It seems like creating an automatic dorm room door opener is a rite-of-geek-passage each fall. [Adam], a student at Vassar, passed with flying colors by creating this clean setup. We’ve got video, more pictures, and a description after the break. Continue reading “Add A Key-fob Opener To Your Door”
Some type of logger or sniffer exists for almost every form of electronic communication. Your keystrokes, phone conversations, and wireless networks could all be monitored. In this awesome proof-of-concept project, [James] expanded that array to include garage door openers. After receiving a piece of chain mail which stated that criminals have the technology to record any remote code and play it back, [James] wondered if he could build such a device that would work on at least his opener model. Continue reading “Garage Door… Packet Sniffer”
How many times has this one happened to you? Just coming home from work, you walk in from the garage, settle down, and pick up the newspaper. But wait, did you remember to shut the garage door?
Presenting the open garage door indicator. [xjc2010] chose the simplest circuit possible, using only a switch to turn on and off the setup, an LED acting as the signal, and a transformer/resistor combo to drop the voltage to an acceptable LED friendly 2.8 volts. We don’t like how he strung wire all over his house to place the beacon, and would have preferred something wireless in one way or another, but for under 6 bucks this gets the job done quickly and cheaply. Now if only we could get it to remind us if we turned off the oven while on vacation.
[thanks Craig]
We’ve seen some crazy speaker builds in the past (massive folded horns for example). [DiscoJones] wanted to build a set of speakers that could reach very low frequencies and be very efficient. Instead of constructing a large box, he built a baffle that could be placed in a doorway and use the blocked off room as an enclosure. It has eight 12inch subwoofers, eight midrange drivers, and four tweeters. The speakers are fairly cheap and he built a simple crossover to help them work a little better together. The goal was always deep bass though, so don’t expect very high fidelity from a setup like this.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46s7nE72nvI]
[Chris] wrote in to tell us about this project he did while living in the dorms. He built a system to automate his dorm room door. It handles unlocking and opening/closing the door via iPhone, secret knock, and even the key. The lock/knob portion is handled by a servo while the opening/closing action is hydraulic. After living with it for a year, he says that it never gets old, but there were a few bugs. Apparently it would randomly open in the middle of the night sometimes. If you’re interested in doing something like this, but not damaging the door, maybe you should check out the RFID dorm door lock project.
[Michael] has a keypad in his previous car’s door and he missed it enough to hack one into his Dodge Caliber. He bought a Ford keypad and mounted it inside his door with some custom electronics. He started with an Arduino nano to receive and authenticate button presses. This then splices into wires in the door that control the door lock. The program has a 5-digit code to unlock the door, but simply pressing 1 twice will lock the doors. He also implemented a lockout feature to prevent people from brute-forcing the combination. Although it isn’t wireless, it’s significantly simpler.
[thanks Michael]
[Phillip] published this great step by step tutorial on making a remote shutter release from a wireless doorbell. The pictures are great and the process is fairly simple. There is only one additional chip requred and a little bit of soldering. This is a great way to get some remote shots for cheap.
[via Lifehacker]
