Introduction: Luminous Collar for Norma, Changes Color on Her Activity Level.
Another gadget for Norma.
This time, a luminous collar that changes color depending on her activity level. The main function is to have her visually located and to make her visible to others during the night walks that she likes so much.
But it is also a way to know in a quite approximate way her activity level at every moment.
Supplies
- Arduino Nano,
- Accelerometer (MPU6050),
- Addressable led strip,
- Transparent and flexible plastic tube,
- Lithium 18650 battery,
- TP4056 Charging Module,
- Micro switch
- Soldering iron, tin.
- Hot silicone gun,
- pencil, paper, cutter...
Step 1: Assembly
The assembly is very simple.
Just a few welds following the scheme and try to waterproof the assembly as much as possible. Keep in mind that Norma is a Husky that loves water.
For this, we will introduce the strip of leds in the plastic tube to protect it from possible damages and we will plug the ends with hot silicone to waterproof it.
It is necessary to say that this is a necklace that Norma has been using for several years and that has been very useful for us.
It is also true that her fondness for both fresh and salt water baths has put it to the test on more than one occasion, sometimes with negative results for the collar...
At first the way to protect the electronic circuit was a small plastic box, but it always ended up breaking in one way or another. Finally it was decided to use other pieces of plastic tube to protect the electronic circuit.
Another of the most damaged parts was the microswitch, so in the end we opted for a small plug that must be connected and disconnected (see photo).
It is true that in another type of less active pet, a simple plastic box like the first versions with a switch on it for connection and disconnection, would be more than enough.
Step 2: Brief Description
It has a software battery level control to adjust the brightness level as the battery is running low to increase the hours of operation. Sometimes its night walks are really long...
When power is turned on, the collar shows the remaining battery level by means of the first 10 LEDs.
For easy reading at a glance, the first 5 will be blue, the next three (corresponding to 60, 70 and 80 percent) will be yellow/orange and the last two (corresponding to 90% and 100%) will be green.
An added function after some time of use was the beacon function in case the collar was lost, which has happened on a couple of occasions.
In case the accelerometer stops measuring activity for a certain period of time, it goes into sleep mode to switch to low power. In this mode, instead of all the LEDs staying on in a fixed color (depending on the level of activity), what is displayed is a flashing with a certain pattern (alternating the LEDs used), so that the battery life is greatly increased.
This allows us to search for it even the night after it is lost, as the battery can last much longer than 24 hours.
It would be very rare for Norma to stay completely still long enough to activate the beacon mode, but it could happen...
In that case the collar returns to its normal operating mode only if the activity resumes and is maintained for at least a few minutes. In this way, we avoid that an accelerometer reading error could reactivate the collar if it is lost and in beacon mode.
Step 3: Operating Modes
The collar starts showing the battery level and then tests the leds showing different patterns and colors.
During its operating mode the behavior is as follows:
if Norma does not move, RED COLOR will be shown.
If there is a moderate activity level, for example, walking or moving slightly, GREEN COLOR will be displayed.
In case of intense activity, such as running, the necklace will show PINK COLOR.
If there are sudden changes of direction or jumps, a rotating pattern with the RAINBOW COLORS will be displayed
Since the intensity of the brightness and some color patterns change as the battery runs out, each time there is a change in the level of the battery that affects the way of displaying the colors, a brief blue blink will be shown followed by the battery level for a few seconds, and then resume normal operation showing colors depending on the activity levels.
In case of loss, collar activates a beacon mode in which blink alternating patterns of LEDs and colors so that the duration of the battery is substantially increased, thus facilitating the possibility of finding it
