Today we finished work on the controller pictured below which was produced to control lighting in a Halloween maze using motion sensors.

The maze will be in the dark, but with three passive infrared (PIR) motion sensors located through the maze and used to turn on three lights when motion is detected nearby – the first PIR sensor controls the first light, the second sensor the second light, and so on, independent of each other. When motion is detected by a sensor, the relevant light turns on for just 3 seconds, and then that light will not turn on again for at least another 30 seconds.

The PIR modules chosen for this project were KC7783R PIR Modules which are very small and easy to hide, and have very low power consumption. As the light bulbs themselves have yet to be chosen, we fitted three 10A rated relays to switch the power supply to each bulb.

The controller board is fitted with three small red LEDs, each one reflecting the output of one PIR sensor. Therefore the status of each sensor can be checked even during the 30 second delays that lights do not turn on after a recent motion detection.

This circuit design is based around an ATmega328 microcontroller as an Arduino standalone.

If you need any electronic controllers taking inputs from a motion sensor or sensors, send an email to neil@reuk.co.uk.