The electronics
First step - Collect the components
Second step - wiring
Third step - Code
Making the box
Assembly - putting everything together
Congratulations! You’ve built yourself the perfect Gift box.

Published February 22, 2017 © GPL3+

Giftduino - The Perfect Arduino Gift Box

Every Day is a Great Day for a Gift! Design your own Giftduino and give it to someone special.

BeginnerFull instructions provided5 hours28,274

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Arduino UNO

Hall effect sensor - A1302

SparkFun Mini Speaker - PC Mount 12mm 2.048kHz

SparkFun Graphic LCD 84x48 - Nokia 5110

Software apps and online services

circuito.io

Arduino IDE

Story

Giftduino - The Perfect Arduino Gift Box

The electronics

For this project, we used two relatively new components on circuito.io:

the Hall Effect sensor and the Nokia Graphic LCD.

The hall effect sensor reacts to a magnetic field. In order to activate it, there needs to be a change the magnetic field around it. So as you’ve probably guessed we used a magnet. The magnet is placed on the lid of the gift box.

Components of Giftduino

Every time the lid is opened, the hall effect sensor is activated, and gives out a signal for the screen and the piezo speaker to play their turn. Here's a nice explanation about hall effect sensors and how they work.

First step - Collect the components

In this magic circuito link we pre-selected the components we used in the project. After clicking generate, you’ll see all the parts you need, including peripherals such as resistors, capacitors, etc.

Note that with circuito.io you create many different combinations for this project with the components you have available.

Here are just a few other combinations we thought of for this project:

Replace the piezo speaker with an LED

Replace the hall effect sensor with an Ultrasonic range finder

Replace the wall power adapter with a 9V battery

Replace the Nokia screen with an LCD 16x2

Second step - wiring

If you clicked Generate on the magic link above and scrolled down in the reply, you’ll reach the wiring scheme. Follow the step-by-step guide that will show you exactly how to put together your electronics. It may look complicated, but if you follow the guide one step at a time, it's really simple!

Wiring for Giftduino

Third step - Code

If you scroll down once again in the circuito.io reply, you’ll reach the code section. In this section you’ll have to download the code from circuito.io and extract it to your computer.

Afterwards, you’ll need to open the code with Arduino IDE and upload it to your Arduino.

the code from circuito.io is a sample code. It integrates all the components and their libraries. This code will help you test that your wiring is correct.

Once you’re done with this part, you can copy-paste the code at the end of this tutorial into the firmware.ino tab in the code you got from circuito.io.

Inside the code you’ll see comments that explain each part and function of it, so you can make changes to the values for example, you can change the tune that plays when the box opens, or the pixel-art that appears. Don’t forget to upload the new code to your Arduino once you’re done.

You’re doing great! Now we’ll move on to making the gift box

Making the box

The box we made is a combination of 3D printed parts and PVC cardboard but you can really go wild here and use different materials to give it a totally different look.

PVC Cardboard

For example you can use wood and glass, you can make the box bigger or smaller, decorate it, make it round, make it in any color you want. It’s really up to you.

If you want to make a box like ours, you have the .STL files right here for download.

Assembly - putting everything together

Once you have all the parts ready, it’s time to put everything together.

Place the Arduino with the shield inside the box.

Shield and Arduino of Giftduino

Glue the magnet onto the box lid.

Thread a flexible steel wire to connect the lid and the body of the box

Back of Giftduino box

Congratulations! You’ve built yourself the perfect Gift box.

Let us know if you made one by clicking "I made this" or send us pics and videos of your project on our facebook page.

Code

Giftduino Code

#include "Arduino.h"
#include "HallA1302.h"
#include "AnalogReader.h"
#include "Adafruit_GFX.h"
#include "Adafruit_PCD8544.h"
#include "TimerFreeTone.h"
#include "Speaker.h"


#define HALLA_PIN_VOUT	A3
#define NOKIALCD_PIN_DC	4
#define NOKIALCD_PIN_CS	2
#define NOKIALCD_PIN_RST	3
#define PIEZOSPEAKER_PIN_SIG	5

//define Nokia LCD contrast and dimentions(in pixels)
#define LCD_CONTRAST 70
#define LCD_SIZE_COL 84
#define LCD_SIZE_ROW 48

unsigned int piezoSpeakerHoorayLength          = 6;                                                      // amount of notes in melody
unsigned int piezoSpeakerHoorayMelody[]        = {NOTE_C4, NOTE_E4, NOTE_G4, NOTE_C5, NOTE_G4, NOTE_C5}; // list of notes. List length must match HoorayLength!
unsigned int piezoSpeakerHoorayNoteDurations[] = {8      , 8      , 8      , 4      , 8      , 4      }; // note durations; 4 = quarter note, 8 = eighth note, etc. List length must match HoorayLength!

HallA1302 hallA(HALLA_PIN_VOUT);
Adafruit_PCD8544 nokiaLcd(NOKIALCD_PIN_DC, NOKIALCD_PIN_CS, NOKIALCD_PIN_RST);
Speaker piezoSpeaker(PIEZOSPEAKER_PIN_SIG);




/* This code sets up the essentials for your circuit to work. It runs first every time your circuit is powered with electricity. */
void setup() {
  // Setup Serial which is useful for debugging
  // Use the Serial Monitor to view printed messages
  Serial.begin(9600);
  Serial.println("start");

  //Calibrate sensor
  //hallA.calibrate();
  //Initialize Nokia instance
  nokiaLcd.begin(LCD_SIZE_COL, LCD_SIZE_ROW);
  nokiaLcd.setContrast(LCD_CONTRAST); //Adjust display contrast
}

/* This code is the main logic of your circuit. It defines the interaction between the components you selected. After setup, it runs over and over again, in an eternal loop. */
void loop() {
  //Get Measurment from hall sensor. Depending on the magnet pole polarity the sensor will return positive or negative values.
  int hallAVal = hallA.read();
  Serial.println(hallAVal);

  //Check if the box was opened
  if (abs(hallAVal - 512) < 50)
  {
    delay(500);//wait 0.5 sec
    nokiaLcd.clearDisplay();             //Erase & clear display buffer
    nokiaLcd.setRotation(2);
    nokiaLcd.setTextColor(BLACK);        //Set text color to black, background is white by default
    nokiaLcd.setTextSize(2);             //set text size
    nokiaLcd.setTextSize(1);             //set text size
    nokiaLcd.print("  Surprise !");
    nokiaLcd.setTextSize(2);             //set text size
    nokiaLcd.drawCircle(37, 15, 3, BLACK);
    nokiaLcd.drawCircle(41, 15, 3, BLACK);
    nokiaLcd.drawRect(25, 22, 30, 20, BLACK);
    nokiaLcd.drawRect(22, 18, 36, 5, BLACK);
    nokiaLcd.drawRect(37, 22, 5, 20, BLACK);
    nokiaLcd.display();                  //display on screen
    // The Speaker will play the Hooray tune
    piezoSpeaker.playMelody(piezoSpeakerHoorayLength, piezoSpeakerHoorayMelody, piezoSpeakerHoorayNoteDurations);
    delay(10000); //wait 10sec
  }

}

Credits

circuito.io team

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Circuito.io is an online platform that generates wiring and code for Arduino projects. Want to know more? Visit http://circuito.io

Giftduino - The Perfect Arduino Gift Box