rcaston
06/19/2003, 10:54 AM
It occurs to me that this hobby blends so many sciences, biology, chemistry, mechanical and electrical engineering... and often, computers.
So why not a project to come up with a DIY controller, using standard PH, Temp, ORP probes, and on/off electrical switch or two, and running a embeded version of linux with a tcpip stack and a simple ethernet port for relaying the information? no LCD, no huge markup... just a simple scripting language, maybe perl?, for doing automations on/offs, etc. basically, a cheap controller for anyone to use... maybe make a cute simple front end for it in java...
Another more practical angle to begin this project, and increase the accessability of the device and just build a device for relying information from some standard digital sensor/probes (like Neptune's PH, Orp, or Temp probes) to output to a PC's serial port, and write software to capture and record that data. Once that can be done, we can do a variety of things with graphing data, analyzing data, and responding to the data via set parameters, (when x > y do z), etc.
Getting the sensors/probes and the responders (a AC outlet or x10 style device) wired and able to communicate to a PC via either serial, usb, or ethernet would be the initial challenge that would be a benefit to all of us.
It doesn't seem cost prohibitive yet, the probes themselves retail for around $40 each in the case of Neptunes PH, Temp, and ORP probes.
another possibility is using this embeded board with ethernet and tcpip, at http://www.rabbitsemiconductor.com/
So why not a project to come up with a DIY controller, using standard PH, Temp, ORP probes, and on/off electrical switch or two, and running a embeded version of linux with a tcpip stack and a simple ethernet port for relaying the information? no LCD, no huge markup... just a simple scripting language, maybe perl?, for doing automations on/offs, etc. basically, a cheap controller for anyone to use... maybe make a cute simple front end for it in java...
Another more practical angle to begin this project, and increase the accessability of the device and just build a device for relying information from some standard digital sensor/probes (like Neptune's PH, Orp, or Temp probes) to output to a PC's serial port, and write software to capture and record that data. Once that can be done, we can do a variety of things with graphing data, analyzing data, and responding to the data via set parameters, (when x > y do z), etc.
Getting the sensors/probes and the responders (a AC outlet or x10 style device) wired and able to communicate to a PC via either serial, usb, or ethernet would be the initial challenge that would be a benefit to all of us.
It doesn't seem cost prohibitive yet, the probes themselves retail for around $40 each in the case of Neptunes PH, Temp, and ORP probes.
another possibility is using this embeded board with ethernet and tcpip, at http://www.rabbitsemiconductor.com/