You’re right. I’m not sure how large of a solar panel I’d need but solar might not be a viable power source for this kind of project.
Guys, from your experience, how reliable is their cloud service?
@625alex I have been using it for a couple months with a Spark Core hooked to a couple of wired motion detectors and door contacts and it has been perfect so far. Using the webhooks everything triggers in Smartthings within 1-2 seconds.
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Finally got around to cleaning up my code a little bit, will finish some time soon when i add a manual switch (girlfriend doesn’t really use the smart things app, although now it’s hooked in with my amazon echo so she can just ask the echo to do it, still figure a switch would be a good idea in case one of the clouds is down)
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When you will add the manual switch, how will you relay state changes from Spark to SmartThings?
I haven’t really looked into it @625alex however I have all of my devices exposed to REST endpoints for the echo so integration so I’ll probably just add endpoints to change the state.
Added a manual switch hooked up via a pull string earlier today @625alex you can see the code in my github repo, my hub recently broke (usb header came off) as soon as I get the new one hooked up I will tackle communicating the current state to smart things.
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@juano2310 I got my Particle Photons. I’m trying to implement them in ST and I keep getting
`groovyx.net.http.HttpResponseException: Unauthorized
when using just your LED toggle example.
I tried changing the API call to particle.io with no more success.
I got IFTTT with a virtual switch working but it’s a little hit or miss sometimes…
Any help would be great, thanks.
Hi! The unauthorized error make me think that it could be a problem passing the token or the user.
Maybe resetting the token could help 
That was the issue I guess. Although the on off doesn’t seem to. The analog slider is working it seems. Anybody here have issues with a twitchy servos once it’s stopped moving?
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No, but the issues I have are that my servo isn’t strong enough to make the rotation sometimes. And in either open or closed positions, it makes a slight buzzing sound.
Keith have you managed to get this working with a PARTICLE PHOTON as the SPARK CORES have sold out and im eager to get on with this myself…
Also - is there a specific type of servo i need so indont order the wrong one ? And is there an example anywhere of how to wire it up to the core or photon ? 
cheers kyleb
Yea I intended on using two servos. I had on hand a regular radio shack servo and a parallax continuous rotation servo and the VIN pin powers them both simultaneously and controlled from ST. It’s been a learning process but I feel pretty good now. I’d like to learn how to read sensor values from it soon. Plus I’m using the RGB LED as a security system status LED. or I want to…
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Arghhhh fantastic im going to jump in and have a go so to clarify:
1.) the photon will work just like the spark core (out of curiosity what is the difference)
2.) any servo size and make and style will work but an analog is best
As far as I know the photon is better ram wise and what have you. I think it has a very few less IO pins.
and servos are pretty standardized across the hobby shops. So far I recommend Parallax, haven’t done me wrong. I like continuous rotation servos because they go more than 180 degrees. You just make them spin for X mseconds. stopping them was a little tricky and right now I think I’m stopping mine in a work around way but the work around works so who am I to question.
I wonder if there is any suitable servo motors that are this shape - much more suitable for blinds rails as two of mine are 20mm x 23mm in size which means alot of cutting apart to fit in a usual servo shape as the actual rotating element of the motor is always to one side not central… Hmmmm
Hmmm that looks like a full blown motor. I’d probably power that with a separate power supply.
Wasnt look at that one in particuluar, i just meant that shape and style haha it was more for refrence
Well you can get all sorts of servo heads. Take a look at:
https://www.servocity.com/
Not always the best prices or shipping but a huge selection.
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Progress so far:
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