Other sections

1. Introduction
2. Basic setup & Power
3. PIR sensor
4. IR lamp
5. IR filter
6. Buttons
7. Completed pics, improvements and parts list
8. Updates

 

Description

The IR lamp is a kit from Maplin. I’d priced up getting the LED’s individually and putting them on to a bit of veroboard and the kit worked out much cheaper.

It is designed to be 12v but it works satisfactorily with a 9v source. I have bought another of the kits when they were on special offer so I may end up swapping out the resistors to make it truly 9v.

Powering the lamp

I wanted the lamp to be powered separately from the PI, initially because it is much easier to do but also because it’ll let me be a bit more flexible if I choose to change the lamp or power source (It also helps to reduce the load on the battery).  I settled for a relay kit from Ciseco – as with the lamp it proved cheaper than buying the bits.

I’ve soldered this board so many times the tack has come off, so I’ve had to find alternative places to put the wires! This has become a major weak point of the build.

For debug purposes I’ve produced 2 python programs – one to turn it on and the other to turn it off.

On

#!/usr/bin/python

import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
import time
import subprocess

# Use BCM GPIO references
# instead of physical pin numbers
GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BCM)

# Define GPIO for light
GPIO_LIGHT_ON = 17

# Set light on GPIO as output
GPIO.setup(GPIO_LIGHT_ON,GPIO.OUT)
GPIO.output (GPIO_LIGHT_ON,1)
print " Light on"
GPIO.cleanup()


Off
#!/usr/bin/python

import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
import time
import subprocess

# Use BCM GPIO references
# instead of physical pin numbers
GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BCM)

# Define GPIO for light
GPIO_LIGHT_ON = 17

# Set light on GPIO as output
GPIO.setup(GPIO_LIGHT_ON,GPIO.OUT)
GPIO.output (GPIO_LIGHT_ON,0)
print " Light off"
GPIO.cleanup()

Other sections

1. Introduction
2. Basic setup & Power
3. PIR sensor
4. IR lamp
5. IR filter
6. Buttons
7. Completed pics, improvements and parts list
8. Updates

 

Description.

I bought the filter from an EBay seller in China. It took a while to arrive but was extremely cheap and pretty good quality. It comprises of a main body with an electrical connection coming out of it and works by sliding a tiny IR filter in front of the camera, replacing the missing filter on the pi noIR camera to give a better colour reproduction under natural light.

To get it to work the wires need to receive a brief current, when this is reversed (i/e the previous +ve connection becomes –ve) it goes the other way. I needed to find something that could reverse the polarity on a pair of wires and came across this description about a motor controller. http://computers.tutsplus.com/tutorials/controlling-dc-motors-using-python-with-a-raspberry-pi–cms-20051

I built this one using the diagram provided by Envatotuts+ on to a lovely adafruit permaproto board.

Mount to cam

The IR filter is clearly from some sort of CCTV camera and so comes with a couple of mounting holes. These almost line up with the mounting holes on the camera board and pimoroni camera holder so I’ve bolted them together with some nylon nuts and bolts.

I tried to fit the camera unit behind the clear plastic of the box but the result was disappointing with a very noticeable blue / grey tinge so I ended up cutting a hole through it and pushing the camera assembly through. I’m not too happy about the camera position in relation to the filter housing and intend to jiggle it about a bit in the future.

In order to prevent water getting in I’ve put a clear lens over the outside. This is from a go-pro and was a very cheap pattern part. A bit of tape and some blu-tak and it’s firmly in position.

Automatic switching.

In order to use the camera as both a night time trail cam and a daytime birdfeeder camera I needed to get the IR filter to switch automatically. This will also help to give a better picture on the trailcam in the summer when full darkness is brief.

I’ve looked at putting in an LDR (and may still do in the future) however for the time being I’ve set up cron to run the on / off program at specific times. Pikrellcam also has the facility to run scripts and I will investigate this in the future also.

Python script (taken from the Envatotuts+ blog)

filter off

import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
from time import sleep
 
GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BOARD)
 
Motor1A = 16
Motor1B = 18
Motor1E = 22
 
GPIO.setup(Motor1A,GPIO.OUT)
GPIO.setup(Motor1B,GPIO.OUT)
GPIO.setup(Motor1E,GPIO.OUT)
 
print "Sending signal"
GPIO.output(Motor1A,GPIO.HIGH)
GPIO.output(Motor1B,GPIO.LOW)
GPIO.output(Motor1E,GPIO.HIGH)
 
sleep(0.1)
 
print "Filter off"
GPIO.output(Motor1E,GPIO.LOW)
 
GPIO.cleanup()

filter on

import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
from time import sleep
 
GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BOARD)
 
Motor1A = 16
Motor1B = 18
Motor1E = 22
 
GPIO.setup(Motor1A,GPIO.OUT)
GPIO.setup(Motor1B,GPIO.OUT)
GPIO.setup(Motor1E,GPIO.OUT)
 
print "Sending signal"
GPIO.output(Motor1A,GPIO.LOW)
GPIO.output(Motor1B,GPIO.HIGH)
GPIO.output(Motor1E,GPIO.HIGH)
 
sleep(0.1)
 
print "Filter on"
GPIO.output(Motor1E,GPIO.LOW)
 
GPIO.cleanup()

Addition to the cron

00 16 * * * /usr/bin/python /home/pi/filteroff.py

Other sections

1. Introduction
2. Basic setup & Power
3. PIR sensor
4. IR lamp
5. IR filter
6. Buttons
7. Completed pics, improvements and parts list
8. Updates

 

Description.

When the camera is put out in the garden it often drops the Wi-Fi link on the way so I wanted to fit the facility for a hardware button so that I could press it when the camera is positioned outside and re-establish the link.

When indoors & for testing I can use simple buttons however anything put outside stands the chance of being chewed so I’d like to be able to fit a waterproof button at a later date.

I’ve taken the button control straight from the main breakout board and it has the pull up resistors fitted before the male connector pegs, so it is simply a case of getting the new buttons fixed in the case and wiring on to them. I also added an LED that flashes (1, 2 or 3 times) depending upon which button is pressed.

The button wiring has been a huge pain. The single core wires regularly snap at the join with the board resulting it a confusing mess of soldering and bodging. The board and wires perform perfectly and it is all an issue with my workmanship – this are would really benefit from having a custom PCM made.

The following basic python script monitors and controls the buttons / LED and is run at startup via my new favourite thing – cron!

Python prog

#! /usr/bin/python
 
import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
import os
import sys
import time
 
# set up button references
BUTTON1 = 18
BUTTON2 = 4
BUTTON3 = 7
GREEN = 3
 
 # set up buttons
GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BCM)
GPIO.setup(BUTTON1, GPIO.IN)
GPIO.setup(BUTTON2, GPIO.IN)
GPIO.setup(BUTTON3, GPIO.IN)
GPIO.setup(GREEN, GPIO.OUT)

# button 1 = green - reboot
# button 2 = yellow - restart wifi
# button 3 = red -

# turn light off
GPIO.output(GREEN,GPIO.LOW)
 
while True:
 if GPIO.input(BUTTON1) == GPIO.HIGH:
 print("button 1")
 GPIO.output(GREEN,GPIO.HIGH)
 time.sleep(.5)
 GPIO.output(GREEN,GPIO.LOW)
 time.sleep(.5)
 os.system("sudo reboot")
 elif GPIO.input(BUTTON2) == GPIO.HIGH:
 print("button 2")
 GPIO.output(GREEN,GPIO.HIGH)
 time.sleep(.5)
 GPIO.output(GREEN,GPIO.LOW)
 time.sleep(.5)
 GPIO.output(GREEN,GPIO.HIGH)
 time.sleep(.5)
 GPIO.output(GREEN,GPIO.LOW)
 time.sleep(.5)
 os.system("sudo ifup --force wlan0")
 elif GPIO.input(BUTTON3) == GPIO.HIGH:
 print("button 3")
 GPIO.output(GREEN,GPIO.HIGH)
 time.sleep(.5)
 GPIO.output(GREEN,GPIO.LOW)
 time.sleep(.5)
 GPIO.output(GREEN,GPIO.HIGH)
 time.sleep(.5)
 GPIO.output(GREEN,GPIO.LOW)
 time.sleep(.5)
 GPIO.output(GREEN,GPIO.HIGH)
 time.sleep(.5)
 GPIO.output(GREEN,GPIO.LOW)
 time.sleep(.5)
 else:
 print("pin is low")
 time.sleep(2)