Alright, so I wanted to see how many people were coming in and out of my workshop. I heard about these “people counting systems” and figured I’d give it a shot. Here’s how it went down.
Getting Started
First, I did some digging around to find a system that looked easy enough to install myself. I’m no tech wizard, so I needed something pretty straightforward. I ended up going with a basic infrared sensor setup. It seemed simple enough – a sensor on each side of the doorway, and they count every time someone breaks the beam.
Setting Up the Hardware
When the package arrived, I unboxed everything. It came with the two sensors, some mounting brackets, a small control box, and a bunch of wires. I grabbed my trusty screwdriver and got to work.
- Mounting the Sensors: I stuck the sensors on either side of my workshop entrance, making sure they were level and facing each other. The instructions said to put them at about shoulder height, so that’s what I did.
- Wiring it Up: Next, I connected the sensors to the control box. The wires were color-coded, which made it pretty foolproof. Even I couldn’t mess that up!
- Powering On: I plugged the control box into a power outlet, and a little green light came on. So far, so good!
Testing and Tweaking
I started testing the basic setup function, walk through back and forth. I walked through the doorway a few times, and the counter on the control box ticked up each time. Success! But then I noticed a problem – if I walked through too quickly, it sometimes missed me.
I fiddled with the sensor positions a bit, adjusting the angle and height. After a few tries, I got it working pretty reliably. It still missed a count every now and then, but it was good enough for my needs.
The Final Result
After a day of monitoring, I had a pretty good idea of the foot traffic in and out of my workshop. It wasn’t perfect, but it gave me the basic data I was looking for. Now I can keep track of how the number of my customers is changing, not bad for a simple DIY project!
I have tried to improve this setup by add a camera to work with sensors, to check the counting more accurately. I will share the detail next time.