Part 1: Building a Ghost Hunting Box–Raspberry Pi


RaspberryPi

As previously announced, I am proud to announce a brand new Raspberry Project!  This time I ordered my parts from Newark Canada after reading about their involvement with the Raspberry Pi.

This fun little project is intended to show off some great little features from this mini-PC.  To show users how to leverage some of the functionality of the unit.

What is a Ghost Hunting Box

Plan

A ghost hunting box collects various pieces of information often outside the visibility of a normal person.  In our case, we are going to give the person the ability to see invisible objects, detect temperature changes and collect audio.

Parts List

Action Plan:

  • Part 1 : Unboxing, Creating a Speaker, Setting up an SD card for NOOBS and Installing an OS on your Pi
  • Part 2 : Setting up and testing the Camera and LCD
  • Part 3 : Installing a Microphone, and Recording Audio and Video
  • Part 4 : Clean-up, Casing and Miscellaneous including Adding Wifi and a Battery

Getting Started with Part 1

Video of the Build

Creating a Speakers

Speaker

  • If the cables are loose on the pre-purchased speaker, use your soldering iron to warm up the solder and remove the existing wires.
  • Cut and prepare 2x 22 gauge wire lengths about 6 inches long
  • Screw on the mini-stereo jack cover
  • Shrink the heat shrink tubing
  • Solder the ends to the stereo speaker

Setting up an SD Card for NOOBS

NOOBS

Unpacking and Connecting a PI

351321-raspberry-pi

  • Unpack the Pi and Camera
  • Install the SD card you formatted on the bottom of the Raspberry Pi
  • Connect the Camera by loosening the camera connector beside the Ethernet port (lift up on the tabs)
  • Plug in the camera cable with the gold connectors facing away from the Ethernet port
  • Connect a USB Mouse and Keyboard
  • Connect an HDMI cable (please note:  If you try to use composite, you need to press “3” or “4” after powering on the Pi to see the display.

Installing an OS on your PI

SETUP

  • You should see a list of available operating systems
  • I’m going to use the Debian build for this project
  • Install the OS (will take a while)
  • The unit will reboot and bring you to a configuration panel
  • Change the password
  • Enable a GUI
  • Enable the Camera
  • Press OK to restart again to the OS
  • Confirm the OS opens properly, and then shutdown the Pi properly using Shutdown (some batch commands may not be finished)

Done for Today!