
Show HN: Raspberry Pi website hit tracking neon sign - dps
http://blog.davidsingleton.org/raspberry-pi-website-hit-tracker/
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FuzzyDunlop
Wire it up to your bedroom light and you've got an instant DDOS alert system.
Or a disco before it gets to that point.

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dsl
That neon light flashes pretty fast. If you don't have a super high traffic
website you should try to leave it on for at least a second so you don't
damage the cathode or blow out the transformer.

According to the Google Store that light is around $28 bucks, meaning you're
probably not dealing with the highest quality components (read: fire hazard).

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synx508
The schematic may be incorrect, as it seems unlikely that the relay would
energise in an emitter follower configuration, where it'd have approximately
2.6 volts across its coil in the "on" state. Perhaps the relay should be
between 5v and the collector of the transistor. Some relays are sensitive
enough, though, so I'm not sure.

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pravda
The schematic is wrong, the relay and diode should be moved to be 'on top' of
the transistor. But the circuit on the perfboard looks correct.

The diode goes across the relay coil because when the relay coil is turned
off, there will be an inductive spike generated. The diode protects the
transistor.

~~~
dps
Thanks for pointing this out, folks - I made a mistake in the original circuit
diagram. It's now fixed.

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DanielBMarkham
Where did you get your light? I love the idea of a light made into a word. If
you had a light with the name of the website on it, you could have multiple
websites with lights flickering to show when people were visiting each one.
That'd be cool.

~~~
sasvari
You could use EL wires [0] for _a light made into a word_.

[0]
[https://www.sparkfun.com/search/results?term=el+wire&wha...](https://www.sparkfun.com/search/results?term=el+wire&what=products)

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jnadeau
all these fun pi projects and mine is just sitting on my shelf...

fun project though, anyone making it go crazy yet?

~~~
dps
Um, yes, it's going clickety clickety click - thanks HN!

~~~
jnadeau
haha, guess you should be glad you didn't decide to use a bell or siren!

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StavrosK
I got this 8-relay board, and it's working beautifully with the Pi:

[http://dx.com/p/8-channel-5v-relay-module-extension-board-
fo...](http://dx.com/p/8-channel-5v-relay-module-extension-board-for-arduino-
avr-arm-51-140703)

Extremely cheap, too.

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chirondoc
Tried this out with a few LEDs on a cobbler. Works fine for a couple of hours
and then ceases to flash. No crashing, error reporting. Has this worked for
more than a day for you?

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jdiez17
This looks pretty neat! I like it very much. It integrates a bit of
electronics with some good old infrastructure design. Gotta say, I love it!

Great work, man.

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berendhh
Make a product of it. Half of management would such a thing

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mittermayr
Check this out: <http://indiegogo.com/aircubus>

Exactly made for that very same reason. To visualize traffic and other
notifications.

