Raspberry Pi controlled parcel dropbox

Note: since my free time is limited and making a descent post takes allot of time i will most likely do this in pieces. So if its incomplete just visit this page again in a while. I will remove this message when the post is done.

On this post i will show a a nice little project wich i made last year. I order allot of stuff online and since i work fulltime i missed allot of deliveries.

I had a spare raspberry pi lying around and figured i'd make a dropbox. I bought myself an old metal military storage box, ordered a magnetic contact, and a electromagnetic lock and got to work.

Its a while ago i made it but i'll try to include as much info as i can to get it working.

Since i allso have a SMS server at home i linked the dropbox to that using a 'Huawei E1750 3G USB Dongle' I run that in a Windows server using Diafaan (so i can allso send sms's to unlock it etc). In the beginning i allso connected a phone through bluetooth to the raspberry pi and used gnoki to send sms's out. But i couln't receive anything on it(didn't spend to many time looking because i had Diafaan licence allready)

Here you can watch a short youtube vid of the dropbox demonstration :)

So basicly it operates like this. The dropbox is allways unlocked, and from the moment the lid is opened the magnetic lock activates. Opening the lid triggers an SMS to be sent out 'Dropbox lid opened'. When the lid is closed the magnet will latch onto the magnetic lock and stay closed. It sends another SMS out on closing it because that way i can know if the lid was not closed again.


When i get home i can send out an SMS to unlock the dropbox, this is allso very handy when i want to have someone pick something up. I put it in the dropbox, and when they call me they are at my house i unlock the dropbox remotely.


Allso i can lock the dropbox remotely by SMS command. The wiring is a single UTP cable, 1pair for the magnetic sensor, 2 pairs for the lock and since i had a free pair i allso made a normal closed loop, so when the UTP cable is cut, it allso sends out an SMS.


ToDo:

Add plans, drawings scripts and pi config. Add PCB layout...