DIY Doppler Radar Microwave Motion Sensor for outside Ford Ranger security.

DIYAndy

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DIY Doppler Radar Microwave Motion Sensor for outside Ford Ranger security.

My garage is too small and cluttered to park my Ranger inside so I chose to leave it outside in the elements. The garage door is made of fiber/wood material so I came up with the idea to shoot a Doppler radar microwave beam through the garage door (range ~ 21 feet) to detect any motion around my Ranger. The radar detector RCWL-0516 sensor is only $0.97 $USD on Ebay. I used an Arduino Nano V3 and Arduino Nano breakout board to interface to this doppler radar device board. Using the Arduino Nano, a person could add an output for sound annunciator (buzzer) or, in my case, I also added it to my home Wi-Fi network so my family and friends would be notified of any disturbance to my Lightning Blue Ford Ranger on their mobile devices.
See pictures below

Author: DIYAndy
Date of completion: 1/7/21
End of project
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RedlandRanger

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What an interesting project! Thanks for posting it! I'd love to see more details on it.
 


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DIYAndy

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What an interesting project! Thanks for posting it! I'd love to see more details on it.
A little more detail but it is somewhat complex ... In the second picture (above), you can see the wiring (two wires) going from the blue relay to the "hacked" smart outlet WiFI plug from Feit Electric (in the third picture - below) When the Doppler Radar Microwave Motion Sensor picks up motion, near the Ranger, the output goes high to the Arduino Nano which reads the WiFi smart on/off status and if it is OFF it will latch the outside outlet smart WiFi plug to the ON state. By using the "FREE" FEIT Electric Android/IOS App you can notify yourself and other family members of the Ranger's security breach on their mobile devices. FEIT Electric provides smart and very in-expensive (2.4 GHz only) WiFi doorbell/cams, WiFi video cams, WiFi outlet plugs and other WiFi smart sensors. All I did was to hack into their smart IoT WiFi network to transmit the status of the Doppler Radar Microwave Motion Sensor.

For those who are familiar with the Arduino and Nano V3 - below is the simple "ino" code snippet.

/*
Radar detector RCWL-0516 is a Doppler radar microwave motion sensor module.
Specifications:
Working voltage: 4 – 28 VDC
Operating current: less than 3mA
Output voltage: 3.3V (from 3V3 pin)
Output current: 100mA maximum
Detection range: less than 120 degrees taper angle within 7 meters
Trigger mode: repeat trigger
Delay time: 2 seconds (default value)
Active level: high (when motion is detected)
Output interface:
3V3 (3.3V power supply output),
GND (ground),
OUT (output signal),
VIN (power in),
CDS (detection can be turned off during the day by soldering an external photoresistor to ground)

Author: ArduinoAndy
Date: 12/26/2020
Time: 15:06
Revision: 1.0b

*/

// constants won't change. Used here to set a pin number:
const int ledPin = LED_BUILTIN;// the number of the LED pin

// Variables will change:
int ledState = LOW; // ledState used to set the LED

// Generally, you should use "unsigned long" for variables that hold time
// The value will quickly become too large for an int to store
unsigned long previousMillis = 0; // will store last time LED was updated
int radarPin = 10;
int plugStatusPin = 11;
int relayOutputPin = 8;
int val_1 = 0; // variable to store the read value
int val_2 = 0; // variable to store the read value

// constants won't change:
const long interval = 1000; // interval at which to blink (milliseconds)

void setup() {
// set the digital pin as output:
pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
pinMode(relayOutputPin, OUTPUT); // Relay output - Activates WiFi plug
pinMode(radarPin, INPUT); // Radar signal - High when triggered
pinMode(plugStatusPin, INPUT); // Plug status - 110 VAC = 5 VDC
Serial.begin(9600);
// delay 60 secs on startup <------<<<<
delay(60000);
}

void loop() {
// here is where you'd put code that needs to be running all the time.

//digitalWrite(relayOutputPin, HIGH); // for relay test
//Serial.print("Radar Signal = ");
// val_1 = digitalRead(radarPin); // read the input pin
// Serial.println(val_1);
// Serial.print("Plug Status = ");
// val_2 = digitalRead(plugStatusPin); // read the input pin
// Serial.println(val_2);


val_1 = digitalRead(radarPin); // read input pin
val_2 = digitalRead(plugStatusPin); // read input pin

if (val_1 == 1) {
if (val_2 == 0) {
digitalWrite(relayOutputPin, HIGH);
delay(100);
digitalWrite(relayOutputPin, LOW);
delay(2000);
// Serial.println("Turn on WiFi plug");
// Do not hold the device relay greater than 10 seconds or you will lose the WiFi settings !!!!
}
}


// check to see if it's time to blink the LED; that is, if the difference
// between the current time and last time you blinked the LED is bigger than
// the interval at which you want to blink the LED.
unsigned long currentMillis = millis();

if (currentMillis - previousMillis >= interval) {
// save the last time you blinked the LED
previousMillis = currentMillis;

// if the LED is off turn it on and vice-versa:
if (ledState == LOW) {
ledState = HIGH;
} else {
ledState = LOW;
}

// set the LED with the ledState of the variable:
digitalWrite(ledPin, ledState);
}
}

// end of code
:cool: :cool: :cool: :cool:

The only problem I have are dogs lifting their one leg to wash down my 16" steelies on the Ranger.
This microwave Doppler radar will pick them up in the act. ?
 
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RedlandRanger

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Very cool. I may have to investigate these boards some more - I tinkered with a Raspberry pi several years ago, but this looks even more interesting.
 
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DIYAndy

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Here is the missing half of the project picture
WiFi Interface.JPG
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