How to Combine a Vibration Sensor and Reed Switch to Detect Door Open or Tailgate Down

In this project I show how to make a door open or tailgate down sensor using an Arduino vibration sensor and Reed switch. This builds on my previous blogs of how to build a high sensitivity vibration sensor, and how to avoid false positives with a high sensitivity piezo vibration sensor. In this latest project I use a Reed switch to detect if something is open, for example a door or a tailgate. The sketch running on the Arduino Uno only records vibration events if the Reed switch is open. In order to trigger the vibration alarm it must receive at least 5 vibration events within a 5 second period (configurable in sketch below). Each vibration event is represented as a square pulse out of the comparator in the vibration sensor circuit. When the vibration alarm is triggered it fires the large LED . This could be placed in the view of a rear view mirror for example, to alert the driver that the car or truck is in motion and something is left open, for example a tailgate may be down.

Below is the sketch I used, running on the Arduino Uno:

#define VIBRATION_SENSOR_DIGITAL_INPUT_PIN 10
#define VIBRATION_SENSOR_DIGITAL_OUTPUT_PIN 8
#define REED_SWITCH_DIGITAL_INPUT_PIN 6

#define VIBRATION_EVENTS_ALARM_THRESHOLD_COUNT 5
#define VIBRATION_EVENTS_ALARM_THRESHOLD_PERIOD_MILLIS 5000

#define VIBRATION_ALARM_FLASHES 5
#define VIBRATION_ALARM_PERIOD_MILLIS 400

long vibrationEvents[VIBRATION_EVENTS_ALARM_THRESHOLD_COUNT];
int vibrationEventIndex;

//------------------------------------------------------------------
void setup(){
  Serial.begin(19200);
  
  pinMode(VIBRATION_SENSOR_DIGITAL_INPUT_PIN, INPUT);
  pinMode(REED_SWITCH_DIGITAL_INPUT_PIN, INPUT);
  pinMode(VIBRATION_SENSOR_DIGITAL_OUTPUT_PIN, OUTPUT);
  
  vibrationEventIndex = 0;
  clearVibrationEvents();
}

//------------------------------------------------------------------
void loop(){
  // only pay attention to vibration when the Reed switch is open
  if(digitalRead(REED_SWITCH_DIGITAL_INPUT_PIN) == HIGH && 
     digitalRead(VIBRATION_SENSOR_DIGITAL_INPUT_PIN) == HIGH){
       
    addVibrationSample();
    delay(100); // debounce current vibration shock
  }
}

//------------------------------------------------------------------
void addVibrationSample(){
   vibrationEvents[vibrationEventIndex++] = millis();
   
   // wrap index around end of sample array
   vibrationEventIndex %= VIBRATION_EVENTS_ALARM_THRESHOLD_COUNT; 
   
  if(isVibrationAlarmTiggered()){
    Serial.println(String(millis()) + "\t ALARM");
    triggerAlarm();
  }
}

//------------------------------------------------------------------
boolean triggerAlarm(){
  for(int i = 0; i < VIBRATION_ALARM_FLASHES; ++i){
    digitalWrite(VIBRATION_SENSOR_DIGITAL_OUTPUT_PIN, HIGH);
    delay(VIBRATION_ALARM_PERIOD_MILLIS/2);
    digitalWrite(VIBRATION_SENSOR_DIGITAL_OUTPUT_PIN, LOW);
    delay(VIBRATION_ALARM_PERIOD_MILLIS/2);
  }
  clearVibrationEvents();
}

//------------------------------------------------------------------
void clearVibrationEvents(){
  for(int i = 0; i < VIBRATION_EVENTS_ALARM_THRESHOLD_COUNT ; ++i){
    vibrationEvents[i] = -1;
  }
}

//------------------------------------------------------------------
boolean isVibrationAlarmTiggered(){
  long thresholdMillis 
    = millis() - VIBRATION_EVENTS_ALARM_THRESHOLD_PERIOD_MILLIS;
    
  if(thresholdMillis < 0) thresholdMillis = 0;
  int numVibrationsSinceThreshold = 0;
  for(int i = 0; i < VIBRATION_EVENTS_ALARM_THRESHOLD_COUNT ; ++i){
    if(vibrationEvents[i] >= thresholdMillis){
      ++numVibrationsSinceThreshold;
    }
  }
  
  Serial.println(
    String(millis()) + 
    "\t# events: " + 
    String(numVibrationsSinceThreshold));
    
  boolean alarmTriggered = false;
  if(numVibrationsSinceThreshold >= VIBRATION_EVENTS_ALARM_THRESHOLD_COUNT){
    alarmTriggered = true;
  }
  
  return alarmTriggered;
}

//------------------------------------------------------------------

If you are interested in how this type of sensor can be integrated into a broader solution that includes notification of a door open on a users Android phone see Detect if a Door or Gate is Opened

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