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Comment by rorrr | Hacker News Reader

So what's the total cost?

- What's the cheapest Arduino board that would work with this sensor? Wouldn't it be cheaper to get a Raspberry Pi?

- How much is the power supply?

- It would also be cool if there was a way to send SMS over the regular wireless, like with one of those cheap emergency cell phone plans. That would make it a really nice alarm, no need for the internet, and it can work off a PSU even if burglars shut down the power/internet.

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1. You can get your hands on a Raspberry Pi?

2. Do you really want to try and optimize for cost on sub 30 dollar items in quantities of approximately 1?

3. ADH8066 GSM Modules are approximately fifty bucks. Serial port, AT commands, etc. Who knows where you can get a data carrier for reasonable cost in this country.

He shows it on a teensy, which if you're decent with a soldering iron can be done for as little as $16 + shipping. power supply is usb so no extra cost there. not sure how well talking to a phone would do directly but worth checking into.

That's right on the money, but technically I'm using a nano. Any Arduino will work though. There are knockoff Arduinos out there too, but I like to give back to the Arduino organization by buying an official board.

$16 for the whole thing? The board, the sensor, the connectors, the power supply? I don't think it's even close to that.

You can get the cheapest Arduino you can find. About $50 total probably.

I would love to see this on a Raspberry Pi, but you will likely have to do some 3v3 to 5v translation or use the upcoming Gertboard.

Are there any functional benefits to doing this with a Pi instead of an Arduino?

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