Adding More Temp Sensors

Since my previous post I have added a couple additional temperature sensors to my piHouse project.  One is an outdoor temperature sensor that I previously programmed but never installed outside, and the other is a new sensor in my bedroom.  This involved some hardware planning and effort installing because I had to run a cable through the house and outside, but once I tested the new cable run, it was relatively simple to duplicate the software for the sensors I already had.

The part of this that took the most time was pulling the cable and then soldering the connections.  The biggest problem I have is placement of the outdoor sensor.  I am having issues with direct Sunlight.

Here are some highlights, you can find the whole story here.  This time I also include some examples of the commands I use on the raspberry pi to obtain the data.


When testing my hardware connections, I use this command to ask the pi to take a reading and then display the result to the command line:

house@raspberrypi ~ $ cat /sys/bus/w1/devices/28-00000512f401/w1_slave 2>&1

 

show_graph_2014-10-11.cgi_[1]
ROOM TEMP lowered during day, OUT temp. sensor moved outside
Photo-Oct-14-15-20-27[1]
Three-way splice for room temp.
show_graph_2014-10-13.cgi_[1]
Added bedroom plot, outside sensor in sun

Champlain Mini Maker Faire Roundup 2014

The Laboratory B crew had a great time at this year’s two day  Champlain Mini Maker Faire! This year we had additional support from FairPoint Communications to allow us to teach kids & adults how to solder.  We had really impressive students this year, many of whom have seen us before at the previous events.  Many people were coming back for their second or even third time.  Good work everybody and thanks for coming out to see us!  As usual, if you had trouble with your kit or ran out of time please feel free to swing by the Lab, but let us know your coming ([email protected]) Awesome!

Charley helping out as usual!
Charley helping brothers that don’t need much help. Good work guys!

Lab B at Champlain Mini Maker Faire 2014

Laboratory B is all set up and ready to see you at Champlain Mini Maker Faire this weekend!  The event is on Sat. October 4th 10am – 5pm,  and Sun. October 5th 11am-4pm at Shelburne Farms in Shelburne Vermont.

Lab B has been at the Maker Faire since it started 3 years ago, and like last year and the year before, we’ll be teaching kids & adults how to solder! FairPoint Communications made a donation to help provide kits, and we have four kits from SparkFun in the mix this year; Weevil Eye, Big Time Watch, Simon Says & Mr. Roboto.

From our excerpt in the schedule:

“Join the folks at Laboratory B for a self-paced soldering workshop. We bring the soldering irons and the kits, you bring the desire to learn.  We will have kits from SparkFun and all the required supplies and safety gear for you to sit down and learn how to solder, and when you finish you take the kit home!  Have you soldered in the past but are not familiar with some of the newer techniques such as surface-mount soldering?  No problem!  There will be beginner kits, intermediate kits, and advanced level kits to fit all skill levels.”

pre_maker_faire_2014

Aaron’s piHouse Monitor part 2

In March I posted about using my Raspberry Pi to monitor my furnace and the temperature of my apartment.  I moved over the summer and the new apartment does not have the same type of heating that the last apartment did. So I had to make some changes.

The Pi now interfaces with a Rinnai heater, which was slightly more complicated than the furnace thermostat.

Here are some highlights, you can find the whole story here.

The new heater, a Rinnai  Energy Saver-551F
The new heater, a Rinnai Energy Saver-551F
rinnai_block_diagram
The Wiring Diagram and the Block diagram are on the inside of the front cover
Photo of “MICRO COMPUTER PCB” with relays circled
Photo of “MICRO COMPUTER PCB” with relays circled
Assembling the whole thing
Assembling the whole thing