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- Опубликовано: 3 окт 2024
- Monitor that a person is still OK without an intrusive camera
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My project to monitor that my mum was OK, by monitoring her general activity / movement, has been running for several months now.
All this info and more (eg the huge sketch) on my GitHub:
github.com/Ral...
This project uses a Wemos D1 Mini ESP8266 to upload data to ThingSpeak, and IoT data storage repository; very easy to use and FREE. In the video I'll show you the graph that is automatically created.
Even better is the Android Phone app that links directly to your ThingSpeak channel and can display the chart in real time. You can customise the chart somewhat and I find this app essential.
I'm going to build V2 very soon and for this I have developed a 4-layer PCB (just about, anyway). It looks lovely in Matt Black, at no extra charge from JLCPCB.com - watch the video to see it!
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LINKS LINKS LINKS LINKS
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Android ThingSpeak viewer, free version (ThingView - ThingSpeak viewer)
play.google.co...
ThingView paid for version £1.69
play.google.co...
Thingspeak data repository - free and easy to do (I estimate that you can set it all up in 1 hour)
www.thingspeak...
Banggood ESP8266 Wemos D1 Module - Until July 31st just $2.29 when sent from China!!!
www.banggood.c...
Tripler Base Board
www.banggood.c...
SD Card
www.banggood.c...
OLED Screen
www.banggood.c...
Single prototyping board
www.banggood.c...
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If you like this video please give it a thumbs up, share it and if you're not already subscribed please consider doing so and joining me on my Arduinite journey
My channel and blog are here:
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I just received my first 4 layer board from JLCPCB and it is just astounding what an outstanding board they have made for me!!
Soldering it up later next week. And hoping my circuit works like I hope it will!!
I really like JLCPCB.
Good luck with your board, Harry. I'm also soldering a board up today!
What a worthwhile project. Great to hear the way you have conceived and implemented it.
Thanks, Steve! I do know that my mum feels that we're looking out for her and feels comforted by that. I'm happy that I could do it. Several others have commented that they too have implemented conceptually similar solutions although I think I'm the first to use ThingSpeak to allow remote monitoring 24x7. Thanks for posting.
I have only recently come across your channel, so have only watched a couple of your videos. Thank you for taking the time to create this, as it is a well thought out and executed project. I can see myself building this in the not too distant future, having parents and in-laws in the same age range as your mother. It strikes me that either Alexa or Google home could also be used to trigger a preselected alert, should a vulnerable person suffer a fall and still have use of their voice, even if they were unable to move. This could provide an additional alert trigger, which doesn’t rely on lack of movement over time. I have subscribed and will be looking through your back catalogue. Thanks again. Nick
Including Alexa or Google Home could be interesting indeed. It's something I've dabbled with on the fringes using a Sonoff device but that's it. I've parked the idea in the back of my mind, Nick, you never know! Thanks for posting.
JLCPCB vouchers remaining: ZERO, sorry all gone!
(See video for details)
My email is in the About tab of this channel
I don't see any email address in your "about" ... 😟
@@mdewidt Go to the Channel homepage and click on the about tab. Scroll to the bottom of the page and you will see a tab that says "View Email Address" left click on this and then tick the I am not a robot box and press Submit and the email address will appear. Hope this helps
@@jjab99 I'm sorry but there's no such tab at the bottom.
Maybe the channel's home page has a different layout on Android devices ....
@@mdewidt I am using a PC, so it would look different. Sorry about that.
Joe's Model Kits Never mind .. It's too late now anyway. Maybe I should consider using a PC 😋
SOLDERING TIP - One thing that you can do to vastly improve your success with soldering (old) brass pins is to take a small bit of small grit sandpaper or the small-grit side of an emory board and lightly sand the pins. The goal is to sand away the tarnish / patina from the brass. You will be able to see it brighten-up as you go. Then apply some solder flux (I personally prefer a liquid flux) and you should get great, immediate solder joints. Bright and shiny-- the kind we like!
That's what I did, John but even then it wasn't great. They were definitely weird! Moreover, I'm plugging in the remaining 'leg' into the header socket which is another area where connectivity seems poor. I've sourced some 'selective gold plated' ones now, we shall see if they are any better! Thanks for posting, good to hear from you.
Try using a more appropriate flux. I have several, some are for exotic metals to make things like aluminium bond with copper without having to sweat them.
In my experience, connector pins are either solder-tinned, or gold-plated (more expensive). I took note when Ralph said "brass", as that didn't sound good and the difficulties encountered suggested that what they are is something weird, typical asian cost-cutting crap.
Making good quality connectors is as much of an art as a science. You need a good base metal, a good surface finish metal, good contact forming for the socket part of these stackable headers, and that part needs to be flexible enough to accept what's plugged into it and have enough spring tension to maintain a good contact when whatever it is is plugged into the socket. Not easy! And not a place where I'd want any cheap asian-made crap in any of my devices.
That's great Ralph. I'm sure everyone in your family can sleep a little better at night knowing they can keep an eye on her without her having to give yo her freedom of living alone. But your mum told me to tell you all that you still need to come by for a visit, sit down and have a cup of tea.
She tells me the same, Stephen! She has already planned my October visit in some detail!!!
@@RalphBacon she just wanted me to remind you.
Excellent project, Ralph, and very well thought out. I really like the idea of putting key variables and settings onto an SD card. Then, one has the option of just save a text file to an sd card from a laptop and the user can just swap the cards without having to download an edited firmware for "trivial" alterations.Brilliant!
Which is exactly what my brother, Michael, did to switch off the beeping whenever there was movement. My mum didn't mind at all (she's a little deaf, it must be said) but it drove everybody else mad! So he edited the SD card on his laptop, put it back, rebooted and voila! Silence! He's in for a shock with V2 as it will _always_ beep if the minimum movement count hasn't been reached in this period of email reporting (so only 5 movement counts in about 90 minutes before it goes silent).
Another great video. Lots of thought provoking ideas that may or do apply to my projects. Thanks!
Glad it's making you think, Bruce, thanks for posting!
nicely done these sorts of projects are as much about reassurance that loved ones are ok. Just a thought if you detect movement when your mum is out it is effectively has a burglar alarm function.
If there is movement when my mum is out, Dave, it automatically resets the "out" status so I would think she was back home whilst a burglar was clearing out her flat! I did it this way so she wouldn't have to press the button on return. Her flat is very secure though (German engineering at its best!), on the 2nd floor so it would be a very determined burglar. Fingers crossed.
Hey Ralph, always interesting ideas - I like your videos very much.
One thought about mutiple sensors: you can let the ESPs communicate via UDP (as long as thei're on the same Wifi). So for a in-the-field sensor you would need a ESP/D1 and a motion sensor. Every time the sensor triggers, the ESP sends a "got movement" message via a broadcast UDP to the central unit.
That way, you don't have to worry about IP adresses and complicated communication vie TCP. The Overhead in your central station should be minimal, since UDP recive messages triggers a subroutine (wich will increase the counter for counted movements).
Keep hackin' - Detlef (actually from germany)
Interesting suggestion, Detlef, I had not considered this. I'm hoping that I will not need another sensor as the new (bigger) PIR is more sensitive but will still not detect here in one part of the apartment (bedroom, bathroom, second bedroom) so you never know, I might have to extend it. I shall keep this idea on file, besten Dank fuer den Vorschlag!
Gerne, Ralph! In fact, the ESP32 examples have some nice basic routines under "ESP32 Async UDP"
I shall look them up, thanks for the heads up!
That was incredibly interesting. I am new to the Arduino, used PICs in the past but nothing recently and I have a mission to monitor things because of a recent circumstance happening.
Directed here from a more recent video of yours, but still to find the one I was looking for but this was interesting and has given me some general ideas.
Many thanks.
Jems, if you go to the video description (or my GitHub) and find this:
*List of all my videos*
(Special thanks to Michael Kurt Vogel for compiling this)
bit.ly/RUclipsVideoList-RalphBacon
You will always get the most recent pdf list of videos (downloadable) with clickable links to each of them. Could help you find the video topic you are after.
Ralph I'm half way through, this project has come just in the nick of time, for one on my projects. I brought a couple of ESP-01s's, but now thanks to you a few wemos's!!
To hopefully help your project, look up assistive technology, often they have show rooms too, I think there might be one near Cambridge. They do all sorts of equipment for you to be able to get ideas from. Originally it was very mix and not match, wasn't very integrated, but they have come along way, incontinence mats, measure resistance of wires across the mat, portable PIR sensors, fall sensors that attach to your wrist, and I thought about a pressure mat for when your mum is leaving the house, this could double up as a intruder sensor too, hours of not normally active. Then it saves her forgetting to use the tag or press a button as she goes out, the less she has to remember to do the better. My nan used to keep her mobile turned off, in the draw.
I shall most certainly dig out their website, thanks for pointers. I think this will be a growing area as the population lives longer but still wants independence. Who knows, perhaps my daughter will be monitoring me in future years with my own design! Ha!
@@RalphBacon www.wisherefordshire.org/equipment-adaptations-and-technology/assistive-technology/what-is-assistive-technology/, www.safetysystemsdistribution.co.uk/fall-sensor-watch-for-nurse-call-systems/, here's a few links, I'm not to sure how they are funded and it appears each county have there own supplier of the gear.
But yes the care model is changing massively to supported living, which is going to cost quite a bit, counties will be looking for ways to save on man power, turning to machines.
Ralph, just make sure you leave a easy backdoor on what ever you design haha
Connectors that don't want to solder can often be persuaded otherwise by cleaning with alcohol. I think they are sometimes greasy or dirty - and even oxidised when they arrive.
Yes, I found that alcohol (IPA, 99%) works very well, good tip!
Late to the game but still a great idea 👍🏻Also got to learn about ThingSpeak. Thanks for sharing 👍🏼
This device ran for several years until my mum just recently went into a home. Now she has real life monitors!
Ive made a similar project running now for over a year. Keeping an eye on my mum for me, and a the father of a workmate for him. I point a pir on a esp8266 at my mums kettle. if it triggers it calls a url on a remote webserver. That records a unique id and time on the server. A cron job on the server runs and checks for the duration for the last recorded ping for each id and then checks it against a threshold warning time for each id. If the threshold is passed and email is sent to the carer. To avoid intrusion only a small number of pings are kept for each id. I display the time since last ping for my mum on an e ink display i have for monitoring home automation. This does provide reassurance to both parties.
It seems lots of people have variations on this theme! It's good to know that technology is being used to care for our aging population. I guess your mum must use the kettle quite a bit then?! Lots of cuppas!
@@RalphBacon Well I know somethings wrong if she hasn't made it to the kitchen in the morning, or didnt have something at night. My inactivity trigger period is 12 hours as this prevents most false positives, and allows for long lie ins etc, without being excessively long if there were a problem (I chose not to record all activity to so as not to be intrusive, and only keep a few pings per id), and just to measure an inactivity period, though my screen does show me time since last ping. My sensor also has an idle period after triggering to avoid multiple triggers eg if shes cooking something. I had thought about open sourcing my hardware and software, or allowing others to create, their own identifiers as my back end code already can cope with this, and Ive the server set up, but while this would be useful there's the downside of people using it for more than reassurance, and being sued if it failed for some reason, so I never have. This solution works well, and as you say isn't overly intrusive. She finds it quite reassuring that I've called her at unusual times as Ive had an alert (she sometimes turns were wifi off accidently) so she knows it works. Hope yours is similarly reassuring for you both, as we often live apart these days (I'm several hours away by car)
Take a look at IOTAppStory, it let’s you upload new code to the wemos from anywhere in the world
Ah, yes, OTA updates in an area I really want to investigate. I played with the ESP8266 OTA as a result of Pete Scargill's website but never really embraced it. Possibly about time I did! I will look at that link, thanks for posting.
Ralph S Bacon Well iotappstory takes care of it all for you, simply upload your sketch binary to the website and it gets pushed to the connected wemos. Or the wemos can check automatically for updates. The example code given with it is great.
Swiss guys website :-)
Interesting that you used an SD card, I'm doing something similar for my mum, but using ESP32 and keeping the parameters in the NVRAM, programmed by Bluetooth from my phone, so I don't have to touch it, just be nearby. Mine sends me a text by modem when mum first moves around each morning and a different SMS if no movement is detected. I had trouble with false positives, until I changed it to only activate for two movements within 40 seconds. Nearly finished now!
Your improved 1.6mm board also seems to have thicker conductor paths, which look potentially more reliable.
Now I think about it, I suppose I could reprogram the parameters by SMS, too, no need to be nearby.
I used the SD card, Neil, so anyone in the family could remove it, alter the runtime parameters and replace. I live 800 miles away so a bit difficult to change them on the fly. Plain text file, easy to edit. There are lots of parameters! Amazing how many version of this type of project there are!
Hi Ralph, what a really fantastic project! A great pratical use for this hobby of ours - so good to see something so useful. Definitely something I'd consider making for my father in the future - it's always a worry when parents live alone a long way away.
With regards to your potential issue with needing a remote sensor, maybe instead it would be worth looking at microwave movement detectors. They work exactly the same as a PIR (usually based on the same BSS0001 chip) but they can "see" through walls and so may solve your problem of the apartment layout.
I appreciate you're using a large number of parameters and an SD card is easier for that than using something like tzdata's WiFiManager library which povides a web interface for configuration but of course it does limit you geographically for changing the parameters. Maybe given the distance involved it would be worth considering IoTAppStory which provides remote configuration, remote debugging and remote code upload so you can see and change things from your home here in the UK.
Just a couple of thoughts that may make your life easier, but again must leave on the statement that this is probably the most useful Arduino based project I've seen on RUclips in a long time.
I'm glad you think this project is so good. I'm happy I could build it and that (so far, nearly 5 months) it's worked just fine. My brother (who lives 5 minutes away from my mum) got so fed up with the beep from the PIR he edited the parameter to switch it off! My mum was quite disappointed it no longer made the noise (she could only just hear it at her age, whereas it drove everyone else bonkers!). I'm going to change that bit of the code so it beeps whilst it has not reached the threshold (5 movements in 89 minutes) so she will know whether she still has to trigger it and give a bit of feedback to her that it is working.
Other have also suggested microwaves, which I did a video on (#78) but I just felt PIR was quick and easy. Before I implement that bigger PIR I might just dig out that radar sensor module and see whether it would be a better fit.
Thanks for posting, Gavin, always good to hear from you.
Amazing amount of code! Good job!
It took a fair while, Danny, to both write and test (for several weeks here in my workshop). So far, it has not let me down! Glad you found it interesting.
Interesting project
Thanks for sharing :-)
You are most welcome Asger Vestbjerg, I'm glad you like the video. Nice to hear from you.
I did some thing similar , if no movement was detected for 6 hours ( my dad would go for a pee in the night) it sent a text to my brother and myself.
It saved him several times.
Indeed, Paul, It seems several caring people have made these for their parents or other vulnerable people with varying sophistication in the design. This is about as complex as I want to get! Thanks for posting, good to hear from you.
There are better header extension sockets available cheaply but it takes some searching to find them. If you look carefully you will find some that look like the stamped brass ones, but instead of just a solid looking block of plastic for the plastic "Dupont" part of the connector it looks like someone has butted up the little plastic collar from a male pin header up against the bottom of the socket strip. That type of socket strip has a much better pin than the pressed brass type. It's a standard square pin header type pin. The female portion of the socket is also much nicer. Instead of the tiny flat fork that the stamped brass socket strips have it is an actual socket that surrounds whatever is inserted.
I've had trouble with the stamped brass pins mating with themselves. I believe they are only intended for use with square pin type pin headers.
Thanks for the upload, and good luck with the project.
-Jake
I shall look long and hard then, Jake, as I would certainly _like_ to plug them in but those (discoloured) brass strips are not ideal in any way. If you know of a seller do let me know here!
@@RalphBacon
Hey Ralph,
I'll share a few links here in an additional post, (you may need to check your spam filter to see it).
Looking at the socket strips in more detail, I'm not sure if they have a different female connection. I was thinking these are the same as the 2.0mm, 1.27mm, and 1.25mm socket strips. Those are definitely available with a full contact socket. However, even if these just have a forked female socket, the key difference in my opinion is the cross section size of the male extension pin. I haven't ordered these socket strips specifically, but I noted them after seeing them on several nicer Uno shields. They look and feel much better than the stamped brass junk I've ordered. It's hard to see the real difference between these socket strips with just 2 dimensional pictures. I took a couple of pictures and put them in a google drive just to show you the difference a little better. The better type of socket strip pin is almost twice as large in cross section when compared to the stamped brass type.
If you look carefully at one of the pictures, I have a regular socket strip in front of the ICSP header to show the height difference. The "standard" (cheap) socket strips I have are all around 8.3mm-8.4mm tall. The nicer version is 10mm tall.
There are probably options available for different heights too. I know I was just shopping for standard socket strips in a shorter height and found options for 5.0mm and 3.5mm in a 2.54mm pitch. I just don't know if these better extended ones have those options as well. That would probably be harder to find.
None of the sellers I have saved references for stand out as someone I recall ordering from, so I can't speak to their quality. I can say, when I find a seller that lists something unusual like this, if I browse their products listings they often have a lot of unusual esoteric parts that will not show up in regular search results. A couple of the sellers' product listings I'm sharing are this way. It's well worth browsing their listings.
Personally I've noticed I can't even search within a seller's store to find this kind of stuff reliably. I think the problem is due to how fast the titles of listings can be translated and searched along with how much traffic the site is managing (servers/processing). It's just speculative, but that would explain some of the sporadic behaviors I have seen. I was a wholesale buyer for a retail chain for several years. I have a few tricks for finding products within systems that 'leave a lot to be desired.' AliEx is a whole different beast though.It's not like any other system I've encountered. It's still fun to attempt to figure out though :-)
...anyways posting links next...
-Jake
I've found a UK supplier (Rapid Electronics) of 'selective gold plated' connectors (certainly can't be any worse than what I have) and they do seem square not thin brass plated strips. I'll reveal all in a future video. Fingers crossed! Thanks for posting.
Hi Ralph. Very interesting project. I confess I got quite excited when you showed an earlier video suggesting that you plan a remote sensor using the NRF24L01. This you may recall has become my nemesis and I wait patiently for you input on this matter. I think the difficulty to get the NRF24 working with the ESP8266 or the STM32 is down to the library choice but I cannot find enough information on the web to solve the issue. I can get an SPI OLED working on the ESP but the NRF24 refuses to work. With your skills for sure this will be resolved. All the best and thanks again for a cracking video.
Indeed, I have it on my list for today (assuming life does not get in the way). I'm hoping I might not need another sensor but you never know.
OK, I have my ESP8266 (NodeMCU v3) running with an nRF24L01+ quite happily! Now to find your previous comment so I can tell you how I did it.
@@RalphBacon Awesome Ralph. I cant wait to see where i was going wrong. Paul
Dear Ralph Are you planing to share the designs of the PCB's? Also it may be worthwhile take a look at the RCWL-0516 microwave radar sensor module apparently they have more range
Jeff also made the suggestion of microwave sensors, I've added it to my list. Which PCB designs did you have in mind? The one for this project? In which case it's more a schematic as there is no bespoke PCB other than what you saw which allows point-to-point wiring. But I can document all that and share if that's what you mean?
@@RalphBacon Dear Ralph Please if you can do that I appreciate since I would like to maybe if possible do one for my old parents. Many thanks
The pins are square and the holes are round, sort of trying to put a square peg in a round hole. I have had trouble with these type of connector not soldering well . On close inspection the pins seem to easily break the solder joint. If you resolder it stresses the PCB and can cause lifting of the traces. Some are a lot worse than others. What can help is to solder both sides of the hole a bit difficult I know but seems to make a better joint. It is possible to let solder flow through the hole to the other side but time and heat can cause again the traces to lift. I wonder why they make the pins square and the holes round well the holes are obvious but maybe the could produce round pin connectors . Just rambling now good project and may build it as I travel some times and away from home for weeks and my wife has a heart problem. Sorry for the long comment.
I've found some gold plated header pins (and sockets) not expensive either. I shall be investigate these as well as others. Sorry to hear about your wife's health problems; this device could help possibly although a mobile phone could also be the answer. No problem about your comment length, there are some others _much_ longer! Good to hear from you. Barry.
@@RalphBacon we live in the mountains of southern Spain no real mobile signal it comes and goes tried all sorts of repeaters. We are off grid as well satellite internet is the only outside link.
Barry Mayson lol... nice one... round peg, square hole! :D They're actually quite a poor connector at times... essentially a flat piece of metal, in a fork like configuration in a plastic housing... meaning when something plugs into that connector, it only makes contact on the two sides, rather than all around the connector... and they're not as springy as a breadboard, so if it has been spread out, or there's gunk on it or the pin going in, they go intermittent... and it's made worse if you've got a bunch of them and one in the middle goes bad on you :(
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I've got some 'better' ones now, gold plated and everything! We shall see...
Great Job, hope it help you to monitor your mum
Yes, thank you. It works really well.
Another great video.
Thanks, Lee, I'm glad you liked it. So does my mum. I'm definitely on her Xmas card list!
Good day, Ralph !
GREAT project, that Home Alone movement detector ! You just got me hooked on WeMOS ! Hahaha ! I like the 'modular' concept of it all. The fact it uses the same IDE is a 'plus' for me.
I'll probably got the modules from our far-East producers/distributers, since they are much more affordable than on Amazon (Prime). I use to order from Banggood before, but as time flies by fast, I had the time to forget when I ordered what I've purchased before it arrived, so ..
The fact that the header pins are causing so much problem when soldered (causing some cold solder joints and what not), is probably due to the fact they are kind of corroded a bit. My humble suggestion would be that you and-paper them with high-grit sand paper (1000+). It should solve some if not most of the problem, it should.
Have a great day, my Friend. Good continuation !!
Hey there Daniel, I hope youare well. I've actually procured some much better quality headers, stacked and normal ones. They are supposedly selectively gold plated (which you have to be a bit careful of when soldering) but all will be revealed in a future video. Thanks for the suggestion, which I had already tried and which helped but not perfect.
Hi again, my Friend.
I'm glad you found a viable solution to your problem. As for my ongoing problem on stacking multiple SPI devices on the same Bus, I think I have a way around that. I'll use a second Arduino (NANO) and put the SD Card reader on that one. I'll find some way of making the NANO communicate with the MEGA and exchange data from the SD Card to the other's graphic.
I know .. it's like go via Paris to go to London, but that's the only way I found to solve my problem for now. OR .. I found some I2C memory module on Banggood for next to nothing. I'll explore that avenue before long.
Have a nice day, my Friend and take care!
Hi Ralph, nice work. Some thoughts on the software:
-Is the device also sending up a periodic heartbeat, so you can distinguish between "no activity" and "device offline"?
-In the case of no activity detected, would it be possible to send a prompt to your mom's phone (or even trigger a home assistant prompt) that would allow her to indicate she is fine before alerting everyone? Perhaps a push notification that launches a custom app or maybe the app you are using can accomplish?
-It seems simpler that rather than having a separate remote sensor, just deploy another one of the modules and publish events to the same channel. This would imply that the alerting logic and execution is done in the cloud.
Well, the data is uploaded every 15 minutes. That's my heartbeat.
If the device is rebooted (or starts up) it logs a -15 (minus 15) to ThingSpeak and I get an email.
If there is cause for concern I WhatsApp my mum (I did this just last week) and if no response I ring her phone. If still no response I phone my brother (5 minutes away from her) and he goes round. All bases covered, pretty much. And...
Yes, I could keep this device running AND have the new one running too, possibly on a different 'field' but the same channel so I have two lines in my graph. That sounds like a good idea. Simple is best. I will see how it goes. Thanks for the suggestion!
Hi Ralph, this seems like a great project but I suppose it relies on the user having internet access which might not be the case for a lot of elderly or vulnerable people and it's an extra cost to send the data. I just though that by moving to ESP32 and bluetooth/wifi you can pair it with a user's mobile phone via bluetooth and a custom app which will transfer the data via bluetooth to the phone and then via the phone's data connection if wifi is not available.
Yes, this was designed in the full knowledge that my mum had broadband. I'm not what I would have done if she had not had that. Using a phone as a relay station would be one good solution. I think broadband is viewed these days like an essential utility, like gas, water or even electricity! I've been to some far corners of the Earth, 3rd World countries, and even there everyone seemed to have an Internet connection! Crazy.
@@RalphBacon Yeah, it's a great idea actually. I suppose I have an ESP32 and probably the rest of the bits lying around so I might have a go at rewriting your code for the ESP32 and see what I come up with. I'll drop you a note to let you know where I get to...
Cool. The code should work pretty much as-is for the ESP32 although I would then create separate tasks and use queues for some of the functions. Good luck.
@@RalphBacon , Banggood had some cellphone SMS signalling boards last time I looked. Might be a good solution for situations where broadband isn't available. In Canada I can get cheapish cell packages for $100 year and with those send 250 sms messages a month. An option?
It might be. Watch out for cheap 2G boards, as 2G is going away soon(ish), allegedly. I've not found a cheap 3G board yet. But with 5G just around the corner they may start appearing soon at reasonable prices.
I sort of doubt then $2 offer from JLCPCB, I believe they add the cost to the shipping instead. Why? When I order more than one PCB I have to pay $4 for each additional. This does not change the fact that they are very cheap and deliver good quality!
I wonder why you use a SD card, do the ESP8266 not have any local storage like the ESP32? (I ordered some ESP8266 half a year ago, but the post lost them, i.e. I have not played with them). One solution to parameters would be to pull them in from the net and only used local stored parameters when that fails, this would also make it very easy to update parameters (Save last fetch from the net).
With your hex board I would expect a careful layout could sneak the connection from top to bottom row in without using four layers (It would depend on PCB parameters).
I cannot comment on the price of the JLC boards,Henrik; what I do know is that even including the shipping from DHL it's still enabled millions of uses (like me) to design and use a PCB at a reasonable cost. Which can only be a good thing, especially, as you say, the quality is great.
I use an SD card because it was the simplest way to do it. And it's cheap. And it works. If I need to remotely change a parameter my brother takes the SD card, edits it in his PC and puts it back (he lives 5 minutes away from my mutti). If she were _without_ that sort of local support I would definitely need to do something else so I had total control of that device, not just the parameters.
Yes, I could have sneaked a few traces between the development board holes I'm sure. But this was to show everyone who has not even considered a 4-layer board (me, about 3 months ago!) that it is not that difficult if your start simply and slowly get more experience. The only downside is that cost of the board goes way up due to the extra complexity in manufacture.
Good to hear from you, thanks for posting.
Cheap PCB's have been around for many years, it is more than 10 years ago I could get a couple of PCB's for £30 (Double sided with silkscreen and solder mask, size 10x16cm) and that was from Europa. With JLC it is, of course, cheaper and faster.
Andreas Spiess (RUclips channel) has done something with automatic software updates from WiFi/Inet. I do not remember if it works on ESP8266 or only on ESP32
Here is a thought.
Smart watch, two main types are... "smart watches" which are actual smart watches, fully functional GPS enabled, 2G/3G/4G mobile phones with full remote access for the user... and the cheap crappy look-a-likes that are "Bluetooth smartphone mates" and have none of the features that a smart phone watch has but relies on a mobile phone being paired with the device.
I have been trying (unsuccessfully so far) to buy one, the several I have bought from AliExpress and eBay have all been nothing more than eWaste. Bluetooth watches being sold as fully GPS enables, etc. when they are not and the actual device but no apps or software available to make them work because the manufacturers removed the software from the servers as they no longer support those devices.
So if you are going to consider a BT type device, my advice is to spend big because a well known make is more likely to actually be supported.
Too many chinese sellers are acting fraudulently and in several ways, biggest one is ripping people off by claiming to be UK based but they sell a 99p item for £4.99 by saying that they are in the UK and people buy them. I have complained to ebay about this and they are sat on their hands.
So you would need to do your research on a smart watch if you consider it a viable addition to the build you are creating. Smart watches have wifi and bluetooth... You can set an electronic fence so that if that range is exceeded, the remote user is texted a message.
Maybe something to look in to.
If it look too good to be true... yes, Mark, those Chinese vendors do take liberties but we are the ones being foolish if we believe we can get the equivalent of a FitBit or Apple Watch for 1/10th of the normal price! I like the electronic fence idea, I'll add that to my list of things to consider. Thanks for posting.
I'm in the middle of designing my own burglar alarm, for I just can't find one with all the features I want.
Got a tinypico and a esp32 feather board for it's brains , not sure which one to use yet , my project is turning into a collection of modules on proto boards, so just downloaded EasyEDA to see if I can make a base plate to tie them all together , BUT NEVER MADE A PC BOARD BEFORE so that going to be fun.
May the force with with you, Peter. And may all your PCB errors be little ones. Keep it simple!
@@RalphBacon It's on redesign number 3 and it's only got 2 x 10 pin headers , 2 x TH resistors , and my tinypico socket.
it took me about an hour to find a way to add a 10 pin header ( not that user friendly , tried looking for plugs , sockets , until I found the magic word called headers ), and after I wired it up I discovered the magic of net port , which makes the wiring much easier when you can say I want pins GND, 14, 17,3V3 on that socket.
How I want to add a lipo socket , it says with a jst plug , they must be joking there must be a thousand different types of jst connecter .
Be thankful you didn't try KiCAD, you would still be wondering how to place a single component!
@@RalphBacon What track diameter are you using ? , I've set the default data lines to 0.6mm and power and battery connections to 1.2mm , not sure if this is over kill or what.
I've seen some video where they have set power rail to 2mm + which for my 1 - 2 amp max at 5 volt powering sensor and leds etc is definite over kill .
I work in "mil" (thousands of an inch) rather than mm, but my standard track width is 15mil (about 0.4mm) with the power lines (VCC, GND) at 30mil+ (about 0.7mm - 1mm) so yours are conservative and if you have no trouble routing at that width it's fine. Don't forget to add 'teardrops' once the routing is complete, it gives added strength to where the tracks meet pads or pins.
Nice project... exactly the sort of thing I was thinking of doing for a elderly friend, unfortunately (unfortunate because it was end-stage care) they moved into an aged care home before I was able to build/deploy it. Regarding multiple tasks, I know it's not as good as multiple cores on the ESP32, but using the included `Ticker` library, I have code that runs periodically regardless of the wifi connecting state, relaying data from ThinkSpeak, etc ... i.e. heartbeat.attach(0.2, drawSpinner) runs the drawSpinner function, which draws a rotating character to the top of the screen every 200ms, just to show the system is still active. Might be worth a look to see if it is of any help in your application... maybe display update stuff could be offloaded it that? Update every 200ms, if there is something that's changed? btw, have you seen the Wemos D1 Mini form factor ESP32s? Might be worth a look if you can squeeze it on... or make another version of the board with a little more space on one column for it ;) www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MINI-Wemos-D1-ESP32-ESP-32-WIFI-Development-Bluetooth-ESP8266-CP2104-Module/202102850130
I switch off WiFi until it is needed, Peter. It's only switched on when I upload to ThingSpeak (every 14 minutes) or send an email.
The time is constantly updated on the screen to show the system is 'alive' but the OLED screen is switched off after 30 seconds too (to prevent screen burn) and turns on when something happens (movement detected, upload, email etc).
Regarding the 'Ticker' library (which sounds like I should investigate that) the ESP8266 can also run RTOS (if it is not already preloaded). Then you can task away to your heart's content - something I've been meaning to investigate more fully for ages... so much to do, so little time to do it all!
Thanks for posting, useful info, great to hear from you.
With a life saving device it needs to be as reliable as possible or have two so you have a back up.
So far so reliable, Paul! She also has a Red Cross wristband connected to her telephone, remember, so this is really the continual monitoring in case she is incapacitated and can't press the button on her wrist.
I've been using an OLED 128x128 board in a desktop clock and after about 6 months the burn in is very pronounced. perhaps turn the brightness down and invert overnight. Thanks Ralph
I love the inverting idea. That is brilliant, especially when paired with turning it down as you said. I might have thought of turning it down, but inverting is a great idea that I never would have thought about doing.
You are correct about screen burn on OLED screens, Peter.
In this project the screen turns itself off after 30 seconds (user-defined parameter on the SD card) of nothing happening. It turns itself on when there is movement or an upload is happening and so forth, so my mum can see something is happening. She even understands what it is telling her too! This way I don't expect screen burn to be an issue.
Do more on the esp8266, I got a weather station kit off of Amazon and I have tried many codes and I don't get it.
The code for the ESP8266 can be identical to Arduino code, unless you want to leverage the WiFi (even that is simple though). Try starting with the BLINK sketch and work up from there.
Hi Ralph just wondering how did you deal with the false positives given by the PIR. I have built something similar not as elaborate but had terrible trouble with false positives on the PIR i was using the SR505
I have zero false positives using the mini PIR shown in the demo. I know this because overnight both modules show zero for the entire night. Only during the (hot) summer was it an issue, eventually traced to my mum leaving the window open and the curtains moving, thus triggering the PIR! My mini PIR modules have HW-740 written on them, if that helps. They are shorter than the longer, wobblier HC-SR505s. They look like this one from AliExpress but it's stated there they might SR505, SR501 or AM312 modules:
www.aliexpress.com/item/1874938103.html
@@RalphBacon Thanks Ralph for Reply after alot of tinkering i was able to eliminate the false positives by heat-shrinking the PCB on the PIR then wrapping with copper tape connected to GND. I also used Low Level Filters as in this Video ruclips.net/video/ONMOkGluXnk/видео.html by Kevin Darragh and finally a 102 ceramic cap across the power input to the PIR. This solution worked great for me as my little alarm project was wireless and i guess the RF interference was also an issue. I was just curious as to how you had dealt with this issue.
As I said I had no issue to deal with but then again my PIRs are connected to a 5v supply from the ESP8266 via at least one decoupling capacitor and probably two (100nf + 1μF or something like that). Also my PIRs trigger a transistor (to bring the output LOW not HIGH) which is then connected to a GPIO so it's all self contained as a mini circuit. That's what probably did it!
I once bought 2 FTDI boards, and they were flimsy as hell. One's already not working, and it's sitting in the electronics trash can.
It's probably worth digging it out of the trashcan and resolding every single joint (if you can). They are usually reliable but all PCBs on these type of module are always thin. And soldered together not by machine but by people who might make mistakes.
Mate, also, going to the effort of making a 3 x 2 footprint of your d1 mini, rather than fill the empty space with "perf board", why not design the full schematic and just make a single prototype for the one purpose with the 3x2 footprints. It would certainly save you making it 4 layers also. I do realise it will limit later revisions, but you can always use jumper wires or put i2c or GPIO breakouts on the pcb. Theeeennnnn, maybe do a give away of your awesome prototype, or if you feel if, sell them on ebay at an inflated price xD People would go nuts for that stuff. It would actually be an awesome DIY kit to build with a nice instructional video (that you basically do anyway) rather than people designing it again and soldering in jumper wires etc. Would look nicer too.
Maybe put a parts list, for diodes, transistors etc. In the description or on the shared easy EDA schematic.
Just a thought. I reckon you'd be good at making some DIY soldering projects with video instructions and selling the pcbs.
I've wanted to do this stuff myself but I'm too lazy to do videos :P
I thought of doing a bespoke board but didn't for the following reasons. Firstly, I wanted it to be a generic board that I could use for other projects. And, as you've already identified, any change in the design would make the board far less useful.
And I'm not interested in selling on eBay as the work involved far outweighs any gain and the support would be horrendous! I've taken the experience with my ATTiny85 Fuse Resetter PCB which I gave away (with all the components) and the support calls I got was unbelievable. I'm just not set up for that sort of business.
But someone might take this design and make a million, you bet!
I wish I was 30 years younger as then I would probably do exactly what you're suggesting, Graham, but these days I can't face the hassle!
Nice one
Thanks, Yogesh, glad you liked the video, nice to hear from you.
Mate, I had to stop the video at 16:00 to write this message. I'm a bit frustrated learning about something when I don't know it's intended use. I have no idea what purpose this is serving for your mum. This video is very long winded and I found myself watching most of it in 2x speed. Great project though. Would have been fun to code. Love the videos mate keep up the great work! Sorry about the negativity.
I guess I failed with the Thumbnail on this one, Graham, (and the description) as to me "Vulnerable Person Monitor" sort of laid out the direction I was heading. But you're the second person to say this so it's my bad.
Sometimes, though, it can be nice just to watch a TV program (or this video) and see what happens. Unless you're the sort of person who wants to know the ending before watching it. Which, I must admit, I sort of am. I've taken this on board and will endeavour to state up front what the video is about in future. Thanks for taking the time to post, appreciated.
Should've hung in there for another 4 minutes... if the title and notes at the start of the video for the first 9 or seconds didn't give it away, he then talks about it in operation, so you can work it out ;)
Why not use a standard PIR where you can then just have several wired in to a grid to pick up movement anywhere.
The key word, Mark, you use is "wired". My mum don't want no wires! If I could have done that then yes, it would be simple.
@@RalphBacon unfortunately, anything that is using power... is often wired and wifi is not as reliable as people like to think. I got fed up of students over the road probing my router that I turned WiFi off, so someone takes any interest in the wifi, your unit is stuffed...
So IMHO there is only one real option that would allow a longer range or coverage.
Possibly a RADAR based version would be better.
Yes, I'm going try the radar version (microwave module) that I have a bit later this week. Or, as someone else has suggested, keep both units running in different places.
I had the same problem with the base boards, I thought it was my soldering. Do you have the circuit for the delay startup for the PIR?
I'm putting up a photographed page of my hand written notes as I have no electronic schematic right now. It should be enough to get you going but do come back if you are unsure about it. Give it 5 minutes... tick, tick...
@@RalphBacon Thanks Ralph.
Page 4 of the diagrams (hand-drawn), 1-second delay cct, what is the PNR? LED? PSR?
If you send me an email, Jon, with the bits ringed you need answers to I'll send you a reply. As it is, I'm not 100% sure what you're asking! That's a terrible drawing, now I have 2B pencils that show up much better on camera.
@@RalphBacon It's OK Ralph, once I had focused on the printout I realised it said PWR not PNR!!
p.s. Can you email me a good email address, please?
Done.
Is ThingSpeak, and IoT data storage repository vulnerable to being hacked ???????
Anything can be hacked. It all a matter of how much a smart enough person wants your data. If you are carrying around national secrets then you simply need more security than a person guarding their credit card numbers. That doesn't mean that the top secret plans can't be hacked. They just use more and more layers of protection to make it harder to get into, but it can still be done. Not by me, but by someone.
Yes, anything is hackable, Paul, as we have found out in various breaches from website, banks, Facebook too, wasn't it? But for normal use you need a key (keep it to yourself!) to read data and another one to write data. That's all I know.
You mentioned that Thingspeak.com takes a lot to respond.
I am willing to write you a similar PHP code which you can use on a free or a very cheap hosting that saves IOT battery in the long run.
Thanks for the offer, mahdi, but I've found Thingspeak very reliable and, of course, it is free too. I'm not concerned with battery power as this unit runs 24x7 plugged in. Good to hear from you, thanks again.
@@RalphBacon is there a way to get in contact with you? I have some ideas that might lead to good videos!
My email is in the About tab on my channel (if you are using a PC).
Wow, wish I had found this 4 years ago, it may well have kept mom out of the nursing home for another year or so. Ah well, she is happy in the home, well as happy as she can be at 94 locked up with a room mate who has dementia. She had a problem with falling, and refused to carry her damn life alert. She said it made her look 'old'. Now she has to use a wheel chair to got to meals, and hates that because 'it makes her look old'! I keep telling her that at 94 she has a right to 'look old" but she does not agree, and now that they won't let her dye her hair any more she is damn mad because 'it makes her look old!' Sadly right now I can't even visit her because of that damn China virus!
I've met a lot of people who are, without doubt, "old" but who only view _others_ as old, never themselves! Maybe we will be the same? Anyway, this Home Alone unit now has a twin and both units let me know how my mum is doing. I'm very pleased with it.
@Ralph S Bacon - Just watching "This New Sensor Is A GAME CHANGER For Your Smart Home!" from "Everything Smart Home" - ruclips.net/video/Leru0rCS8b0/видео.html and thought about what you'd been doing with your monitoring. Could be something interesting to look into how it works.
A very interesting device, albeit somewhat expensive!
@@RalphBacon Ha! Yes, it really is. But the idea is there and I'm sure the principles might not be too difficult to replicate in a simpler form.
@@RalphBacon He's just released another video "I Built My Own Presence Detection Sensor!" ruclips.net/video/VEqWlOeJ2YA/видео.html - The sensor he used cost ~£30, but it's looking quite promising :)
Video seem to fail to say what the project purpose even in, at least as far as nearly 11 & 1/2 minutes, I just gave up watching the rest. Seems way overly complicated for such a simple task.
Well, my mum would strongly disagree. As would I and my brothers who are successfully monitoring my mum's activities without intrusion from anywhere in the world. I'm really sorry you didn't find it interesting enough to persevere.
I'm also sorry that the video thumbnail "Vulnerable Person Monitor" and "Home Alone" didn't get the purpose of the video across, I shall endeavour to make things clearer in future videos. Your feedback will also ensure I state what each video is about in future too, so thanks for posting.
...way way too much promotion of jlpcb etc, jebus I can't take it, thanks for sharing anyway, good luck
That's where I got the board(s) from. And they sponsored this project. If I didn't like their product they would not appear at all! Never mind, different sponsor next video...
@@RalphBacon ignore the noise. Your sponsorship is fine
Ralph S Bacon ...sorry Ralph, you're a nice man obviously from your reply, sorry I should be more grateful so apologies
No problemo, jimbob, it's just a fact of life that advertising pays for a lot of things, including all the bits I need to do these videos. Glad to have you along for the arduinite ride!
Email sent
Yes, you were first in the queue, Ian!
Would likely have been better without the sales crap - therefore; Stopped video ang downvoted.
EVER HEARD OF SKIPPING PAST THE ADVERTS????
You know that some people rely on adverts to make videos... So you that selfish to not help a youtuber out but I bet you sit through TV adverts...
Wow, there's a butthurt one.
@@BelSei Well, as I said to my son this afternoon, as soon as you have to resort to petty name calling, attention seeking, making claims about what someone said, is or claimed to be, that is when you have lost the argument.
People don't object to adverts on TV, but online ... there is no rationale there, however, you do have the power to "Skip" the advert... unlike TV.
Oh, and not an ounce of butthurt here. I have two genuine 3 inch thick callouses where I had previously had silky soft butt cheeks that would chap easy. Life tends to give you a bit of an hard ass, so no butthurt, too long in the tooth for it.
I'm disappointed you actually downvoted the video _content_ because the video was supported by, and made possible by, the sponsor. A highly relevant sponsor, not one selling laundry detergent! And from whom I have several products and have tested them and found them to be good quality. Otherwise they would not be sponsoring my video.
Oh well, nothing I can do about that now. How would you suggest I promote my sponsor in future in a less intrusive way then, BelSei? Seriously, I'd like some constructive feedback from you for my future videos..
Primarily, I keep an eye open for interesting subjects, and click to watch - based on the subject. I am not interested in people trying to sell stuff or similar just because they can't afford making the video. Get a honest job, and make your videos on your spare time. Promoting sponsored items is selling your own body and mind to them.