Must-haves for EASY DIY controller?

I'm still in the process of ordering parts but wanted to ask about the ATMEGA328P Arduino Chips. I am getting them from modern device, but do I want the ones with the Diecimila or Optiboot bootloaders? Is there a difference between the two?
 
Off and on over the months there have been updates to the progress status of the project as a whole. No pressure as I am amazed at what you have accomplished, but am wondering how the project completion level would be rated at this time and what remains to be done. I will probably dive in as I am interested more from a learning stand point than actually having the need for a controller as I have operating DIY analog control now.
 
Hardware-wize I'd say the project is complete.

Software is a different story. Unfortunately nobody else joined the firmware effort (that I know of) and I've only implemented the features that I need/want.

Most of the "core" features are implemented: clock, display, ph and ethernet. LED control via PWM is also there (because that's what I have for lighting).

Other things that I've added for myself are IR remote control for user input (vs keypad), 1wire temperature reading on the slave IC and some code to upload various stats to thingspeak.com for charts. That's pretty much it, really.

There are some helper functions for relay IO, which aren't really used. No fault tolerance is added (e.g.: if temperature is high, kill relay X and turn on relays y and z) because... well I'm lazy :D and the firmware is reaching the memory limits for the ICs, so it is even more work to add more features that don't take space :).

So there you have it, that's what I think the state is.
 
Thanks terahz for the update. On the software side specifically the memory constraints do you or anyone see possible work arounds? I would think those High-Low temp and low water or flood monitoring would be wanted. At least that's my take as in my float switch, relay implementation of control it mimicks running out of memory by running out of physical space by adding relay behind relay behind relay. Basically mimicing on-off states with relay contacts, and individual temp controls each serving a different purpose.
 
I wouldn't mind helping with software developement but my experience is at best odd. Back in the early 80's I decided to computerize my electrical business. The problem was there was no software designed for that type of business that didn't start at $50K and go up from there. My research led me to a software package that I was told could be made to do what I needed but the vendors had no idea how to do it. So started my journey with self learning dBASEII. For you youngsters dBASE was a database package with a language interpreter. I needed to program at home if I was going to get anything working in a reasonable time frame so I found that a version of dBase was available on a 5 1/4" floppie that would run on an IBM PC. Not wanting to spend $5K on a computer for home I bought a $900 PCjr and hacked on a memory card and brought the memory up to 640K. I hacked onthe drive controller card to add a second floppie so had a full blown PC for a thousand dollars. After developing an invoicing, inventory package that worked very well I didn't like that it required dBase on the system to operate, took up alot of space and being interpreted ran slow, I decided to get a compiled language. Enter turbo pascal. I taught myself pascal and completely rewrote my system and it ran like a dream. Right about the time GUI's and windows became the new standard. I was in the process of again rewriting to incorporate a GUI when OOP came into the preferred method so I began to buy books on Delphi. Before I wrote one line of code I sold the business and no longer had use for programming. After being away for about 10 years I bought a copy of c## 2008 thinking I would learn something one could actually do something with but unfortunately never found the time to do anything but some reading. So there it is. I would doubt that I would be able to help much given that you guys have years invested already.
 
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"Software is a different story. Unfortunately nobody else joined the firmware effort (that I know of) and I've only implemented the features that I need/want"

I wish I could add to this project. Because of all who were involved I am for the first time starting a reef aquarium, two years in the making. I soldered for the first time(Hydra)and am now waiting for my cycle to start. Because I don't no enough about the software side of this project I have Frankensteined Terahz's(with his help) to get me started. It would be nice to have a basic package designed specifically for the hydra and the parts specified on the hydra web sight. One person I saw can check the condition of his lights on thingspeak. Perhaps a separate topic for just hydra software could be started.

Again Great work to all of you
 
OK I am late to this thread but am very interested in going ahead with a build. It appears however based on the present activity that the main participants are either really busy or have moved on to other things. I am just asking because while I feel I can accomplish what I want it would be nice to know I would be able to get some answers should I get stumped along the way, and I don't want to be a PIA to those I might bother with those questions.
 
Great thanks. I was just wondering what you and others have done with your controller. It would be interesting to see a report of the various results.
 
Mine sits next to my tank and is kickin' :) Also keeps uploading stats to thinkgspeak. And yes, if you have questions we'll probably answer them... eventually :).

EDIT: Yahoo 1K posts :D
 
You have to wonder if he is doing the correct work for this project. If 1000 = 1k then he should be in the hardware design end of this (disk drives count this way so they can look bigger). But for most software folks 1k = 1024.

So I don't think you are quite there yet since you are doing coding :).
 
der_wille_zur_macht said:
Lightweight. :D
Click to expand...
baby steps :)

TheFishMan65 said:
You have to wonder if he is doing the correct work for this project. If 1000 = 1k then he should be in the hardware design end of this (disk drives count this way so they can look bigger). But for most software folks 1k = 1024.

So I don't think you are quite there yet since you are doing coding :).
Click to expand...
Heh, actually 'kilo = 1024' comes from hardware, not software, because that's where things started in binary.

And just for the record :D :
kilo- a Greek combining form meaning “thousand,” introduced from French in the nomenclature of the metric system.
Origin: French, representing Greek chī́lioi - a thousand
 
TheShadow said:
"Software is a different story. Unfortunately nobody else joined the firmware effort (that I know of) and I've only implemented the features that I need/want"

I wish I could add to this project. Because of all who were involved I am for the first time starting a reef aquarium, two years in the making. I soldered for the first time(Hydra)and am now waiting for my cycle to start. Because I don't no enough about the software side of this project I have Frankensteined Terahz's(with his help) to get me started. It would be nice to have a basic package designed specifically for the hydra and the parts specified on the hydra web sight. One person I saw can check the condition of his lights on thingspeak. Perhaps a separate topic for just hydra software could be started.

Again Great work to all of you
Click to expand...

I'm with ya there, I can build any circuit imaginable, but ask me to design one and I am lost, same with coding. The hydra wiki is lacking in instruction as well. Very little description was given for the different boards, and I'm not convinced the bom is complete/up to date, and I havn't even gotten to the coding. I am willing to bet a lot of questions have already been answered in this thread, but many people don't have time to wade through 67 pages to find answers. Imo there needs to be a comprehensive guide for hydra the wiki, webpage, and this thread are too fragmented. That being said, I admire you guys for putting in all the work you have and making it opensource. Lmk if I can help with any grunt work should you all decide to do a more comprehensive guide.
 
terahz said:
baby steps :)


Heh, actually 'kilo = 1024' comes from hardware, not software, because that's where things started in binary.

And just for the record :D :
kilo- a Greek combining form meaning "œthousand," introduced from French in the nomenclature of the metric system.
Origin: French, representing Greek chī́lioi - a thousand
Click to expand...

Yea, that stuff always bugged me.

:headwally:

1K is "really" 1000.

The problem is people "think" 1k "in binary" is "really" 1024.

No, the number 1024 is the numerical quantity 1024, in base 10. In base 2, it's 10000000000.

Stuff doesn't round off even - deal with it. I get so tired of hard drive sizes being all over the map due to some idiot at MS doing this division.

K is a metric system that means 1000.

:deadhorse:

Sorry!

:beer:

== John ==​

By the way - I'm working on a .NetMF version of the Hydra ... very very slowly.
 
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