# Garden lights controlled by passing neighbours and Cheerlights

**URL:** <https://discourse.nodered.org/t/garden-lights-controlled-by-passing-neighbours-and-cheerlights/83746>\
**Category:** Share Your Projects\
**Created:** [15 December 2023 16:14 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/garden-lights-controlled-by-passing-neighbours-and-cheerlights/83746 "2023-12-15T16:14:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![cymplecy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/cymplecy/32/2773_2.png) [@cymplecy](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/cymplecy)\
**Post date:** [15 December 2023 16:14 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/garden-lights-controlled-by-passing-neighbours-and-cheerlights/83746/1 "2023-12-15T16:14:45Z")

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So, little box with Pi PicoW sending MQTT back to the house when someone presses a button

[![](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/3X/0/5/0511f0916a61a059186db50a48d44352e1bc917a.jpeg "Garden lights controlled by passing people") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVTKo6lcWDc)

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/3X/c/2/c23ff745296ee40366acf19b3b339b9cc43d0e9c.png)

Pi PicoW running a Microblocks script

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/3X/a/7/a7bb44eb86513e7abcffb5014a1e4aa492cb98b8.png)

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**Author:** ![jodelkoenig](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/jodelkoenig/32/44645_2.png) [@jodelkoenig](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/jodelkoenig)\
**Post date:** [15 December 2023 16:25 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/garden-lights-controlled-by-passing-neighbours-and-cheerlights/83746/2 "2023-12-15T16:25:49Z")

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This is a crazy cool idea. I really really love it.

I live in an area with lots of children \<\<10years 😃 ... I will think about how to do something similar here next year. What a nice project!

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**Author:** ![cymplecy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/cymplecy/32/2773_2.png) [@cymplecy](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/cymplecy)\
**Post date:** [15 December 2023 16:36 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/garden-lights-controlled-by-passing-neighbours-and-cheerlights/83746/3 "2023-12-15T16:36:01Z")

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Thanks 🙂  
I came up with the basic idea during 1st covid winter but couldn't get touchless switches to work reliably so gave up

And only got these lights last month

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**Author:** ![TotallyInformation](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/totallyinformation/32/31_2.png) [@TotallyInformation](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/TotallyInformation)\
**Post date:** [15 December 2023 16:38 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/garden-lights-controlled-by-passing-neighbours-and-cheerlights/83746/4 "2023-12-15T16:38:46Z")

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She seems to be absolutely overwhelmed by the amazingness of it 🤣

> [@cymplecy](#):
>
> And only got these lights last month

Round here, it would probably last about 1/2hr before someone walked off with it. 🙂

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**Author:** ![cymplecy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/cymplecy/32/2773_2.png) [@cymplecy](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/cymplecy)\
**Post date:** [15 December 2023 16:40 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/garden-lights-controlled-by-passing-neighbours-and-cheerlights/83746/5 "2023-12-15T16:40:50Z")

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My daughters don't think it will last long even in our village - I have noticed 2 teenagers walking along last week! 🙂

But most of the passer-byes are of Cathy's age 🙂

It's £15 of bits 🙂

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**Author:** ![marcus-j-davies](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/marcus-j-davies/32/103435_2.png) [@marcus-j-davies](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/marcus-j-davies)\
**Post date:** [15 December 2023 16:48 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/garden-lights-controlled-by-passing-neighbours-and-cheerlights/83746/6 "2023-12-15T16:48:23Z")

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Very cool @cymplecy

Have you added any rate limiter anywhere?

Have you sent cards to all your neighbours? You don’t want them causing a DoS 😂

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**Author:** ![TotallyInformation](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/totallyinformation/32/31_2.png) [@TotallyInformation](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/TotallyInformation)\
**Post date:** [15 December 2023 16:49 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/garden-lights-controlled-by-passing-neighbours-and-cheerlights/83746/7 "2023-12-15T16:49:06Z")

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Some Mark Rober style traps might still be in order. 😉 Or rather would be funny anyway.

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**Author:** ![cymplecy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/cymplecy/32/2773_2.png) [@cymplecy](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/cymplecy)\
**Post date:** [15 December 2023 16:51 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/garden-lights-controlled-by-passing-neighbours-and-cheerlights/83746/8 "2023-12-15T16:51:07Z")

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They can press them as fast as they like.

They fallback to Cheerlights and I tried to mask cheerlights for 30 secs after a button press but for some reason - I couldn't get a trigger node to accept a msg.delay of 0 to revert back....

....as I'm typing this - maybe the trigger node doesn't accept 0 as a valid way of saying don't delay? Will check that out

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**Author:** ![marcus-j-davies](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/marcus-j-davies/32/103435_2.png) [@marcus-j-davies](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/marcus-j-davies)\
**Post date:** [15 December 2023 17:01 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/garden-lights-controlled-by-passing-neighbours-and-cheerlights/83746/9 "2023-12-15T17:01:52Z")

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Phase 2!

Allow remote changing using some public MQTT server as a relay into the system.

With a live stream of course! 😂

You realise what you have started here right? 🤭

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TotallyInformation](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/totallyinformation/32/31_2.png) [@TotallyInformation](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/TotallyInformation)\
**Post date:** [15 December 2023 17:16 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/garden-lights-controlled-by-passing-neighbours-and-cheerlights/83746/10 "2023-12-15T17:16:53Z")

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Phase 3: Bird feeder interface. 🙃

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![cymplecy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/cymplecy/32/2773_2.png) [@cymplecy](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/cymplecy)\
**Post date:** [15 December 2023 17:49 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/garden-lights-controlled-by-passing-neighbours-and-cheerlights/83746/11 "2023-12-15T17:49:32Z")

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> [@marcus-j-davies](#):
>
> Allow remote changing using some public MQTT server as a relay into the system.

You just need a Mastodon account and toot colours to @cheerlights@botsin.space and they will get relayed to Mr MQTT himself @andysc where he processes them (using NR of course) and then forwarded onto anyone who wants to know 🙂

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![marcus-j-davies](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/marcus-j-davies/32/103435_2.png) [@marcus-j-davies](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/marcus-j-davies)\
**Post date:** [15 December 2023 17:51 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/garden-lights-controlled-by-passing-neighbours-and-cheerlights/83746/12 "2023-12-15T17:51:38Z")

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That didn't take much persuasion Simon - Love it 😁

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![andysc](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/andysc/32/21913_2.png) [@andysc](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/andysc)\
**Post date:** [15 December 2023 18:07 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/garden-lights-controlled-by-passing-neighbours-and-cheerlights/83746/13 "2023-12-15T18:07:22Z")

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Or Telegram or Discord 😉

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**Author:** ![dynamicdave](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/dynamicdave/32/96_2.png) [@dynamicdave](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/dynamicdave)\
**Post date:** [15 December 2023 19:02 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/garden-lights-controlled-by-passing-neighbours-and-cheerlights/83746/14 "2023-12-15T19:02:08Z")

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I seem to remember reading (many years ago) about a Christmas Tree in the entrance foyer at MIT.  
People could vote online to indicate whether they wanted the Christmas Tree lights On or Off.  
Something at MIT polled the results every 60 secs and turned the lights to the appropriate state.

Maybe @cymplecy could implement something similar in his village?

PS: I also remember you could find out how many cans of Coke were in a certain vending machine.  
This is all well before the advent of IoT.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![marcus-j-davies](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/marcus-j-davies/32/103435_2.png) [@marcus-j-davies](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/marcus-j-davies)\
**Post date:** [15 December 2023 19:11 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/garden-lights-controlled-by-passing-neighbours-and-cheerlights/83746/15 "2023-12-15T19:11:02Z")

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is anyone going to promote the use of addressable LED's for this kind of community setup  
hand out tokens dedicated to an LED 😂

Or to sell LED space - could make for a real nice charity raiser, where many LED's could be sold on a big giant wall

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![cymplecy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/cymplecy/32/2773_2.png) [@cymplecy](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/cymplecy)\
**Post date:** [16 December 2023 17:30 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/garden-lights-controlled-by-passing-neighbours-and-cheerlights/83746/16 "2023-12-16T17:30:08Z")

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☹  
The box has failed - insufficient water-proofing i.e. none really!

Brought it back inside - PiPicoW not lighting up ☹

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![marcus-j-davies](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/marcus-j-davies/32/103435_2.png) [@marcus-j-davies](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/marcus-j-davies)\
**Post date:** [17 December 2023 07:59 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/garden-lights-controlled-by-passing-neighbours-and-cheerlights/83746/17 "2023-12-17T07:59:24Z")

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It’s the thought the counts!  
Still, Cathy had her moment 😀

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![cymplecy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/cymplecy/32/2773_2.png) [@cymplecy](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/cymplecy)\
**Post date:** [17 December 2023 10:53 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/garden-lights-controlled-by-passing-neighbours-and-cheerlights/83746/18 "2023-12-17T10:53:50Z")

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Working again after drying out overnight - will waterproof it before trying it outside again

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Buckskin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Buckskin](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Buckskin)\
**Post date:** [17 December 2023 13:09 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/garden-lights-controlled-by-passing-neighbours-and-cheerlights/83746/19 "2023-12-17T13:09:02Z")

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Bit of DIY, build the switches into the wall with the rest in a waterproof box screwed to the inside of the wall. Nick proof ?? and water proof in one go 😄

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![E1cid](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/e1cid/32/77971_2.png) [@E1cid](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/E1cid)\
**Post date:** [17 December 2023 14:50 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/garden-lights-controlled-by-passing-neighbours-and-cheerlights/83746/20 "2023-12-17T14:50:51Z")

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> [@Buckskin](#):
>
> Bit of DIY

Funny, have you seen the state of the wall.

[Next page](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/garden-lights-controlled-by-passing-neighbours-and-cheerlights/83746.md?page=2)