Prop bomb

My friend and i built this prop for airsoft/paintball matches.  Its sort of like capture the flag only disarm the "bomb".
How it works is there is a predetermined time limit (which u can change in the code) and the opposing team has that much time to find the code and the bomb and disarm it.  How they find the code is up to you... capture a person? sure!  Find it hidden somewhere? sure! or whatever!  When the bomb is turned on it asks for a code and you can enter in any four number combo and that is the disarm code for that round.  If the person puts in the wrong code it will add 1min 30sec to the time when the time runs out? BOOM! well thats what it says on the screen and it makes a funky noise = ]  This is version 1.0 hopefully in the future we will add wires to unplug to disarm it and some other neat things but for now this is perfect and works well for what we want!  I hope you enjoy the instructable!

Step 1 Supplies

You will need the following electronic components:

1 Arduino                          (We use duemilanove and you can buy these everywhere online)
1 Arduino Proto-Shield  (or if you want just a breadboard or protoboard)
1 LCD Screen 16x2       ( we used this one from sparkfun! http://www.sparkfun.com/products/255)
1 Numeric KeyPad        ( we used another one from sparkfun! http://www.sparkfun.com/products/8653)
1 Potentiometer             ( we used a 50k i believe! bought from raidoshack awhile ago)
1 8Ohm Speaker           ( tore one out of an old toy, but you can find them EVERYWHERE!)
1 Green LED 
1 Red LED
4 1k Ohm resistors

Other Materials:

Some sort of case ( we found ours at a thrift store but i think they sell them at walmart)
a chunk of wood   ( this is to bring the arduino off of the bottom of the case and up towards the top)
Screws                    (to attach the arduino to the chunk of wood)
Heat shrink tubing

Tools you'll need:

Soldering Iron
Solder
Wire     (we used alot of old computer cable so it would stay kinda together)
Wire Cutters
Hot Glue Gun
Hot Glue
Saw
Dremel
Screw driver

Comments

[Fixerized]

Hello everybody,

First of all I've got to say that I've never used Arduino, but I'm very interested in this aprticular project, because I'm an airsoft player and I've been looking for a timed bomb for a long time.

Well, then is time for my question: Could it be posible to use this to activate a relay? (Which in turn, activates a piezo siren)

If it is possible, could someone help me with the code? I'm totally green in programming.


Thanks and sorry for my poor English.

[yellowcouch]

Hey Fixerized,
Thanks for your interest in the project. There is no reason i can see that you couldn't use a relay with this project. That said I dont believe it will be a problem of coding, but rather a Hardware problem. Here are a few sites and other instructables that might be helpful.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Connecting-a-12V-Relay-to-Arduino/
http://www.instructables.com/id/Arduino-Controlled-Relay-Box/
http://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/119
let me know if you have more questions.

[Fixerized]

Thanks for the help,

AFAIK, I should get a digital pin to high level when i want the relay to activate, this is easy.

The problem comes when we get to the programming part... I don't know what should I change in the code to activate the relay instead of emitting the tone.

Oh, and I don't understand something... What does the potentiotemeter do?

Lot of thanks!

[yellowcouch]

I think you keep the code the same, it will play the tune through the speaker the same. I think you just need the power supply for the speaker.... (because it'll be greater than 5 volts i'd imagine) The potentiometer is to adjust the brightness of the lcd screen.

[Fixerized]

I will use some batteries for the horn, and that's why I wanted to use the relay, It allows me to use some "heavy" sound parts haha

And I was kinda sleepy that day, the use of of the pot was clear... xDD

I could tell you when I finish it, if you want ;)

And thanks again!

[black.engel]

Hello,
i need HELP please :(

the code have more errors:

sketch_jan12a.cpp:6:46: error: Keypad.h: No such file or directory
sketch_jan12a.cpp:7:18: error: Tone.h: No such file or directory
sketch_jan12a:8: error: 'Tone' does not name a type
sketch_jan12a:16: error: 'LiquidCrystal' does not name a type
sketch_jan12a:18: error: expected unqualified-id before '{' token
sketch_jan12a:18: error: expected unqualified-id before ',' token
sketch_jan12a:18: error: expected unqualified-id before '{' token
sketch_jan12a:18: error: expected unqualified-id before ',' token
sketch_jan12a:19: error: expected unqualified-id before '{' token
sketch_jan12a:19: error: expected unqualified-id before ',' token
sketch_jan12a:19: error: expected unqualified-id before '{' token
sketch_jan12a:20: error: expected declaration before '}' token

can you help me please?

[yellowcouch]

it looks like you dont have the libraries for downloaded for the keypad or tones
you can get them from www.arduino.cc

[black.engel]

Hello,

thank you for the help.

I have download the keypad and tone file from www.arduino.cc
Now i have only this errors.

sketch_jan14a.pde:-1: error: expected unqualified-id before '{' token
sketch_jan14a.pde:-1: error: expected unqualified-id before ',' token
sketch_jan14a.pde:-1: error: expected unqualified-id before '{' token
sketch_jan14a.pde:-1: error: expected unqualified-id before ',' token
sketch_jan14a.pde:-1: error: expected unqualified-id before '{' token
sketch_jan14a.pde:-1: error: expected unqualified-id before ',' token
sketch_jan14a.pde:-1: error: expected unqualified-id before '{' token
sketch_jan14a.pde:-1: error: expected declaration before '}' token

Can you help me please?

[youwish]

And would you be willing to build one of these, then sell it?

[furrysalamander]

What's the overall price on this thing?

[yellowcouch]

If you already have the arduino and wires ect... some of the basic electronic things like soldering iron and solder and other tools it will cost about 30$ to make. If you need to buy the arduino and the shield and so on then it will cost about 70$ to make. If you need tools and such you are looking at upwards 100. It also depends on what case you use and how creative you want to get with the designs. This particular one cost me about 40$ but i had the arduino, wires, push buttons, and leds along with the tools to do it. The cost was in the lcd screen, key pad, speaker, case and time = ] I know this is a lengthy and non definitive answer but but its going to be different for everyone depending on the situation and style. Most everything was bought at sparkfun's website you can go there and price the things you need if you want to get real precise.

[youwish]

Hi, I'm very interested in building this product, but have no experience whatsoever in arduinos, or programming and whatnot, can you direct me to a site that can teach me the basics and how to do this?

[furrysalamander]

Okay I have basic eletronics tools, soldering iron, multimeter, etc. But no arduino or other stuff like that. So would that be about $70, right?

[yellowcouch]

69.75$ with shipping if you order everything straight from spark fun (minus wire) but with some more research and robbing other electronic devices you could knock that price down a bit. If you used perf board instead of the shield, took leds and speakers from other sources: computer speark, toys, ect... Then that will drop the price of parts to 47.85$ with shipping. I think if you got a little more crafty then you could cut the cost a little more maybe using a different display or just regular buttons and not the keypad but those are relatively cheap compared to the headache of making them from scratch or modifying it. I hope this helps you and again if you have any questions feel free to ask!

[jimmy1988]

Th code is not displaying the time. I need HELP.

[Peasy93]

hi its an amazing project
but i have the same problem like Soul1974

sketch_sep25a.cpp:6:20: error: Keypad.h: No such file or directory
sketch_sep25a:19: error: expected unqualified-id before '{' token
sketch_sep25a:19: error: expected unqualified-id before ',' token
sketch_sep25a:19: error: expected unqualified-id before '{' token
sketch_sep25a:19: error: expected unqualified-id before ',' token
sketch_sep25a:20: error: expected unqualified-id before '{' token
sketch_sep25a:20: error: expected unqualified-id before ',' token
sketch_sep25a:20: error: expected unqualified-id before '{' token
sketch_sep25a:21: error: expected declaration before '}' token

Please help me

[soul1974]

Pm me and i will send you the code

[FalconFour]

Yeehck. Okay, the code for this thing makes baby Jesus cry. I'll leave the critique at that, but I did spend about 15 minutes going over and optimizing the code line by line, and creating a MUCH more elegant and less "just so happens to not catch the Arduino on fire, by sheer luck" style code...

The code and the preceding discussion from members of the Arduino community collectively scratching their heads, is located here:

http://arduino.cc/forum/index.php/topic,64119.msg467415.html#msg467415

Hope it helps!

[yellowcouch]

thank you sir! This is the first thing i've coded in the arduino language usually use csharp so thanks for making it better!

[soul1974]

Thanks again,

You have helped I have post numerous requests to the creators with no luck.
If it was not for your help I would have stayed clear of Arduino projects.

Thanks again I will make sure you get taged in the project.

[oldboffin]

Very nice, should have ( 220 ohm ? ) resistors in series with the LEDs if they are not 5v types.

[yellowcouch]

ya the 220 ohm resistors wouldn't be a bad addition = ]

[soul1974]

Thanks for the tip

[soul1974]

HI I am having trouble compiling the code I keep getting these errors:

sketch_jun06a.cpp:6:46: error: Keypad.h: No such file or directory
sketch_jun06a.cpp:7:19: error: Tone.h: No such file or directory
sketch_jun06a:8: error: 'Tone' does not name a type
sketch_jun06a:16: error: 'LiquidCrystal' does not name a type
sketch_jun06a:18: error: expected unqualified-id before '{' token
sketch_jun06a:18: error: expected unqualified-id before ',' token
sketch_jun06a:18: error: expected unqualified-id before '{' token
sketch_jun06a:18: error: expected unqualified-id before ',' token
sketch_jun06a:19: error: expected unqualified-id before '{' token
sketch_jun06a:19: error: expected unqualified-id before ',' token
sketch_jun06a:19: error: expected unqualified-id before '{' token
sketch_jun06a:20: error: expected declaration before '}' token

Please help!

[yellowcouch]

Hey soul 1974 it looks like you dont have the libraries downloaded from the arduino.cc website i sent you a pm that should take care of it let me know how it goes!

[soul1974]

HI,

I downloaded all the libraries but it seems the code is corupt, could you please respond to my PM and email me the code. I realywant to get this project to work I have posted on numerous forums for help and I am getting alot from FalconFour but I am still not getting your results please help.

[soul1974]

Thanks for all the help, pleae could you send me the code in a txt file i will pm my email address to you,it seems the problem is in the code.

[yellowcouch]

also i ve had a couple questions about how this thing is powered and the answer is a 9v. battery = ]

[irondirtboy11]

i dont know what an "arduino" is :/

[yellowcouch]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arduino
also more information at
www.arduino.cc
its basically a tiny computer

[yellowcouch]

thanks for the compliments! Atom i will for sure stay outta air ports well any mass transit for that matter lol. and spark2flame post a photo of yours i'd love to see what it looks like. And airsoft although i do have a paintball gun air soft is usually the choice = ]

[spark2FLAME]

Wow, very cool looking prop and useful too! I will definitely be making this for the next skirmish. Oh and by the way, do you paintball or airsoft?

[atombomb1945]

It should go with out saying that you should avoid Airports with this.

Nice set up.