Must-haves for EASY DIY controller?

Re: Ftdi

Re: Ftdi

DustinB said:
Maybe I'm missing something but how would your arduino come into play? Are you talking about something other than an FTDI breakout board like this? http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9115
Click to expand...

I'm talking about using my arduino bord as a FTDI interface to the Hydra. Refrencing this post by DWZM: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=18180436&postcount=1106

Basically you borrow the TX RX VCC GND from your existing arduino to program the Atmega328's using the arduino's FTDI chip.
 
terahz said:
Hi Steve,


PWM is our area is used mostly for LED control. The nice thing is, you can use these pins like any regular pin.

As for the water level sensors, they look interesting. Few things come to mind: a little wave can cause trouble. A snail going up the sensor will also cause trouble. If the sensor is protected from these two it will probably work. Looks like they are providing a sample circuit of use so it shouldn't be hard to implement.

Good luck and let us know how your controller turns out.
Click to expand...

Hi Terahz, thanks for the reply. I think the biggest problem I am going to have is with getting the parts, being in Canada has some advantages but shipping isn't one of them, as UPS or what ever shipping company will probably take the price of the componants over 100 bucks, unless I can find a canadian company that has all the stuff I need. the biggest problem is going to be the board its self I think.

one other question, when designing the PWM output for LED control, was the output voltage raised to 10V instead of the default 5V to make interfacing with different drivers more universal?

Steve
 
StirCrazy said:
Hi Terahz, thanks for the reply. I think the biggest problem I am going to have is with getting the parts, being in Canada has some advantages but shipping isn't one of them, as UPS or what ever shipping company will probably take the price of the componants over 100 bucks, unless I can find a canadian company that has all the stuff I need. the biggest problem is going to be the board its self I think.

one other question, when designing the PWM output for LED control, was the output voltage raised to 10V instead of the default 5V to make interfacing with different drivers more universal?

Steve
Click to expand...
Steve,

Mouser ships to Canada with USPS for $8. That's $1.05 more expensive than the US :)

As for the PWM, the standard arduino PWM is +5V. Some of use have made their own DIY drivers using ICs that use +5V for dimming. I believe the meanwells require +10V. Bottom line is we have not made any changes to the PWM outputs. They are straight from the ATMega ICs.
 
In the Hydra location are several files besides the Hydra board. I believe one of them is the ELN shield which will take to 5 volt signal to 10 volts. This is all dependent on my memory :)
 
So what are you using to supply the power to the hydra?? I am unable to view on the google site. Anyone got a layout and picture
 
Last edited:
kctango said:
So what are you using to supply the power to the hydra?? I am unable to view on the google site. Anyone got a layout and picture
Click to expand...

I am using an old 7.5V wall-wart from some long-discarded device (I am a wall-wart hoarder). I think you can use 9V or even higher, but then the on-board voltage regulator will get warmer than using 7.5 (not that it will hurt anything, I used a 9V one to start with).
 
TheFishMan65 said:
In the Hydra location are several files besides the Hydra board. I believe one of them is the ELN shield which will take to 5 volt signal to 10 volts. This is all dependent on my memory :)
Click to expand...

Thanks, I went back and searched the thread for it. For some reason I thought that shield was changing it from a 5v PWM to a 0-10v. I see now it converts it to 10v PWM.

Time to make another order!
 
Well I've ordered all the parts and they should start arriving today. I did order one more item that I will attempt to add at some later date after its up and running which is a touch screen LCD 4" 320x240 Graphic LCD Touch S1D13700 PIC AVR Arduino , I am currently looking at a touch controller microchip ar1020 to use with it. What do you think. As I said this would be a future mod, but it gives me something to ponder.
 
Is there a link to parts lists for the different boards? and does anyone know if there is a place to order boards from in Canada? and if not where is the best place for one or two boards?

Steve
 
Has anyone heard of Home Automated Living (HAL)? I've been thinking about a setup allowing HAL to controll everything.
 
I have not heard of that. You might look at X10 it sounds the same. I have heard of folks using that for tanks. But I think we are getting off topic here.
 
I looked at X10 but it gets pricey somewhat quickly, depending on what you want to do with it. I'm investigating the tiny wireless transmitters and receivers that they sell at sparkfun to control some pumps that live in another room; this might be an acceptable solution for you too, bexar. The only downside is that it would require another arduino (at tiny?) on the receiving ends...
 
Received my 2 Hydra boards from Jason today. Build will be starting very soon. :bounce1:

Also received a few DS18B20s. Took just 10 days, and $1.60 each. Along with several other things from the same supplier, the postage was a giant $1.53 for the whole order.

They read within .5 degrees F of each other.

As I've said before ... this is so much fun :D
 
Ready to start - Any suggestions on assembly order, other than small stuff first?

Or do I take it bit-by-bit, starting with something like power, I2c, TTL interface, etc.

Or do I start at one corner and work my way down and across.

Once you stop laughing, any suggestions will be really appreciated.

Just waiting on the ethernet connector and a PH probe to arrive.

Still don't have a definite plan for relay control, but will get there soon enough.

Will start with Temp and PH monitoring plus Lighting control.

Then getting the web interface working. (I'm a software kinda guy)
 
I'd suggest you start from the lowest profile component up (at least that's how I've done mine): SMD components, resistors, diode, small capacitors, crytal, IC sockets, medium capacitors, oscilators, tall capacitor, vari-resistors, molex for power, LED, BNC connector and Ethernet Jack.


As for web interface, you will not be able to do much ON the controller. It runs out of memory really really fast once you start writing html/css. If you export the data to a DB and write a webapp like I'm doing then you can go wild.

This is about as much as you can store on the hydra:
http://terahz.info:40
 
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