Ever accidentally left your front door ajar and had a pet escape? [BlackCow] came up with a simple solution to this problem. The circuit is fairly rudimentary but a great example of using the basics to get the job done. Now, instead of having an alarm that sounds as soon as the door is open, he has a 30 second delay. This helps avoid the “boy who cried wolf” effect also known as the “vista security warning” effect of being bothered too many times for a non issue. We also have to say that we like his taste in blog layouts.
[via Hacked Gadgets]
“also known as the vista security warning”
Proud Vista user but I got a good chuckle out of that, thank you.
Shouldn’t that be a PNP transistor?
Uh… I mean’t shouldn’t the emitter of the NPN be connected to ground?
“We also have to say that we like his taste in blog layouts.” You mean a fairly vanilla WordPress blog? ZING! :)
“We also have to say that we like his taste in blog layouts.”
You mean his Blogger blog that has a coloring scheme similar to HaD’s WordPress theme? I get the joke, but it’s a bit of a stretch.
Nice hack. Need to build me one of these. Only in my case it’s not the cat leaving the front door open, but the kids.
Also good for unwanted solicitors. if they don’t get the hint within 30 seconds;
*buuuuuzzzzzz*
“öops, gotta go, ovens done”
*slam*
I guess I need that. The rear door of my place will mysterious will open. Why I don’t know. In addition to loosing expensive heat or coolth. There’s a possibility of small wild of wildlife coming inside to visit.
Simple solution?
With 555s instead of a simple RC time delay circuit?
That transistor doesn’t look right…
I just hired a band of ninjas to stand guard at my door 24/7. They’re non-union, so it was actually pretty cheap.
I actually can’t stand the HAD color scheme. Sure I know we used to have nice monochrome monitors, but nowadays in the GUI world when I switch away from HAD I’m temporarily blinded for a few seconds to adjust to the normal black on white scheme.
In Reply to below… 555’s cost a few pence each and have no other use than timing… why waste a relatively expensive and versatile arduino on a simple alarm……
“No Arduino used for that?
Posted at 1:51 am on Mar 8th, 2010 by liebesiche”
@marty
I fully agree with your statement. It was meant to be a joke (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joke)
;-)
Haha, going though the posts I was thinking to myself, “gee, it sure would be cool to have one of my projects on this site” and what do you know, there was my project. Thanks for making my day ^_^
And yes, my blog layout was inspired by hackaday… and my classic green on black terminal fetish.
Great Project! I plan on making two for an industrial fridge and freezer to remind employees to close the door. How loud is it? And is there any way to make it wait 1 min. before going off?
thanks in advance for your answers
There’s a market for this. Someone build one for sale, please!
For those of us who aren’t handy with a soldering iron:
Found some vendors:
http://fridge-freezer-alarm.co.uk/ $27
http://www.alectrosystems.com/Security/DoorAlarm.htm $75
There are even ones that provide GSM notification:
http://www.emfit.com/en/care/products_care/fall-and-wandering/
And no shortage of patents
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/47455674/Magnetic-Door-Alarm-With-Resettable-Delay—Patent-5434556
and other designs:
http://www.2electronic.com/fridge-door-alarm/
It’s much cheaper to build your own XD
But seriously, how can someone patent such an idea as simple as a time delay alarm?
If I could build my own I would, for me it’s easier just to buy one :-)
Could you make it much smaller?
Thinking of an anti pickpocket device, you pin a magnet into your pocket and have a 2nd that you use to disable the alarm.