Peanut Butter Jar Monster Detector

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BobCochran13
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Peanut Butter Jar Monster Detector

Post by BobCochran13 »

This question is for Vern Graner, who wrote an excellent article on a Peanut Butter Jar Monster Detector in a past issue of Nuts & Volts. I have an infant granddaughter now and I would like to build the monster detector for her. Do you have any suggestions for me based on your experience with the device? I will have to look around in my old issues of Nuts and Volts to find the article. As I recall from memory -- there was one Radio Shack part...I hope the Shack still sells it.

Many thanks

Bob Cochran

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VernGraner
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Re: Peanut Butter Jar Monster Detector

Post by VernGraner »

BobCochran13 wrote:This question is for Vern Graner, who wrote an excellent article on a Peanut Butter Jar Monster Detector in a past issue of Nuts & Volts. I have an infant granddaughter now and I would like to build the monster detector for her. Do you have any suggestions for me based on your experience with the device? I will have to look around in my old issues of Nuts and Volts to find the article. As I recall from memory -- there was one Radio Shack part...I hope the Shack still sells it.

Many thanks

Bob Cochran

Hi Bob! :smile:

I'm glad to hear you're interested in the Peanut Butter Monster Detector (PBMD for short!). The article that has the complete schematics and build instructions is here:

Peanut Butter Monster Detector Article

There is also a thread about the sound record/playback deviuce that radio shack sells. It has gone through a few mods but we figured out how to make the new version work. The thread with the details is here:

Peanut Butter Monster Detector Questions Thread

If you have any questions about how to build it please let me know. And in answer to your question on suggestions, I would say maybe add something to the bottom of the jar to make it more stable. Mine was a bit top-heavy and my daughter would sometimes knock if off the night stand. I would maybe put some modeling clay in the bottom of the jar to lower it's center of gravity - or maybe mount the jar onto a small wooden board to make it more stable..? Other than that, it worked like a charm and did a good job of helping her manage her anxiety. :cool:

Again, let me know if you have any other questions or get stuck building it. I'd be happy to help! :grin:

Vern
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Re: Peanut Butter Jar Monster Detector

Post by BobCochran13 »

Hi Vern,

Thanks for providing the links. they are making great rainy day study for me here in Maryland. I may help myself to one of my wife's plastic containers for this since we are not at this time a peanut butter and jelly household, but plan to be what with the grandchild.

Regarding the servo to use. I have a GWS S03N 2BB

http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/693/specs

and a Hextronik HXT900 "9GR Servo" which is quite a bit smaller than the GWS.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor ... Servo.html

Do you think one of these is good enough or should I stick with the Parallax servo?

Bob
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Re: Peanut Butter Jar Monster Detector

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Hi Vern,

I reviewed the documentation for the PBMD. I discussed the project with my daughter who thinks it is a good idea and wants me to do it. I have ordered all the required parts. I went to the store looking for 40 ounce containers of Peter Pan Peanut Butter. I noticed a set of empty plastic "Yum" containers and one of these looks perfect, so I will use the Yum rather than the Peter Pan. I also reviewed the Peanut Butter Monster Detector video on You Tube. That helped me see how the servo moves the wire harness that goes into the scan head.

What job does the tire hub do? Is it just an appearance item?

Bob
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Re: Peanut Butter Jar Monster Detector

Post by VernGraner »

BobCochran13 wrote:Regarding the servo to use. I have a GWS S03N 2BB

http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/693/specs

and a Hextronik HXT900 "9GR Servo" which is quite a bit smaller than the GWS.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor ... Servo.html

Do you think one of these is good enough or should I stick with the Parallax servo?

Hi Bob, Sorry for the slow response - had a busy weekend.. (that actually isn't over yet for me!) :smile:

As for the servo, most any servo will work. I used the parallax one as it made for s single order from parallax. The servo is cosmetic in use for the most part. just moves the lights around. The point is to distract the attention of the child away from whatever it was that woke them. :smile: Hope this helps.

Vern
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Re: Peanut Butter Jar Monster Detector

Post by VernGraner »

BobCochran13 wrote:What job does the tire hub do? Is it just an appearance item?
I apologize again for the slow response. I'm glad you found the video useful. I never did get around to doing a video of the actual finished product, But hopefully you can deduce its operation from the video. As for the "Tire Hub", the item is entirely cosmetic in nature. You can take great liberties in making your own servo-moved "scan head". Add some model car parts or old toy bits. It can be fun to get creative. :smile:

For what its worth, I spoke about the peanut butter monster detector on KOOP radio here in Austin Texas and a podcast of the session is Available Here if you'd like to take a listen. Please do share your results when you get it going and let me know if you need any help. :smile:

Vern
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Re: Peanut Butter Jar Monster Detector

Post by BobCochran13 »

Thanks Vern, and I have no problem with the response time. I've ordered all the parts and even found a pretty decent pill bottle. Thanks for offering the radio podcast -- I'm deaf, so I focus on text and graphics. I think with this project I'm reaching some sort of an personal breakthrough with respect to my electronics training. Maybe my brain is finally thinking electronics?

I will follow up when my creation is ready!

Bob
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Re: Peanut Butter Jar Monster Detector

Post by BobCochran13 »

Hi Vern,

I got my pushbutton (All Electronics LPS-1R) today and I am trying to understand the meaning of the 5 connectors on it and how you configured it specifically. Based on reading your article again, and trying to match wire colors with the connections I can see on the "extra pictures" Picassa website and the article, there are 3 wires going to the pushbutton:

black -- is connected to the pushbutton LED and P1 on the BS1. It controls the pushbutton LED.
yellow -- is connected to the bottom-most metal connector on the pushbutton and P0 on the BS1. It controls the pushbutton switch.
light blue or aqua -- is connected to ground.

Am I close with my guesswork?

I'd like to ask about the screws used on the servo horn. My GWS servo has a bunch of tiny holes in the round servo horn. Do I need to use specialized screws with it or can I drill it to accept the 2-56 screws I happen to have?

Thanks

Bob
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VernGraner
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Re: Peanut Butter Jar Monster Detector

Post by VernGraner »

BobCochran13 wrote:I got my pushbutton (All Electronics LPS-1R) today and I am trying to understand the meaning of the 5 connectors on it and how you configured it specifically. Based on reading your article again, and trying to match wire colors with the connections I can see on the "extra pictures" Picassa website and the article, there are 3 wires going to the pushbutton:

black -- is connected to the pushbutton LED and P1 on the BS1. It controls the pushbutton LED.
yellow -- is connected to the bottom-most metal connector on the pushbutton and P0 on the BS1. It controls the pushbutton switch.
light blue or aqua -- is connected to ground.

Am I close with my guesswork?
I think so. :smile: In my prototype, the speakers, pushbutton and the LED inside the pushbutton were all on the lid. Subsequently, I created a small "wire loom" that joined the components in the lid to the PCB. The wire color and the way I laid out /grouped the wires was arbitrary and is non-critical to operation. You can use whatever wires/colors you like as long as it follows the schematics as shown here:

Image

BobCochran13 wrote:I'd like to ask about the screws used on the servo horn. My GWS servo has a bunch of tiny holes in the round servo horn. Do I need to use specialized screws with it or can I drill it to accept the 2-56 screws I happen to have?
No Special screws required. In fact a drop or two of super glue or hot melt glue might be sufficient. :smile: Again, non critical stuff as the mechanical aspects are cosmetic in nature. They are not subject to excessive torque nor do they carry much weight.

Hope this helps :)

Vern
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Re: Peanut Butter Jar Monster Detector

Post by BobCochran13 »

Hi Vern,

Thank you so much for responding. I'm really obsessing about the switch connections to the BS1, and listed the wire colors to see if I am correctly understanding how you connected the switch. I am not very experienced with switches. Then I pulled the lamp and microswitch out of the pushbutton and realized that one pair of the pushbutton's connectors are dedicated to powering the lamp and the other 3 connectors are for the switch itself. Of course, experimentation is good for me...I can always play on a breadboard and find out.

Thank you for pointing out that glue will work for attaching the pill bottle cap to the servo horn, too.

Many thanks!

Bob
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Re: Peanut Butter Jar Monster Detector

Post by BobCochran13 »

Vern, I have a question about shorting R3 on the Radio Shack sound module. Does this mean: remove the existing resistor R3 on that module, solder a wire in it's place, and connect that to a 100K resistor which is in turn connected to the "P3" pin on the Basic Stamp 1 module? With my sound module, resistor R3 is still on the board, but has been knocked off its pads by the wire I soldered there. I tried to solder the wire on the resistor, and seemed to succeed with that at first. But the sound module wouldn't activate when I tested this on the Basic Stamp 1. So I brought it back to my soldering station, and in a moment of clumsiness I applied too much heat to the resistor, all its solder melted, and it slid sideways on the PCB. The wire did solder to the pads of the displaced resistor. This does seem to work when tested on the BS1: I took a snippet of your code from your Peanut Butter Monster Detector code download, and saved it as a new BS1 module. The snippet simply takes pin P3 low. I uploaded that to my BS1, and it causes the sound module to go into playback mode. Friends can hear my voice coming from the speaker. You can also see the diode blinking as the sound plays.

Thanks,

Bob Cochran


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VernGraner
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Re: Peanut Butter Jar Monster Detector

Post by VernGraner »

BobCochran13 wrote:Vern, I have a question about shorting R3 on the Radio Shack sound module. Does this mean: remove the existing resistor R3 on that module, solder a wire in it's place, and connect that to a 100K resistor which is in turn connected to the "P3" pin on the Basic Stamp 1 module?
No, the idea was to "tag" or "tap" a wire on to the resistor R3 at the point circled in this photo:
Image

This is how the module I used looked after I soldered a wire to that point on R3 then rotated the module and installed it on the board:
Image
BobCochran13 wrote: With my sound module, resistor R3 is still on the board, but has been knocked off its pads by the wire I soldered there. I tried to solder the wire on the resistor, and seemed to succeed with that at first. But the sound module wouldn't activate when I tested this on the Basic Stamp 1. So I brought it back to my soldering station, and in a moment of clumsiness I applied too much heat to the resistor, all its solder melted, and it slid sideways on the PCB. The wire did solder to the pads of the displaced resistor. This does seem to work when tested on the BS1: I took a snippet of your code from your Peanut Butter Monster Detector code download, and saved it as a new BS1 module. The snippet simply takes pin P3 low. I uploaded that to my BS1, and it causes the sound module to go into playback mode. Friends can hear my voice coming from the speaker. You can also see the diode blinking as the sound plays.
Sounds like you got a good result, even if it was an accident to remove that resistor. :smile: If the design works, I'd stay with it. The module I had (as you can tell from the photos) was an older version that didn't use surface mount components. Let me know if you have any other questions. Sounds like you're making good progress! :cool:

Vern
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Re: Peanut Butter Jar Monster Detector

Post by BobCochran13 »

Hi Vern, Thanks for responding -- and you can take your time about replying; I get really busy too. This photo shows what I did with my digital recording module to "short" R3. It works, according to my wife...so I'll move on to the challenge of installing LEDs in the scan head. I am a little uncertain how you wired them together but I'm happy to experiment.

Thanks again for taking the time to respond.

Bob Cochran
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Radio Shack 276-1323 Digital Recording Module.
Radio Shack 276-1323 Digital Recording Module.
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Re: Peanut Butter Jar Monster Detector

Post by BobCochran13 »

Another photo of this project as I continue to breadboard it. This one is a test of speaker #2 and one of the two green LEDs. I've learned not to expect tinned, stranded wire to connect to a breadboard hole. It's better to use solid wire. My next step is to install the green LED into the scan head.

Bpb
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speaker2_green_led_under_test_2011-10-11_v1.jpg
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VernGraner
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Re: Peanut Butter Jar Monster Detector

Post by VernGraner »

BobCochran13 wrote:Another photo of this project as I continue to breadboard it. This one is a test of speaker #2 and one of the two green LEDs. I've learned not to expect tinned, stranded wire to connect to a breadboard hole. It's better to use solid wire. My next step is to install the green LED into the scan head.
Very cool so far - great progress! Can't wait to see how it comes out! :grin:
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