It's been a long time! There's been some pretty cool advancements in the hobbiest embedded controller market, and I decided to upgrade things.

I have built a new controller based on the Arduino board and using the temperature probes from the Maverick ET-73. The web info is brand new and I am still in the process of getting it all documented, but the basics are there right now:

Homebrew Temperature Monitor / Controller

Very cool! What are the ultimate features you hope to enable?

Nice work Bob! Is it Ethernet off the shelf?? What is the software written in?

-rob

quote:

Originally posted by RobM (YankeeRob):
Nice work Bob! Is it Ethernet off the shelf?? What is the software written in?

-rob

The ethernet is optional - you can add the WiShield to the stack or not, it is simply plug and play.

The Arduino programming environment is mostly C++ but I tend to just use straight C code.

As for features, the sky is the limit....I simply have a PID control loop running right now keeping the temperature stable and a web server that lets you get the data and change parameters.

Hi Bob,

check out sneakemail to protect your email address for your web post.

regards,
jd

I haven't programmed in C since '96 ~ Been doing mostly Java and .NET (C#,VB) since then. I remember blue screening a few NT4 servers in my time. gotta love those pointers ;-}

Looks like a cool project though.

-rob

Bob, Thanks for posting this. I've printed out the info on your website.
We'll see if I ever get around to doing anything with it. LOL

Hey Bob,

First off, many thanks for you r work on this project. I'm intrigued at the idea of homebrewing a smoker controller. Couple of questions.

1. Is it possible to PWM the fan output to allow for finer temp control over simple on/off?

2. This is actually why I did this entire reply. Is it possible to use any other software language than C?? I have no desire whatsoever to learn that gibberish. I'm thinking Visual Basic or something equally simple.

3. Can the Arduino board communicate to a PC in real time? My thought is to use the controller as a simple sensor and use something like LabView (which I have access to) to do the intelligence.

Thanks much!

Russ

OK, it's amazing what one can learn with a little reading and experimentation. Please disregard my entire prvious message.

Instead, I'll ask a new question. Did you write the version 2 controller code in C or in Arduino? If it's Arduino, would you be willing to share?

Russ

quote:

Did you write the version 2 controller code in C or in Arduino? If it's Arduino, would you be willing to share?

Russ

The Arduino environment is 99.99% C/C++. It gives you a lot simpler access to the features of the board by providing libraries to call.

My preferred environment is to use Eclipse and build all the C/C++ code outside of the Arduino GUI. However, the code with only a few very minor tweaks will build in the Arduino GUI.

I will be posting the current state of the code in the next couple days as there is another forum member who is building one. I'm also trying to put together a step by step buildup.

I'm having a little trouble with writing the code. Not a huge surprise as I'm a hardware engineer, not software. Mainly with the display. I have gotten the fans up and going pretty well. I've got a couple of optical rotary encoders to use for the set temps but I don't have them wired in yet. My biggest problem right now is that I haven't gotten the probes from Maverick yet. I'm really hoping that they show up today. I'll need the weekend to get them written into the code.

For the competition on Nov 13,14 I'm just going to hard code the set temp at 250 and not worry about the display too much. Mainly I just want to be able to sleep through the night for once. After the comp I'll get back into it and get it finished out.

I would really LOVE to get a look at your code if for nothing else than to use it as a reference.

Russ

I finally got the source code working with the Arduino IDE and posted it. It is still rough, but it will get you going - and might get enhanced with your new ideas!

Here is a shortcut to it

I've been working with someone building one of my controllers and in doing so made a big code cleanup and added some important documentation to the code. If you have the old version, you want to check out the latest.

Excellent work Bob. The code looks like a great start indeed! Fine job... I think this might be my next little electronics project. Almost looks too easy with the modules too.

quote:

Originally posted by Russ Sylvester:
Hey Bob,

First off, many thanks for you r work on this project. I'm intrigued at the idea of homebrewing a smoker controller. Couple of questions.

1. Is it possible to PWM the fan output to allow for finer temp control over simple on/off?

2. This is actually why I did this entire reply. Is it possible to use any other software language than C?? I have no desire whatsoever to learn that gibberish. I'm thinking Visual Basic or something equally simple.

3. Can the Arduino board communicate to a PC in real time? My thought is to use the controller as a simple sensor and use something like LabView (which I have access to) to do the intelligence.

Thanks much!

Russ

I use Phidgets hardware (www.phidgets.com) which are a bit more expensive than the Arduino's Bob is working with. But, they can be programmed using VB and VB.Net (and VBS for that matter) which is much easier on lazy coders like myself. I use their servo and motor controllers to operate fans and damper motors for full PWM functionality. Also, the devices have to (for the most part) be tethered to a computer, as apposed to the Arduino which can run on it's own.

Not selling anything, so I hope this is OK. Here's my web site:
www.geekwithfire.com

Perhaps it will give you some ideas on a DIY of your own.

I'm getting closer with his thing!

I took the thermocouple into work and verified the data sheet to within 1%. I thought that I had the software 'algorithm' figured out but after trying an actual smoke, I've found that I really don't.

After looking at your code I think I would like to try your software and see if I can adapt it to my hardware.

My first step was to simply try to "verify" (which I suspect is really a compile) which didn't work. It complained that the 'WiServer.h" was missing. Any idea where I can find this file?

Russ