Arduino Controlled Safe (Locker)

Hello makers, I'm Sarvesh and welcome to this instructable. Today we will learn to make an Arduino controlled safe(locker). The main objective of this project was to create a smaller version of commercial password based safes in the market. This is a simple project with keypad and lcd interfacing. In the end of this instructable I will suggest you some upgrades that will take this project a level ahead. So do read the entire article. Also don't forget to like this instructable and share it with your hobbyist friends. Let's dive into the making process!!!

The main components of this project include -

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Arduino Uno x 1

4*4 Keypad x 1

16*2 Lcd x 1

Led x 1

Servo motor x 1

Header wires

Things you need to make the Safe -

1 Rectangular box

Cutter (for cutting the box)

A door latch

Some copper wire (for connecting the servo to the latch)

Some paint if you want to paint your box. I just went with gift wrap and covered the entire box with it.

Here are some pictures of the circuit diagram. I have divided them into two parts to keep them simple. The first part involves the connection of the keypad, servo motor and led. And the second part shows the connection of the 16 * 2 Lcd. The Keypad Matrix is multiplexed so you need just 8 pins to control the 16 keys. An Led like always is connected to digital pin 13. And a Servo motor is connected to a PWM pin. All the connections are well explained in the third image above or you can always refer the circuit diagram.

*** FIRST DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL THE PASSWORD AND KEYPAD LIBRARIES ***

JUST EXTRACT THEM IN ARDUINO LIBRARIES FOLDER

Install the above mentioned two libraries. You can download them directly from the library manager or you can download the zip file and extract these libraries into the Arduino library. You can find them on the official Arduino's website.

I have attached two programs here. One is to test the keypad and the other is the complete code with password feature. Connect the Arduino to the PC and upload the code to it. Also don't forget to change the servo angle and the password as per your requirement. Once this is done it's time to build the Safe.

I don't have pictures of the making process of the Safe but I can guide you through the steps I followed.

First cut a rectangular piece like I did in the above picture. This acts like a door for your safe. Cut the three sides and leave the fourth side as it is to act as a hinge or you can cut all the four sides and attach one side again with some tape.

Now fix a door latch to the safe's door and connect the latch's holding part to the servo's horn. Use some copper wire or bicycle spoke to do this. Also fix the servo motor on the Safe's door and adjust the length of the copper wire.

Now cut another rectangle for the LCD and fix it in place.

Cut a horizontal slot to just pass the keypad connector inside the box.

Place a led inside the box to show the status(This is optional but it looks cool)

Now fix the arduino inside with help of some double sided tape.

That's it your project is ready. I also attached a working video of this project. You can take a look at that.

Hope you were benefited with this instructable. Please do show your support by sharing this instructable and if you have any queries just drop a comment below and I will try my best to help you out.

So at the beginning of this instructable I said that I would share some upgrades you can make in order to take this project to the next level. So here are the ideas -

1. Adding a Gsm module - A Gsm module will send a text message to your smart phone every time the safe is opened or a wrong password is entered. This will let you know if there was a theft attempt or not.

2. Solenoid - Solenoids are best for linear movements. So instead of going with the troublesome way of fixing a latch you can use a solenoid lock.

3. Finger print recognition - Now a day's everything has a dual level of security then why not the password mechanism. Adding a finger print mechanism along with the password mechanism can add an extra star to this project.

4. Camera - A camera inside the safe that can take a picture of the thief and store it on a SD card module. Now just picture that ! Isn't that awesome.

Now adding all these features is a bit complicated and most importantly this cannot be done using an Arduino Uno. So you need to upgrade to Arduino Mega that has more no. of I/O pins that the Uno. And this will increase the cost of this project. You can still try some of the upgrades I mentioned here and make your project more awesome. Do let me know if you make any of these upgrades. I would be glad if you did. That's it for today. Will be back with another awesome project. Thank you.