Two pulses with long gap: simplest circuit?

I would buy a used 'for parts' Nokia Lumia Windows phone on ebay, they're often sold very cheap with a broken SIM slot or microphone, certainly less than a score. Some of the bigger Lumias have pretty good cameras and plenty of memory. Free software such as Gotya works well.

Cheers

--
Clive

On Feb 21, 2019, snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote (in article):

Bluetooth

to

be

mono,

Be aware that small animals like foxes have very good high-frequency hearing, and they are likely to be able to hear those relays and solenoids operating.

loud.

A behavioral audiogram of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes):

.

Rats and mice are good to about 100 KHz.

Joe Gwinn

No, it hooks up to an app running on a PC and via your wifi router. Actually, I seem to remember initial setup had to be done with an ethernet cable, once. Well worth the effort.

--
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. 
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

I like the solution Lasse posted.

If you need greater precision, look at this one:

Ed

Thanks Ed. Me too.

Your suggested timer looks interesting but irrelevant here. For a rough 20s time gap? And it does not create two pulses.

I?ll probably buy one anyway, for other purposes. However that gro

99 and almost stops me proceeding, on principle.

Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Thanks Joe. My solenoid-based design was intended for indoor use, close to a double-glazed window, so the risk of those sounds deterring the fox would presumably be minimal?

And, as you may have seen from my more recent posts, I'm now considering an iPad app that detects motion, instead of that 'fun but kludgy' approach.

The exception is that I'd still like to be able to activate my Polaroid CUBE remotely.

However, its push-button (requiring two presses to start a video) needs a surprisingly high force, beyond the range of most practical solenoids. I'm playing with the idea of a small R/C servo motor, but the mechanics of translating its rotating dome into a steady push are tricky.

P.S. 'Our' fox seems inquisitive, occasionally appearing for a moment a few feet from the large glass sliding door, staring into our lounge. Attracted by the TV? (Fox News perhaps.)

Terry, East Grinstead, UK

On Feb 23, 2019, Terry Pinnell wrote (in article):

would

Maybe. They (and all animals) are particularly sensitive to correlated motion

videos.

Could be. Or is the fox applying for a job as a pet? In that case, the correlated clicking will have only attract him.

I have a few digital cameras that can be controlled (and powered?) digitally, using a long USB cable. Or WiFi. That sort of thing could work as well. Or a commercial critter cam.

Joe Gwinn

Things have changed a lot. Try looking up Arduino. Incredibly cheap and easy to use.

For best prices go to Aliexpress. Just takes a long time to come from China.

Dan

We have Foxes in Delaware USA too. ( and deer, skunks, possums, and racoons.

Thanks Dan, but I guess you missed "Not into programming, so PICS, microcontrollers, FGPS, Pi, etc not options."

I didn't explicitly mention Arduino - but as that appears to need C or C++ programming know-how, much as I'd like to use it, that's out too ;-(

Terry, East Grinstead, UK

The Digispark device I suggested has a USB plug. It needs exactly ZERO additional support. NO power supply, no breadboard no nothing to develop a program.

You could have combined the two demo programs below to do exactly what you want in far less time than you've spent whimpering about it. Copy and paste from demos. And you'd have the ability to change your program in an instant. And a skill to widen your possibilities.

Note that most of the text in the demos is tutorial. The actual code is a small percentage of the text.

Development in C for people interested in quick results and lacking a photographic memory for details is a non-starter. It's not the C language itself; it's the zillion little details you have to master and memorize to get anything to run at all.

Arduino and Digispark eliminate most of that. You just find a demo program that's close and edit it a little. Then you plug the device into a USB wall charger for power, hook up the wires to your hardware and you're done.

Having said that, I still think a packaged "baby monitor" or "surveillance camera" app for your iPhone is probably the easiest solution for this case.

If you insist on making oneshots, Digispark or equivalent is your simplest path. More capable Arduinos are easily available, but you don't need 'em at this point.

Wiring up digital hardware is only necessary if you need more speed than you can get from software solutions.

Are we having fun yet?

****************************************************************** This is the Button demo:

/* Button

Turns on and off a light emitting diode(LED) connected to digital pin 13, when pressing a pushbutton attached to pin 2.

The circuit: - LED attached from pin 13 to ground - pushbutton attached to pin 2 from +5V - 10K resistor attached to pin 2 from ground

- Note: on most Arduinos there is already an LED on the board attached to pin 13.

created 2005 by DojoDave modified 30 Aug 2011 by Tom Igoe

This example code is in the public domain.

*/

// constants won't change. They're used here to set pin numbers: const int buttonPin = 2; // the number of the pushbutton pin const int ledPin = 13; // the number of the LED pin

// variables will change: int buttonState = 0; // variable for reading the pushbutton status

void setup() { // initialize the LED pin as an output: pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT); // initialize the pushbutton pin as an input: pinMode(buttonPin, INPUT); }

void loop() { // read the state of the pushbutton value: buttonState = digitalRead(buttonPin);

// check if the pushbutton is pressed. If it is, the buttonState is HIGH: if (buttonState == HIGH) { // turn LED on: digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH); } else { // turn LED off: digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW); } }

****************************************

This is the blink demo

/* Blink

Turns an LED on for one second, then off for one second, repeatedly.

Most Arduinos have an on-board LED you can control. On the UNO, MEGA and ZERO it is attached to digital pin 13, on MKR1000 on pin 6. LED_BUILTIN is set to the correct LED pin independent of which board is used. If you want to know what pin the on-board LED is connected to on your Arduino model, check the Technical Specs of your board at:

modified 8 May 2014 by Scott Fitzgerald modified 2 Sep 2016 by Arturo Guadalupi modified 8 Sep 2016 by Colby Newman

This example code is in the public domain.

*/

// the setup function runs once when you press reset or power the board void setup() { // initialize digital pin LED_BUILTIN as an output. pinMode(LED_BUILTIN, OUTPUT); }

// the loop function runs over and over again forever void loop() { digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, HIGH); // turn the LED on (HIGH is the voltage level) delay(1000); // wait for a second digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, LOW); // turn the LED off by making the voltage LOW delay(1000); // wait for a second }

************************************************************************

I did not miss the " not into programming ". But the Arduino is really easy. Grade school kids use them.

If you could find a class or someone to help you , you would see how easy it is to use.

Dan

As I said in my reply to you four days ago, my focus is now on an iOS app. I'm now using it on my iPhone and iPad. No fox yet but I can't blame that on hardware, software or 'whimpering'.

Try one-transistor one-shots.

That could come in handy. Please elaborate.