Boozeduino

MQ-3 testing from Aleksei Sebastiani on Vimeo.

Now with more LED.

Arduino mega powered breathalyser using the MQ-3 sensor.   A relative gauge for judging how intoxicated you are.
NOT TO BE USED AS MEANS OF BREATHALYZING NEVER DRINK AND DRIVE.
This is more of a device to encourage one to drink more. The MQ-3 can't achieve the accuracy to register exact BAC.
And It behaves weirdly. Sensitive to temperature and humidity. This is purely for fun.

Links

http://nootropicdesign.com/projectlab/2010/09/17/arduino-breathalyzer/
http://www.danielandrade.net/2010/03/07/building-an-breathalyzer-with-mq-3-and-arduino/
http://www.gfxhax.com/drinkshield/drinkshield-coding/
http://www.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Sensors/MQ-3.pdf
http://nootropicdesign.com/toolduino/ Awesome tool for this, made testing MQ-3 analog levels a snap.


Intro
My first project, instructable, First everything. I'm a total noob and my main goal was to not burn out any chips. I got an Uno early in January and my girlfriend got me an MQ-3(among other goodies) for Valentines day. I had blinked and breadboarded but hadn't tried a complete project. Here it goes......

Step 1 Parts & tools

PARTS LIST  

  1x Arduino+Mega+2560  $50  Liquidware     *Great Price*
  4x 5mmClearBlue Led  $5 Sure electronics
18x 5mmGreenLed  $4 Adafruit
  6x 5mmRedled  $4 Adafruit
10x 5mmYellowLed  35cent/each Sparkfun
  1x MQ-3 Alcohol Gas Sensor  $5 Sparkfun
  1x Drilled PCB for leds   $3 Radioshack 
  1x Power supply PCB for MQ-3  $2 Radioshack   
  1x 7805 Voltage Regulator  $2 Radioshack
  2x 10uF capacitors 
50x 250ohm resistors 
  1x Project Box  $5 RadioShack
  4x #4 Machine Screws  $2 RadioShack
  2x 9V Snap Connectors  $3 for 5 Radioshack
  1x Really long heat shrink tubing or cord with 4 wire  $2 Local store
  1x Cheap microphone housing(Rockband)  $Salvaged
  1x Mic holder  $5
  1x On/off Switch
  1x spool of solder
  1x alcohol hand sanitizer 
  1x pieces of velcro for mounting
  1x tube of adhesive 
  Lots of wire in multi colors
   
Tools
 
   Solder Iron
   Heat Shrinker(Blowdryer or Lighter at worst)
   Multimeter
   Helping Hands
   Usb cable
   Arduino IDE 021
   Dremel and/or Drill
   3/8" bit
   Flathead screwdriver
     
    Alot of stuff for a newbie but if you been at this a little bit, you've got most of these things, minus the MQ-3.  You could use any number of other project boxes, more or less LEDs.  This is a real flexible project.

Comments

[d'Mmacæ]

Ahh I tried to convince the rest of my senior design group to do this but they didn't show my enthusiasm. I wanted to have
-text display "you win, you lose, .08%, etc"
- two receivers for playing "heads up" to see who's more drunk
- coin or credit/debit receiver so you could sell it to bars

[llamma1010]

Amazing i am thinking of entering this contest and have been look at competitors; and you my freind have an awesome project. Best of luck to you. :) I am also a total noob.

[dark sponge]

I like the concept! You could probably make it a lot cheaper (and no longer require programming for those not skilled in the art) by removing the Arduino and using a ladder of LEDs and op-amps, sort of like this: http://www.sm0vpo.com:800/blocks/opamp_meter_01.htm

Or just use a standard Arduino (not mega) with charlieplexed LEDs and save $20.

[dwnR nz]

Built one of these using a PICAXE for an assignment, was going to modify it for Arduino. Interesting to see how it compares! Thanks.

[Grissini]

thanks for checking it out. I'd be curious to see any material, photo's, code or schematics for your picaxe alcohol detector. Burn-in or not? calibrate with software or hardware? I fried my first mq-3 using a rotary pot like others had. My original goal and idea was to use an Uno, many 595's and software calibration. That proved out of my league. So I bought a better arduino and made it easier.

[zazenergy]

A boozeduino! I love it! That's a great project, thanks for sharing.

[Grissini]

Thanks for checking it out. It's been fun to build and test.

[Grissini]

When I go to change the internal battery, I'll upload some better pics.