DIY Room Fresher With Arduino

It was the holiday season, and I wanted my home to smell amazing. Inspired by the idea of creating a DIY room freshener, I turned to YouTube for guidance. The result was great—it smelled wonderful! However, there was one problem: the fragrance only lasted for 10–15 minutes before I had to stir the mixture again.

As a self-proclaimed lazy engineer, I started brainstorming a way to automate the process so I wouldn't have to keep mixing it manually. That's when the idea struck: why not use a motor and an Arduino to handle it for me?

For the DIY Room Freshener:

1. Jar (any clean, reusable jar works best)
2. Salt (helps retain fragrance and stabilize the mixture)
3. Dish Soap or Cloth Softener Liquid (for a longer-lasting aroma)
4. Essential Oil (optional, for a custom scent)
5. Cloves (optional, for a natural and festive touch)

For the Electronics Part (Optional for Automation):

1. Arduino (optional; skip if you prefer a simpler setup—details at the end)
2. BO Motors (small motors to stir the mixture)
3. Potentiometer (to control motor speed)
4. Breadboard
5. Wires
6. USB Power Supply or Power Bank

Others:

1. Super Glue or White Glue (for attaching components)
2. Hot Glue Gun (for securing parts)

Prepare the Jar: Take a clean jar and fill it with salt, leaving about 1/4th of the jar empty.

Add Liquid: Pour in dish soap or fabric softener based on how strong you want the fragrance to be.

Enhance the Aroma: Add a few drops of essential oil. Be cautious when combining different fragrances to avoid clashes.

Optional Touch: Toss in a few cloves for a natural, festive touch.

Mix Well: Stir the ingredients thoroughly.

Your DIY room freshener is now ready! 🎉

Prepare the Motor: Make a small slit in the plastic motor shaft to hold an ice cream stick securely.

Create the Tool: Use coffee stirrers to form a small rectangular shape and stick it together with super glue.

Assemble: Attach this structure to the ice cream stick, then mount the ice cream stick onto the motor shaft.

Position the Motor: Place the ice cream stick on top of the jar.

Attach the Tool: Secure the ice cream stick and motor assembly to the jar using a hot glue gun.

(Pro Tip: Attach the rotary tool to the motor before gluing it to the jar—learned this the hard way! 😉)

Reinforce: Use clip ties for extra strength if needed.

Power the Motor: Connect the motor to the Arduino’s 5V supply.

Control Speed: Use a potentiometer to reduce motor speed, as full power might be too fast.

Connect to Arduino:

1. Read the potentiometer value using an analog pin (e.g., A0).
2. Supply modulated power to the motor via a PWM pin (e.g., pin 3).

The main purpose of using Arduino is to bring your imagination to life by adding cool features. You can set a timer to rotate every 30 minutes, connect it to other IoT devices, or incorporate lights and other components. The possibilities are only limited by your creativity.

Refer to Diagram: Follow the provided wiring diagram for detailed connections.

Direct Connection: Supply 5V directly to the potentiometer.

Simplify Wiring: Connect the potentiometer’s signal pin directly to the motor.

How It Works: The potentiometer is a variable resistor to control motor speed. (Be careful as the potentiometer might get a little hot in this!)

Refer to Diagram: Check the wiring diagram for details.

Test It Out: Adjust the potentiometer to control the motor speed and enjoy your automated room freshener!

Watch out more amazing stuff on my YouTube channel!

Thanks for building with me. Happy DIY-ing! 😄