Easy Bluetooth Enabled Door Lock With Arduino + Android by Collin Amedee
Contest WinnerFeatured
electric-door-strike.jpg
Thanks to everyone who supported this project and voted for it in the Arduino Challenge! I was awarded second prize and hope to participate in more Arduino contests in the near future.

This tutorial will explain a simple way to make a password protected bluetooth door lock using your Arduino, which can be unlocked by sending a four digit pin from your Android phone!  The hardware setup is quite simple,  and the programming side of it is a bit tricky, but should be no problem for any Arduino ameuture.

 
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Step 1: Parts Needed

Parts Needed.jpg
1. Arduino (I am using the Duemilanove)

2. Electric Door Strike

3. Bluetooth Module ($9.99)

4. Power Supply (Required voltage and amperage differs among different door strikes/locks)

5. TIP120 Transistor

6. 1N4001 Diode

7. Hookup Wire

8. Solderless Breadboard

9. An Android phone (optional, considering that there are lots of devices you could use to send serial data to our bluetooth modem including Iphones, computers, and other Bluetooth devices)
ganeshmastan says: May 3, 2013. 11:52 PM
anyone has the idea on how to modify this project so that the door lock/ relay should be activated once the bluetooth connection is paired between the phone and the module. and when unpaired(out of range), the relay should deactivated.

the system should work without any commands need to be send(in the project above we must send 'ABCD' to activate the relay) from the phone.

hope you can help me by giving some solution. much appreciated your help..
mdela cruz3 says: Mar 25, 2013. 7:44 AM
hi collin! can i also have some clear copy of the wiring?
mdela cruz3 says: Mar 23, 2013. 6:39 AM
what module did you used?
Quantiera says: Mar 9, 2013. 10:15 PM
Hi,

I am using Arduino UNO, in this case is there any difference on the command line and I am using Arduino 1.5.2 to upload the command. Please give me more detail on this project.
danica17 says: Feb 8, 2013. 4:30 AM
what are those grounds? ground of power supply?
dmendoza12 says: Jan 26, 2013. 11:42 AM
What is the difference if you set PIN 9 to LOW or HIGH?
tolstoyan says: Jan 3, 2013. 4:27 PM
hi i started to build your project but i am having trouble with the wiring of the circuit, can you please send me a clear connection of the schematic diagram because i am confused on how you power the arduino and how the 12v is connected. when i tried to use the instruction above the electric door strike is keep on unlock. i am a beginner so i hope you can understand. my name is Louie from the Philippines. i hope you will respond. thank you
drmpf says: Dec 22, 2012. 8:17 PM
Nice Instructable Collin

Can I suggest my pfodApp ( www.pfod.com.au ) as an alternative Android App

Using pfodApp allows you to customize the mobile's display to present the user with a named button.

No Andriod programming is required, just a simple text message from the Arduino.

www.pfod.com.au has example code for a Garage Door opener which can be easily reused to drive the lock, by changing the "Garage Door" text in the Arduino code to "Front Door Lock"

Collin if you would like to contact me, we could talk about a non-english (UTF8) version of pfodApp.
stormdead says: Oct 12, 2012. 1:53 PM
I want to make this device but... i want a button activate the lock....

I'm using a 9v battery instead of a power supply


Is this ok?....:

int buttonPin = 2;
int ledPin = 13;
int lock = 9; //pin 9 on Arduino
int buttonState = 0;


void setup() {
pinMode(lock, OUTPUT);
pinMode(buttonPin, INPUT);
digitalWrite(lock, HIGH);
pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
}

void loop(){
buttonState = digitalRead(buttonPin);
if (buttonState == HIGH) {
digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);
digitalWrite(lock, LOW);
delay(5000);
}
else {
digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
digitalWrite(lock, HIGH);
}
delay(500);
}
stormdead says: Oct 12, 2012. 1:48 PM
Hi!... Where is connected the GND of the Power SUpply?
Geniusdude says: Jul 8, 2012. 8:34 PM
What if you wanted to leave the door normally locked, then when you send the serial data unlock, and then stay that way until you send the data/passcode again at which point it would unlock? I cannot seem to figure out how the code would be modified for the life of me.
rickharris says: May 13, 2012. 12:46 AM
As always with this type of project what happens when the power supply fails how do you get in/out e.g in the case of a fire?

The program should give an audible signal to show code received otherwise you get multiple presses as users have no feedback.

Likewise you could offer audible feedback that the lock is open.
What happens if the power fails whilst the lock is open, there isn't anyway to re-lock it unless the mechanism has a mechanical default of closed.


sethcim says: May 27, 2012. 5:45 AM
This is the type of door latch often used on apartment buildings - it defaults to locked, except when energized, and has an audible click when it opens. It also still allows use of the key / knob, as usual.
kwxj61b says: Apr 15, 2012. 2:28 PM
Nicely done with this project. But one thing that should be a concern...isn't bluetooth not that secure since it's easily be hacked? Therefore, there goes the security of that door.
rickharris says: May 13, 2012. 12:36 AM
This is most than likely not an issue - If someone wants to get in they will ignore the lock or tear it off the wall.

A standard door isn't much of a deterrent to a determined person.

Anything you can carry will be taken locked and opened later with a sledge hammer.
Collin Amedee (author) says: Apr 15, 2012. 3:19 PM
I have heard that data being sent over bluetooth can be intercepted, but considering this has been discussed among many developers, I believe they have addressed that issue in a few different ways. I am sure that if you were an app developer and you replicated this project, you could incorporate a bit more security as well.
kool1zero says: May 2, 2012. 8:21 PM
Bluetooth data is EXTREMELY easy to intercept. Once paired the data is always encypted with the same thing (big no-no) and if you capture the pairing then you might as well be the receiver. that being said-since we are making the program it means we could make the command string not related to function and encrypt the data even just a little bit and suddenly it's not important to whoever decrypts the data because they dont know oh well i decrypted the transmitted data and it says cuddlefish. it would just be kind of like Okay, well i really cant use that for anything. They could re-transmit it to the intended receiver while spoofing the original senders hardware address and cause the car (or door) to re-unlock though they wont realize whats happening
steveastrouk says: May 2, 2012. 1:12 AM
The diode is in the wrong place: connect the end with the band to Vcc, connect the other end to the other end of the lock.

Steve
Collin Amedee (author) says: May 2, 2012. 10:40 AM
I don't completely understand what the diode would protect in the case i set it up the way you mentioned. I implemented the diode after learning my lesson by killing my first transistor. I later used the picture (as shown) from an online tutorial to set up the diode correctly. The way i have it set up seems to be correct. If you disagree please explain
arduino_bb_pot_transistor_motor_diode.png
steveastrouk says: May 2, 2012. 1:23 PM
The Diode has to be across the inductive load - motor or relay. As shown in yours, it isn't/

When the current flowing in an inductor is forced to stop, the voltage across its terminals can rise to many tens or even hundreds of volts. The diode ensures that the current has an alternative path to flow through, as the transistor is switched off. Now, the maximum voltage across the coil is around 1V.

You should use a decent rectifier diode like the 1N4007.

Steve
kool1zero says: May 3, 2012. 8:48 PM
if you really wanna get fancy and make it grind right to a stop you can use a relay to start the motor and a resistor across the motor when the relay is un-energized and the motor powered when energized. that will make the diode unnecessary because instead the resistor will dissapate the power and as an added bonus it make it a super fast stop (or lock)
steveastrouk says: May 3, 2012. 11:29 PM
The diode is necessary to protect the electronics, whether you have a relay or not. The diode also gives a certain amount of dynamic braking itself.
kool1zero says: May 4, 2012. 1:37 PM
here is what i was thinking to use the arudino to drive a motor or an inductive load
kool1zero says: May 4, 2012. 1:38 PM
here is what i was thinking to use the arudino to drive a motor or an inductive load
swpush.jpg
steveastrouk says: May 4, 2012. 8:48 AM
1.) An arduino won't drive a relay directly.
2.) Forget the resistor - you can't do better for braking than a shortcircuit.
3.) You still need a diode on the load, to prevent radiated noise.

Steve
kool1zero says: May 6, 2012. 5:52 PM
Braking is caused by the resistor. if you just make it a short circuit across the motor then all electrical energy the motor generates and already has dissapates through the motors inductive load and the friction of the motor. the resistor causes the power to dissapate faster.

Just an example equation ignoring friction: if there are five amps flowing in a motor that has a inductive load around 2 ohms. Then power would be I^2 * R which would be 25 square amps * 2 ohms which would be 50 watts.

If i re-do the equations with five amps and a 100 ohm resistor accross the terminals of the motor (technically it would be 100 resistive and 2 inductive which ends up about 100.0199) then it would be 25 square amps * 100 ohms of impedance which is 2500 watts.

Just a small example of how a braking resistor brakes. Is it always necessary? nope. Can it be helpful and make your motor stop a LOT quicker? Yup. In my example the motor will stop around 50 times faster.

by the way on the diode i thought you were meaning accross the motor and being triggered by the relay. You can see in my diagram that i still included the diode across the output to prevent my relay from hurting my 'duino.

Oh and by the way if you search a website like mouser for relays limited the search to 5v and 40 mA (the specs for my 'duino's output). I got around 73 results

and just to make it fit my example i limited it to 5 Amps on the contacts. I still had multiple results


....Just saying
steveastrouk says: May 7, 2012. 1:22 AM
Much wrongness in one place.

There is no such thing as "inductive resistance" There is only inductive reactance. Reactance is NON-dissipative. The dissipation mechanism is resistive losses in the motor winding.

Firstly, your maths. Taking your example.

"5 amps across 2 Ohms" = 10V. (supply volts, say)

Dissipation = 50W.

NOW.

Motor voltage = 10 V (imposed by the supply) resistance = 100 Ohms, power dissipation = 100/100 = 1 Watt. Current is now 10/100 = 100mA.

Your math fails. ADDING external resistance REDUCES the load on the motor !!!

And, OK, Add an INFINITE resistor, which by your specious argument would be THE best possible load ! Leave the pins of the motor open ! Does it now stop FASTER than when its shorted ? Of course not.

If this is a Duo or Duemilenova, DON'T blow your arduino up by running at Absolute maximum rating - the recommended limit is 20mA, and the sum of all pin currents must be <100mA. This is at a maximum package
temperature of 25 C, so derate accordingly at temperatures above that.

....just saying.

Steve

kool1zero says: May 11, 2012. 10:49 PM
I have a mega that is what i looked up. Also you're right i said inductive and it shouldnt have been

By your math i have a 10V motor, fine no problem. Still dissapates the 50W i said.

Below that you are not following what i said. What you are describing sounds like you are puttting the motor in parallel with the resistor? i dont know why you would want to do that. now if you were to put the resistor in series to limit the current or something like that it would make more sense.

what i am saying is that if you just open the terminals of the motor ( or short them with a resistor) all of the back EMF that is generated is only dissapated by the friction and internal coils in the motor. thats pretty much just coasting to a stop.

the resistor dissapates the power in the motor more quickly than the friction and the internal wiring would. The catch is that the resistor should only be accross the terminals when the motor is not being powered.


By the way the reason that the motor doesn't slow faster when you leave the pins open is because the resistance is too great, the power can't break through the air. To break through a dielectric (like air or plastic) you dont need amps, you need volts. In a motor there are lower voltages (as you pointed out 10 in my example) and much higher amperages. Rebuttal?
steveastrouk says: May 12, 2012. 1:26 AM
Mm. No. Your're wrong right off

By your math i have a 10V motor, fine no problem. Still dissapates the 50W i said.

Your motor draws 10V at 5A
. Its drawing 50W from the supply. Its resistance is NOT 2 Ohms. You actually don't know what its resistance is unless you measure it. For any decent motor R is usually pretty small.  Try it.


what i am saying is that if you just open the terminals of the motor ( or short them with a resistor) all of the back EMF that is generated is only dissapated by the friction and internal coils in the motor. thats pretty much just coasting to a stop.

This is where you are wrong, and musunderstand the nature of the beast. SHORTING the terminals is exactly how it slows down fastest. You continue to confuse things like "Back EMF" and current in the motor, and have clearly not understood Lenz's law.

Please draw in detail where you believe a resistor should be connected in braking, and also what value it should be.

The resistor or short is only switched in during braking. Energy dissipation in the shorted motor is by the motors own winding resistance, since it is no longer a motor, but a generator, and the only source of energy for that generator is its own rotational inertia.

Look, Think about what  happens if you apply the full motor voltage when the motor is at rest. The full voltage will appear across the armature resistance which will dissipate maximum power. As the motor torque accelerates the mechanical load, the motor speed, hence the back-emf, rises and the current, hence the power in the armature falls. Eventually, the back-emf is almost equal to the input voltage and the power dissipated by the armature reaches an idle level.

WHen running under load, I increases, as back emf decreases, and torque increases.

Now consider removing the input voltage and shorting the armature. The full back-emf  (its a generator now)appears across the armature which dissipates almost as much as it did when starting. Eventually, the motor torque slows the mechanical load and eventually the motor stops.

So the armature power dissipation follows approximately the same curve against time when starting or stopping. So if your motor can survive having the full motor voltage applied from rest, it can survive having it's armature shorted at full speed.

In other words, what's the fastest way to dissipate the spinning energy in a generator ?  Open circuit ? Load = infiinty, no energy is dissipated. Short circuit ? Power = V^2/r r= armature resistance, therefore Power is very very high. Or with an external load, R.  Power = V^2/ (R+r) which is ALWAYS less than V^2/R

I suggest, instead of being wrong, you actually try it on a real PMDC motor, preferably a decent sized one, where brush frictional resistance becomes insignificant, and with a bit of flywheel on it for excitement.  On a big motor, you can destroy it if you repeat short circuit braking, but one or two times it's OK.

Graph is of the relationship between speed and braking time for various external loads. 

Also, bear in mind I've been designing motor control systems for 25 years.
Copy of DC braking.jpg
kool1zero says: May 14, 2012. 8:36 PM
I suggest, instead of being wrong, you actually try it on a real PMDC motor, preferably a decent sized one, where brush frictional resistance becomes insignificant, and with a bit of flywheel on it for excitement. On a big motor, you can destroy it if you repeat short circuit braking, but one or two times it's OK.

So what i read from that is that while shorting your motor (and allowing however many up volts (in some cases up to thousands) to feed straight back into it is a bad idea. at least for the long term life of your motor. 


You also depict with your graph that a resistance of 0, a short circuit DOES slow it the fastest. you also above point out that its bad for your motor. Your graph also depicts that the coasting , or "infinite" resistance of an open terminals does come to a stop slower.

My option that i provided with a resistor across the terminals not only would not damage the motor if it was used multiple times by limiting the current that can feed back in but also slows it quicker than coasting. 

i fail to see how you prove me wrong in this case. I may not be intimately familiar with Lenz's law like you seem to be but everything your posting just supports what i said. All i know is that it is not good for a motor to be shorted across the terminals when its spinning. 


The resistor or short is only switched in during braking. Energy dissipation in the shorted motor is by the motors own winding resistance, since it is no longer a motor, but a generator, and the only source of energy for that generator is its own rotational inertia.


By the way isn't this basically what i said with
"the resistor dissapates the power in the motor more quickly than the friction and the internal wiring would. "  

By what i said you  could infer that when the terminals are left open that it will merely coast to a stop and the if shorted then the friction (although it may be marginal) AND the internal wiring resistance would be feeding right back in and power would be generated by the motor continuing to turn.

The resistor or short is only switched in during braking.
"The catch is that the resistor should only be accross the terminals when the motor is not being powered."  
I'm pretty sure you proved me right here again.
steveastrouk says: May 15, 2012. 3:52 AM
Oh god, you still haven't given up. Looks like Rick Harris agrees with me too. And he's got more years under his belt in engineering even than I have.

So what i read from that is that while shorting your motor (and allowing however many up volts (in some cases up to thousands) to feed straight back into it is a bad idea. at least for the long term life of your motor.

Once AGAIN you have your concepts completely muddled. ITS A SHORT CIRCUIT. Guess how many volts are across a SHORT CIRCUIT.

Yes, a transiently high CURRENT flows, and in BIG drives inertial constraints as well as electrical constraints means that braking resistors sometimes HAVE to be used to protect the mechanics as well as the electrics. FOR THE FASTEST PRACTICAL braking, we dump to a short. If you REALLY can afford to do it, there is actually one more stage faster, and that's called plugging the drive. In ultra high speed servos, you'll see plugging drives in action, they're scary.


By the way isn't this basically what i said with
"the resistor dissapates the power in the motor more quickly than the friction and the internal wiring would. "


No, because that's wrong. The internal wiring dissipates it faster than ANY EXTERNAL RESISTOR.
kool1zero says: May 15, 2012. 10:03 AM
Yes, i'm familiar with plugging motors. I'm also aware that lots of motors aren't rated for plugging. Just like lots of motors aren't rated for being shorted.

Just to summarize what I've been saying:

First we will assume the motor has been brought up to speed normally. No drives, just power that will take it up to full speed. Now we want to slow the motor back down. There are a couple options.

1. Open the contacts of the motor and leave them open while the friction in the motor (and the essentially infinite resistance) basically coast to a stop.

2. Use a resistor across the contacts. Limits the current flowing and prevents long term damage to the motor. Different values can slow at different rates: the lower the resistance the faster the slowing.

3. Short the contacts of the motor. Essentially you lowered the resistor across the contacts to zero, or near it. All of the current the motor can create (because its a generator now, as we have both pointed out) flows through the short (probably a relay) and through the motor. This can damage the motor over time, but does continue to slow the motor faster as the resistance lowers, like before. Not all motors are rated for this.

4.Apply some some amount of power to the motors contacts backwards. Called "Plugging". This tries to make the motor turn the opposite direction instantly. With a controlled bursts of this you can do this without hurting the motor. This is one of the basis' of DC and AC drives.

5. Load down the arm of the motor with a physical load too great to for the motor to turn.
kool1zero says: May 14, 2012. 8:43 PM
By the way, i HAVE gone and measured the resistance of motors and i know that there is often just a couple ohms or less. I've seen DC motors with capacitors and drives and AC motors. Maybe not 25 years worth but enough to understand things fairly well.
rickharris says: May 13, 2012. 12:33 AM
Hi, I have a few years on you in control system design and would suggest that in any practical system shorting the motor is the fastest way to brake it without using mechanical means.

Simple logic always says go to the far limits to test your principles, a open circuit will most certainly NOT effect your motor - this equates to an infinitely large resistor.

Any thing less than that will have a braking effect on the motor, the furthest you can go is to make it a short circuit for maximum braking.

For the most part in a system such as this the motor would be geared and so not require electrical braking as the gear system will mechanically stop the motor - unless the motor is a considerable size - unlikely.

I have built electric racing cars with 250 watt DC motors on them and can assure you that shorting the motor has a dramatic braking effect. Of course this effect falls away as the motor slows down.

Your putting way too much load on your microprocessor output, in practicality and for good design - you should always have a driver of some kind unless the load is trivial such as a small current LED.

This also isolates the microprocessor from the load and any misfortune that may happen there.

The diode needs to be reverse biased across the load- band towards the + supply. The diode is there to dissipate any back EMF generated by the collapsing magnetic field in a coil or the EMF generated by motor over run.

I hope this helps.
oldsmarracin says: Apr 14, 2012. 4:35 PM
does anyone know if this will work with a 2nd gen itouch?
Collin Amedee (author) says: Apr 14, 2012. 5:11 PM
as long as you can find an app for Bluetooth SPP it should work :)
oldsmarracin says: Apr 14, 2012. 6:24 PM
i have searched everywhere and it seams that itouch does not support spp or there has not been any apps made for it mine is jail broken and i searched cydia too
kool1zero says: May 2, 2012. 8:24 PM
might have to make one mate
Hank025 says: Apr 15, 2012. 1:20 PM
This is really cool!

Has anyone figured out how to apply this to a car?
Collin Amedee (author) says: Apr 15, 2012. 5:02 PM
If you mean car door locks I think its pretty simple. Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe you can us the transistor as a switch, so basically with the cars door locks the lock switch shorts two wires to lock the door and two wires to unlock the door. So you should be able to connect one wire to the collector and one to the emitter you should be able to set the transistor high or low to short the wires and lock the door and have a second transistor with a similar setup to unlock the door. I hope that's not to confusing!
kool1zero says: May 2, 2012. 8:15 PM
Car door locks vary, i know that MINE if you short the two wires together then your door locks and if you connect the two wires across a 1.5k resistor then it unlocks. I'm looking to do the same type of thing with my car and i would recommend a relay instead of a transistor. Its basically like connecting to the door lock but instead you turn on an output, the output runs through a coil which creates a magnetic field that closes a switch. So basically with my case i'm going to use two outputs and two relays, one where i have
Untitled2.pngUntitled2.png
Geniusdude says: Apr 17, 2012. 2:17 PM
This 3.3V comes from the same power source as the lock correct? Just with a resistor to decrease from the 12V to the 3.3V here?
Collin Amedee (author) says: Apr 17, 2012. 2:33 PM
No no, the Arduino has a 3.3 volt and 5 volt integrated
Geniusdude says: Apr 17, 2012. 2:43 PM
Ah, I do not have the Arduino in my hands yet. So basically the 12V goes to the Arduino and there are sockets from the Arduino which are "pre-set" so to speak that will allow you to use 3.3 or 5V directly from the device?
Collin Amedee (author) says: Apr 17, 2012. 3:25 PM
Haha actually the Arduino runs on 5 volts coming from my Power Supply
Geniusdude says: Apr 18, 2012. 1:49 PM
Wow, I'm confused. Both are powered from the same power supply, but one is 12V and one is 5V, and no resistors involved. What am I missing. Do you have, by any chance, a complete diagram or picture of the entire thing assembled?
Collin Amedee (author) says: Apr 18, 2012. 3:21 PM
Can't take a full picture at the moment but let me explain using pictures of the arduino and power supply.

http://arduino.cc/en/uploads/Main/ArduinoDuemilanove.jpg

In that picture, you can see on the bottom of the arduino it says 3v3, that is what powers the bluetooth module. Now see the jack on the bottom left side? That is to power the arduino. My power supply I made will feed 5 volts to that jack, my power supply ALSO has a 12v, and a 3.3v cable but 3.3 is not being used from the power supply itself. Here is my power supply below. So think of it like this. Power supply goes to Arduino(5v) AND Lock(12v). The Arduino then powers the BT module off of it's 3v3 on the board!
IMAG0057-1-1.jpg
kool1zero says: May 2, 2012. 7:57 PM
Hey, i dont know about your 'duino but mine can use either the power from the USB port or 5-12v on the jack
Geniusdude says: Apr 18, 2012. 7:59 PM
Ah, I see now! Thanks Collin for all the help (lol I'll probably be back with more questions)
Collin Amedee (author) says: Apr 19, 2012. 7:55 AM
Anytime
Gerifield says: Apr 17, 2012. 6:10 PM
The same BT module, for $8.60: http://www.dealextreme.com/p/jy-mcu-arduino-bluetooth-wireless-serial-port-module-104299
:)
Geniusdude says: Apr 17, 2012. 2:15 PM
How many mA is the power supply used here?
Collin Amedee (author) says: Apr 17, 2012. 2:35 PM
Well I am using my universal power supply from my first tutorial so it's doing somewhere around 20 Amps. These electric door locks only require about 125-200 mA
Geniusdude says: Apr 17, 2012. 2:44 PM
Awesome. Glad to see another teen enthusiast btw.
Collin Amedee (author) says: Apr 17, 2012. 5:48 PM
Definitely! Don't forget to note for this in the Arduino contest!
mmchugh1 says: Apr 17, 2012. 11:25 AM
Great instructable Collin! Fair play. Quick question, do you think this idea could be extended to control several devices. i.e one code to control one output and another code to control another?
Collin Amedee (author) says: Apr 17, 2012. 11:39 AM
Definitely, this code basically says that when ABCD is received send a signal to the transistor. So you could add to it and say IF blah blah blah is received set led on pin 8 high.
mmchugh1 says: Apr 17, 2012. 11:57 AM
Cheers, thats what I thought from looking at the code. How cool would it be controlling loads of stuff in the room from your phone! Now to search ebay.....
Rednecknerd says: Apr 15, 2012. 6:15 PM
Thanks for the nice instructable. This is just the reason I needed to buy that bluetooth modem!
Collin Amedee (author) says: Apr 17, 2012. 7:05 AM
Yes, these are very simple to use, and MUCH cheaper than those ones from sparkfun. Take note that when you start using your bluetooth modem, be sure to unplug it from the Arduino while you are uploading any code to the Arduino itself or else it will give you some odd errors and not actually upload your code! Had to find that out the hard way. Good luck!
diy_bloke says: Apr 15, 2012. 10:04 AM
ah. apparently 3.6 - 6 volts with an operating power of 3.3 Volts
diy_bloke says: Apr 15, 2012. 10:02 AM
I was under the impression that this particular module could be fed with 5 Volts, but I could be wrong. If it can't, then probably the Rx/Tx lines aren't TTL either and need to be protected from 5 V.

But then again, if it all works for you, then I am probably wrong :-)
Well done
Collin Amedee (author) says: Apr 14, 2012. 2:15 PM
I appreciate the constructive criticism, I am just a beginner so I'm learning a bit more everyday :)
ToolboxGuy says: Apr 15, 2012. 9:09 AM
And we appreciate your efforts too!
wakojako says: Apr 14, 2012. 7:52 AM
Great instructable. Although I'm still confused. Which ground is which?
Please look at the attached image for further details
Untitled.jpg
Collin Amedee (author) says: Apr 14, 2012. 9:37 AM
Take a look at the picture in step three similar to yours. basically you are giving 12 volts to the lock and instead of connecting the other end of the lock to ground, you would connect it to your transistor's collector AND the grey end of the diode, and then the black end of the diode connects to ground. from there, the emitter of the transistor connects straight to ground and the base goes to pin 9. Does that help?
wakojako says: Apr 15, 2012. 8:44 AM
Wait I think I got it:
Like this? (lock instead of motor)
transistor_lab_schem.png
steveastrouk says: Apr 15, 2012. 7:00 AM
No, a 1N4001 should be OK speed wise. I'd prefer a 1N4007 for its reverse voltage rating though
Collin Amedee (author) says: Apr 14, 2012. 6:56 AM
Thanks everyone, I appreciate the feedback!
mikeandre says: Apr 14, 2012. 12:58 AM
Great instructable. It gives me some ideas. Thanks.
Scissorman says: Apr 13, 2012. 11:56 PM
Thanks for this. BRILLIANT! I'm quite keen to try this out.
marc.cryan says: Apr 13, 2012. 7:06 PM
Nice! Very clear and helpful.
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