Industrial IoT Applications - Build Your Own Laser Trip Wire

**Update: The article below is from our legacy Android app! Valarm is Industrial IoT. We'll help you, your teams, and your business with Industrial IoT applications using Valarm Tools Cloud.

We recommend using GSM, WiFi, or ethernet connector devices / sensors hubs with any sensors since they're much more reliable than Androids for Industrial IoT applications like:

You can use Valarm Industrial IoT, telemetry and remote sensor monitoring solutionswith any of the following connector devices:

Valarm Industrial IoT sensor data is GPS-tagged, time-stamped, and sent to Valarm Tools Cloud / tools.valarm.net via any internet connectivity like WiFi, ethernet, or cell network. With Valarm Tools Cloud you’ll find services for mapping, graphing, and APIs like JSON to help you with your real-time, geo-enabled sensor monitoring and Industrial IoT applications.

Valarm compatible sensors and Industrial IoT hardware are available at shop.valarm.net.

Have a look at Valarm's Industrial IoT Customer Stories page for more on how these remote sensor monitoring and telemetry solutions are deployed in various industries.

Learn how all of this works together on our Web Dashboards for Remote Monitoring, Telemetry, Sensors & Industrial IoT.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if your business needs help with deploying an Industrial IoT application or have any questions!

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- Ever wanted to catch an intruder when they trip a laser beam?

- Want to know how many times your pet (or anything else) is going in and out of your house?

- Someone sneaking into a place they shouldn’t be?

- Like to play with lasers and dry ice?

This instructable teaches you how to use a laser pen, mirror, light sensor, and app to detect intruders! You can get alerts via SMS / text message, email, and the web.

Using Valarm with a Yoctopuce “Yocto-Knob” allows you to DIY a powerful, internet + SMS connected, home alarm system, by connecting your Valarm-equipped Android device to switches on windows and doors. And adding a Yocto-Light lets you take your DIY burglar alarm to a whole new level. In this How-To document we show you how to whip up an intruder alert system with a Valarm-equipped Android device, a cheap laser pen, mirror, and a Yoctopuce Yocto-Light external USB sensor.

Step 1: Install and Configure

This intruder alert system uses an app that can be run on small, inexpensive devices like the Sony ST25.

Install Valarm Pro on your device. Configure Valarm for the light sensor trigger by going to All Settings -> Yoctopuce -> Yocto-Meteo and Light in Valarm Pro.

Here we’ve tested out the lumens values that the light sensor reports (use the Scan All button) and decided that if there are less than 4000 lumens (meaning something is blocking the laser from hitting the sensor) then trigger an alert. The laser will certainly be brighter 4000 lumens. Set the maximum lumens all the way to the max, so the laser doesn’t trigger alerts when in its normal ‘on’ mode. After you set the minimum trigger value for the lumens, set up any SMS/text message, email, or Valarm Tools web trigger responses you would like.

Step 2: Set Up Your Scenario

Now set up your scenario for the alert. Here we’ve used:

- a laser pen from the dollar store
- a Yocto-Light sensor
- mirror from an incredibly expensive outdoor navigation compass (use any mirror you can find, preferably a more economical one! :)

These three items are set up to bounce the laser beam and create a laser trip wire in the staircase. We just short-circuited the on-button in the laser pointer. For long-term remote monitoring systems, you’ll want a laser pointer powered by mains, or at least a bigger battery. You also might want to mount it with something better than duct tape (if there is such a thing in existence).

Step 3: Deploy Your Laser Beam

A chunk of duct tape and a crumpled restaurant receipt form our high-tech, infinitely adjustable mounting system.

Step 4: Install Your Light Sensor

More duct tape, holding the universe/Yocto-Light together.

Step 5: Deploy Your Mirror

Incredibly fancy and expensive compass wasted, used just for its mirror to bounce the laser beams.

Step 6: Arm Your Sensor Alert System

Now that you have set up and configured everything physically and digitally it is time to arm your intruder detector.

In this case we enabled Valarm email alerts and Valarm Web Tools upload so we will receive email messages and see it on the web whenever someone trips the Valarm!

Time to arm Valarm.

Step 7: All Done!

Here’s the Valarm scene in action!

Intruders beware. (or be equipped with frozen CO2 and hot water to make the laser evident, and be very flexible to sneak through :)

Try it out in your own scenario and let us know how it goes ( info@valarm.net ) !

You may want to use the light sensor for your hydroponics, garden, aquaponics, or any other place to know when the lights go on or off or when the light levels go above or below your custom level.

Take a gander at the Valarm blog for other posts such as how to use Tools.Valarm.net for remotely monitoring things like: