Arduino controllers

[thejoshdavis]

Has anyone taken a look at the Arduino boards and the things you can do for a controller? Mitch and I were talking about it a bit on the ride to the meeting and all the cool stuff you can do with it. I found OpenReefs. They have a list of the modules you need and some of the actual code for those modules. Just wanted to see who has messed with them here locally.

 

[ToXIc]

Harry is in north AL he makes some.


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[thejoshdavis]

Harry is in north AL he makes some.

Oh cool. I'd love to see some examples. I really would like to do something with a Raspberry Pi device, but it seems very limited with the only expansion being USB right now.

 

[Jake1]

I have been talking with the guys at open reefs they are awesome people. Getting a part list together for my right now

 

[.AcroKiller.]

Hey william builts them he is on the club he is also and electronics guru he programs his own stuff. Pm him.

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[thejoshdavis]

I have been talking with the guys at open reefs they are awesome people. Getting a part list together for my right now

care to share your parts list and your plans?

 

[Jake1]

Ya I will. Give me a little bit my list might change as soon as I see the new board that open reef is making.

 

[quigimon]

I've been working on one myself, complete with dimming sans led drivers, just using a FET and power coming from the power supply, future plans include pump shutoff for feeding and maintenance as well as semi wave maker control too.

 

[Jake1]

The best part about doing a DIY you can have a 5 inch touch screen or like I am going to do is use a tablet with Bluetooth to program everything then have a wifi card added to it so I can see everything anywhere I am.

 

[thejoshdavis]

The best part about doing a DIY you can have a 5 inch touch screen or like I am going to do is use a tablet with Bluetooth to program everything then have a wifi card added to it so I can see everything anywhere I am.

That's what I'm curious about. I'd like to add a NIC to it, throw a web server on it, and be able to poke some holes in my firewall and access it from anywhere. I wasnt sure if throwing that wifi module on it would allow for a webserver to run.

 

[pickupman66]

You definately want to go over to the north Alabama forum and get with H@rry about the controllers. He is a wizard at them and he just built a dance new one for controlling leds and is internet capable I believe. All of this in a Tupperware container.

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[p woodard]

What are the advantages of a diy controller over one off the shelf one

 

[gmoney243]

What are the advantages of a diy controller over one off the shelf one

Kinda like diy led. Cheaper and if something breaks you know how to fix. And you can program whatever features you want.

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[quigimon]

Kinda like diy led. Cheaper and if something breaks you know how to fix. And you can program whatever features you want.

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Another beautiful thing is expandability, depending on your approach, and know how it's pretty simple to use only an UNO R3 board and purchase a few extra ATMEGA328 chips and use the UNO R3 board to program the chips, and drop them into a circuit board for a little less then 10$ you can expand your controller by 12 digital ports(6 of those ports are Pulse width modulation capable), and 6 analog ports(good for the sensors) with simply a few capacitors, a 16mhz clock crystal, and a voltage regulator.
So for 100$ you could have a controller that simply couldn't be touched by what's on the market, don't get me wrong though, market certainly has an appeal for ready to go, but if you're conscious of where your money is going and have the curiosity to experiment a little it's certainly something fun to get into, and i haven't even gotten to the best part of this DIY, with using the UNO R3 if you blow a chip you can order a new one for around 7$, I'm very self conscious about putting my 60 MEGA to my tank lol i can and have pulled the chip out of the R3, I however don't have a hot air DE-soldering station for surface mount I.C.'s.

 

[thejoshdavis]

I'm going to order some Arduino stuff this week after I make a parts list. Probably something simple to start and like everyone else has said, add to it. Headed to North AL now lol.