Santa Has Come!

Instead of camping out all Christmas Eve night, use our Sants Has Come sensor to alert you when a present has been placed under the tree!

BeginnerFull instructions provided5 hours188

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Particle Argon

Ultrasonic Sensor - HC-SR04 (Generic)

3 mm LED: Red

3 mm LED: Green

Through Hole Resistor, 10 ohm

Solderless Breadboard Full Size

Jumper wires (generic)

Software apps and online services

Particle Build Web IDE

Story

There is nothing better than the anticipation of Christmas. Santa comes at night, you open presents, you get to spend time with your family, perhaps see some long lost relatives, the list goes on. But have you ever wondered when Santa comes? We know it is sometime during the night before Christmas, but is it right after you go to bed? Or perhaps once you're fast asleep. Maybe you stay up all night listening for Santa but never hear him, only to discover presents under the tree in the morning. Now there is a way to know when he's here with the 'Santa Has Come!' sensor! All you need to do is set up the sensor in a location under your Christmas tree that is guaranteed to have a present be put down in front of it. The sensor is small and compact, which makes it easy to hide anywhere, and only needs to be plugged into a power source. Then you can bring the second part with the LED display to your room. Once Santa comes and places a present under the tree (and in front of the sensor), the red and green LEDs will light up! This is a guaranteed way to know when Santa comes, even if you don't hear him. Don't forget to leave out some milk and cookies (and maybe carrots for the reindeer)!

How it Works

Ultrasonic Sensor with Green LED

Using bi-directional communication, once a present is placed in front of the sensor, the LED's on the LED light display will light up triggering the green LED on the sensor to light. The LED light display can be displayed anywhere in the room. Be careful, the LED's are BRIGHT!

LED Light Display

The video below shows the real-time data display of the "Santa Has Come!" along with a demonstration of how it works.

Code

// The library below was used so data that came from the sensor could be used to calculate distance in cm

// This #include statement was automatically added by the Particle IDE.
#include <HC_SR04.h>

//The output pins from the sensor, LED, and digital output pins from the Particle were defined below. The variable, cm, was also defined as a double so it would output decimal values. 
double cm = 0.0;
int trigPin = D4;
int echoPin = D3;
int led = D6;


HC_SR04 rangefinder = HC_SR04(trigPin, echoPin);

// The LED was defined as an output, and the Particle was told to subscribe to the blinkled event, which would publish "blink" or "off" depending upon if the second Particle was told to turn its LEDs on. 
void setup() 
{
    Spark.variable("cm", &cm, DOUBLE);
    pinMode(led,OUTPUT);
    Particle.subscribe("santa_has_come_blinkled49", blinkled);
}

/* -----------------------------------------
An 'If' statement was used to publish an event called "present" when an object was detected less than 30 cm away from the sensor. This event would trigger the second Particle to light up the LED display. 
If the event "stolen" was published, the second Particle would not turn on the LED display. "stolen" would be published when there was no object detected in front of the ultrasonic sensor, or if an object was not within the 30 cm range. 
------------------------------------------*/
void loop() 
{
    cm = rangefinder.getDistanceCM();
    if (cm<30){
        Particle.publish("merry_christmas_santa_came", "present", PRIVATE);
        }
    else {
        Particle.publish("merry_christmas_santa_came", "stolen", PRIVATE);
        }
    delay(4000);
}

/* -----------------------------------------
A second 'If' statement was used to control the LED connected to this Particle. When the ultrasonic sensor detected a present, it would publish the event, "present." This would tell the LEDs on the second Particle to turn on. The second Particle would then publish an event called "blink" which indicated the message was received and the LEDs were on. This would cause the LED connected to this Particle to turn on to signify that this Particle knew the other one turned on the LEDs. 
If this Particle published "stolen," the LEDs connected to the other Particle would not turn on, so it would publish the event "off" which would tell this Particle to keep the LED off, indicating the LED display was also off. 
------------------------------------------*/
void blinkled(const char *event, const char *data)
{

  if (strcmp(data,"blink")==0) {
    digitalWrite(led,HIGH);
  }
  else if (strcmp(data,"off")==0) {
    digitalWrite(led,LOW);
  }
  delay(4000);
}

/* -----------------------------------------
SOURCES

We referenced the code from this website and used the author's useage of an ultrasonic
sensor to understand how to use it in our project.

Hrisko, Joshua. "Wiring and Coding." Internet of Things WiFi and Bluetooth Mesh Network with Particle Argon and Xenon Boards. 
    Maker Portal. Maker Portal, November 11, 2018. Accessed November 18, 2020. 
    https://makersportal.com/blog/2018/11/11/internet-of-things-bluetooth-and-wifi-mesh-network-with-particle-argon-and-xenon-boards. 

This video was used to figure out how to wire the ultrasonic sensor to the Particle. 

"Ultrasonic Sensor HC-SR04 and Arduino Tutorial." Youtube, uploaded by How to Mechatronics, July 26, 2015. Accessed November 15, 2020.
    https://youtu.be/ZejQOX69K5M
------------------------------------------*/

// The LEDs and the digital outputs used on the Particle are defined below. 
int led2 = D2; 
int led3 = D3; 
int led4 = D4;
int led5 = D5;
int led6 = D6;
int led7 = D7;
int led8 = D8;
int led9 = A0;

//The LEDs are defined as outputs and the Particle is told to subscribe to the other Particle.

void setup() {
    pinMode(led2, OUTPUT);
    pinMode(led3, OUTPUT);
    pinMode(led4, OUTPUT);
    pinMode(led5, OUTPUT);
    pinMode(led6, OUTPUT);
    pinMode(led7, OUTPUT);
    pinMode(led8, OUTPUT);
    pinMode(led9, OUTPUT);
    
    Particle.subscribe("merry_christmas_santa_came", ledBlink);
    
}

void loop() {


}

/* -----------------------------------------

An 'If' statement was used to tell the Particle to enable the LED display if a present was detected by the other Particle. If there was a present, the other Particle would publish an event called "present," which this Particle would detect and tell the LEDs to come on until an event, "stolen" was published by the first Particle. 
If the LEDs were told to turn on, this Particle (with all of the LEDs) would publish an event called "blink," which told the first Particle to turn on an LED, which would signify that this Particle received the "present" message and that the LEDs had turned on. 
If the first Particle did not detect a present, an event called "stolen" was published. This Particle would not turn the LEDs on, and would publish an event called "off" to tell the LED on the other Particle to stay off. 

------------------------------------------*/

void ledBlink(const char *event, const char *data)
{
    if (strcmp(data, "present")==0){
        digitalWrite(led2, HIGH);
        digitalWrite(led3, HIGH);
        digitalWrite(led4, HIGH);
        digitalWrite(led5, HIGH);
        digitalWrite(led6, HIGH);
        digitalWrite(led7, HIGH);
        digitalWrite(led8, HIGH);
        digitalWrite(led9, HIGH);
        Particle.publish("santa_has_come_blinkled49", "blink", PRIVATE);
    }
    
    else if (strcmp(data, "stolen")==0) {
        digitalWrite(led2, LOW);
        digitalWrite(led3, LOW);
        digitalWrite(led4, LOW);
        digitalWrite(led5, LOW);
        digitalWrite(led6, LOW);
        digitalWrite(led7, LOW);
        digitalWrite(led8, LOW);
        digitalWrite(led9, LOW);
        Particle.publish("santa_has_come_blinkled49", "off", PRIVATE);
        
    }
   delay(4000); 
}


/* -----------------------------------------
SOURCES

We referenced the code from this website and used the author's useage of an ultrasonic
sensor to understand how to use it in our project.

Hrisko, Joshua. "Wiring and Coding." Internet of Things WiFi and Bluetooth Mesh Network with Particle Argon and Xenon Boards. 
    Maker Portal. Maker Portal, November 11, 2018. Accessed November 18, 2020. 
    https://makersportal.com/blog/2018/11/11/internet-of-things-bluetooth-and-wifi-mesh-network-with-particle-argon-and-xenon-boards. 

This video was used to figure out how to wire the ultrasonic sensor to the Particle. 

"Ultrasonic Sensor HC-SR04 and Arduino Tutorial." Youtube, uploaded by How to Mechatronics, July 26, 2015. Accessed November 15, 2020.
    https://youtu.be/ZejQOX69K5M
------------------------------------------*/

Credits

Emily Goodwin

1 project • 0 followers

Contact

Marisa Nahrwold

1 project • 0 followers

Contact

Thanks to Joshua Hrisko.

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Santa Has Come!