Comments on: Soekris laser guided squirrel trap

By: Stew

Stew — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 02:32:11 +0000

Neat project but an embedded PC is complete over kill for this.
I would have used an ATiny,PIc 12Fxx or even a PICAXE controller.
If I needed more features including web update I'd use a rabbit 2000 or an 8052 and perform com over a Zigbee.
The latter two can even query a cell phone camera module for a low res pic of what ever is in the trap.

By: Sol

Sol — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 02:03:10 +0000

I like this project, but I just don’t think break-beam is the same as laser guided.

By: Wolf

Wolf — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 22:36:12 +0000

I love digital electronics as much as anybody, but it strikes me as wasteful to put such a powerful microcomputer to use running logic that could be replicated with a single transistor. As for the camera, if you must know precisely when something gets caught, rather than implementing a beeper or something, you could add a second laser (to reduce the chance of false alarms) wire everything up to an old cell phone, and buy a prepaid sim card for it.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I bet that would be a hell of alot cheaper, not to mention you could run it on batteries that way.

By: DigitalMind

DigitalMind — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 16:14:48 +0000

I had a customer who owned a bunch of apartment buildings. In one of them, someone kept robbing the laundry change machines. One day after many attempts of figuring out who it is, who rigged the machine so that when opened, it permanently locked the door into the laundry room and sounded an alarm. I wish I could have been there when he was caught. (And the person WAS caught)

By: dash

dash — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 16:12:27 +0000

.:Infra Red:.

What about an electric garage door sensor instead of a bright laser.....

..I used to see a bight red light under my mouse. then I got a new mouse and I see nothing... lol

By: tim

tim — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:20:37 +0000

on a side note: the squirrel will then chew its way through the wood and escape

By: RT (Panzer Time!)

RT (Panzer Time!) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:58:30 +0000

That’s handy. A laser’s sure better than a string, I guess.

By: darklightconnection

darklightconnection — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 08:26:47 +0000

@james: no you’re not…. that’s the very first thing i thought of, but i’m too lazy to post :-p

by the way, this could actually be a good idea if made on a bigger scale… ie. put it on the back entrance of some corporate building, activate it on night, trap thieves/intruders and take photos of ‘em (not necesarily when entering, they could enter through the roof or something, but they’d very likely have to exit thru the back door)

By: James

James — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 07:30:46 +0000

Was I the only person who thought of this?

http://xkcd.com/382/

By: frank

frank — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 06:53:23 +0000

"Then it take a picture with a webcam and send him a page."

Bahahahah! That makes this hack funny :)

*click* BUSTED!!! :)