Raspberry Pi LESSON 37: Raspberry Pi Security System

Announcing the Most Awesome Raspberry Pi Lessons of All Times! This time we RUMBLE!

In this class series, we will be using the most excellent Sunfounder Ultimate Raspberry Pi kit, available here: (Affiliate Link)

In this video lesson I will show you how to build a portable Raspberry Pi Alarm System. We incorporate a PIR motion sensor to detect intruders. User input is via a 16 button keypad, and the system has a LCD screen. In this lesson we add an audible alarm to the system, using the pygame library.

If you want to grab those cool little straight jumper wires I am using to keep my breadboard builds neat and clean you can snag a box of them here:

If you guys are interested in the oscilloscope I am using, you can pick one up here (affiliate link):

You guys get your hardware ordered so you can follow along at home!

You will also need a Raspberry Pi. I suggest the Raspberry Pi 4. If you do not already have one, this is the most suitable gear I could find:

The Raspberry Pi's are sort of pricy right now, so you can look on ebay or elsewhere to see if there are any deals. You will need a SD card. If you do not already have one, this is a good one:

I like using a wireless keyboard and mouse to have fewer wires. You can certainly use your USB keyboard and mouse, but if you want a nice wireless one, this one works on the pi. We demonstrate this by using a button switch to control a LED.

You guys can help me out over at Patreon, and that will help me keep my gear updated, and help me keep this quality content coming:

#SECURITY
#ALARM
#RASPBERRYPI

[cbrombaugh]

I AM LEGEND! Not a competitor for exotic alarm, just beep-beep-beep, but it works! Thanks for another informative lesson Paul. I am always amazed at how many mistakes I can make in a few lines of code.

[markbooco]

Great lesson! Decided to use three threads: KB, PIR and Active Buzzer in my homework assignment.

[larryplatzek]

HAPPY THANKS GIVING! I Hope EVERYONE CAN BE THANKFUL FOR SOME THINGS!

[daveCotterill]

Brilliant lesson, I am Legend, completed the homework but because of a lack of bluetooth connectivity only buzzer and armed and disarmed LED's. Thanks very much 😊

[martinlewis]

Thanks Paul. Another great lesson. I am legend-ish because I do have an output that works, but it is not worthy. I only flash a LED. I will expand the "alarm" and post a video.

[Snail]

You are the absolute best. Thank you so much for all of your hard work.

[larryplatzek]

this will be a GREAT DAY FOR THIS CLASS!

[larryplatzek]

i AM read for pico class in JAN. 2023! My Sunfounder arrived earlier this week!

[opalprestonshirley]

"WOW", that alarm brought back memories of my elementary school cowering under my desk. Definitely was so much better.

[MikhailEschatologist]

Didn't realize there was speaker in that kit until you mentioned it. Feels like it would've been more useful than showing bluetooth capability. Ain't like you gonna be able to pair bluetooth device in completely headless setup, not easily. Speaking of, how would you pair bluetooth speaker to headless RPi on boot? (without ssh or vnc)

[keithlohmeyer]

Well I guess I jumped ahead with my talking alarm. It had 5 mp3 saying. Guess I can rest this week.
Thanks Paul for all you do.

[stephenlightkep]

WOW! Thanks Paul. I got to learn this blue tooth and music on the Raspberry pi. Down the rabbit hole I go.

[SimpleHumanInNY]

Thank you for the video and happy thanksgiving Mr McWhorter. Hope you and your family are in good health.

[DrDave]

I folded up again, Paul. I put the file names of the mp3’s in an array but couldn’t get rid of the brackets for python to retrieve the file to play it. I am missing something, working with the arrays. I will soon find out what it is. Thanks for this exercise!

[kalidabdul]

Hi Paul
How to connect a bt speaker to the pi
Is it just turning the bt speaker on and the pi will recognize it and connect to it?

[dzeykop]

Thank you for another great lesson, Sir! Your lessons are not wasted time (#NWT) for me and that is exactly what I want! 👍

[brucemilyko]

Good lesson. I found a flaw in your program that I fixed in my code. To see the flaw arm the system then press the 'D' on the keypad again. It will no longer check the motion sensor because myString no longer matches 'A"+pwd. In my code I initially set another variable to False, and in the arming check set that flag to True. Then every time through the loop I check for that flag, and if it is set check for motion.

[dhanushwimaladharma]

I have a question Can I follow you tutorials with raspberry pi 3

[tntragan]

Here is my solution. Not sure how bodacious it is but I liked it. I added a computer voice to deliver a warning upon intruder detection.

[DrDave]

I figured out the homework, Paul!!! Here is the link. Thank you for the tutorial!