PicAxe Microcontrollers

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PicAxe project ideas

The affordable 433MHz radio Tx & Rx modules open the doors wide for applications, with radio-data-links being of use in a host of remote monitoring & control applications, such as robotics, security, and convenience uses.

A few off-the-cuff uses for a PicAxe-08 with radio-link could be:

• If you live rurally, your letter box could have a solar powered PicAxe-08 monitoring when the postie's been, avoiding those unnecessary trips down the cold & muddy drive until you know there's some (junk)mail waiting. And since the postie hasn't been, there's still time to put that letter in an envelope and put it in the box for pickup today.

• Is the gate at the end of your long drive shut? It's late and you're locking up the house before bed, but you're not sure if the last person through closed it. Fortunately you only have to glance at the light on the receiver unit in the lounge to see whether the trip is necessary or not, thanks to the Gate-monitor you built easily with a pair of PicAxe-08's, a Tx-Rx pair, and some solar cells. If your letter box is right by your gate at the end of a long drive, you could combine the postie-detector and gate-monitor in one unit when you want to impress your partner with your new, improved product, and design skills.

  Also you'll know when that arriving guest opens the gate when your gate-monitor indicates this to you in advance. Of course, your partner will want to know why a cuppa isn't waiting for him/her, since after all you knew he/she was coming up the drive in advance

• Have kids who enjoy hide & seek, if only there were new places to hide? Hide the transmitter, and tell young James Bond that the receiver you've given him/her is the bug locator, and his mission (should he choose to accept it) is to find the security leak. (As usual, if caught all knowledge will be disavowed :) And for the real littlies, the simplicity of programming these chips makes it easy for you to add an occassional beep to the 'bug' so they can use their super hearing powers.

• Treasure hunt for littlies with a difference. The 'treasure' you've hidden has a receiver, and will beep when activated by the 'magic wand' (with a transmitter) that the child carries. Each beep is a clue to the treasure's location, but the wand needs to 'warm-up' between beep activations, providing a little challenge, and maybe the beeps even get a little softer each time. A counter is easy to add, for the child to see how few 'beep-spells' need casting to find the magic treasure. (Naturally the stronger the magic hearing powers of the child, the fewer spells need casting.

• Doorbell hard to hear while out the back gardening? Or in the garage? No need for several doorbell extenders when you can have the one you easily made yourself with you. And that counter can tell you if you had visitors while you were out at the shops.

• Turn the jug on before getting out of your warm bed to make your morning cuppa.

• Monitor or control anything you fancy, then with a small change, use it for another purpose. Soon your friends will be asking if you can make them one of those ...