# Brightsign Triggerable Media Player and PIR Motion Sensor



## lone_ace (Aug 11, 2011)

First time posting a video...hope it works

Quick Proof of concept video of Brightsign media player with a cheap PIR Motion Sensor.






Main benefit of Brightsign over other triggerable media players is he ability to have multiple buffer files and the ability to sync between multiple players.


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## poplarhouse (Aug 2, 2015)

That looks great. I wish the players weren't so expensive, though.


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## David_AVD (Nov 9, 2012)

Embedded for easier viewing:


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## DarkOne (Oct 16, 2012)

Just thought I'd add a bit of how to since the video doesn't offer an explanation.  First, the Brightsign player must have GPIO pins. Not all players have these. I'm just going over attaching an inexpensive PIR and not the Brightsign software side.

Just a note for synching videos, you must have two or more Brightsign players from the same series and they must have ethernet. Each player has their own video and the syncing is done via a network through ethernet.

Anyway, back to the triggerable PIR. Youll need a bit of wire and a 2N3904 NPN transistor. A 2N2222 should work, but I used a 3904.
**EDIT** I originally said I used a 2N3906 transistor, this was incorrect, I used at 2N2904. Make sure you use an NPN and not a PNP transistor.

The cheap PIRs work awesome. The HC-SR501 PIR can be found on ebay for about a buck from China on Ebay. They are listed as 5V but can be run from the 3.3V out GPIO pin of the Brightsign player.

To use the PIR with 3.3V, solder a wire to the "H" pin on the bottom of the PIR. Then connect this to the 3.3V GPIO pin of the brightsign player. This is the red wire connected to the bottom left corner of the PIR.

To make it triggerable so the Brightsign player can use it you need to make a simple modification.








A 3904 NPN transistor will need to be attached to the PIR as shown in the photo above. I soldered directly to the PIR's pins, but you can do this on a breadboard, or attached to wires or whatever.

The Base of the transistor, the center pin, gets connected to the "out" pin of the PIR. Notice the flat side of the transistor in the photo. The pin on the left of the base is the "emitter", it is attached to the "gnd" pin of the PIR. The third leg, the "collector" is now your "out" pin and gets attached to the GPIO pin you are using as your Button pin of your Brightsign player. This is the orange wire attached to the transistor.

The "gnd" pin on the PIR should also get attached to the ground of the GPIO of the player. It is not connected in this photo.

As manufactured, this PIR sends a HIGH or LOW signal, i.e. 3.3V when it senses movement or 0V when it doesn't. The Brightsign player doesn't want a signal, it wants a path to ground. That's what the transistor does. When the out pin goes HIGH on the base of the transistor, it opens up the path to ground through the collector pin that we attached to our Button pin on the Brightsign GPIO. Be sure to let the PIR warm up after starting your Brightsign player before expecting it to work, it may take a minute or so before it starts sensing, it needs to find "normal"

How to's on the software side of the Brightsign players can be found on their website. I hope this helps, when I did this a couple of month's ago, I had to figure out how to do this without any tutorials, there are companies selling PIRs for the Brightsign players for about $70, so this is a great way to save a few bucks.


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## lone_ace (Aug 11, 2011)

This, again, is not the final install, but making sure everything works along the way. I am using 3 Brightsign XD1030 models, 3 hdmi to DVI-D converters, 3 Cheap Computer LCDs, Audio hooked to master brightsign unit. Best to use a single audio source, otherwise, they step over each other. This stinks for having individual scares on each of the TVs...


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## MBrennan (Sep 22, 2008)

Thanks for posting the PIR trigger info!

I have a "picture" wall with four monitors and four britesigns, one with a picture of each member of my family, and when triggered, we each turn into zombies (thanks to the Dead Yourself app from the Walking Dead)

I could never figure out how to trigger it with a PIR, so I just made a pressure mat with four triggers.


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## lone_ace (Aug 11, 2011)

I agree. Great Writeup for the PIR. I went a bit of a different way. Not as cheap, but still considerably less than the $70 Triggers. Frightprops has a standard PIR motion sensor trigger: https://www.frightprops.com/control...ers/prop-controller-motion-trigger-black.html
They also have a great writeup for how to attach...I use the other Devices setup: http://media.frightprops.com/downloads/manuals/0657Manual.pdf

The DC power can come from just about any DC apapter..although I am not sure if the 3.3v from the GPIO s enough...I bet if you cut a USB cord, the 5V from the USB port on the Brightsign (if your model has it) would be enough.

MBrennan, What model Brightsign are you using? As DarkOne mentions, different birghtsigns come with different options. Depending on the effect you are trying to achieve, you may not need triggers for all brightsigns. I use one trigger for the above, and then send UDP message via Ethernet to the others to start the synced videos, but that is only one way to do it. There are others as well.


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## MBrennan (Sep 22, 2008)

I think they are HD 910's. I ordered a box of 5 a couple of years ago, one was a HD 912. Using four of them, one for each monitor. I have each one wired to a pressure mat, so depending on where a person steps, any combination of portraits change.


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