Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Weekend Projects – Cycle Chaser”.
Hi i’m matt from make a couple of years ago i created a dynamic bike headlight with a raspberry pi and a small battery operated projector. Since then, i’ve been eager to use those components to try something else. So i created a cycle chaser made purely for fun. The cycle chaser projects animations onto the ground behind you when you ride the faster you go, the faster the animation runs when you slow down.
So does the animation. Of course, you can customize this project to suit your own purposes. By changing the animations.
You can also dive into the code and change the behavior with some clever coding. You’Ll need the following parts to complete this build, most of which you can pick up online or grab at your local radio. Shack you’ll also need a computer. These basic tools and an afternoon to complete the build to get started you’ll need to install the latest version of raspbian onto your raspberry pi, be sure to head on over to the project page to grab the links on how to do this, along with lots of Other details about the build after you get the main software set up.
You’Ll want to go ahead and download and install open frameworks, an open source, c-plus plus toolkit for creative coding and wiring pi, which is the c library for making it easy to access the pins of your raspberry pi. After all, the software is installed it’s time to build the hardware components start by soldering, the hall effect sensor and the 10 kilo ohm resistor to the perf board. The resistor should connect to pin 1 and pin 3 of the hall effect sensor next solder. The leads of the sensor to three long strands of hookup wire. You want enough length in the wire to be able to run from the bicycle’s wheel to the raspberry pi, which will be mounted to the bike’s rack.
It’S a good idea to use different colors for each connection. This will help keep track of which wires, which, over such a long run once you’ve made all the connections, wrap the perf board in electrical tape or use heat shrink tubing to protect it from the elements. Now you can connect the wires to the raspberry pi.
The power line goes to pin 1, which is 3.3 volts. The ground wire connects to pin 6, and the signal wire connects to pin 7. before you attach everything to your bicycle. You’Ll want to download the latest software and test that it’s all working properly. You can grab the code, including the demo animation from the project’s website, once installed test it out by passing a magnet by the hall effect sensor. If the frame changes each time you do so you’ll know, things are set up properly, keep in mind that the images will appear upside down. This is so that when the projector is pointed backwards at the ground behind the bike they’ll be oriented properly, you can easily change its orientation in the code if needed. Now, let’s get everything mounted to your bike. You can grab a link to a 3d printed mounting bracket for the projector or just use your imagination to figure out a sturdy way to mount it to the back of your bicycle. Next connect the battery to the raspberry pi via the micro, usb cable and connect.
The pi to the projector, with the mini to full hdmi cable, you can attach the entire unit to your bike’s rack with velcro straps. This way you can easily remove it when you lock up your bike outside use, velcro straps, to attach the sensor to the bike’s frame so that it’s close to the back wheel attach a magnet to the back wheel so that it passes the sensor closely. Without touching it, lastly tie off any slack in the hookup wire with the velcro straps, so that they don’t get in the way. Now all you have to do is push the button on the battery to power up the pi and turn on the projector. Make adjustments to the projector so that it’s focused and pointing at the ground in just the right spot and get ready to ride, although this project might not have many practical purposes, it’s open source, so you can hack it to do whatever you want. How about making the images change based on speed, maybe flames if you are speeding or a smoke trail, if you accelerate really fast, what about adding a waterproof enclosure for all the components or adding additional sensors for controlling the animation? How about some audio? If you build your own version of the cycle, chaser head on over the project page and share it with us, we’d love to see what you make you .