 2013, 12:21:47 PM »
AC 85-265V DC 3.3V 300mA Power Supply Adapter for 1 x 1W LED Strip Light

 500mA AC 90~240V To DC 3.3 V Switching Power Supply 

On EBAY ~$3
They are both very small. The 500ma is twice the size of the 300ma.

All I need is what I'm sure you need.  More time!

Enjoy,
john

Felix

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Re: Smart Sensor Light / Surveillance
« Reply #3 on: September 25, 2013, 07:06:20 PM »
Yeah those are cool. Unfortunately still kinda bulky (ok I know I'm asking for a lot).
But ... I have tried to mockup the size of what I need and fit it in a 1 gang box and I know it needs to be flatter.
I have looked into some inductorless supplies and planning to build one and see how that goes.
Since these chinese cheapies are not UL or anything else certified (which is scary when you put chinese+HV together), I'm thinking I might as well design something I can have a little more control over. That's the plan at the moment at least. Will surely blog about it if I get around and do it.
Just got some chip samples today and will start looking into Eagle layout.

john k2ox

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Re: Smart Sensor Light / Surveillance
« Reply #4 on: September 25, 2013, 11:08:39 PM »
When you say small you mean it  Not sure how you can be isolated from the line without an xfrm, but that's prob not needed inside a gang box. Looking fwd to see what you come up with.

Felix

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Re: Smart Sensor Light / Surveillance
« Reply #5 on: September 26, 2013, 08:35:48 AM »
Its not going to be isolated. It's going to be very small actually, started layout last night. The largest part is a 10mm diameter x16mm tall cap that I will rest on it's side. Also the relay which is SSD and quite flat, also resting face down on the back of the PCB. And I have a 4 terminal block which is also bulky, but comparable to the cap. So all these 3 components will be on 1 side. The other will have the circuitry and a header breakout for a Moteino. The final design might include a custom Moteino since it's hard to design the HV part around the layout of the Moteino, and also I need the actual tactile button for the switch to sit on top of all this, and perhaps a status/indicator LED.
But for now I guess I just want to see if this supply works and the Moteino can interact with the relay.

bstott

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Re: Smart Sensor Light / Surveillance
« Reply #6 on: September 26, 2013, 08:38:42 AM »
@ Felix.

As John mentioned: How will you isolate from line voltage?

Felix

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Re: Smart Sensor Light / Surveillance
« Reply #7 on: September 26, 2013, 12:12:27 PM »
No transformer. There's no isolation.

jbeale

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Re: Smart Sensor Light / Surveillance
« Reply #8 on: October 12, 2013, 10:51:17 AM »
Just for what it's worth: if you have small enough current requirements (maybe a few mA or less) you can use reasonable-sized capacitors and get line isolation without a transformer.  But if you need much power, the capacitors become too physically large.

My experience with outdoor motion-sensing lights has been that they work as designed; turn on when they see a moving thermal IR source. In my case, that includes large-leafed plants (relatively cooler) moving in the breeze and revealing relatively warmer ground behind them.  That is a valid "moving IR source" to the detector and it turns on.