Arduino motion-activated sprinkler makes one good heck of a yard defense system

Phil Tucker got tired of chasing off the neighborhood dog for constantly “pooping” on his front lawn. So, armed with a TRENDnet IP camera, an Arduino microcontroller, and a sprinkler valve, he created a personalized yard defense system. Tucker said that his yard defense solution has two benefits. First, it keeps his lawn healthy by setting it up as a timed watering system. And secondly, it sends offending dogs running home squawking and wet. Well, it seemed like the perfect way to deal with the neighborhood dog, without having to deal with the negligent owners.

The inventor explained that each time the IP camera detects motion in configured regions of its video stream, it triggers one of its General Purpose Input/Output (GPIO) ports. Once it’s received the GPIO signal, the microcontroller will reportedly trigger a relay that connects a 24-volt power supply to the sprinkler solenoid valve. Then the valve will open and it will sprinkle at the direction where the motion was detected. The TRENDnet IP camera reportedly has the capability to send email alerts with snapshots, apart from recording video. You can check out the actual parts used in designing the motion-activated sprinkler here.

Gene Ryan Briones
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Tags: arduino, Security