Remote Particle Siren

I have cameras to watch my animals and prevent them from doing naughty things like messing up flower gardens or escaping the fence. Running outside to stop any of these things every time they occur can be pretty annoying though, especially now in the hot summer. I needed an easy (preferably wireless) way to stop my dogs from digging into my garden and my horses from hurting themselves by trying to open or jump the fence gate. My solution was to build a wireless siren that can be activated with an android app or manually in case I am already outside and don't want to yell.

Here's the list:

-1 12v battery. I got mine from a broken electric scooter.

-1 Particle Photon kit

-Aluminum foil

-Copper wire or tape

-1 Servo motor with wing

-1 12v siren alarm (found this in the attic, looked pretty old)

-1 Android phone with the Particle app

-1 free Particle account

Honestly, I love Particle. The setup was the easiest thing I have ever done. The kit comes with the Photon board, a breadboard, a USB cable, a photo-resistor , a 2 resistors, and an LED. There's even a paper overlay on the board telling you exactly how to assemble it! Just go to the Particle Website and follow the instructions for the Photon board setup to get the wi-fi going. Once that is done and your Photon is named (I named mine Mudkip) and happily breathing in cyan, download the app on your Android phone and do the remote LED control example. I promise it only takes about a minute that's how easy it is.

Hook up a servo to your microcontroller and remember what pin you're using for your data cable. Also, the Photon kit comes with a paper guide that tells you which pins are capable of analog output and which ones aren't. The pin you choose is what you will select on your app once you are connected and choose "Analog Write". A slider bar will appear and you can move it to change your servo's position. Now what does this servo do? it is a manual switch between the ground wires between the siren and the battery. I attached the red wire on my siren to the red wire on the battery and then covered the servo wing in aluminum foil to act as a switch. Yes, it is rudimentary, but I ran out of transistors. I secured the servo to the two black wires to make sure they are in contact with the servo wing at the same time at around 100 on the slider. This works with wifi so if I am away and see my dogs digging up flowers through my cameras over the web, I can also activate my siren to ward them off. If you guys also have a siren lying around, let me know what you use the project for in the comments!